Saddam was thinking about perhaps launching a program to contemplate the possibility of someday building a deadly weapon of mass destruction! Maybe!

satire from October 2003:

From "Imminent threat" to "program to develop" to "ambitions to threaten"...

the way they constantly "defined down" the threat posed by Saddam Hussein -- after the fact of invading Iraq -- was comical.

"And let there be no mistake, right up to the end, Saddam Hussein continued to harbor ambitions to threaten the world with weapons of mass destruction and to hide his illegal weapons activity,'' Rice told the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

writer's embellishment:

"...and lest there be any doubt, let me be very clear: Saddam Hussein often thought very seriously about beginning to form a plan to inquire into the possibility of developing the inclination to build a program that potentially could have a dual use as a weapon of mass destruction, or also a toaster, and thank God we have made the world safe from this monster," Rice said, pausing to take a breath.