Banished from Baghdad

Nate Thayer, Slate's guy in Baghdad, tells his story of leaving the capital after getting kicked out. Noteworthy: after driving west less than 50 miles, he ran into Australian special forces:

Despite the fact that they surrounded us, making us get down on our hands and knees as they searched us, we were delighted to see them. Once the Australians determined we were friendly, they were happy to see us too—and interested in how little military presence we'd seen exiting Baghdad. Then they sent us on our way toward Jordan.

After that, he goes another 350 miles without running into any Iraqi military, until he gets to the Jordanian border.