This is because mobile phones are not allowed in Saddam's Iraq. Ahmed was in the building when it was hit by a missile. His was an accidental death. Like many civilians before, Ahmed was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The other drivers were sad and angry. Like everybody I've met in Jordan they don't want this war. They hate Saddam Hussein but would rather that somebody other than George Bush were acting as his nemesis. But while I've heard much angry denunciation of the war, not one person has abused me for being Western. Perhaps the most striking impression is of angry impotence. The protests in the Middle East have been small because people are afraid of their governments or because they feel demonstrating will change nothing. The young men of Jordan and countries across the region look on the might of the West and feel humiliated. It is a very dangerous sentiment.
For the drivers, the war has now been reduced to a question of personal loss. They think of their dead friend's family and of the life he might have lived. He was in his twenties and unmarried. I suspect also that his death has made them fearful. The Baghdad road has suddenly become a place of death.
Fergal Keane Independent (UK) 22 March 2003
