Even Ben Carson's advisors admit he's struggling with foreign policy

While Ben Carson's grasp of facts seems patchy at best, one of his advisors has raised serious doubts other whether the Republican presidential candidate is up to the foreign policy demands of the job.

Carson said during the most recent Republican debate that China is militarily involved in the Syrian conflict, and was unable to name allies the US could rely on to fight against Isis in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

Duane R Clarridge, Carson's advisor for terrorism and national security, said in an interview with the New York Times that despite intense tutoring:

Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East.

The retired neurosurgeon - who believes in Creationism, and that the Biblical Joseph built the pyramids to store grain - had no professional political or foreign affairs experience before throwing his hat in for the GOP nomination.

The Carson campaign responded to the New York Times article by saying that the reporter had taken advantage of Clarridge, “an elderly gentleman,” and that he wasn't part of the candidate's inner circle.

Armstrong Williams, one of Carson's longest serving advisors, told the Associated Press that the team advising Carson are "frustrated" over the slow pace of his learning but "I’d say he’s 75 per cent of the way there.”

The world is a complex place, and he wants to get it right.

For all of our sakes, let's hope so.

But let's be honest, it wouldn't be the first time a US president had no idea what they were doing in the Middle East.

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