Illustration by Cody Angell

You'll never believe what happened to me Wednesday. There I was, riding my bicycle home from class when I saw it. A huge bee was flying straight towards me. I didn't pay much attention to the bee until it flew directly into my mouth and stung me.

Yeah, some people have all the luck.

Well, I did what anyone else would do. I spit the bee out, stepped on it, screamed as loudly as I possibly could like a 12-year-old girl and ran home. Bursting into my apartment, I ran to the freezer and filled my mouth with ice. I collapsed to the floor of the kitchen and stared at the ceiling, writhing and twitching in incredible pain. And that's when it hit me.

A clear vision emerged through the fog: I rolled over, spit out some ice and a wing, and said out loud: "The United States must engage Iraq in a military confrontation." The words seemed to me so profound that I looked around, disturbed to find there was no one there to hear them.

I had to know more. I sat up, threw a corndog in the microwave and grabbed a Mike's Hard Lemonade from the fridge. (I'm underage, so I don't drink; I just look at the bottles.) I sat down at the computer and started to research the topic.

What I found was quite disturbing. Saddam Hussein, the leader of Iraq, turns out not to be the friendly Disneyland-like creature that I had for so long been led to believe. How could Time magazine lie to me so? In fact, he's nothing like Mickey. He's more like a tyrannical warlord monster. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

The U.S. government has effectively declared Hussein an enemy, and a group of organized people within Iraq are working to overthrow him. They are called the Iraqi National Congress and they've been dealing with Hussein for years. During the Gulf War (ahh · remember Bush I?), it was rumored that the CIA helped the INC in their efforts. But these days, the INC focuses most of its energy on getting more powerful nations (like the United States) to help them out.

So what is the big problem with Saddam Hussein? It seems that Hussein just keeps doing things that the United States doesn't like. Things like, oh, let's say, actively pursuing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. And these aren't the kinds of weapons you put behind glass because they're pretty to look at and dust on Tuesdays. No, these are the kinds of weapons you kill many innocent people with. The United States has kindly asked that Iraq not develop these weapons and Hussein has kindly told us to go to hell.

So the United States (among others) decided to send weapons inspectors into the area to check up on Saddam. When Iraq decided not to let the inspectors in, the sanctions ensued. The United States, alongside other nations, put economic sanctions on Iraq over a decade ago. This, undeniably, has left the country in economic ruin. But Hussein has the power to end the sanctions by agreeing to let the inspectors back in. It seems that Saddam would rather let his people starve than do this. I guess he just loves shiny things that go boom that much.

So what is the United States to do? There is little global support for a war against Iraq. This is the kind of war the United States will have to go along with. Fortunately for us, we have a President (ahh · Bush II) that will probably be willing to do this. Here's the best part: White House lawyers (God bless them) have recently made the argument that Bush, acting as the commander in chief of the armed forces, wouldn't even need Congressional approval to launch an attack.

As I am concluding, I can't help but go back to the bee story. Maybe a prolonged war against Iraq is not really needed. It seems the evil in the Iraqi regime is top-heavy. Perhaps if Hussein were toppled, the country could return to normal. Hussein, my friends, is like the unfriendly bee. He will just keep stinging those around him until someone, somewhere, spits him out and crushes him underfoot.