Washington: The United States reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if Saddam Hussein uses chemical or biological weapons against it, Vice President Richard Cheney said on March 16.

On whether he expected Iraq to use weapons of mass destruction in the event of war, Cheney said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" that it is going to take a very brave individual to get close enough to the US forces to attack them with such weapons.

Cheney made it clear that even if Saddam Hussein is now prepared to destroy all weapons of mass destruction, the US will insist on a change of regime.

"The experiences in the past 12 years has shown that even if he destroys them, he will reconstitute them at the first opportunity," he said.

Cheney said he was confident that Iraqi people will, if there is a war, treat the American troops as "liberators".

The moderate Arabs would be with the US if America shows firmness in meeting the terrorist threat and with Saddam Hussein who might provide WMD to al-Qaida, he said.

PTI