full of sound and fury

I've been watching the chest thumping politicians trying to outdo each other in sounding tough. They so badly understand foreign affairs that they wind up sounding dumb.

For instance: Giuliani casually lumps together Iran and Al Qaeda. Mitt Romney goes even further and lumps together Shia, Suni, Hizbullah, Hamas and Al Qaeda. These groups are very different and in some cases are enemies of each other.

How can people get to that level in political life without knowing that Iran is a Shiite power and actually helped the United States topple the al Quieda-backed Taliban in Afghanistan. Or did they know it and ignore the facts? Some members of Congress don't know the difference between Shiite and Suni. Reporters don't know enough about the culture of the mideast to ask good questions.

We can't use our military power to solve political problems and tough talk without understanding the problems is just dumb.