The Pentagon has told Western journalists to get out of Baghdad now.

“If there is military action, it is going to be a really, really bad place to be,” said chief Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke.

She and other Pentagon officials stopped short of urging news organizations to pull their 250 reporters out of Iraq’s capital, but they repeatedly cautioned that they cannot count on a “heads-up” from the Pentagon to evacuate the city before war begins.

Pentagon officials believe that in addition to being killed or injured by hundreds of cruise missiles and smart bombs expected to rain down on Baghdad, reporters risk being targeted for murder by Saddam’s troops or captured to be used as human shields.