Atticus   

“Consider that in 1983 Hezbollah agents with links to the Iranian government drove a truck bomb into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, and killed 241 servicemen. Now imagine that same scenario but with Iran as an American ally rather than as her sworn enemy. You have just imagined the current situation with Pakistan … Not only is the Pakistani military allowing the Taliban to operate freely in Pakistani territory, this man said, but they themselves are training some of the Taliban recruits.”

That’s a quote from “America’s Forgotten War,” more excellent war reporting from Sebastian Junger in April’s Vanity Fair that I took home from the office this weekend after seeing a teaser for the story on the cover. You can read it yourself online.

A couple of weeks ago I stayed up later than I’m willing to admit to finish C.J. Shivers’ riveting piece “The School” in the latest issue of Esquire. It’s a detailed account of the Chechen terrorists’ attack on the first day of school in Beslan, Russia, in September 2004. If you’re interested, you can find an excerpt as well as video footage at esquire.com.

Though not terrorist-related, an equally interesting piece in yesterday’s The New York Times Magazine by Andrew Rice, “The Long Interrogation,” gives support to the Bible verse claiming your sins will find you out. A man who ordered the killing and torture of Ethiopians during that country’s Red Terror came face to face with justice years later when he emigrated to America and took a job in Atlanta’s Colony Square Hotel, where one of his previous victims was also working.