Jeff Stein, the national security editor at Congressional Quarterly, reports on in this NY Times article some questions he has been asking folks in Washington recently:

For the past several months, Iíve been wrapping up lengthy interviews with Washington counterterrorism officials with a fundamental question: ìDo you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?î [. . .]
. . . so far, most American officials Iíve interviewed donít have a clue. That includes not just intelligence and law enforcement officials, but also members of Congress who have important roles overseeing our spy agencies. How can they do their jobs without knowing the basics? [. . .]
Take Representative Terry Everett, a seven-term Alabama Republican who is vice chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence.
ìDo you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?î I asked him a few weeks ago.
Mr. Everett responded with a low chuckle. He thought for a moment: ìOneís in one location, anotherís in another location. No, to be honest with you, I donít know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something.î

That’s the vice-chairman of a House intelligence subcommittee? And he doesn’t even make this top 10 list of the dumbest members of Congress.
God save us.
By the way, while on matters religious, don’t miss this NY Times article that reports on the hardships faced by Iraq’s dwindling Christian population.