Incoming House intelligence chief botches easy intel quiz

Luckily being intelligence is not a prerequisite for working for the US government. In fact, the less you know about your job, the better you seem to do. Look at your boss for a minute. Now, do they have a fucking clue as to what is going on? I just hope the ones doing the ground work have half a decent grasp on the whole War on Terror thing. Sounds important.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Okay Mr. Reyes...spell suicide bomber.

When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered "they are probably both," then ventured "Predominantly -- probably Shiite." That is wrong. Al Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organization and views Shiites as heretics.

Looks like there will be no bonus round for him. Tune in next week when President Bush attempts to pronounce "specific".