Hmmmmm

It's always interesting to hear from folks on the ground in Iraq, regardless of why they're there. Interesting, too, to see the actions of those who can leave or stay according to their own decisions:

Three Alabama businessmen have decided to leave Baghdad for a while because they've received word that militias loyal to a controversial Muslim cleric will try to take over the Iraqi capital on Thursday.

"Things are getting hot in Baghdad!" Winton Blount IV wrote in a Sunday e-mail from Amman, Jordan. Blount and his partners, Andy Furr and Danny Campbell, flew to Amman on Saturday after having basically remained in their apartment for 12 consecutive days to stay out of harm's way....

...While the Alabamians waited for tensions to subside, Blount said, American, British and Iraqi sources told them that "Baghdad will ignite" on Thursday and that "all shops MUST close and militia will try to take over." Then they saw a senior American military commander, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, say in a televised press conference that U.S. forces would be waiting for al-Sadr's militia if they made a move on Baghdad.

"This just supported our decision to hit the road for a while," Blount wrote.

Blount has been in Iraq since mid-July. His company, Blount 4 Iraq Construction, has been building or renovating military barracks or other facilities for U.S. troops in the country. At times, the company has employed several hundred Iraqis.

During the recent period in which he, Campbell and Furr were keeping a low profile, their company signed nine small contracts, Blount said.

Early on the morning of April 13, they inked three of those contracts after driving at breakneck speeds to an office at Baghdad International Airport. After arriving, they were told that on the day before, there had been 10 ambushes along part of their route to the airport, a stretch of road which they had driven at speeds that reached 100 mph.

"It was very unnerving," said Blount, who added that he, Furr and Campbell were armed for the brief journey. "I actually had the safety OFF on my MP5 machine gun for the 15-minute trip."

On Saturday at the airport, before they flew to Jordan, the three partners learned that the military had five new contracts for them.

"This made us realize that we can do better by staying out of the way and letting our organization run things when it is safe," Blount said.