This is often overlooked.
This is a good non-partisan read.
â€Saddam, the Bomb and Meâ€, By MAHDI OBEIDI – One of Saddam’s top nuclear scientist.
Note this part;
“Was Iraq a potential threat to the United States and the world? Threat is always a matter of perception, but our nuclear program could have been reinstituted at the snap of Saddam Hussein's fingers. The sanctions and the lucrative oil-for-food program had served as powerful deterrents, but world events - like Iran's current efforts to step up its nuclear ambitions - might well have changed the situation.â€
If Saddam was still in power, would we be looking at a nuclear standoff between Iran and Iraq? Fortunatly, we’ll never know.