BAGHDAD - SAFER THAN PARTS OF DC

"Call me whenever you can - we need to know you're still alive."

My family and friends take their cues about life here in Iraq either from the television crews still in the country, or from the "war zone" classification that is a reality for the military and a bonus- generating fiction for civilian administrators.

Many of the American businessmen interested in the opportunities here are still huddled in Kuwait.

The truth is that while US forces will be under intermittent guerrilla attack for some time to come, most Americans and other Westerners are reasonably safe as long as they follow simple precautions.

While Iraqi society is still adjusting to the end of the Saddam regime and the sputtering beginning of the US civil administration, a stranger can count on the locals' civility and hospitality. Most of the time, anyway.

Don't go out too readily in Baghdad after 9pm, given that the street lights probably won't be on and the thousands of criminals Saddam released from prison are on the loose. Watch for bandits on the roads to Jordan and Kuwait.

Frankly, though, I am not as concerned as I would be in parts of Detroit, Washington or Los Angeles.

Security, while not great, is improving and is better than in many places where companies and investors already operate. This is not Colombia or Russia; whacking your rival is not an acceptable business practice here.