Michael Kelly was killed in a vehicle rollover in Iraq. He wrote many great columns over the years. Here is his last dispatch, from yesterday.

This is truly a terrible loss to all who admire great journalism.

[Update at 10:50 AM PST]

It strikes me that I gave him short shrift (partly because I didn’t have any experience of him in that way) but he was supposedly a great editor as well. There are some good initial obits over at The Corner (just keep scrolling).

[Update at 1:20 PM PST]

It didn’t take long for Peggy Noonan to come up with very moving thoughts on the death of Michael Kelly.

He [sic] remains will come home now soon enough, and I hope what comes home is met with an honor guard, for he has earned it, and a flag, for he loved his country, and a snapped salute, for that is one way to show respect. And maybe it would be good if this son of Washington–born there, educated there, drawn to its great industry, politics and the reporting of it–were to find his final rest nearby, among those who fought with distinction for America. Michael Kelly went at great peril to be with U.S. troops, and he fell among US troops, while trying to tell the story of U.S. troops. So perhaps his final rest should be with U.S. troops, in Arlington, where we put so many heroes.

While the war was much shorter, he may become known as this war’s Ernie Pyle, but I think that such an assessment would dramatically overshadow his many journalistic accomplishments.