'tis given us, to inhabit song, dream, and story, and to shun the bloody fields of glory. 'tis given us, under eternity's scrutiny merciless, to show our true colour stainless...

seems the ocean of difference is well advanced in tempest...the ship of fool's...well advanced in shipwreck...the hosts of consequence...advancing from the emptiness...and the master chanting unconcerned

Bin Laden arrived in Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia in 1979, aged 22. Though he saw a considerable amount of combat – around the eastern city of Jalalabad in March 1989 and, earlier, around the border town of Khost – his speciality was logistics.



From his base in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, he used his experience of the construction trade, and his money, to build a series of bases where the mujahideen could be trained by their Pakistani, American and, if some recent press reports… Continue