Everything changed on September 11, 2001. It’s become an American truism. And for many, it’s also absolutely true. It certainly was the case for Tom Engelhardt. He was roughly seven miles north of the World Trade Center that morning and that’s about the furthest he’s been from it since.

President Barack Obama faces pressure from a number of different directions as September 11 and the planned burning of the Quran at Dove World Outreach Center draw closer. It can be assured that no matter what response he chooses, that response will face strong opposition. Because many of his previous actions can be interpreted in terms of which fear controlled the response, it is informative to look at the pressures he will be facing in this situation and how fear when facing those same pressures has controlled his past behavior.

And if your religion can’t stop Satan or the Devil or El Diablo or whatever magical evil force you’ve conjured to frighten the rubes — well, neither can Mr Law. Listen up, unenlightened ones: YOUR FEARS ARE NOT ENOUGH.

In 2007 and 2008 Junger and his photographer Tim Hetherington spent several months living with a platoon of U.S. Army paratroopers in eastern Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. At one point during a spike in the fighting, the 30 young men of Junger’s Second Platoon — part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Italy — accounted for around a third of all the combat experienced by the 160,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan. Half of the platoon fell dead or wounded. Others suffered psychological injuries.