US removes Iraq from terrorist blacklist
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-21 13:50

The United States on Wednesday announced to remove Iraq from the State Department's blacklist of "state sponsors of terrorism," thus having put an end to a 14-year-old determination that carried sanctions.

"I hereby rescind the determination of September 13, 1990 that Iraq is a country which has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," Powell said in a notice published in the Federal Register.

Powell said that this is an important symbolic act for Iraq's interim leaders although the move would have little practical effect as most all of Washington's terrorism penalties on Iraq were suspended last year.

The Iraqi interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi took the power of Iraq after the US-led coalition troops handed over the sovereignty to Iraqis on June 28.

"This action is a further step to cement the partnership of theUnited States and Iraq in combating acts of international terrorism and is an act of symbolic importance to the new Iraqi government," Powell said.

The removal of Iraq from terrorist blacklist came one month after US President George W. Bush ordered Powell to do so.

For now, six nations remain on the State Department's list of "state sponsors of terrorism". They are Cuba, Libya, Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Sudan and Syria.

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