Now We Are Free: Voices of the Kurds After Saddam

NOW WE ARE FREE is the only oral history of the Kurdish Revolution (1961-2003) by the only author of his generation compared to Hemingway, Mike Tucker. An epic work of history with stunning and poignant photos from Kurdish highlands in 2003, these oral histories were part of the investigative file at Saddam Hussein's war crimes trial and in the words of Michael Newton, author of ENEMY OF THE STATE, "contributed to convicting Saddam Hussein on war crimes in Iraq." Here, for the first and only time in any book, Kurdish revolutionaries and Kurds from all walks of life tell in gripping, passionate and compelling detail just how and why the Kurds fought and won their revolution in Kurdish highlands. Mike Tucker, praised for his courage in carrying out the fieldwork for this book by Senator Bob Kerrey, Medal of Honor recipient, journeyed alone to Kurdistan in Northern Iraq in the summer of 2003, after meeting Kurdish revolutionaries in Washington, D.C. As Mike Tucker relates in NOW WE ARE FREE, the Kurds, like Spartacus, fought for their freedom against all odds but this time, Spartacus won: "Outnumbered, outgunned but never outmanned, the Kurds fought for forty-two years to gain their freedom, against seemingly-impossible odds. Like the revolutionaries led by Spartacus, who freed slaves and led them against the tyranny of ancient Rome, Kurdish revolutionaries were inspired by a fearless chieftain, Mala Mustafa Barzani (1903-1979). With Barzani at the helm, the Kurds declared revolution in Northern Iraq on September 11th, 1961. To win their revolution, the Kurds attacked Iraqi Army tanks with fighting knives, grenades, bolt-action rifles and Molotov cocktails, ate roots and wild game, and survived to witness the death of Saddam Hussein, who had ordered countless chemical gas attacks on the Kurds, had Kurdish political prisoners shot dead at Abu Ghraib, had Kurds slaughtered at the Bayharke Death Camp and ordered the mass murders of Kurds at Hatra, Iraq. The Kurds prevaile