As he fully embraced an ultrahawkish position on Iraq, in March 2000, Joe Biden said at a Senate hearing that if Iraq refused weapons inspections, he “would introduce a resolution calling for the use of force by the United States of America, if we have to do it alone, to go after Saddam Hussein.”

2000: Calls to Remove Saddam Hussein Unilaterally
Joe Biden, the top Democrat on the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was willing to use unilateral U.S. force to attack Iraq.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jesse Helms, R-N.C., middle, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., left, and ranking Democrat Joe Biden, D-Del., are seen on March 23, 2000.
Photo: Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images