Diplomats Shut Down 4 Baghdad Embassies : Evacuation: Others prepare to close. Gloom deepens in the Iraqi capital.

At least four major foreign embassies shut down unceremoniously here Thursday, and others prepared to close, strengthening the feeling that diplomacy to avert war has reached a dead end.

The excited anticipation that greeted Wednesday’s talks between Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz quickly gave way to disillusionment when the talks ended in failure, and some embassies lost no time in packing up.

Diplomats from Britain silently padlocked their Tigris riverfront embassy and stole away at dawn Thursday, to the express dismay of other European envoys who had expected that, in taking such a sensitive and symbolic step, the European nations would act in concert

However, the departure of the large German mission, carried out the day before, was even quicker and more secretive. The Germans’ exit was greeted with disgust by the top U.S. envoy still posted in Baghdad, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who commented brusquely that as far as he was concerned, the Germans had been “the weakest point of the alliance” against Iraq.

The Americans, too, are leaving--on Saturday, by chartered jet--and the departure is being preceded by a final laborious shredding of diplomatic documents by the skeleton staff of five.

Wilson has taken down the American flag that has flown over the embassy during the Persian Gulf crisis and will give the old banner to President Bush upon returning to Washington. A new flag flies in its place.

“(After Saturday) the embassy will remain open, but unstaffed,” State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said in Washington. “We’re not breaking diplomatic relations with Iraq.”

Boucher said the U.S. Embassy officials in Baghdad have been telephoning the approximately 180 private Americans left in Iraq to offer them seats on the chartered flight.

By midday Thursday, only one family of four had accepted the embassy’s offer, Boucher said, while many other private Americans said they do not wish to leave. The list of 180 people includes individuals who are dual nationals of the United States and Iraq.

Only Saturday’s expected visit of U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar might conceivably make the general exodus from Baghdad seem premature, although few are counting on it. In any case, the closures themselves seem part of the growing theater of psychological warfare being played out across the globe on the approach to the United Nations’ Jan. 15 deadline for Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait.

“I guess some governments want to send a strong message to Baghdad,” said John W. Denton, the diplomat in charge of Australia’s embassy, who himself was packing up--to the sobs of the Iraqi staff, which, as in the cases of other embassies, will be left behind.

Among other embassies shutting their doors Thursday were the Dutch, whose ambassador had already left on a skiing vacation; the Danish, which was manned only by a low-ranking staff member, and the Irish, which also was reduced to a lone diplomat. Japan’s embassy is expected to close today.

The British diplomats left by four-wheel-drive Rover vehicles across the desert to Jordan, and other envoys are expected to follow the example in order to avoid jammed flights to Amman, the Jordanian capital, which is Iraq’s only regular air window to the world.

There are a few stated exceptions to the pullout: France is remaining open, as if to underline the slight chance that Paris might provide a new initiative for peace talks; Switzerland, to oversee its citizen-delegates of the International Red Cross; the Soviet Union, perhaps to service Soviet workers who have decided to stay in Iraq (although some Iraqis caustically remarked that the Soviets are staying on because, despite the dangers, there is more food here than in Moscow.)

In all, 74 countries kept embassies in Baghdad before the Persian Gulf crisis began in August; many closed down during the course of the crisis.

Between the dual chores of shredding paper and bidding farewell to employees, diplomats who spoke with reporters expressed little of the optimism current in Baghdad in recent weeks. Although several expressed the wistful hope that “there is still time,” there seemed to be little conviction in the words.

“The Baker-Aziz talks went badly, but perhaps no worse than expected,” said a Western European diplomat. “There is still room for diplomacy, but probably not based on an American change of mind.”

The official Iraqi reaction to the failed talks was subdued, as if the meeting was a routine consultation. “Iraq, U.S. End 3 Rounds of Talks,” read a deadpan headline in the state-run Baghdad Observer newspaper.

Otherwise, the press seemed to focus on Aziz’s statement that Iraq would not fire the first shot in any war, an apparent effort to put the onus of aggression on Bush. Television tersely announced that Aziz had returned with an official delegation from Switzerland.

Despite the official effort to play down the grim news, Baghdad residents were taking the deadlock to heart. Lines at gasoline stations, which had been lengthening for several days, grew longer still; waits could last for two hours or more. The government asked citizens not to store fuel at home for fear that if bombs fall, the gas could ignite.

There were reports that growing numbers of residents were packing up food and belongings and fleeing Baghdad for the countryside. Some were leaving after dark, residents said, to avoid police recriminations. The government wants to avoid the sense of general panic and has been urging Baghdadis to stay home.

The government also began to confiscate flour from the black market at a major bazaar to augment its supplies of rationed food, and the raids drove up black market prices all over town.

Meanwhile, the State Department issued a new travel alert warning American citizens to avoid travel to Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco and urging Americans in these three North African countries to consider departing “until the gulf crisis abates.”

It was the latest in a series of travel advisories issued by the State Department that have generally cautioned Americans against travel in the Mideast.

The State Department authorized U.S. embassies and consulates in the three North African countries to evacuate dependents and non-essential personnel. The department also ordered the temporary closure of the consulate in Oran, Algeria, and ordered a reduction in the size of the U.S. Embassy staff in Yemen.

For the past several weeks, U.S. officials have said they are worried about the possibility that Iraq may try to foster terrorist attacks against Americans overseas.

Times staff writer Jim Mann, in Washington, contributed to this story.