the 300 advisors, as long as they don t see them, not too much of a problem in most people s minds. how does it feel there right now? you have been there for some time. does it more dangerous like more trouble on the way? do you worry about the islamic jihadists coming up the road to baghdad? well, there is a lot of people in the green zone worried about that and the green zone, of course, is home to the u.s. embassy and to iraqi government officials. but, it really varies. depending on how close you are to the cities that have been taken over. near mosul in the north where i was just a couple days ago, things are extremely tense because really that s just about 10 miles from a city that has been taken over by islamic fighters. here in baghdad, it s kind of further away. so, while there is a feeling that they are waiting for something to happen, life is oddly normal here. the streets are a little bit quieter than usual. but oddly enough, there aren t as many car bombs as