SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND THE MIDEAST CRISIS : 2 San Diegans Lead 30 Americans Out of Iraq

Twenty-eight-year-old Nasir Hirmiz was supposed to be back at work Monday at an irrigation equipment manufacturer in El Cajon after having taken a few weeks off to visit his parents in Baghdad.

That he didn’t show up was the least of the concerns among his co-workers. The big news was that, earlier that day, he had escaped from Iraq with another San Diegan, Lee Jacob, who was visiting his parents in Baghdad as well.

“We were worried about Jim (as Hirmiz is known to his friends) because we hadn’t heard from him. We hadn’t even gotten a postcard,” said Donna Aiken, the personnel director at Hardie Irrigation in El Cajon where Hirmiz has worked for the last three years. “We’ve missed him. We want him back. He’s a character. He’s a lot of fun to be around.”

Both Hirmiz and Jacob, who are Iraqi-born Americans, drove into the dusty Jordanian border post of Ruweished from Iraq on Monday, leading a contingent of 30 or more Americans who were fleeing Iraq, a U.S. diplomat told Reuters.

The details of their escape--and the circumstances that allowed them to cross the border while thousands of other Westerners are still held by Iraq--remained unclear Monday.

The two men had spent several weeks at their parents’ Baghdad apartments, hiding out in fear that they would be detained by Iraqi authorities if found.

“We were terrified,” Hirmiz told Reuters after crossing the border into Jordan. “We were staying at our parents’ homes when the U.S. Embassy called, saying we could leave within the next two weeks. We left the first day we could because we thought the Iraqis might change their minds.”

Jacob, a computer programmer, told Reuters: “We just want to go home, very, very bad. I couldn’t believe how unlucky I was to go to Iraq for a holiday at such a time. It frightened me the way they (Iraqis) were going on against the Americans.

“We are just innocent civilians,” he said. “But I must say no one came to bother me, perhaps because I was at home all the time. I lost 15 pounds.”

Jacob said the U.S. consul in Baghdad had told him to stay off the streets because on two occasions Arab-looking American passport-holders had been picked up and conscripted.

He said he went Sunday to an Iraqi government office to receive his exit permit--and saw about 500 other Americans there trying to do the same.

By Monday, the two Americans had safely arrived in Jordan.