Driving Around, Waiting to Get Blown Up: Hearts, Minds, and the Occupation of Iraq

Driving Around, Waiting to Get Blown Up is a war story for people who don't read war stories.

It candidly describes what the occupation of Iraq was like for one officer tasked with keeping his soldiers alive while also protecting the Iraqi people he was responsible for. It captures the daily routine for many of the American soldiers who served during Operation Iraqi Freedom: driving from village to village, talking to the local people, and waiting for the inevitable boom that signaled one of their Humvees had just been blown up.

This is the story of what happens when America decides to overthrow a government but then finds itself in charge of a country it doesn't understand and a population that views it not as liberators, but occupiers. This is what happens after "mission accomplished."