Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War. Very interesting. I had read the book and can remember as I was reading it--well into it in fact when I realized it was not fiction. And, then I could hardly believe it.

Charlie Wilson is this benign Congressman from Texas who comes off being dumb like a fox. In a weird sort of way, he gets recruited by this Texas socialite to help the Afghans defeat the Soviets who, as you remember, had taken over Afghanistan. Her interest and involvement is not very well defined in the movie but much better in the book. Her character played by Julia Roberts in the movie is mostly one of power and social climbing while using whatever or whomever is available. (I might be too harsh). Regardless, in this case, her cause happens to be a noble one at least at first blush.

Charlie mainly figures out how to funnel money to the tribes fighting the Russians. Charlie Wilson and his cohorts would routinely appropriate money for the Afghans, it was like monopoly money, i. e., play money. And, guess what? It was the taxpayers money.

Just a little history: Supposedly, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan to ensure that a pro-Soviet regime would be in power in the country. The Soviet invasion shocked the West. President Carter pulled us out of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. The Mujdeen, as the Afghan rebels were called, were fighting the Russians with WW l Springfield rifles.

Enter Charlie Wilson who, along with the rogue CIA agent, figured out how to arm the Afghan Guerrillas with heavy weaponry, mainly to shoot down the very lethal Soviet helicopters. Ultimately the Mujdeen fought the Soviets to a standstill. The Soviets withdrew, as Afghanistan had become the equivalent of America's Vietnam--a lost cause. And, some think, with the Soviets abandoning Afghanistan, it was the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire and the end of the cold war.

The rogue CIA agent, Gust, was more of a dominant figure in the book. CWW could be seen as a fairly philosophical view on America interfering in the affairs of other countries. Had not Charlie Wilson interfered, maybe the Russians would have stayed or kept a presence in Afghanistan and prevented the Taliban from taking over and thus we might have avoided 9-11; all speculation and history is written backward, never forward.

No more, less I spoil it.

When the credits began to roll, this statement flashed on the screen: "These things happened and we changed the world and then we fucked up the end game." Did we ever? Like Iraq, we never figured out how to deal with the peace. F....... up the endgame was not providing for education and the basics for a devastated Afghan (or Iraqi) society. However, I'm not sure it would have done it. Now, in hindsight, with all that has happened, meaning we are where we are in the course of history, maybe we're doing the best we can.