Bob Barr

Freedonia on the Potomac

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

December 20, 2006

The interview, which appeared initially Dec. 8 on CQ.com a month after the election that placed the control of the Congress in the hands of the Democratic Party for the first time in a dozen years, appeared at first blush to be a spoof.

The spectacle of the incoming chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence – a 10-year veteran of the House—apparently having no earthly idea what the terrorist organization Hezbollah is, and possessing even less understanding of the religious allegiances that have for nearly four years mired the military might of the United States in a small Middle Eastern country, was so funny it could not possibly be true.

Yet, it was true; painfully true.

Here was Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), fresh from being very publicly handpicked by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to chair the important intelligence panel, sitting down with Washington reporter Jeff Stein and making a complete and utter fool of himself. First of all, if the putative intelligence committee chairman actually was aware of how little he knew, why would he (or his staff) allow himself to be questioned by a reporter on topics that would surely reveal his ignorance to the world?

Beyond this, however, the interview itself made clear beyond any doubt that the incoming chairman truly is clueless about the forces at play in the one part of the world where American military personnel are being savagely and regularly killed in combat.

Granted, many Americans probably know even less than Reyes does about these cultural and religious forces deeply ingrained in Iraqi society. Importantly, however, not one of those other citizens will occupy the position in which—come Jan. 4, when the 110th Congress convenes—Reyes will find himself, with power to mold intelligence operations of the world's mightiest nation. To paraphrase a truism, "ignorance does have consequences."

While most members of Congress, if and when they realize they are being shown to be the fool, at least have the good sense to stop the proceedings and minimize the damage (and, after all, that's what congressional staffs are for, isn't it?), Reyes didn't even have this minimal degree of insight.

When unable to answer even a basic question about what the terrorist organization Hezbollah was, rather than glancing at his watch with feigned concern for a forgotten appointment that he suddenly remembered was past due, the congressman asked plaintively why the reporter persisted in pressing him for answers at the ungodly hour 

of . . . "five o'clock."

Then, in what surely must be one of the most boneheaded statements ever uttered by an American legislator, Reyes pleaded with the reporter to allow him to answer in . . . "Spanish," as if ignorance thus disguised by a foreign language would somehow pass for wisdom.

It would be bad enough if the embarrassingly silly performance of Reyes were an isolated incident, like the brief but hilarious skit in the 1933 Marx Brothers musical comedy, "Duck Soup," in which great fun is made of the fantasy kingdom of "Freedonia." But, like the Marx Brothers, who made dozens of comedies, each of which contains numerous gems of classic comedy, the performance of Reyes is repeated almost endlessly on Capitol Hill.

The very reporter who interviewed Reyes—Stein—apparently had interviewed two other members of the intelligence committee last summer, and found them both baffled by similarly basic questions about the Middle East. Those two members happened to be Republican—a clear indication that congressional ignorance is nonpartisan. Stein also wrote recently that "several top counterterrorism officials at the FBI" exhibited a similar lack of understanding.

One also has to question the intelligence of incoming speaker Pelosi, who in plucking Reyes out of obscurity to head that committee pointedly passed over several other Democrat representatives of demonstrable understanding of the basic forces at work in the Middle East.

Are American voters themselves any better judges of such matters? After all, voters in Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District just returned Rep. William Jefferson to office in a runoff, knowing full well they were thereby deciding to keep in high office a man who apparently thinks it is perfectly OK to accept nearly $100,000 in the course of an FBI undercover bribery scheme involving Nigeria, and then keep the cash hidden in frozen food containers in his freezer.

Actually, perhaps it wasn't Nigeria but Freedonia from whence Jefferson's cash came; and maybe Reyes simply misunderstood that reporter's questions, thinking instead he was asking about religious sects in "Freedonia." Yeah, that's right. That's the ticket.

Bob Barr occupies the 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union Foundation.