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The federal government backtracked furiously yesterday, saying it does not necessarily support Washington's war objective of toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien disavowed Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham's remarks on Monday that Canada wants to see regime change in Baghdad.

"The question of changing of regime is not a policy that is acceptable under the United Nations charter," Mr. Chrétien said.

Mr. Graham changed his message from the previous day, suggesting he may have misspoke on Monday afternoon.

"No, Canada has never been in favour of regime change," Mr. Graham told reporters after a committee meeting on Parliament Hill.

On Monday, he said, "We as a government are supportive of the United States' desire to get rid of Saddam Hussein, to deal with the weapons-of-mass-destruction issue around the world. And we'll continue to work with the United States in terms of non-proliferation, in terms of the war on terrorism."

Mr. Graham's comments were widely reported as an apparent change in policy, but officials said there was no intention to deviate, and the minister got off track in the heat of answering questions.

Officials from the Prime Minister's Office spoke with Mr. Graham's office yesterday morning to get the federal message on regime change back on track.

But Canada's position on the war remains fuzzy.

Mr. Chrétien said Mr. Hussein is a tyrant, war is unpredictable and "I don't want Saddam Hussein to win."

Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper accused the government of a gigantic flip-flop, charging that most Canadians want to see Mr. Hussein removed from power.

Mr. Chrétien said his government supports the more-limited objective of ridding Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

The government is disappointed that the United States did not give diplomacy more time to achieve disarmament, he said.

Asked by reporters about Mr. Graham's earlier support for regime change, Mr. Chrétien did not respond directly, saying instead that war brings surprising outcomes.

"What will be the end result of the war we will know at the end," Mr. Chrétien said.

Mr. Graham said that UN resolutions, supported by Canada, deal with disarmament, not regime change.

But now that the war is under way, Mr. Graham said, "we cannot be indifferent to the consequences of that conflict. . . . We hope this conflict will be short, that it will have the least victims possible because that is the best outcome for the world.

"It is the best outcome for our American friends, it is the best outcome for the Iraqi people and for peace and stability in the region. And that is what I sought to say yesterday."

Mr. Graham broke off the scrum to go to a cabinet meeting before he could be asked whether he had gone too far in his comments about regime change the day before.

Some opposition MPs said the government is trying to muddy the waters so that it can claim to be supportive of the United States while refusing to send military forces to the Iraq conflict.

Also yesterday, the Liberals beat back an Alliance motion by a three-to-one count that would have endorsed the U.S.-led coalition's decision to wage war in Iraq.

Mr. Harper said the Liberal government continues to be inconsistent. On one hand it says it doesn't wish to participate in the war, while on the other it maintains troops and ships in the area, he said.

"You can't have it both ways. You can't be saying one day Saddam's a bad guy who the United States should remove, and the next day you disagree with any action against Saddam Hussein," Mr. Harper said. "This is just absolutely embarrassing. We're the only country that's behaving in this way."

Earlier, Mr. Graham told the House foreign affairs committee that Ottawa expelled a senior Iraqi diplomat in December for activities incompatible with his diplomatic status.

The government is closely watching the sole remaining Iraqi diplomat in Canada, Mr. Graham said.

The United States has not explicitly asked Canada to boot out the remaining Iraqi, he said.

Alliance foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day said the government should not hesitate to help the United States by expelling the Iraqi.