Caryle Murphy, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who escaped Iraqi troops in Kuwait, has died at 79. Her husband, Herbert Howe, said viral pneumonia caused her death at a Fairfax County, Virginia, hospital.
Murphy had faced lung trouble for years. Doctors found pulmonary fibrosis, and she later had a lung transplant. Her health issues came long after a career spent covering wars, politics, and faith across the globe.
Her best-known assignment began when Iraq was set to attack Kuwait. David Ignatius, her foreign editor, asked her to head there despite an illness that made it hard for her to stay awake. She went anyway.
Kuwait City soon came under Iraqi control. Murphy spent four weeks writing about wrecked military trucks, local protests, and a lack of basic government services. Women were among those who spoke out against the troops.
Getting her work out was a task in itself. Phone lines had failed, and the U.S. Embassy would not share its secure links. She sent reports with people who could leave the country and even tossed written pages into an embassy site.
Her safety grew worse as Iraqi forces sought Westerners. Murphy left her hotel and stayed with local families and Americans. Her editors also stopped putting her name on some stories to keep her less visible.
One failed escape did not stop her. Dressed in a dark robe and veil, she joined nine vehicles crossing the desert into Saudi Arabia. The trip took four hours. She had left in part to spare the family hiding her from threats of death.
Murphy was born Carole Marie Murphy in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts. Her father, Thomas, worked as a pediatrician, while her mother, Muriel, cared for six children. She later changed the spelling of her first name.
Trinity College in Washington gave her a history degree, and she later earned a graduate degree in global public policy at Johns Hopkins. Before her news career took off, she taught English and history at a girls' school in Nyeri, Kenya.
Her first U.S. reporting job was at The Brockton Enterprise. Freelance work then took her abroad, where she faced a harsh response from officials in Angola. The state accused her of CIA ties, held her at home, pressed her about a source, and then expelled her.
After that, she took a full-time role at a major U.S. paper. She covered Virginia suburbs and later spent years in South Africa. Her work then moved to topics such as immigration and conflicts overseas.
Uganda became the focus of one major story. Robert Gersony, a U.S. State Department adviser, gave her details of mass killings under Milton Obote. His prior efforts to raise the issue with the Reagan team had gained little ground.
Her report drew fresh attention to the abuse. Gersony credited it with helping stop the deaths and pushing officials to allow aid into the Luwero Triangle. The Red Cross had put the toll there at more than 300,000.
Elliott Abrams also spoke out about the loss of U.S. backing for Obote's regime. Gersony said that message helped weaken the government, which later fell in a military coup with no bloodshed.
Cairo became Murphy's next main base for Middle East work. She later focused on religion and left her staff role through a buyout. Saudi Arabia drew her back as a freelance writer, and she also worked with the Pew Research Center.
Her books explored faith and life in the region. Passion for Islam looked at Egypt, while A Kingdom's Future drew on the views of young Saudis. She wrote the latter while working as a public policy scholar at the Wilson Center.
Her family includes Howe, whom she married later in life, along with sisters Karen Burke and Colleen Kirchgessner and brothers Kevin and Kenan Murphy.
In one of her last accounts from Kuwait, Murphy recalled how calm the city had seemed before Iraq moved in. Beaches were full, and many residents did not expect an attack. The military had held back from going on alert, partly to avoid angering Saddam Hussein. That choice proved dire.
Murphy had faced lung trouble for years. Doctors found pulmonary fibrosis, and she later had a lung transplant. Her health issues came long after a career spent covering wars, politics, and faith across the globe.
Her best-known assignment began when Iraq was set to attack Kuwait. David Ignatius, her foreign editor, asked her to head there despite an illness that made it hard for her to stay awake. She went anyway.
Kuwait City soon came under Iraqi control. Murphy spent four weeks writing about wrecked military trucks, local protests, and a lack of basic government services. Women were among those who spoke out against the troops.
Getting her work out was a task in itself. Phone lines had failed, and the U.S. Embassy would not share its secure links. She sent reports with people who could leave the country and even tossed written pages into an embassy site.
Her safety grew worse as Iraqi forces sought Westerners. Murphy left her hotel and stayed with local families and Americans. Her editors also stopped putting her name on some stories to keep her less visible.
One failed escape did not stop her. Dressed in a dark robe and veil, she joined nine vehicles crossing the desert into Saudi Arabia. The trip took four hours. She had left in part to spare the family hiding her from threats of death.
Murphy was born Carole Marie Murphy in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts. Her father, Thomas, worked as a pediatrician, while her mother, Muriel, cared for six children. She later changed the spelling of her first name.
Trinity College in Washington gave her a history degree, and she later earned a graduate degree in global public policy at Johns Hopkins. Before her news career took off, she taught English and history at a girls' school in Nyeri, Kenya.
Her first U.S. reporting job was at The Brockton Enterprise. Freelance work then took her abroad, where she faced a harsh response from officials in Angola. The state accused her of CIA ties, held her at home, pressed her about a source, and then expelled her.
After that, she took a full-time role at a major U.S. paper. She covered Virginia suburbs and later spent years in South Africa. Her work then moved to topics such as immigration and conflicts overseas.
Uganda became the focus of one major story. Robert Gersony, a U.S. State Department adviser, gave her details of mass killings under Milton Obote. His prior efforts to raise the issue with the Reagan team had gained little ground.
Her report drew fresh attention to the abuse. Gersony credited it with helping stop the deaths and pushing officials to allow aid into the Luwero Triangle. The Red Cross had put the toll there at more than 300,000.
Elliott Abrams also spoke out about the loss of U.S. backing for Obote's regime. Gersony said that message helped weaken the government, which later fell in a military coup with no bloodshed.
Cairo became Murphy's next main base for Middle East work. She later focused on religion and left her staff role through a buyout. Saudi Arabia drew her back as a freelance writer, and she also worked with the Pew Research Center.
Her books explored faith and life in the region. Passion for Islam looked at Egypt, while A Kingdom's Future drew on the views of young Saudis. She wrote the latter while working as a public policy scholar at the Wilson Center.
Her family includes Howe, whom she married later in life, along with sisters Karen Burke and Colleen Kirchgessner and brothers Kevin and Kenan Murphy.
In one of her last accounts from Kuwait, Murphy recalled how calm the city had seemed before Iraq moved in. Beaches were full, and many residents did not expect an attack. The military had held back from going on alert, partly to avoid angering Saddam Hussein. That choice proved dire.
