I THINK THE way President Bush has handled the Iraq situation is ingenious.

The United States is possibly in danger, and Bush understands he must do something to protect us. America can not simply stand by while Iraq arms itself with weapons of mass destruction that could potentially be used against us. I belive that at this point a direct confrontation with Iraq is inevitable.

So what has Bush done? He raised the bar, upped the stakes. He has been playing a good, old-fashioned game of chicken with Saddam Hussein that says, let us in to do weapon inspections, or else were coming in whether you like it or not. This puts the ball in Hussein’s court. Bush, in the meantime, has tried to rally other nations for support. When it comes right down to it, I believe, Bush would only attack if we had the support of the United Nations, or if it was obvious that we were in serious danger. Other than that, I think Bush is calling Saddam’s bluff, thereby forcing him to either step up to the plate and take his best shot, or back down.

Hussein’s past record speaks for itself. He has plagued the world for years, creating turmoil and death. In 1980 he initiated an 8-year war against Iran in which he used chemical weapons that killed or wounded over a million people. In 1990 he invaded Kuwait, and when he was forced out, he used chemical weapons against innocent Kurdish people.

Today he continues to harbor terrorists, accumulate weapons and break international laws. The reason we don’t find weapons when we do manage to get inspection teams in is because Hussein has already moved anything he doesn’t want to be found. Immediate action must be taken to protect the United States and the world.

Americans are grossly misinformed; they need to understand the serious threat that Hussein poses. He is a ruthless dictator who cares nothing for human life and will stop at nothing to further his regime. If immediate actions are not taken, we may face something much worse than what happened on Sep. 11.

Bush, along with most Americans, would rather avoid war. He was recently quoted as saying that he thought Iraq could be disarmed peacefully, and he was willing to give diplomacy one more try, and that if Hussein agreed to UN demands that would be a sign that his regime has changed.

I believe that everyone would agree that the Middle East is the most volatile place in the world right now. It is a powder keg ready to blow, and one wrong move could have cataclysmic results. Hussein, however, has done very little to cooperate with the UN to prevent millitary intervention, and seems ready to light that match.