Babylon by Bus

I love the approach. as a fellow traveller and adventurist, I felt jealous reading through the good times, hard times, and strange times these two young people come across. It's a escape and completely trendy approach to what had been going on in Iraq, pre-Abu Girab

This book, while edgy and occasionally sarcastic, was a breath of fresh air this summer. With raw wit and crystal vision, Ray and Jeff have been able to capture a moment in time that most will never experience. Thank you for sharing your first hand account of your experiences. There were many laughs and many tears.

This book was a serendipitous discovery and is a very enjoyable and enlightening read. On one level it's a riveting and picaresque tale of modern day Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer-like adventures; on a more serious level it is good cultural history of how the US dug itself ever deeper into a hole from which there seems little chance of a happy return.Great summer reading.One laughs and cries simultaneously.

I can't remember how this book was brought to my attention, but I am glad that it was. I took a break from "Cobra II", "Fiasco", and other "big books" about the war to get these guys' "off the beaten path" perspective. I'm a longtime independent traveler and, although Baghdad is not on my list of current destinations, I can readily understand how and why these guys blundered into Baghdad. The book is great fun because of the "slacker" attitude and the perspective that's outside the usual journalistic channels. My guess is that "the guys" had a lot of help writing this. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little embellishing, but I'd also guess that some of the wildest stories are the most credible. Essentially, two professional screw-ups decided that their love of dangerous destinations warranted a trip to Baghdad. Despite the security measures in place there, the guys made it across the border and took up residence, initially outside the Green Zone. The book is full of soldiers of fortune, NGO workers, courageous Iraqis, and the mix of US military personnel, embassy types, military contractors, and journalists. The guys eventually wind up running a small aid operation as part of the effort to set up a viable NGO infrastructure in the country. The book's strengths include its first hand descriptions of the Green Zone and non-Green Zone Baghdad, the guys' interactions with ordinary Iraqis and their perspectives on some of the "innovations" in Iraq (e.g., reliance on contractors, national guard, and Hertiage Foundations-connected interns). They also mention the little discussed problems of drug use among the military (and just about everyone else), particularly steroids, stimulants, and benzodiazepines. The book is unflattering in its description of the occupation administration and the military contractors (who operate in a legal grey zone) come off as arrogant and troublesome for the occupation, while the national guardsmen come off as dolts. Other books such as Crawford's "The Last True Story.." paint a different picture of guardsmen (Crawford was in the Army National Guard himself, and is one of the few accounts to talk about drug use among the military), but the view of the contractors seems consistent with other sources. The book clearly goes for the absurd and other accounts would suggest that they probably had much from which to choose. Along the way, the guys befriend a variety of soldiers, embassy folks, NGO types (Iraqi and Western), and ordinary locals. They largely stumble into doing aid work and the lead author comes to enjoy it and develop some expertise. Along the way, friends die or slip into substance abuse or insanity, and the whole seen finally becomes too much. The book is a vivid adventure and great fun in places, although one never loses sight of where this all takes place. Even if you know that the war has become a "fiasco", that interns from the Heritage Foundation aren't the way to rebuild a country, and that Baghda

BABYLON BY BUS is for any counter-culture reader or autobiography fan who wants something different: a kind of Kerouac bus trip extended overseas to Iraq. The two young, directionless American men went to Baghdad in 2003 in search of truth and adventure, giving up their jobs selling 'Yankees Suck' t-shirts at Fenway and becoming volunteers for the U.S. Government Coalition's Provisional Authority. BABYLON BY BUS recounts their eye-opening new duties as volunteers, which allowed them access to the streets of Baghdad and gave them insights unique outside of the occupying forces. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch