Group of Envoys, Families Barred From Leaving Iraq, U.S. Reports : Baghdad: Some of the foreigners described by officials as ‘restrictees’ are beginning to look like hostages.

With the Bush Administration’s effort to avoid the word hostages looking increasingly forlorn, a group of American diplomats and their families were prevented from leaving Iraq, despite previous assurances that they were free to go, the State Department said Wednesday.

At the same time, an Iraqi spokesman in Baghdad described some of the approximately 3 million foreigners in Iraq and occupied Kuwait as “restrictees.” Although this sounds less harsh than hostage or prisoner, it could signal the government’s determination to prevent people from leaving.

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said that a group of diplomats and their dependents had expected to leave Iraq on Wednesday. They had applied for exit permits a week earlier in response to a promise by the Iraqi government that diplomatic families could depart after seven days of processing. But they were not permitted to go.

“I have no reason to believe that those diplomats will be allowed to leave today (Wednesday),” Tutwiler said. “I can’t speak for the future.”

The development seemed to erode the distinction between diplomats and other Americans. When it closed its borders after the Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, Iraq said that diplomats and their families would be allowed to leave, while other foreigners would have to remain for the time being.

Tutwiler said that the Iraqi Foreign Ministry told the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday that new travel regulations would be issued soon. She said the guidelines have been rewritten several times since the invasion but that the overall effect has not changed--it remains difficult or impossible for most foreigners to leave either Iraq or Kuwait.

At the same time, Tutwiler dismissed as “just semantics” the Iraqi label of “restrictees” for foreigners in Iraq and Kuwait.

“Whatever term an Iraqi official chooses to use, it doesn’t change the facts,” Tutwiler said. “Frankly, they are finally admitting behavior which is contrary to all international norms. . . . The central issue is that the Iraqis have an obligation to let all of these people leave.”

A spokesman for the Iraqi Embassy in Washington said that he is puzzled by “the coined expression.” He said there is no equivalent word in Arabic. The spokesman said that all foreigners would be allowed to go “in due time.”

There are about 2,500 Americans in Kuwait and about 500 in Iraq. Those numbers include 27 diplomats and dependents in Iraq and 120 in Kuwait.

The Bush Administration would face a nightmare situation if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should attempt to barter the freedom of the Americans for changes in U.S. policy. The 3,000 potential hostages is by far the largest number of Americans put at that kind of risk, at least since the early days of World War II.

Based on the history of recent hostage incidents, the Administration might find it difficult to sustain its military support for Saudi Arabia if Hussein offered to free the American captives in exchange for a pullback of U.S. forces.

For the time being, both the United States and Iraq are avoiding the emotion-laden word hostage.

“There have been no demands made on these people,” Tutwiler said. “These people are not bound and gagged.”

Tutwiler also said that Americans do not seem to have been singled out. Citizens of many other nations have also been denied permission to leave.

Tutwiler declined to say how many American diplomats and dependents had hoped to leave Iraq Wednesday. But she said the U.S. government still does not plan to close its embassies in Baghdad and Kuwait city, which means that at least some diplomats will remain in both cities even if Iraq keeps its pledge to permit free departure to all who want to go.

She said that both embassies are trying to provide at least some protection to American citizens. In Kuwait, where banks are closed and people are unable to get their money, she said, the embassy is handing out small amounts of cash to hard-pressed Americans.

Although some Americans have managed to slip across the border to freedom, Tutwiler said, the U.S. government strongly advises against trying to escape.

“We continue to hear reports that some Americans are able to leave Iraq and Kuwait,” she said. “In the case of Kuwait, these reports usually involve individuals going out through the open desert. . . . It is obvious that such a course entails serious risk. . . . We feel obligated to advise Americans not to try this course.”