www.newyorker.com/FROM_THE_ARCHIVE/ARCHIVES/?010924fr_archive05 As modern journalism sinks ever deeper into its spoon-feed-me mentality, William T. Vollman, a novelist and magazine reporter, actually does the hard research. Before embarking on an assignment to Afghanistan to find out what the Taliban is all about, he read the Koran, twice. Here's his 2000 New Yorker piece on a rocky, barren chunk of earth that last month became an export base for horrific crimes against humanity.

www.independent.co.uk/search.jsp?keywords=robert+fisk Ten years ago, Robert Fisk of the British newspaper The Independent was warning anyone who would listen that events and U.S. policy in the Middle East were pointing toward an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Of course, no one listens to liberal pinkos who dare go against U.S. policy, so the Gulf War ensued. The above URL brings you to a 10-page list of Fisk articles published before and after the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. For anyone wondering what could possibly breed the kind of hatred that manifests itself in so much unthinkable and unspeakable carnage, all the answers are right here.

www.esquire.com/features/articles/2001/010913_mfe_binladen_1.html Esquire has re-posted a 1999 article on Osama bin Laden; it is a reporter's sober portrait of a date with a monster.