Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds after Saddam [Paperback]

Mike Tucker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

As Saddam Hussein goes to trial, a chilling testimony to his unrelenting brutality.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As counterfactual as it may seem to claim that "hell is over" anywhere in Iraq, Tucker makes the case for the Kurds. Drawing on interviews with peshmergafighters, Saddam-era political prisoners and survivors, Kurdish politicians and others who celebrate the overthrow of a Ba'athist regime that was particularly murderous toward Iraqi Kurds, Tucker gives his subjects space to tell of massacres at places like Hatra and of armed resistance to—and daily hardship under—Ba'athist repression. Tucker's Kurds express deep thanks to America for ousting Saddam, but also recall betrayal—"Kissinger's betrayal" in 1975 and that of George H.W. Bush in 1991—when the U.S. found it expedient to allow Iraq a free hand to crush Kurdish resistance. "The Kurds are looking for U.S. actions... which prove that America's honor is real," he writes, and for Tucker, a former Marine, "honor" and other aspects of warrior culture trump messier geopolitical considerations; he is convinced that the key to U.S. success in Iraq lies in recognition of "Kurdish integrity, honor and culture," along with close military and political cooperation with Iraqi Kurds. As a record of oppression, this book will find a place among emerging Saddam-era testimonies, but its bald political advocacy offers little that's unfamiliar.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

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

"Writers who go to war to get firsthand 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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; First Edition edition (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592288855
• ISBN-13: 978-1592288854
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,237,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Tucker, the only author under fire with DEVGRU US NAVY SEALS (SEAL TEAM 6)after September 11th, journeyed to the mountains of the Karen, Black Lahu and Hmong hill tribes in northern Thailand in the winter of 1992-93 to research SPARTACUS DID THE RIGHT THING, his second novel and most recent book. A Visiting Lecturer at the Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy, Mike Tucker has been hailed for his work as an independent counterterrorism specialist by American and British special operations; he journeyed to Kurdistan and Western Iraq for his first two books on the Iraq War, HELL IS OVER and AMONG WARRIORS IN IRAQ and returned to Western Iraq with Marine scout/snipers for a full seven month combat tour, to write the only book in American history on an entire Marine scout/sniper platoon in combat: RONIN. His third novel, 1931, a riveting Great Depression saga born of a legend he heard in his youth in Annapolis, Maryland, will be released in fall 2012. He lives in the Near East, northern Thailand and the Straits of Malacca.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Primary Source History That Will Change Your View of Iraq, January 13, 2005

By 

William Layman "Will Layman" (Bethesda. MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds after Saddam, An Oral History (Hardcover)

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.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Never Again", December 26, 2004

By 

Chase Bradstreet (Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds after Saddam, An Oral History (Hardcover)

"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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mike Tucker has burst the bubble of American isolationism!, December 25, 2004

By 

Ed (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hell Is Over: Voices of the Kurds after Saddam, An Oral History (Hardcover)

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.