Among those left cowering in the basement as American commandos hunted the bombers was Norway's foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, who had been holding a meeting in a place seen as secure.

ECONOMIST: A bombing in Kabul

One of the committed jihadis who came out of that basement, wounded and unrepentant, was "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, now serving a 20-year sentence in a federal prison.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Gitmo's guerilla lawyers

Far from being the territory of pasty-faced basement dwellers, video games have become the dominant form of American entertainment.

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