CinemaNow - Investigative Reports - Two Young Americans: The CIA Agent and the Taliban

The encounter lasted just a few minutes. One American, John Walker Lindh, now known as the "American Taliban," knelt in the dust, his arms bound behind his back, refusing to speak. The other, CIA special agent Mike Spann, crouched before Walker Lindh and warned him that he could die if he did not cooperate. But it was Spann who was to die just a few hours later, when Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners launched a sudden and ferocious revolt. Days later, Walker Lindh was dragged out of a cellar, and brought to America to face charges that may end with his spending the rest of his life in jail. Mike Spann died a hero's death and was buried with full military honors at Arlington cemetery. But who were these two Americans? What led each man on their very different journeys through life that would end with that dramatic encounter in a shattered fort in Afghanistan, thousands of miles from their home. In a special investigation with The New York Times, Investigative Reports reveals the untold story of Mike Spann and John Walker Lindh, tracing their paths to that fatal intersection, and providing for the first time detailed answers to the questions: Why did one American side with the nation's enemies, while another was ready and willing to give his life for his country?