Martyrs' Day: Chronicle of a Small War

by Michael Kelly

Book Overview

Michael Kelly, who traveled through every country touched by the Gulf War, moved about as a free-lance journalist for the Boston Globe and the New Republic . He traveled through much of the Middle... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679411224
• Release Date: March 1993
• Publisher: Random House
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.3" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Magnificent !

Rather than concentrating on the military aspect of the Gulf war, Michael Kelly has instead focused on the human drama taking place behind the battle lines in this wonderful chronicle. Highly recommended !

Gulf War Travelogue

This book makes a valuable addition to the literature of the first Gulf War - it might be oversimplifying it a bit, but think of it as a Gulf War version of "Balkan Ghosts." Part history, part travelogue, part war reporting, Kelly takes us around the periphery of the war - in Bagdhad, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Kurdistan, and gives us some sense of how it affected ordinary people. Very well written and quite moving (saying goodbye to his driver in Iraq, touring the ruins of Kurdistan, seeing starving children). War is not all bombs and lines of operations - it's people too, and this book drives that home.

Beautiful first person account of the first Gulf War

On April 3, 2003, America lost one of its greatest journalists, Michael Kelly. He was covering the Iraq war as an embedded reporter, and was killed when the humvee in which he was riding came under fire and plunged into a canal. Kelly was both an acute observer of places, people, and events, and also a remarkable writer and literary stylist. By 2003, Iraq was already very familiar terra firma to Kelly, having covered the first Gulf War. The book begins on "Martyr's Day," 1991, in Baghdad, Iraq, which was two days before the air war portion of the first Gulf War began. Kelly was required to be accompanied at all times by a government official that everyone called a "minder." Kelly's minder was former army officer who had served during the interminable and costly war with Iran. He could not afford to pay for his son's wedding, and felt he had wasted his life in the army. "All my friends have businesses money," he complained bitterly. "Look at me--I'm a minder!" Kelly was in Iraq as the bombs and cruise missiles began to rain down. Two days later, Kelly traveled by car to Syria, a car trip that cost $7,000.00. After staying in Syria for several days, Kelly traveled to Israel via Cypress, to rendezvous with his fiance, who was a news producer. Travel to Israel from most arab countries is a tricky business, requiring two passports, because these countries do not officially acknowledge Israel's existence. He was in Israel at the height of Saddam's scud missile attacks on that country. Everyone was required to carry a gas mask with them at all times. Women being what they are, however, a market for designer covers for gas masks soon sprang up, allowing the women to coordinate their gas mask with their outfit. After several days in Israel, Kelly traveled to Egypt by car across the Sinai, and from thence to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and from there by car to Dahran, Saudi Arabia, then to the jumping off point for the liberation of Kuwait. The pool system employed by the army during the first Gulf War was far too restrictive, so Kelly opted out of it, rented his own car with another journalist, skirted some roadblocks and went off to find the fighting. He hooked up with some Egyptian troops, then a couple of days later on the road to Kuwait City, some 25 Iraqis surrendered to him. Arriving in Kuwait City in time for the liberation party, Kelly faithfully recorded the stories of the random torture, murder, rape and looting that had been inflicted on Kuwait during its 7 month occupation by Iraq. Then he went out to inspect the famous "highway of death" where U.S. warplanes had destroyed fleeing columns of Iraqi troups and equipment. The grisly scenes of death later caused him depression and lassitude. After reporting from liberated Kuwait for awhile, Kelly returned to the U.S. but later headed out to the Kurdish provinces of Iran to view up close the humanitarian disaster caused by Saddam's attempted extermination of the K

Read Martyrs' War as a tribute to Michael Kelly

Accomplished journalist Michael Kelly died as an 'imbed' covering the war in Iraq. The Humvee he and his military escort were traveling in lurched facedown into a dike. I decided after hearing of this tragedy that I would honor his bravery by seeking out "Martyr's Day," described by his colleagues as *the* master work of Gulf War reporting. I was not disappointed. This is fabulous writing...and reporting. Reading 'War,' it comes as no surprise to know that Michael died in the middle of action. The book is rife with passage after passage of Kelly routinely putting his safety in jeopardy to get a story. Far from being a chonicle of simply Kuwait and Iraq, 'War' moves from Iraq to Jordan to Israel (via a complicated route through Cyprus - read the book to do this intricate travel itinerary justice) to Egypt to Saudi Arabia to a newly-liberated Kuwait.The book stays strong throughout. In fact, the two most powerful passages are towards the end: the first depicts - in shocking detail - the carnage on the so-called "Highway of Death" (the road back to Basra from Kuwait City); the second takes us deep into Kurdistan, where Kelly shows us what befalls those areas once the U.S. pulls its support for the post-Gulf War Kurd uprising. Kelly follows the ramifications of Saddam's lash back at the Kurds through to a set of refugee camps on the Iranian border. Kelly himself picks up and battles as nasty bout of dysentery from his treks through the camps and experiences first-hand how one could get so sick so quick.The book ends with his personal tale of escape through a smuggler's route and into Turkey. Other journalists traveling that same route are not so lucky: three that preceded Kelly are later found murdered.In addition to the inherent splendidness of Michael Kelly's writing, the reason 'War' remains a compelling read 12 years after the fact is due to the numerous threads that tie these events to what transpired in Iraq in 2003. For example, there are a couple of horrifying pages on Uday Hussein's thuggish domination of Baghdad nightlife in 1991. Obviously, things would only get worse from there.

Excellent

An amazing account of Desert Storm. Rest in Peace Michael Kelly, for those who are familiar with his wonderful writing in The New Republic, an Atlantic Online, and Washington Post. A conservative thinker with a liberal's heart. True blue.