Yes it was. I thought it was one of the best parts of the whole book. I bought the book wanting to immerse myself in the world of something I would never have the courage to do myself – a foreign affairs reporter in the world's hotspots.

I was disappointed however, that the bin Laden section was one of the very few that actually read like the adrenaline rush of such a reporter. Even all the minute details of which airline to catch, how to bribe locals to fax copy from hotels and so on really grabbed me.

His descriptions of bin Laden's mien, the transportation by bin Laden's flunkies, and most compellingly when he was sitiing in a tent and suddenly bin Laden burst in with a whispered proposition that Fisk wasn't sure whether it was a take it or leave it (life or death) offer to convert to their jihad.

All of that kind of stuff was great. As you no doubt know if you read this site regularly, my sympathies are not at all with the Islamists, but with Israel, the US, Australia, and the West in general. Still, that really would not affect my appreciation of a reporter's tales though.

Unfortunately, Fisk spent far too much time editorializing and sermonizing. I have quite a solid grasp of history and particularly international law. Fisk was totally at sea here and it was on these topics that he dropped his reportage and tried to turn historian. He failed.

Still, it is one of those books that one never puts back into the library. It is always lying around my house, and I'm always dipping into it.

It was most interesting, wasn't it? It would be nice to put them together again and read Fisk's account of the meeting. The questions he could ask! Assuming Usama is still alive that is.