Are Stranded Americans in Fact Hostages? : Travel: Even before Saddam Hussein slammed the door, Westerners had little assurance that they could leave.

Among Americans stranded in Baghdad, the word was spoken reluctantly, almost as a taboo: hostage.

Once it became clear that the United States and Iraq were on a collision course, the word came automatically to their lips. Suddenly, to be visiting Iraq brought with it the threat of being taken hostage, a fate that had befallen dozens of other Americans in the chaotic Middle East over the past few years.

“That is always a consideration when you are in this region,” said Lee Sender, a financial consultant from Washington. “As troops strengthened in the region, that idea ran through everyone’s mind.”

“We got the feeling we were cards in a game, to be rounded up,” added John Norman, a business consultant from North Carolina.

The pair of businessmen were among a handful of Americans who passed through Jordan for other destinations after fleeing Iraq late Wednesday. They were the first Americans to take the overland route from Baghdad--and for the moment may be the last. Iraq closed its borders to foreigners, including diplomats, late Thursday.

Even before this news, Westerners in Iraq were living with little assurance that they could leave. The government of Iraq was saying little. Diplomatic consular officials offered only limited advice, mostly along the lines of “Get out when you can.” Iraqi friends of travelers seemed of little use.

“To get an exit visa, you had to do something with the Iraqi government. They were civil, but not very responsive,” said Pat Schenning of Alexandria, Va., another of the Americans who fled. “The . . . potential of being taken hostage was there.”

Schenning, by coincidence, had obtained an exit permit last Wednesday from the Iraqi government, the day before Iraq invaded Kuwait. The others had gone to Baghdad on visas that did not require a special permit to leave.

Still, for everyone, there were questions of whether to try to leave and how. Originally, all wanted to leave by air to avoid the long desert journey to Jordan, but the airport was closed. There were conflicting reports on the opening of the border. The frontier with Turkey was said to be shut after Turkey announced that it would end operations of its oil pipeline from Iraq. The Jordanian border was alternately opened and closed. Rumors were the only guide.

The hostage specter dominates American thinking in this crisis, but in other times and other places, foreigners have run the risk of being caught out of place when a conflict begins between their home country and temporary hosts. It has sometimes been the practice of governments at war to detain and intern foreigners. Even ethnic groups within a country that have links in some way with the enemy can suddenly become suspect; in the United States during World War II, Japanese-Americans were rounded up after Pearl Harbor.

About 500 Americans are said to be in limbo in Baghdad, U.S. officials say, and another 3,000 are in Kuwait, which has been annexed by the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. Hundreds of Europeans are also stranded in both places. Tens of thousands of guest workers from Asia and the Middle East also work in Iraq and the rest of the gulf region.

In the end, for the group of Americans that arrived in Amman late Wednesday, the decision to leave was merely the end of a process of elimination. There were no other options.

“I certainly could not do any more business,” quipped Frank Giral, an oil construction executive from Houston.

The Americans did not flee earlier because the situation was still unclear. Long-distance telephones worked, and they could go out through drives about the city. The main indication of conflict was in the call-up of reserve soldiers.

Other times, hints of trouble surfaced. Last Saturday, guests in hotels were herded together by nationality. “It was for security reasons,” said Frank Zurawel, a soft-drink machinery technician from Long Island in New York state. The meaning of security was never explained, he said.

Some of the group reported seeing 11 American oil workers who had been bused from Kuwait to Baghdad and segregated at the Oberoi Rashid Hotel. Unarmed plainclothes guards kept watch on them, Zurawel, one of the witnesses, said.

In Baghdad, U.S. Embassy officials held daily briefings with the Americans but offered little concrete information. Finally, on Tuesday, embassy officials advised the Americans to leave if they could.

“Basically, we were going to be on our own,” said Norman, the North Carolina businessman. On Wednesday, the Americans rented cars and jeeps and headed to Jordan. The only hitch in their trip was a pair of flat tires that lengthened their journey by several hours.

When they reached the border, procedures were normal. Passports were stamped and bags inspected. Once, an immigration official took a second look at some of the passports but eventually let everyone through.

There was one final surprise, the Americans reported. Suddenly, in the midst of immigration procedures, soldiers started firing rifles into the air. It turned out that the high-spirited troops were greeting a holiday speech by Saddam Hussein with a volley of bullets.

“I guess I will turn these in for bonuses when we get home,” Schenning said as he pulled a handful of shells from his pocket.

On the Jordanian side, there was another problem. Little transportation was available, and a few Americans complained that the U.S. Embassy had not sent a bus or taxis. The group arrived in Amman on a bus that a private German company had sent to pick up 10 Germans who were also fleeing Baghdad.