General David Petraeus continues to receive plaudits for the "successful surge" in Iraq -- based upon his credo, "What have you done to win Iraqi hearts and minds today?" -- as he transitions to becoming the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency.  Asia Times, in this report, provides more evidence of how ephemeral, if not meaningless, the so-called "success" of that surge, contingent on winning Iraqi Muslim "hearts and minds," actually was.  It is worth reflecting whether the entire US intervention in Iraq, now well  into its eighth year, beyond toppling a murderous despot like Saddam Hussein (which was accomplished within months), has achieved anything substantive, or permanent that will benefit US or Western interests, as opposed to those of the larger Arab and non-Arab Muslim "umma." Despite great expense of British blood and treasure during more than a decade of military occupation, and even after the Assyrian massacres (by Arab and Kurdish Muslims) of...(Read Full Post)