OTTAWA -- Canada believes the way to deal with Iraq -- named by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of his famous axis of evil -- is through the United Nations and not through any covert operations, Foreign Minister Bill Graham told reporters on Monday.

"We prefer as Canadians to work through the United Nations. We believe very strongly in building strong legally based multilateral reactions to problems of the world, and we would urge the United States to respect that and international legal norms in the way it approaches this problem," Graham told Reuters.

He was reacting to a report in ***The Washington Post ***on Sunday that said Bush might have authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

***The Post ***reported that Bush had earlier this year signed an intelligence order directing the CIA to use all available tools to oust Saddam, including using lethal force in his capture.

"If every other country in the world chose to make similar declarations about other countries, we would soon descend into a very difficult world in which to live," Graham said.

Bush has labeled Iraq, as part of the axis of evil, which he said backs terrorism and attempts to make chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Canada joined the U.S.-led coalition to kick Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991, but Graham said the way to deal with Iraq's weapons programs was through UN inspectors.

"The UN continues to work on dealing with inspections for the weapons of mass destruction, and that's where we put our accent in terms of the best way in which to deal with that," he said.

Inspectors had uncovered sophisticated arms programs in Iraq but have been barred from the country since December 1998. Baghdad insisted on Sunday that UN sanctions be ended before allowing the inspectors back in.

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien had said in December that Ottawa was unlikely to join U.S. forces in any attack on Iraq unless a direct link could be drawn between Baghdad and Osama bin Laden, held responsible for the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings in the United States.

But after a meeting with Bush in March, Chretien said he would never rule out any possibility of the engagement of Canadian troops.