MILWAUKEE (Wisconsin), Feb 12: President George W. Bush “has not ruled anything out” in dealing with North Korea, Iran, and Iraq, which he has branded the “axis of evil,” the White House said on Monday.

“This president is not going to allow regimes such as Iran, Iraq and North Korea to threaten our way of life,” the president said at a political fundraiser here.

Those comments came amid widespread speculation that Iraq is the next target of the “war on terrorism” Bush declared after Sept 11 terror strikes on New York and Washington, and a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin that Washington should not pursue unilateral action against Baghdad.

Putin, who has lent warm support to the war US-led campaign in Afghanistan, told The Wall Street Journal that Iraq is a “problem” that Russia is willing to help solve — but only under the auspices of the United Nations.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that the United States would “continue to work with Russia, and in the president’s view, that always is a very constructive engagement,” but he reiterated the United States’ apparent willingness to go it alone.

Those three countries are “a clear and present danger to the United States with their development of weapons of mass destruction,” and the president “has not ruled anything out,” Fleischer said.

“The president is focused on what needs to be done to protect the American people,” he said, adding that Bush “knows that on some issues he’ll have the support of many nations and on others he’ll have the support of a differing number of nations.”

“The president also believes very strongly — and has been saying this to the leaders — that he believes that coalitions are best maintained through strength and through leadership, through consultation. And when it comes to the war on terrorism, the president will maintain the role of the United States in demonstrating strength and leadership,” said Fleischer.

“Time is not on our side in dealing with some of these nations. And that is something that the president is focused on,” said the spokesman.

“Such problems cannot be solved by one country alone,” Putin said in his wide-ranging interview.

Putin said that Russia and other nations had given the United States a pass in Afghanistan.

But he argued the international community would not do so in Iraq or elsewhere where “there is no ground to violate internationally recognized procedures.”

At the same time, he did not rule out UN-sanctioned military action against Iraq but said this could only be considered as a last resort, the Journal reported.

“There are many ways, and the military option is far from being the sole, universal or best solution,” the Russian leader said. “First of all, we need to secure the return of UN monitors to that country.”

United Nations weapons inspectors went to Iraq after Baghdad’s defeat over Kuwait in 1991. But Iraq withdrew its cooperation with the international teams and UN inspections ended on the eve of a joint US-British military strike in December 1998.

The Bush administration is currently engaged in a major Iraq policy review that may result in massive military action against the government of Iraq, according to US media reports.—AFP