Was Bush really that ignorant?

There are some facts that are so awful that even though you already know them, you are surprised when you hear them again. You didn't really digest them the first time, because they were too horrendous to contemplate.

Now this isn't a fact, it's an anecdote that we're getting via The Raw Story, so have your salt shaker handy (HT: Billmon). I think I've heard this story somewhere before, and couldn't believe it. But knowing what I know about this administrations conduct of the war, it is at least believable:

A year after his “Axis of Evil” speech before the U.S. Congress, President Bush met with three Iraqi Americans, one of whom became postwar Iraq’s first representative to the United States. The three described what they thought would be the political situation after the fall of Saddam Hussein. During their conversation with the President, Galbraith claims, it became apparent to them that Bush was unfamiliar with the distinction between Sunnis and Shiites.

Galbraith reports that the three of them spent some time explaining to Bush that there are two different sects in Islam--to which the President allegedly responded, “I thought the Iraqis were Muslims!”

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars picks up the story.