In the debate between vice presidential candidates Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney on October 5, 2000, Cheney said, regarding the possibility that Iraq was developing WMD: ” ‘I also think it’s unfortunate that we find ourselves in the position where we don’t know for sure what might be transpiring inside Iraq. I certainly hope he’s not regenerating that kind of capability, but if he were–if Saddam Hussein were taking steps to try to rebuild nuclear capability or weapons of mass destruction, you’d have to give a very serious consideration to military action to stop that activity. I don’t think you can afford to have a man like Saddam Hussein with nuclear weapons, say, in the Middle East.’ ”
– Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Page 318