21 Days to Baghdad chronicles the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in the 2003 siege of Baghdad and subsequent nation-building mission in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Upon arrival in Baghdad in early April 2003, the 3rd Infantry Division began a complex security mission that required the soldiers and their commanders to convince Iraqi citizens that the U.S. was there to help them. At the same time, they continued fighting Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guard, paramilitary forces, and terrorists. The “front lines” were everywhere in the city, and battle space included hospitals, mosques, and schools where Iraqi troops stationed themselves to avoid American fire. U.S. soldiers who had fought in violent desert conflicts for three weeks on the way to Baghdad now had to shift their thinking and action in order to conduct humanitarian assistance operations for Iraqi citizens whose homes, businesses, and families had been destroyed by the fighting. They also had to remain alert to the random violence of urban warfare. At the center of the story is General Buford “Buff” Blount, the U.S. Army two-star general who led the 3rd Infantry Division from its training base in Kuwait to capture Baghdad and dismantle the government of Saddam Hussein. Blount’s commitment to understanding local viewpoints shaped his attitude toward Baghdad and how he would instruct his troops to interact with Iraqi civilians. His years working in the Middle East had taught him that deep knowledge of the local scene was essential to a successful security mission, and so he was surprised when the 3rd Infantry Division, which had spent months in Baghdad, was recalled from Iraq at the end of 2003 and replaced by another Army unit whose members had no knowledge of the local situation, no language skills, and no cultural understanding of Iraqi attitudes and concerns. President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did not believe that peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance were worthwhile uses of a conventional combat force like the 3rd Infantry Division. The division had destroyed Hussein’s government. Mission accomplished, or so Bush and Rumsfeld thought. The story of Blount and the 3rd Infantry Division will take readers on a winding journey following U.S. diplomatic and military interventions in the Middle East from the late Cold War into the Global War on Terror. The story illustrates the long reach of the U.S. military, the limitations of nation building in the wake of war, and the tensions between policymakers in Washington, DC, and troops on the ground over the purpose and conduct of the U.S. invasion of Iraq
By:
Professor Heather Marie Stur
Imprint: Osprey
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 238mm,
Width: 158mm,
Spine: 32mm
Weight: 1.020kg
ISBN: 9781472853639
ISBN 10: 1472853636
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 03 January 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Prologue: 3rd Infantry Division – Rock of the Marne Historical background on the 3rd Infantry Division, which served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Operation Desert Storm before Gen. Buford Blount led the division into Baghdad in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Chapter 1: Preparing for War From its base in Kuwait, the 3rd ID readied itself for desert warfare and the possibility of encountering weapons of mass destruction. At the helm of the 3rd ID was General Buford “Buff” Blount, a general who had spent years in the Arabian desert and whose military pedigree dates back several generations. Chapter 2: Roots of War U.S. policymakers had been eyeing Saddam Hussein since the Iranian Revolution and subsequent tensions between Iran and Iraq. This chapter will explore the U.S. foreign policy and strategy towards the Middle East from the 1970s onward. Chapter 3: On the Road This chapter will tell the story of the 3rd Infantry Division’s route to Baghdad. Chapter 4: The Battle of Baghdad This chapter details the Battle of Baghdad, including the 3rd Infantry Division’s “thunder runs” and the taking of Hussein’s palace. Chapter 5: Liberation and Nation-building After the invasion of Iraq, Blount instructed his soldiers to engage with Iraqis and find ways to help them restore order as they made the post-Hussein political transition. Blount oversaw the 3rd Infantry Division’s work and was informally known as the “mayor of Baghdad.” Chapter 6: Fallujah Shortly after the fall of Baghdad, the 3rd Infantry Division took control of Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. Troops found residents more hostile than those in Baghdad, and their interactions foreshadowed the insurgencies that were to come in Iraq. Chapter 7: 3rd Infantry Division recalled In September 2003, the 3rd Infantry Division was recalled home. When the 82nd Airborne replaced the 3rd Infantry in Baghdad several months after the invasion, the newly-arrived officers and soldiers brought with them a “kick in the doors” mentality that saw every Iraqi as an enemy terrorist and destroyed the goodwill Blount and his soldiers had begun to build. Conclusion: Operation Iraqi Freedom The 3rd Infantry Division returned for two more tours without Gen. Blount.
Dr. Heather Marie Stur is a professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi and a senior fellow in USM’s Dale Center for the Study of War & Society. She is the author of: Saigon at War: South Vietnam and the Global Sixties (Cambridge, 2020), The U.S. Military and Civil Rights Since World War II (ABC-CLIO, 2019), and Beyond Combat: Women and Gender in the Vietnam War Era (Cambridge, 2011). She is also co-editor of Integrating the U.S. Military: Race, Gender, and Sexuality Since World War II (Johns Hopkins, 2017). Dr. Stur’s articles and op-eds have been published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the BBC, the National Interest, the Orange County Register, Diplomatic History, War & Society, and other journals and newspapers.
Reviews for 21 Days to Baghdad: General Buford Blount and the 3rd Infantry Division in the Iraq War
Accompanied by a series of informative maps, 21 Days to Baghdad is an interesting perspective on the Iraq War. * Classic Military Vehicle *
