Saddam was fully pursuing the nuke plans over in Libya. Iraq was supplying the materials and scientists, and Libya was building the underground bunker to house the facility. It was 3-4 months to completion (which the UK found out). With that facility able to produce the material, and Iraq able to supply the missiles, the middle east could hold the rest of the world hostage. Scary people.
I believe this was one of the main reasons Bush went ahead with taking out Iraq.