An authoritative military history of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in Operation \nIraqi Freedom, describing the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the siege and fall of Baghdad, \nand the nation-building mission that followed. \nIn 21 Days to Baghdad, historian Dr. Heather Stur describes the commitment of the \ndivision to Kuwait, the invasion of Iraq and the three weeks of violent desert conflicts on \nthe way to Baghdad before the siege and battle for the city itself, and the “thunder runs” \nthat saw its fall to U.S. forces. She then details the complex security mission that \nrequired the soldiers and their commanders to convince Iraqi citizens that the U.S. was \nthere to help them, while at the same time they continued fighting Saddam Hussein’s \nelite Republican Guard, paramilitary forces, and terrorists. \nThis new history is based on exclusive, extensive interviews with General Buford “Buff” \nBlount, the U.S. Army two-star general who led the 3rd Infantry Division. His years of \nexperience in the Middle East led him to question the recall of his division from Iraq at \nthe end of 2003 and its replacement by a less experienced unit. President George W. \nBush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did not believe that peacekeeping and \nhumanitarian assistance were worthwhile uses of a conventional combat force like the \n3rd Infantry Division. The division had destroyed Hussein’s government. Mission \naccomplished, or so Bush and Rumsfeld thought. \n21 Days to Baghdad illustrates the long reach of the U.S. military, the limitations of \nnation building in the wake of war, and the tensions between policymakers in \nWashington, DC, and troops on the ground over the purpose and conduct of the U.S. \ninvasion of Iraq.