Smiling in the bright lights, coming through in stereo

Now this is just stupid. (with thanks to Dhimmi Watch.)

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The new US ambassador to Tel Aviv has admitted that he knows little about Israel.
"I am not familiar with Israel, but I plan to study the country as soon as possible," Richard Jones was quoted as saying by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper on his arrival in the country on Sunday.

I can understand this attitude if the mission is a political patronage job to a vacation spot like Tahiti or St. Kitts... but Israel?? Israel is the big leagues of international relations, and not somewhere you go to get on-the-job training. You don't walk up to the Israeli Prime Minister and say "Hey guys, how the hell are you? So... what's your deal, anyway?"

How can anyone in the State Department know "little about Israel," much less admit it to the media? This guy needs a memo from Condi about when to shut the fuck up, already.

That's not even getting into the whole can of worms about Mr. Jones being the former ambassador to Kuwait, and speaking fluent Arabic. It's just a teensy bit insulting, and America should be treating its allies better than this.

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Update: (9/23) Ambassador Knowlittle was mentioned in today's Washington Times editorial about questionable Bush Administration nominees. (scroll down to the bottom) They're not using kid gloves on any of these guys, and I'm surprised there haven't been more voices agreeing.