An excellent job of condensing Middle Eastern politics and struggles into one piece.

the writer's point of view here is that the conflict between the shiites and the sunnis in many middle eastern nations is and has been a primary factor in the instability and regional conflict, and that our war in iraq primarily has exacerbated this. this is an analysis based upon the writer's perceptions and interpretation of a lot of information not familiar to most in the u.s.and ,because sources are not included the story is difficult to assess for accuracy and fairness..

A keen and original analysis of Iraq's place in the world as the U.S. combat mission there is deemed "complete." The writer is a knowledgeable source able to draw important historical and sociological parallels across the region to put it all into context. Quoting more stakeholders and including links to additional sources would have made this even more informative and compelling.

The question raised: Is this good journalism? Why? Off course good, but deficient. And the story title, while quipped an open question, but answers like a closed one. There can be debate who is the winner, if there be any, or who are the losers, or this war game in Iraq was a lose-lose game or a win-win game. The article written didn't put in enough perspective, info, behind the ciurtain activities, analtsis etc so that anybody can come to an one-word conclusion.

This is the kind of journalism we should have had before the war, when very little was reported on the sectarian divisions within Iraq. The same lack of substantive reporting was evident during the breakdown of Yugoslavia, when there was little attempt in the press to define the historical differences between the various ethnic and sectarian divisions in that country.

This story would be better if the author acknowledged that Iran tried to prevent the idiotic US/UK invasion of Iraq even though Iran knew it would "benefit" from the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Iran and Syria offered to help the US get out of Iraq in 2006, and to help maintain stability after the US got out. Thhe moron in the White House spurned the offer.

Who won the war in Iraq? Iran. Robert Baer came to the same conclusion. Robert Baer is a former CIA agent who has long experience in the Middle East. He wrote two books about the situation in the Middle East: Sleeping With the Devil, about our relationship with Saudi Arabia, and our dependence on their oil. Baer's second book is "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower", and it clearly and thoroughly explains how the moronic foreign policy of the Bush administration handed Iraq to Iran. Baer states that all of the other relevant Arab states are now tilting towards Iran. Lebanon is basically run by Iran now. Syria and Jordan have to kowtow to Iran, and lean away from Saudi Arabia. Egypt has to appease Iran. ... More »