The MSDNCers were still talking Paul Revere and Palin last night. Funny, I don’t remember them making such a big deal about this. Remember, this is 2006, Dems have just retaken the House, and Rep. Reyes has just been appointed Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Democrat flunks his first intelligence test
The new Democratic chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee did not know what Hizbollah was and incorrectly described al-Qa’eda as deriving from the Shia rather than Sunni sect of Islam.
Representative Silvestre Reyes was flummoxed when a journalist rounded off a 40-minute interview by asking him two basic questions about the Islamic groups that are the principal targets of America’s intelligence agencies.
“Al-Qa’eda is what – Sunni or Shia?” Jeff Stein, the Congressional Quarterly magazine’s national security editor, asked Mr Reyes. “Al-Qa’eda, they have both,” came the reply. “You’re talking about predominately?” the congressman then asked, before venturing: “Predominantly – probably Shi’ite.”
As Mr Stein noted in his subsequent column: “He couldn’t have been more wrong. Al-Qa’eda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shi’ite showed up at an al-Qa’eda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.”
He then asked the congressman about the terrorist group Hizbollah. “Hizbollah. Uh, Hizbollah…” he said, laughing. “Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”
And the fallout over this? Nothing. Reyes kept his chairmanship. But, hey. What’s new about hypocrisy? Here’s a blip from Rep. Weiner’s website:
Protecting Children On the Internet
In early 2007 my office did a study that found that over 85% of registered sex offenders in New York City live less than five blocks from schools, and 670 sex offenders live within just two blocks. Some offenders are even closer, permanently residing less than 500 feet away from unwitting parents, educators and children.
Along with several colleagues in Congress, we introduced & passed the KIDS (Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators) Act of 2007, a bill to require sex offenders to register their e-mail and instant message addresses with the National Sex Offender Registry. The “Kids Act’ implemented one of my six recommendations to keep a closer eye on sex offenders both near school grounds and online. I also proposed stricter GPS tracking of sex offenders, tougher enforcement of registration laws and more public disclosure of sex offender data.
Sadly, the Internet is the predator’s venue of choice today. We need to update our strategies and our laws to stop these offenders who are a mere click away from our children.
To read the text of the KIDS (Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators) Act of 2007 click here
You can read the press release from my press conference releasing the report here
Like putting the fox in charge of the hen-house.