Plan for quagmire.

• Position: Iraq war - Column

We're beginning to see the outlines of Bush's military strategy in Iraq. It's not withdraw-Bush intends to prevail.

While at some point he may bring 10,000 or 20,000 or even 50,000 troops home, he has no intention of ending this war.

Left to his own volition, he will still have about 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq on the day he leaves office.

At the Naval Academy on November 30, Bush's message was unmistakable: "We will never back down, we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less than complete victory."

In case anyone missed the point, Bush vowed: "To all who wear the uniform, I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of bombers and assassins so long as I am your commander in chief."

Problem is, Bush has turned Iraq into a laboratory for bombers and assassins.

And the longer the United States remains there, the more those bombers and assassins will reproduce and do their dirty business.

Bush offered nothing convincing by way of strategy. Though a banner above him read "Plan for Victory," and though that slogan was then emblazoned at least a dozen times behind the podium, Bush's plan is the same old, same old: Get Iraqis to do the killing for us. "Our goal is to train enough Iraqi forces so they carry the fight," he said.

But they haven't been getting the job done up to now, and there's no reason to suspect they'll be able to do so down the road.

What's more, insurgents have infiltrated some of those Iraqi units. No wonder it's hard for them to operate as trusty proxies.

On the political front, Bush was equally obtuse.

He foolishly asserted that "Sunni rejectionists" are "increasingly isolated" by Sunnis who are joining the political process. This is wishful thinking of the most dangerous sort. In some parts of Sunni Iraq, an overwhelming number of people have been boycotting the political process, and as they see Iraqi military units abducting, torturing, and murdering Sunnis, they will increasingly resist the new government.

"Iraqi forces are earning the trust of their countrymen," Bush said, but they are earning the enmity of the Sunnis.

He offered no clue as to how many of the 160,000 U.S. troops he might withdraw. And he mocked the idea of a timetable for withdrawal, though even leading Shiite groups--as well as a majority of Americans--are in favor of it.

Prevailing in Iraq is answering "history's call," he said, and he believes he's answering God's call, too. ("History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty," he said in his 2005 Inaugural Address.)

It is Bush the missionary who will not leave Iraq; to do...