Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds After Saddam, an Oral History

by Mike Tucker

Book Overview

Here is the first inside perspective on what it was like to endure the horrors of Saddam Hussein. In Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds After Saddam, author Mike Tucker offers frank and evocative... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159228695X
• ISBN13: 9781592286959
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 183 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A Primary Source History That Will Change Your View of Iraq

In the United States, war is almost always an abstraction, a mere state of mind that we conjure in the absence of the real horror of battlefields, bombed cities, or occupied lands. And in the case of "The War on Terror" and the US/Coalition military action in Iraq, we have difficulty even conjuring the truth of conflict as it is not only a half a world away but also taking place in a historical and political landscape about which we are largely ignorant. Hell is Over: Voices of the Kurds After Saddam by Mike Tucker is a piece of vibrant primary source reporting to cure our ignorance and abstraction. Other than a short introduction and conclusion and vivid character sketches, this book consists solely of testimony from Iraqi Kurds regarding their life under Saddam Hussein, their multi-generational struggle for political freedom, their shoulder-to-shoulder support of American troops in Iraq, and the hope of their culture for freedom and justice after Saddam. The stories -- all quite short and without exception gripping -- form a small history lesson not only on an important part of the history of the Middle East but also on the mentality of the current insurgent forces in Iraq. Mike Tucker has written about his experiences accompanying American and Asian troops in perilous guerrilla raids in a number of wars, but in this book he has the wisdom is sit back and listen. The "interviews" are (mostly) translated and then written out for the reader as uninterrupted monologue. They are gripping both because each one is distinct (Mr. Tucker having chosen an array of fascinating to characters to interview: war heroes, artists, feminist leaders, lawyers, even teenagers) and because the overall story they tell is coherent. The Kurds have been fighting the Ba'athists for years and have suffered unspeakable oppression and near genocide. But their courage and persistence made them an essential Coalition ally during our military operations. The Kurds -- the largest ethnic group in world without their own nation -- are a unique resource for the US, with intimate knowledge of the cultures, languages, landscapes and personalities Iraq. And the story they tell plainly illuminates why the current US effort is both righteous in ousting Saddam and failing as a daily counter-insurgency effort. For me, the book succeeds not for political reasons but personal ones. The politics is a stand-off: the US's decision to go to Iraq is lauded by thankful Kurds even as they worry about the US betrayals of the Kurds in 1975 and 1991; then Mr. Tucker takes President Bush to task for failing to use Kurdish intelligence and wisdom to aggressively destroy Ba'athist insurgency. The personal stories, however, remind us that every dictatorship is a social tragedy and that every people dream of freedom and justice. The voices of the Kurds in Mike Tucker's book could be our voices or the voices of our neighbors. Depending on your view of the world, perhaps they are.

"Never Again"

"Never again". Those were the two words on the minds of most Americans after the horrors of the Holocaust were seen. Yet this country, seeing the spectacle of Vietnam and suffering decades of permeating socialism, has lost the ability or the desire to stop a tyranny of that sort from occuring again. Thus this book was possible. Call me a "neocon", but I believe, with public knowledge of the occurances described in this book and the commitment of that public to the notion that peace must not sacrifice freedom, we can prevent these happenings from repitition. Never again.

Mike Tucker has burst the bubble of American isolationism!

No one can read these accounts of Kurdish genocide without being moved to compassion for a heroic people struggling against evil oppression. Unlike many writers and journalists writing from Iraq, Tucker connects emotionally with each person he has interviewed, inviting an intimate glimpse of each person's experience. It is difficult reading, at times, due to the horror of the crimes, but I recommend it wholeheartedly, especially for those seeking a better understanding of Iraq. Kurdi zin duah, indeed.

Marine Infantry Veteran Mike Tucker. Semper Fi. 5 STARS!

It takes a Marine to save the Kurds. Tucker shows why Marine infantry have hung tough and showed "uncommon valor" throughout the history of our country. HELL IS OVER is truly epic and historic work. The Kurds in this book inspired me, as other reviewers have similarly remarked. Macomber's review, on-line, gives just and necessary praise to this landmark work. From a brother Marine infantry veteran, Semper Fi. Maria's remarks, and others, on Hemingway and Tucker, are accurate. Hemingway is back and right when we need him. Damn glad you made it out of that situation in Burma, brother, for THE LONG PATROL. HELL IS OVER will be under the Christmas trees of my friends and family, no question. Outstanding book. Long live Chesty Puller. Semper Fi, bro.

Fascinating book! Agreed, Maria, Hemingway is Back!

Five Stars, and if I could give it five thousand stars, I would. Fascinating book by Mike Tucker. I agree totally with Jake, Natalie and Maria. Please read their reviews, they really see right to the heart of this compelling oral history. Thank you, Natalie, for spotlighting Shawn Macomber's review on the web. It is, indeed, stunning. And Tucker deserves high praise, yes indeed. We never would've had the chance to hear, right from Iraqi Kurds, of what they suffered under Saddam's terrifying regime, if Tucker had not made his epic journey. And he stayed in Iraq with our fighting men, with our elite US paratroopers and US Army Special Forces. Amazing. Like Maria, I could not put this book down. And Hemingway is back, for sure! Tucker's style owes much to Hemingway, but Tucker's own poetic,lyrical voice comes shining through. My husband has Mr. Tucker's work from behind Burmese Army lines, THE LONG PATROL, and I must say bravo to Mr. Tucker, for risking his life in Burma and Iraq to investigate war crimes. I cannot recommend too strongly the need for Americans, especially, to read HELL IS OVER and listen to the Kurds talk of how they fought against Saddam's Ba athist dictatorship for so many years, in what the rest of the world deemed a lost cause. But lost causes are the ones most worth fighting for, I say. And HELL IS OVER fights for the Kurds, in the way of Hemingway and so many authors of moral courage throughout history. It is definitely timely, with newspapers reporting today, December 16th, on Chemical Ali's scheduled war crimes trial. For a gripping, moving, and enlightening look at how it was to fight and survive Saddam's terror, get this book and read it now. Buy it for your friends, buy it for your loved ones, and buy it for our troopers going in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Outstanding work by Mike Tucker and Maria got it right: Hemingway is back and right when we need him.