There’s this great episode of Star Trek where the universe is being threatened by a Doomsday Machine, which looks a lot like a smorgasbord bread roll with a Fourth of July sparkler inside it. Kirk and friends find Commodore Decker, a senior Starfleet officer played to perfection by veteran actor William Windom, unconscious on his wrecked ship, the USS Constellation, having tried and failed to stop the giant Smorgasbord Monster from destroying a solar system. Dr. McCoy takes Decker back to the Enterprise while Kirk and crew attempt to get the Constellation repaired enough to tow it home.

Well, on bard the Enterprise, Decker inevitably assumes command and forces the Enterprise to attack the Smorgasbord monster. Kirk, now trapped on the Constellation, is appalled—what is this guy thinking? Decker already tried that, Decker had exactly the same ship as Kirk, with exactly the same weapons,. He tried and failed to defeat the Smorgasbord monster, resulting in a wrecked ship and a dad crew.

But Decker, unshaven and arrogant, lounges in Kirk’s chair on bard the enterprise, undeterred, ordering the Enterprise to pursue the monster that will surely destroy it.

This is, precisely, George W. Bush’s Iraq strategy.

Insanity can often be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Like Captain Ahab’s wale obsession in Moby Dick, Decker pushes well past rationality in his pursuit of the Smorgasbord Monster, ultimately destroying himself in the process. Like Decker, President Bush is a man unhinged by the epic and thunderous failure of his Mideast policy. Now facing a legacy of failure and a place in history somewhere south of William Henry Harrison, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan—all three regarded by political historians as the worst presidents in U.S. history—Bush is desperate for a win. But not just a win, a win on his own terms. Anything less than the victory he envisioned—a peaceful, free Iraq under a U.S.-style democratic government, friendly to the U.S., MacDonald’s on every corner—would, for him, be considered a failure. And, so, like Decker, Bush continues to attack the Smorgasbord Monster, using the same tactics and weapons and strategies that got his entire crew killed in the first place, while expecting a different result.

More troops. That’s it, that’s the answer, more troops.

Shockingly enough, I don’t entirely disagree. If anything, I think the president’s troop surge wasn’t big enough. The projected 22,000 additional troops was certainly too small, the 30,000 troop level looks better on paper. What he needs is more like 50,000 additional troops to literally shut down Baghdad and shut down the militias and clans. But, more than that, what he needs is a plan. A real purpose for all of this. That’s what he doesn’t have.

The fourth anniversary of the Iraq war came and went without much comment from me, mainly because I’ve been busy with other things and mainly because it feels to me like nobody in the black church community seems to care much about it. Those who do care are usually families of soldiers, sailors and airmen being shipped wholesale over there, while the rest of us shake our heads and say, “It’s such a shame.” We can do more than that. We have to.

The slim ray of hope in all of this is U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s initiatives towards Iran and Syria, attempting to partner with them in finding a political solution in Iraq. Such a strategy would have been unthinkable even mere months ago, and it marks, perhaps, the first indication of coherent thought on the part of the president. Any political solution that involves Iran, anchor of what President Bush foolishly described as an “Axis of Evil,” will certainly look almost nothing like the solution Bush envisioned (turning Iraq into, say, Texas), but the clock is running on the Bush legacy. With the possible exception of John McCain, most any president who takes office in 18 months will most certainly put a stop to this and an end to Bush’s dream of defeating the Smorgasbord Monster. Most any new president who takes office will, most certainly, veer off, pick up Kirk, and escape to inform Starfleet.

McCain will likely continue to prosecute the war, but will prosecute it more smartly. I imagine President McCain will pursue some of the same measures as President bush, only President McCain will have something President Bush lacks: military experience and an actual plan. McCain’s plan won’t be to turn Iraq into Texas. McCain will realize the political, economic, social and religious concerns of the region are such that American-style democracy simply can’t work there, yet, and that a less-satisfying, less clear-cut victory is the best we can hope for.

It is likely the Iraq war will run between six and ten years, or, about half as long as Vietnam. This is likely because nobody with the actual influence to stop Commodore Decker from wrecking the Enterprise will risk doing so because everybody’s vying for the captain’s chair in the next election. Which is truly the saddest part: as much fun as it is to criticize the president apparent lack of concern for the epic loss of life—American and foreign—this war continues to cause, the very same charge can be made of virtually every politician in Washington, most especially those in a position to actually stop him but who won’t because everybody’s running for election.

The question, of course, remains: can Commodore Decker be prevented from destroying the Enterprise before the final commercial?

Pray for our president. Pray for our troops. Pray that God’s will, that God’s solution, will prevail and that God’s protection and God’s peace will visit our troops, our president, our lives and homes, and that all men and all women would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—which is the only true and lasting solution to anything. Prayer is so easily dismissed, so completely underrated, because satan fears it. Satan knows how powerful the effective prayers of God’s children are. We need to pray for God’s solution, then pray for the courage to know it when He provides it.

John 16:22: I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. 25 "Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

To all of the families and loved ones of our troops in harm’s way anywhere in the world, the peace of God that rings joy, salvation and deliverance, and the eternal comfort of the Holy Spirit be with you all.