I remember the Bamiyan Buddhas-that was pre 9/11. Apparently it took the Taliban nearly a month to obliterate them. The destruction required an extraordinary effort, so complex that Pakistani and Arab explosives experts had to be brought in and local residents were forced to dangle on ropes over a cliff face to chip out holes for explosives. According to witnesses and participants, the Taliban struggled with ropes and pulleys, rockets, iron rods, jackhammers, artillery and tanks before a series of massive explosions finally toppled the statues.
The explosions also destroyed the adobe-and-wood Fatha mosque at the base of the sandstone cliff from which the Buddha was hewn. Hard to believe it actually happened. Sounds like a scripted Orc scene from Lord of the Rings
