The first foreign policy speech given by a major Republican presidential prospect, Jeb Bush, in mid-February, was notable for its display of ignorance about the world and its menaces — unfortunately a common Republican characteristic.

Among these was the claim that the army of the Islamic State group numbers some 200,000 men under arms, 10 times the number generally accepted in professional and intelligence circles.

Bush said the Islamic State is a new phenomenon. Actually it derives from the so-called al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, whose existence in 2003 was notoriously cited as a motive for invading Iraq.