Title

Martyrs' Day : chronicle of a small war

Description

Michael Kelley's work on the Gulf War.

Identifier

489424

679411224

Creator

Kelly, Michael

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

1993

Program air date: March 28, 1993.

Publisher

Random House

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front endpapers: Drinks a lot--Night war started, first night in Iraq. Underlinings/notes: Book from 4 trips--Nov. 1990-Nov. 1991. New Babylon--100,000 people. Tower of Babel--7 stories high, three hundred feet wide at base. 1989 New, New Babylon of Saddam Hussein. New Euphrates River of Babylon, Saddam's River. Nebuchadnezzar. God-awfulness. Jan. 10, 1991. Daniel Ortega, Zhedi Terzi, Louis Farrakhan. Al Rashid Hotel--equipped with listening devices. Paired with Tony Horwitz, reporter for Wall Street Journal. Broadcast triumph of form over substance--no info. in it at all. Leader sitting on sofa, phrase "His Excellency Saddam Hussein" occurred 19 times. Writing for New Republic, Boston Globe. Why we like Saddam. 8 years of war with Iran--killed at least 120,000 people, mostly young men; 300,000 wounded, 65,000 taken prisoner. Say Americans will use gas. Izzat Ibrahim, Saad al-Abdullah al-Salem al-Sabah, crown prince of the emirate of Kuwait--old fashioned shakedown. "We give money to your women in Basra every weekend." Saddam 23 years of power. Leader-president, leader-struggler. Struck how intimate the outrage. They hated Iranians/ Israelis with ancient fierceness, still angry at British former colonial masters. Liked Americans, admired American music, clothes, movies and women. USA officially departed Iraq on morning of Jan. 12. Pepsi, Canada Dry Club Soda, Ceylon tea, chocolate, cookies, tomato paste, McIntosh toffee. Embargo wouldn't work. Iraq too fertile a country, net importer of food. Half of Baghdad's residents fled the city. Buses vs. airplane--what happens in war where one side can move troops halfway across the world; other has to steal buses/taxicabs to move a few thousand soldiers a couple hundred miles? Allahu Akbar--God is Great. As preparing to leave, delegate behind him, tapped Kelly on the shoulder. Spent evening wandering city with Australian newspaperman--Patrick McGeough. French, last Western diplomats in the city. You live, you dance, you die. Networks warned about attack. War began at 2:35 AM. American Apache helicopters. Watched guns firing, became afraid, returned to shelter. Bombs discrete. Battle of Baghdad over, attackers owned the air. 10:30 in the morning. Allied forces took out the heart/symbol of Iraq's military forces in 2 min. Tomahawk cruise missiles. Reporters leave. Cost for drivers stabilized at $3,000. Trip to Jordan. Scuds for Israel. Odd sensation fleeing city under bombardment to drive by rockets on their way to bombard a city where Max was. Driver told soldiers that he was a gen. ordered by Saddam to escort his personal friends to the border. If they tried anything, they would die for it. Got lost. Legs shaking violently. Great fatigue following a great fear. Arrived at border just after midnight. Noon before got through customs. Dr. A.H. Malhas--Arab peoples who are pregnant with hatred of US will deliver painful strokes to American interests all over the world. Buttons: East or West, SCUD is best. Israel is a cancer/scud is the answer. At first war hurt business. . .God is with us, business is very good. 300,000 Saddam buttons sold since Aug. Amman, home, as Jonathan Raban writes, of the 20th century's Wandering Jew, the Palestinians. As month wore on, Amman fell from elation to funk to nervous depression. Jews not really suffering. Jordanian oil truckers--14 killed, 26 wounded, 50 trucks damaged/destroyed. Dual-passport system--part of elaborate construct. Customs official in Dubai looking at passport Dubai from Cairo. Tel Aviv--beach town. Gas Mask. Scud rockets--destroyed 148 homes/apartments, dammed another 3,991, caused 1,644 families to be evacuated, 273 wounded, 518 treated for anxiety reactions, 220 for mistakenly injecting themselves with atropine--antidote for nerve gas. Scuds. Israeli spokesman--Nachman Shai--brigadier in Israeli Defense Forces. T-Shirts--"I survived the Gulf War in Israel, Where were you?" "Saddam, wanted dead or alive, $100 reward." "Americans don't worry, Israel is behind you." Nahasj Tsefa--viper. Sharav Kaved--all clear. 2000 years--Israeli welcome to America. Delighted 1st time in 2,000 years, somebody willing to stand up/fight for the Jews. Maj. Michael Woods--been in Army for 16 years, never been to a country that welcomed home like that--unbelievable generosity/warmth. Soldier dancing in uniform, American TV correspondent dancing with cell phone in his back pocket, videotape editor dancing with neck brace on his head, like a turban. TV camera locked on sky. End of balcony, camera locked down, lens pointed at skyline, machine doing its silent work of copying unchanging picture, so if a Scud came across the sky, picture would be captured. Israel to Egypt. Saudis--first really rude people had met since leaving NY. Drove out of Hafar al-Batin to Kuwait City. Kuwait University's School of Music and Drama. 2 paved roads heading north to Iraq from Kuwait City. Malnutrition--since Jan., 1991 more than 50% of deaths caused by malnutrition--up from 10% the year before. Iraq overfed food stocks 120% capacity--70% imported, 30% homegrown. Government will not distribute food. Sanctions make Saddam strong. Can take time to get rid of enemies, take care of Shiites/Kurds while people point their fingers at the US looking for food. Americans gave MREs to Kurdish people, Kurds truck it to stores and sell them. Everyone has a gun. Thank God for America. If sanctions last another month--millionaire. Experiments Americans/criminals of Saddam--fascinating to see what it takes to bring about the total degradation of a people. DC, NH, NY, Cincinnati, DC--Balt. Sun, Chicago--freelance, Gulf War for the New Republic, Wash for NYT.

Subject

"Kelly, Michael, 1957-2003"

"Travel--Middle East"

"Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives"

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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