Powell echoed the view of others in the President George W. Bush's administration who believe such a measure would be divisive and counterproductive as Washington seeks to rebuild badly damaged relations with anti-war countries.

"We believe it would be better if there were not such conditions placed in the supplemental," he told reporters when asked for his position on the provision that was approved by the House of Representatives late Thursday as part of Bush's nearly 80-billion-dollar war budget proposal.

Powell noted that the House bill on the supplemental budget must still be reconciled with that of the Senate, which adopted its own version that does not include the restrictions on the four countries.

"We'll wait and see how that works it in the Senate," he said, indicating that lawmakers will be pressed hard by the administration to drop the ban which was adopted over initial objections from the White House and State Department.

The amendment in the House budget bill was proposed by Congressman Mark Kennedy who said firms from countries that opposed the war should not be allowed to benefit from post-conflict reconstruction projects to be paid for by the United States.

"None of the funds made available in the bill for reconstruction efforts in Iraq may be used to procure goods or services from any entity that includes information on a response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) that indicates that such entity is organized under the laws of France, Germany, the Russian Federation, or Syria," the amendment said.

It was included in a supplemental budget bill authorizing 77.9 billion dollars in funding to cover the costs of war in Iraq and the start of reconstruction in Iraq passed by the House by a 414-12 vote.

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