Shame

This article is a telling indicator of our complete inability to deal well with Iraq. In it, the author asks many people in key positions of government the simple question: "Do you know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites?

This was something I learned in my Introduction to Religion class freshman year at Hillsdale College. Have the officials of our government become so arrogant, and frankly, lazy, that even learning the basic rudimentary beliefs of the people we are currently occupying is beyond them?

This is terrifying to me; such ignorance in the hands of those in such power shows very poorly for our nation, our educational system, and our culture. Such basic lack of curiosity - of that essential modicum of interest in a subject necessary to have in order to even adequately deal with a problem - is a glaring problem. The author only interviews a few people, yet somehow I have the uneasy suspicion that if you asked the same question of key people in the upper echelons of the executive branch, one would find the same ignorance.