The New York Times has a front page story on the Bamiyan Buddhas that the Taliban destroyed in the spring of 2001. At the time, I remember posting stories on this travesty, but the story never really seemed to generate the appropriate response that such an affront to civilization should have provoked. The giant Buddhas, constructed around 500-550AD, had stood for over 1,500 years before the Islamic fanatics had them blown to pieces, citing on an edict to destroy the "gods of infidels." Obviously, with hindsight, this was as clear a warning as any that the world was dealing with a level of religious fanaticism that was utterly incompatible with a civilized world.