Secretary of State Colin Powell rescinded portions of the ban to allow US diplomats, other government personnel and contractors, American UN workers and private citizens engaged in US-funded aid projects to enter the country legally on their passports, the State Department said.

However, Powell kept in place a ban prohibiting the general US population from using US passports to visit Iraq, citing security concerns in the immediate aftermath of the US-led invasion, it said.

"The passport restriction was amended to simplify the travel of staff of organizations designated to deliver critical goods and services urgently needed by the Iraqi people," deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement.

"The secretary is taking this step to enable these organizations to bring urgently needed humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Iraq," Reeker said.

The US passport ban for Iraq originally took effect on February 8, 1991, shortly after the Gulf War began.

Until Tuesday, the only US citizens exempted from it were bona fide journalists on assignment in Iraq and those living in the country prior to the date the ban was imposed.

The only other country covered by similar restrictions is Libya.

The use of US passports for travel to, in or through Libya has been banned with limited exceptions since 1981.

US passports may be used for travel to so-called "rogue states" such as Cuba, Iran and North Korea but travelers must first get Treasury Department approval to go and to spend US currency in those countries.

All the nations subject to either State or Treasury department restrictions have been designated "state sponsors of terrorism" by Washington.

Only two of the seven countries so designated -- Sudan and Syria, the only two to have diplomatic relations with the United States -- are not covered by such travel sanctions.

SPACE.WIRE