Scholar and journalist Nir Rosen skillfully pokes holes in the common narratives about US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Venturing where most Western journalists could not, Rosen shows that American action, not latent sectarian grievances, sparked the civil war that engulfed Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Moreover, Rosen argues, the cleansing did not stop with the advent of the surge, but had more to do with Sunni recognition that the Shi'i had largely won the conflict.