The Post story is quite instructive, even if it is not exactly "news" in the common sense of the term.

With the final withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, I remember the four young Marines and a Navy corpsman I met in Baghdad in March 2005 at Camp Victory.

I think Biden and his team have done the best job that any outsider could have done in helping to calm sectarian distrust and to generate a commitment to a semi-democratic process as Iraq evolves.

America leaves an Iraq that is deeply divided. After decades of ruthless rule, Iraqis endured an invasion and occupation, suffered from terror and ethnic cleansing, and while the trappings of a democracy have been set-up, it remains in a gestational state.

As the last of our troops return home from Iraq, the greatest tragedy of this misguided war is if we learn nothing.