Canada already has officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Policehelping international forces under UN auspices in Haiti and the former Yugoslavia.

Asked by reporters whether he had plans to send the RCMP to Iraq as well, Chretien said: "There will be a discussion now. The United Nations are involved."

"If asked, we will," he said, adding that there would have to be a co-ordinating plan.

"We don't send policemen there and throw them on the ground. You have to have a plan of integration," he said.

Chretien pointedly refused to join the criticism of US forces in Iraq for failing to maintain law and order, suggesting rather that commanders may have been taken by surprise because "it was over quicker than they thought."

"They arrived as a military force," he added, "not as police officers."

Canada, which refused to join the US-led war against Iraq, has three ships, a handful of planes and some 1,000 troops in the Persian Gulf region involved in the war against terrorism.

US Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci last month severely criticized Ottawa for not fully supporting its ally, trading partner and neighbor.

Asked what would happen if US President George W. Bush were to cancel his planned visit to Ottawa next month, as has been widely reported, Chretien admitted: "I don't know what will happen. So far it's on. But it's coming at an awkward time for him."

If Bush were unable to come to Ottawa next month, "we will invite him again," he said.

SPACE.WIRE