Hell is Over: Voices of the Kurds After Saddam

Long oppressed and cruelly treated, the Kurds are the world's largest ethnic group without their own nation. Kurds, who today live in a mountainous area that extends over Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria, are a fiercely proud and culturally rich people whose history is indelibly marred by political machinations and betrayal. Saddam Hussein and his Ba'athist Party have brutally oppressed the Kurds of northern Iraq; his systematic attempts to annihilate them included mass murders, the gassing of entire Kurdish villages, torture, imprisonment, rape, and bombings. Justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq will likely be subject to worldwide debate for years to come, but one fact remains clear: The war had a moral component, to liberate millions from Saddam's totalitarian rule. For the Kurds of northern Iraq, there is no ambivalence about American involvement. The war brought them one step closer to freedom. Here is the first inside perspective on what it was like to endure the horrors of Saddam Hussein.

About the Author :
Mike Tucker is a war correspondent, poet, writer, and photographer. He served on active duty in the U.S. Marine infantry, in Hawaii and Asia, in the late 1980s. In 2003 he journeyed throughout Iraqi Kurdistan interviewing Kurds from all walks of life. Later in 2003 and early 2004 he was on raids, desert reconnaissance, and patrols with U.S. Army snipers and scouts, light infantry, paratroopers, and special operations commandos at war in Iraq. His account of the period, Among Warriors, will be published by The Lyons Press in April 2005.

Review :
" Writers who go to war to get first-hand accounts are special human beings who give us a glimpse into the horror and bravery of armed conflict. Mike Tucker has written a book that tells a story we should know, but would not except for his bravery."
"--Bob Kerrey, Member, 9/11 Commission"
"In presenting these interviews in their entirety, Tucker has gotten out of the way of the victims and produced one of the most moving accounts about the terrors of pre-war Iraq. If the daily news out of Iraq has numbed you to the struggle, pick up a copy of Hell is Over for a dose of moral clarity and an unflinching look at the monstrous enemy we face in this clash of civilizations."--www.frontpagemag.com
"Writers who go to war to get first-hand accounts are special human beings who give us a glimpse into the horror and bravery of armed conflict. Mike Tucker has written a book that tells a story we should know, but would not except for his bravery."
"--Bob Kerrey, Member, 9/11 Commission"
Combined review with My Father's Rifle (FSG 1/05) "Both books are written in the service of a cause: they summon us to a moral stance, even to political action. They narrate nations and their interests through narrating individuals and their desires. We, too, read - must read - these books for moral and political edification."--San Francisco Chronicle
Combined review with My Father''s Rifle (FSG 1/05) "Both books are written in the service of a cause: they summon us to a moral stance, even to political action. They narrate nations and their interests through narrating individuals and their desires. We, too, read - must read - these books for moral and political edification."--San Francisco Chronicle