Baghdad cabbies' survival tips

From behind the wheel of his taxi, Ahmed has seen the violence of Baghdad in widescreen. "The streets of the capital were like the jackal that eats its children," he said, recalling the bloodiest days of the recent conflict. A trim, dapper Shia Muslim man who asked for his real name to be withheld, Ahmed started driving a taxi as a teenager, ten years ago. He said he survived danger by becoming a silent student of the street. While his passengers speak freely about the latest news, Ahmed gives away nothing of his own views. "I am the sponge that absorbs the anger, excitement and frustration of people," he said. "I am always agreeable, in my mind counting down the miles to the next destination and the next fare." For much of the last decade, the roads of Baghdad have been a deadly obstacle course for taxi drivers. They were shot by jittery American soldiers for getting too close to their convoys, killed by militants for entering the wrong neighbourhoods and robbed by criminals who found them easy targets. Baghdad taxi drivers have been exposed like no other profession to the changing fortunes of their city. With the exception of ambulance crews and police patrols, no one spends longer on the streets than them.