"The U.S. decision to halt the war was the outcome of a common intelligence assessment -- shared by both the U.S. and Israeli services -- that Saddam was undeterrable. It was estimated that if pressed to the wall the Iraqi dictator would not hesitate to turn to his last resort option and attack Israel with chemical and biological weapons. U.S. decision makers feared that such an attack would inevitably trigger a strong Israeli retaliation, perhaps even with nuclear weapons. "