History Channel 2 Hour Documentary Premier: The True Story of Charlie Wilson

Thanks for the post. I lived in Tanglewood a 1/2 mile from the Galleria Marriot on Westheimer, but it was an InterContinental Hotel back then. Anyway, I have to get out of here. This is my last post at FR until mid-January, I hope, *lol*. Be well!

Yes your right but perception is reality in the movie biz. This movie had a sizable budget and a all star cast but did not click with the audience. And yes it matters what a movie makes to the investors who put up the money. It’s all about the bucks!

The movie does not have a sizable actual budget and was produced for peanuts. I/we know this for a fact. The public posted production budget is more Soros Shadow Party crap, i.e. significantly inflate the payments to certain people and companies involved in the film, so they can donate a good chunk of it back to SSP front organizations. It's the oldest Hollywierd trick in the book. - FlA

Ahmad Shah Massoud was never involved with Osama bin Laden.

In fact he was assassinated by him on September 9, 2001.

It was Massoud's Northern Alliance that carried on a lonely war against the Taliban from 1993-October 2001 when the US boots hit the ground.

Pal I am not interested in the movie or it’s subject matter. I am strickly looking at it as to whether it makes money or not. Right now it’s not although down the road it might break even.
Lets not forget it was made by a very Liberal bunch with Aaron Sorkin writing the script. As a movie goer it just did not interest me.

So a $75 plus Million Dollar budget is not small? Also you figure in marketing, etc. and that film has to gross about $150 Million to break even. So you see now we are talking Big Bucks!

Libs see the tide turning...communism is going to be seen in the future as bad or worse than fascism.

Thus, Adam Sorkin's tricky propoganda ploy in this movie. Better try to find some Dem heroes quick to revise history.

Charlie Wilson...good for him. He fought a Dem congress for appropriations to fight the Cold War.

But Wilson is a sad minority in the Dem party who fought tooth and nail AGAINST fighting the Cold War....sorry Sorkin...it's true. (And unfortunately Wilson was poor on all other fronts.)

Having read the book and seen the film you would be wrong.

Seems that more and more people are agreeing with me.

Editorial: Reagan's War, Not Charlie Wilson's
Investor's Business Daily - Issues & Insights
December 24, 2007

Media Bias: Hollywood would have us believe that Democrats defeated the evil empire in Afghanistan, and that President Reagan played only a minor role and even helped pave the way to 9/11. If you think Hollywood's idea of a Christmas movie being one about the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan is strange, even stranger is the plot line. "Charlie Wilson's War," which opened Friday, manages to reduce the president who won the Cold War to a background footnote. Charlie Wilson was a pro-abortion, Equal Rights Amendment-supporting congressman widely known as "the liberal from Lufkin." To his credit, he did play a role in facilitating support to the Afghan mujahadeen. But it is he who should be the historical footnote.

In his book, "Ronald Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime" Lou Cannon notes how Reagan "expressed revulsion of the brutal destruction of Afghan villages and such Soviet policies as the scattering of mines disguised as toys that killed and maimed Afghan children." He did not need much convincing to aid the Afghan resistance. Cannon credits Undersecretary of Defense Fred Ikle and CIA Director William Casey with allaying any concern that providing Stinger missiles to the mujahadeen might lead to the missiles' capture and copying by the Soviets. Also involved, says Cannon, was a bipartisan coalition "led by Texas Democrat Charlie Wilson in the House and New Hampshire Republican Gordon Humphrey in the Senate." So you have at least five players, including Reagan, involved — four of them Republican conservatives. Ikle notes: "Senior people in the Reagan administration, the president, Bill Casey, (Defense Secretary Caspar) Weinberger and their aides deserve credit for the successful Afghan covert action program, not just Charlie Wilson." So guess which one Hollywood makes a movie about?

The movie is based on the book by former "60 Minutes" staffer George Crile [Deceased 5/15/06-MAR]. Crile's credits include the infamous 1982 CBS documentary alleging that Gen. William Westmoreland led a conspiracy to mislead America about the Vietnam War. The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin of "West Wing" fame. Wilson's chief ally in the film is CIA agent Gust Avrakotos who, like Wilson, is portrayed as a enthusiastic supporter of providing the Stingers. But Ikle says, the CIA bureaucracy initially fought against the idea and that Wilson was lukewarm on the matter. Ikle says both came around only after the rebels actually started bringing down the Soviet helicopter gunships. The movie also perpetuates the left-wing myth that the covert operation funded Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and ultimately led to the 9/11 attacks. Reagan-era officials such as Ikle say Osama never got funding or weapons from the U.S. and that he didn't launch his terror war until after U.S. involvement and the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

It was Ronald Reagan, not Charlie Wilson, who gave the order to provide the mujahadeen with the Stinger missiles that denied the Soviet air supremacy and turned the tide of battle after 1986. Yet in the movie, the likes of Dan Rather and Diane Sawyer (director Mike Nichol's wife) are more prominently mentioned. To be fair, the movie doesn't mention Jimmy Carter either. It was his naivete about Communist expansion that led the Soviets to invade Afghanistan in the first place. Had Reagan not beaten Carter in 1980 there would have been no Stingers and no victory in the Cold War. But don't expect a movie about Reagan's victory over communism or Carter's surrender to it.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=1&view=1&issue=20071224

Posted for FlAttorney by MAR

The Christian Science Monitor
Review: Comedic 'Charlie Wilson's War' Has a Tragic Punch
December 21, 2007

. . . . The question is how seriously should we take "Charlie Wilson's War." As political history, it's negligent: Charlie and Co. are such (covert) credit hogs that you'd never know that Reagan, or Gorbachev for that matter, had anything to do with the fall of Communism. It's also a bit troubling that all this Capitol Hill covertness is celebrated without the slightest irony. And when irony finally rears its ugly head and we are informed that the freedom fighters of then are the terrorists of today, it's too little, too late.

The filmmakers, just like everybody else he ever met, have been seduced by good time Charlie, and the seduction proves the film's undoing. His saga only retains its full-throated, black-comic force if viewed from the perspective of today's headlines. The way it's been done here, it's a success story without a punch line. Grade: B

FULL REVIEW

Posted for FlAttorney by MAR

Looking for a Christmas Movie? Charlie Wilson's War Delivers
Townhall by Matt Lewis
Monday, December 24, 2007

. . . And perhaps most disappointing is the film’s failure to give credit to the man who did the most to win the cold war, Ronald Reagan. This omission was clearly intentional (Tom Hanks, after all, is involved), and is corrected by Charlie Wilson himself, in the History Channel's historical perspective of the film. Nobody would have expected the movie to be about Reagan, but making a movie about winning the cold war that doesn’t reference Reagan is a bit like making a movie about the Revolutionary War that doesn’t reference George Washington.

Still, the film is well worth seeing, and viewers will be better for having seen it. While many heroes were involved in winning the cold war, the Afghanistan war is often viewed as the coup de grace for the Soviets. [snip]

FULL ARTICLE

<> <> <>

NewsMax Review: ‘Charlie Wilson's War’ Credits Democrat With Cold War End

. . . History indicates that a prominent conservative’s steadfast actions are what led to the Cold War end. It was the late great Ronald Reagan who was the key player in the engineering of U.S. victory following the prolonged tension-ridden period during which we were at odds with the then-Soviet Union. A current film once again illustrates that acknowledging Reagan’s triumphs doesn’t sit all that well with liberal Hollywood. [snip]

Posted for FlAttorney by MAR

I believe RR was one of the two or three greatest Presidents we’ve had. I also believe RR was a man that set a course through a consistent vision. I don’t think he was very involved with details.
The CIA in the early days of the build up in Afghanistan wanted nothing to do with Charlie and were pissed that he was meeting with Zia without them being present. CW pushed the CIA into a spot where they had no choice but to go along.
These are opinions from my reading everything I could find on Afghanistan, from during the 80’s until we entered the country in 2002.
I subscribe to the notion that; “Opinions are like Hemorrhoids, every asshole has one”.

Review: History Channel Documentary: "The True Story of Charlie Wilson"
The Wall Street Journal
By Nancy Dewolf Smith
December 21, 2007

. . . The gist of both accounts is that Mr. Wilson, a flagrantly hedonistic congressman from Texas, basically won the Cold War by almost single-handedly making sure that Afghan mujahideen got the money and weapons they needed to defeat the Soviet army. There is something offensive about this notion . . .

. . . "The True Story of Charlie Wilson" is full of holes, but on balance it is a fascinating account of how a few nutballs, in the right place at the right time, were able to affect the course of history. The documentary does give Ronald Reagan -- the only time he is mentioned here -- credit for ordering that Afghans receive the Stinger missiles which turned the tide of the war after 1986. Certainly, many other people in the U.S. and around the world, worked to support the Afghans. Without Mr. Wilson and his female helpers, however, it is possible that the wheels in Washington might have turned too slowly for the resistance to have survived as a viable force until 1986.

. . . At the end, "The True Story" tries to shoot down criticism that by arming the Afghans, Mr. Wilson gave us the Taliban and al Qaeda. What it doesn't say is that arming the Afghans was not the real mistake anyway -- recruiting and training Arabs was. Many resistance leaders and mujahideen argued passionately against the importation of foreign fighters, whom they neither wanted or needed, and generally loathed. The Afghans were vetoed by American and other officials who claimed that the Arabs were necessary to give the impression that this was a pan-Muslim jihad against Soviet communism, and not a Western war.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted for FlAttorney by MAR

How Joanne Herring won Charlie Wilson's War
The Sunday Daily Telegraph (UK) by Philip Sherwell
March 12, 2007

Joanne Herring in Afghanistan with the Mujahideen

Joanne Herring was a pampered Texan until she took to the mountains of Afghanistan to fight the Red Menace. As her astonishing story comes to the big screen, she talks to Philip Sherwell

Herring speaks in the slow, refined drawl of a Southern belle. With her svelte figure, surgeon-assisted features, dyed blonde hair and obligatory sunglasses, she looks far younger than her 78 years, as she drives around Houston's ritzy suburbs in a red Jaguar convertible, accompanied by her two bandana wearing black poodles. Thrice-married socialite, hostess, philanthropist, businesswoman, diplomat, television chat-show presenter and God-fearing ultra-conservative, Mrs Herring has been compared to a cross between Scarlett O'Hara and Dolly Parton in her various incarnations of Texan royalty. But the most extraordinary role in her remarkable life is about to be portrayed by Julia Roberts in a new Hollywood blockbuster, Charlie Wilson's War, to be released in America on December 21. For Mrs Herring also changed the course of history.

A few months after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, she smuggled herself into that mountainous land to film the atrocities that the Russian forces were inflicting as they strafed villages from helicopter gunships. Mrs Herring nearly became a casualty of those same tactics, surviving a helicopter attack by Soviet forces on their mujahideen foes while she was filming the battle with her combat photographer son, Robin King, and Charles Fawcett, an adventurer and movie-maker. The footage they brought back was pivotal in persuading America to arm secretly and fund the tribal warriors fighting the Red Army. The biggest covert war in history turned Afghanistan into Moscow's "Vietnam", culminating in humiliating defeat for the Kremlin and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Many times I wondered what a nice girl from Texas was doing in a place like that," she told The Sunday Telegraph last week. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would have ended up in the underbelly of the world fighting the demons of communism." She treasures a fading photograph that captures the bizarre incongruity of her mission. It shows her sitting demurely, looking as if she were dressed for a light lunch at the country club, with her coiffed hair, big glasses and neat cardigan and blouse, but she is surrounded by bearded, turbaned warriors toting automatic rifles in the bleak rocky terrain of Afghanistan.

On her return, she showed the film to Republican friends and political grandees, such as George Bush senior, the new vice-president under Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger and CIA chief William Casey.

Perhaps most significantly, she was dating Charlie Wilson, a flamboyant Texan congressman with a reputation as a hard-drinking playboy who was also a consummate Washington wheeler-dealer and influential member of the defence appropriations committee. Mrs Herring and Mr Wilson (played by Tom Hanks in the film) forged an alliance with a rule-bending CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to launch a clandestine international operation to back the mujahideen. The maverick triumvirate secured Israeli and Swiss arms, paid for by US and Saudi money, and smuggled them through Egypt, in deals struck while belly dancers deployed their seductive talents on visiting dignitaries in Arab capitals.

It is little wonder that the film by veteran director Mike Nichols, who won an Oscar for The Graduate in 1968, begins with the declaration: "Based on a true story. You think we could make this up?" The trailer tempts cinema-goers with the message: "A stiff drink. A little mascara. A lot of nerve. Who said they couldn't bring down the Soviet Empire." Mrs Herring will be given the red-carpet treatment at the film's premiere in Los Angeles and feted at a slew of parties next week, and she is delighted that their battle to halt the spread of communism is receiving the celluloid treatment. "I am very proud of what we did. We were a tight-knit network of anti-communists who loved our country and loved freedom," she says. "I hope people who come to watch this movie will leave with an appreciation of what we achieved."

She is also braced for her "tarty" depiction on the big screen. "It's not the real me, but Hollywood is Hollywood and I accept that. I love Julia Roberts, she's gorgeous and I'm sure she plays the part wonderfully." Is she worried about her reputation? "I've had a lot of bullets shot at me in my life, metaphorically and literally," she says, laughing again. "Nobody likes it, but I'm not worried about it." In fact, Mrs Herring won what she sees as a major victory earlier this year when she first saw the script. "I don't curse, I don't drink double Martinis and I don't jump in and out of hot-tubs with men," she insists. "I'm not that kind of girl. I'm a Christian." Mrs Herring deployed a high-powered Texan lawyer to argue her corner and Nichols agreed to cut the bad language, although the Martinis and the raciness are still there [GOP interests, backing Ms. Herring, hit NBC-Universal again with the threat of a lawsuit resulting in Universal cutting approximatly 42 minutes out of the movie - 12.15.07, FlA]. But the frostiness has healed and Mrs Herring was charmed when she visited the set and met Roberts ("so sweet") and Hanks ("a real gentleman and a patriot, I hear").

She entertains visitors with her easy-going charm in a condominium in the same affluent River Oaks district where she grew up as an only child. A lift takes guests straight into an elegant living-room decorated in French style, although it is a step down from the colonnaded mansions she once occupied. The "party girl" label has stuck with her, to her dismay. She dropped out of the University of Texas at age 20 to marry her first husband, the property developer Robert King, who she met at a debutante's ball. For her 30th birthday party, he threw a "Roman orgy" costume extravaganza, complete with a mock slave auction, that remains the stuff of Texas legend half a century later. It was captured for posterity by a photographer from Life magazine. The then Mrs King was the first of many to be thrown into the swimming pool during the celebrations.

She became a Houston institution as host of the daytime Joanne King Show on local television but she and Mr King parted company - he liked the quiet life and she craved excitement. Soon after her divorce, she met and won the heart of the oil tycoon Robert Herring - a relationship that was to change not just her life but the fate of the world. For, in the course of his international business travels, Mr Herring was offered the post of roving honorary consul representing Pakistan in America. He declined politely, but suggested his wife in his place. "I was a woman, of course, but they still wanted to get Bob to build his pipelines," she says. "They didn't really know what to do, but they ended up saying yes."

Mrs Herring threw herself into the role, learning about the culture of Pakistan and teaching villagers how to establish cottage industries for rugs and textiles. She also become a confidante of President Zia-ul-Haq, who brought the "red menace" threat to Mrs Herring's attention after the Soviet invasion. And so, with Mr Fawcett and her son, Robin, she ventured into Afghanistan on her fateful trip in 1980. She lays out the geopolitical realities of the time, lacing her analysis with her personal political loathing of communism. "I looked at the map and I saw that after Afghanistan, the Russians would want the warm-water ports of Pakistan," she explains. "And then it was just a short distance to the Straits of Hormuz. If they had managed to sink a couple of tankers there, they could have crippled the US economy. "But, at that time, people didn't want to know about it in America. No one cared about Afghanistan. It was just some rocky mountains to the folks in Washington."

Shortly after her return to the US, another twist of fate intervened. Her beloved husband died of lung cancer and, after a period of mourning, she struck up a relationship with Mr Wilson, a fellow Texan, nicknamed "Good Time Charlie" for his partying lifestyle. Even under President Reagan, the US did not at this stage want an open confrontation with Moscow, so the congressman, the socialite and the CIA chief developed their own clandestine network. "The Americans, the British, the French and Middle Eastern governments were all involved, but surreptitiously," says Mrs Herring. "We even cornered the market on mules along the Pakistani-Afghan border to take the weapons in." The operation helped turn the tide of the war as the mujahideen could then bring down Hind choppers with their shoulder-held missiles, depriving the Russians of the air invincibility that was so crucial in the mountainous country.

It was these anti-Soviet Islamic forces, with their foreign volunteers, such as Osama bin Laden, that later turned into al-Qaeda, the fanatical organisation responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on America. But Mrs Herring is dismissive of the suggestion that her actions helped create a "terrorist Frankenstein", as some have argued. It's the stupidest thing I ever heard. Why were we there? Who were we fighting? We were fighting the Russians and we beat the Russians. You cannot predict the future but we won the war we went to fight. "We did not make al-Qaeda. But we abandoned the Afghans and we've betrayed the Palestinians, and some extremists have exploited that. Certain so-called holy men - and that's spelt t-h-u-g-s - exploited this issue because they want power and money."

Mrs Herring and Mr Wilson split up but remain friendly. The former congressman, now 74, who was a consultant on the film and had a heart transplant in September, recently told an interviewer: "Joanne is a very difficult woman to say no to." She, meanwhile, married her third husband, the millionaire businessman Lloyd Davis, but they divorced in 2005. Joanne Herring is still excited by the memories of those daring days and fascinated by the intrigues of international affairs. "It's such a tragedy that women cannot talk about politics in an intellectual way without people suspecting they have some other agenda," she laments. Their story remained largely unknown until the publication in 2003 of the book Charlie Wilson's War by the late George Crile, an American television news producer.

Mrs Herring is enjoying her time in the spotlight and it may not be over yet. She is writing her memoirs and Universal Studios is considering turning her astonishing life into a sequel. [This was part of the no-lawsuit settlement agreement with NBC-Universal i.e. for them to render a compensated option agreement re first production rights on Joanne memoirs. - 12.15.07, FlA]

As they say, you couldn't make it up.
----------
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/02/nrherring102.xml

Posted for FlAttorney by MAR

“How Joanne Herring won Charlie Wilson’s War”

Now that’s the movie I’d love to see. No need for ultra-liberal mega-stars, but with this great story it should do great in box-office.

It could be great if it touches briefly on post-Soviet era in Afghanistan along the lines in this (historically true and accurate) post :
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944041/posts?page=85#85

And you might enjoy this post :
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944041/posts?page=34#34

Good job on securing the option!

Posted for FlAttorney by TAB

The CIA Agent behind 'Charlie Wilson's War'
The Journal News by Richard Lardner
December 26, 2007

Michael G. Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations/low-intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities, speaks in a November interview at the Pentagon.

With his owlish glasses and nasally voice, Mike Vickers isn't Hollywood's version of an international man of mystery. Yet this ex-Green Beret and former CIA agent engineered the clandestine arming of Afghan rebels who drove the Soviet Union out of their country nearly a quarter century ago in what was the largest covert action in the spy agency's history. The critical role Vickers played gets only modest attention in "Charlie Wilson's War," a movie about former Democratic Rep. Charlie Wilson of Texas, a Scotch guzzling playboy whose backroom scheming plunged the United States into the risky venture against the world's other superpower. The movie opens today. Vickers is played by Christopher Denham.

Unlike Wilson, who retired from Congress in 1996, Vickers remains deeply involved in secret programs. Now the Pentagon's top special operations official, Vickers advises Defense Secretary Robert Gates on counterterrorism missions around the world, manages the budget for U.S. commando forces and mediates the inevitable disputes among the generals over the best way to track down the enemy. In 1984, at age 31, Vickers was selected for the Afghan assignment despite his rookie status at the agency. His patron, a rogue CIA manager named Gust Avrakotos, recognized his talent for conducting guerrilla warfare. "Just lucky breaks," Vickers said in a recent interview.

Using his Green Beret training, Vickers transformed the Afghan resistance into a serious campaign that became the Soviet Union's Vietnam. As the war chest supplied by Wilson grew to hundreds of millions of dollars, Vickers delivered an increasingly more sophisticated arsenal to the Afghans: Russian AK-47 assault rifles with million of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and, eventually, U.S.-made Stinger missiles to down the deadly Soviet helicopters. The Soviets spent a decade battling the determined mujahedeen before pulling the battered Red Army from Afghanistan in 1989. Two years later, its economy in shambles, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War was all but over. "Nobody thought this was possible at all - to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan," Vickers said. "People thought we could bleed them some. It was a very improbable event, but sometimes the improbable happens."

Stealthy wars always have unintended consequences, however. Following the Soviet retreat, civil wars erupted, the Taliban took hold, and the country, flush with weapons, became a safe haven for Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, which were carried out by terrorists trained in Afghanistan, U.S. forces would invade the country they once helped liberate.

Vickers, 54, was born in Burbank, Calif., the son of a master carpenter who once built movie sets for 20th Century Fox. In 1973, he enlisted in the Army and passed the Special Forces qualification test. When he was not parachuting from airplanes in the middle of the night, he was training with the Navy SEALs to become a combat diver. As Vickers was earning his stripes, the U.S. military was preparing for the possibility of an atomic confrontation with the Soviets during the Cold War. Vickers volunteered to be on a secret "Green Light" team that - if needed - would drop into enemy territory with a small nuclear device. Once the bomb was planted and the timer set, they would head out to sea to be picked up by submarine. In 1983, after leading a classified counterterrorism unit operating in Honduras, Vickers left the Army for the CIA, a move he attributes to the "impulsiveness of youth." Vickers earned an award for valor during the invasion of Grenada and served on an agency team sent to hunt down the radical group behind the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.

Even years later, Vickers does not give too many details about these assignments. "I can't talk a lot about that," he said when asked about his tour in Honduras. The Afghan program was running smoothly enough in 1986 for Vickers to think about the future. Avrakotos and other close colleagues were soon to shift assignments and Vickers realized he probably would be moved to a new post that would be dull by comparison. "I was just turning 33, and I didn't want to slow down," he said. Vickers left the agency, earned a master's degree in business from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and began a brief and not-so-brilliant entrepreneurial career. By the early 1990s, Vickers was working as a military affairs consultant. Eventually he joined the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank.

The Pentagon often came to him for advice when he was at the center. Two years ago, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld tapped Vickers and two retired Army generals to examine how U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., could improve the way it was handling the fight against terrorism. In April, President Bush nominated Vickers to be the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. Used to being in the shadows, the experience of being a character in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" is an odd one for Vickers. With Wilson's colorful past and his CIA patron Avrakotos' fondness for four-letter words, Vickers had to assure his wife, Melana, the film's R-rating wasn't because of him. "She told me that if there were any sex scenes in the movie with a character named Mike Vickers, I'd be dead meat," he said.

# # #

Mr. Michael G. Vickers, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict & Interdependent Capabilities (SO/LIC&IC) - SourceWatch Bio

CURRENT ASSIGNMENTS: Michael G. (“Mike”) Vickers was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict & Interdependent Capabilities) on July 23, 2007. He is the senior civilian advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on the capabilities and operational employment of special operations forces, strategic forces, and conventional forces. He is also the senior civilian advisor on counterterrorism strategy, irregular warfare, and force transformation.

PAST EXPERIENCES: Prior to his appointment as ASD (SO/LIC&IC), Mr. Vickers served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Studies, at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). In this capacity, Mr. Vickers provided advice on Iraq strategy to President Bush and his war cabinet. He also was a senior advisor to the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, and Executive Director of the QDR “Red Team,” which provided an assessment of the QDR for the Deputy Secretary and Vice Chairman. In late 2005, Mr. Vickers conducted an independent assessment of special operations forces (“The Downing Report”) for the Secretary of Defense. He is the author of numerous publications, among which is “The Revolution in War” (2004).

From 1973 to 1986, Mr. Vickers served as an Army Special Forces Non-Commissioned Officer, Special Forces Officer, and CIA Operations Officer. During this period, Mr. Vickers had operational and combat experience in Central America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia. His operational experience spans covert action and espionage, unconventional warfare, counterterrorism (including hostage rescue operations), counterinsurgency, and foreign internal defense.

During the mid-1980s, Mr. Vickers was the principal strategist for the largest covert action program in the CIA’s history: the paramilitary operation that drove the Soviet army out of Afghanistan. Mr. Vickers oversaw a major change in U.S. strategy, provided strategic and operational direction to an insurgent force of more than 300 unit commanders, 150,000 full-time fighters, and 500,000 part-time fighters, coordinated the efforts of more than ten foreign governments, and controlled an annual budget in excess of $2 billion in current dollars.

Mr. Vickers received his B.A., with honors, from the University of Alabama. He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is married to Melana Zyla Vickers, and has five daughters.

Posted for FlAttorney by TAB

Mike Vickers bump

Political Donations for "Charlie Wilson's War" screenplay writer Aaron Sorkin - $123,000, director Mike Nichols - $6,900, and top billed actor Tom Hanks - $45,800. None of these three individuals donated to a Republican candidate or cause. 12.10.07, FlA # Posted for FlAttorney by TAB

Aaron Sorkin , 46 (bio)
screenwriter, producer

$115,000	Democrat
$8,000	special interest
total: $123,000

Contributor

Candidate or PAC

Amount

Date

FEC Filing

Sorkin, Aaron
Burbank , CA 91522
Warner Bros./Writer/Producer

OUR COMMON VALUES PAC

$2,500
primary

06/30/07

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles , CA 90024
Self/Writer

PELOSI, NANCY (D)
House (CA 08)
NANCY PELOSI FOR CONGRESS

$2,300
general

06/14/07

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles , CA 90024
Self/Writer

PELOSI, NANCY (D)
House (CA 08)
NANCY PELOSI FOR CONGRESS

$2,300
primary

06/14/07

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Colvin Road/Writer

MIDWEST VALUES PAC (MVP)

$1,000
primary

06/29/06

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Warner Bros./Writer

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D)

$2,000
primary

06/27/06

Sorkin, Aaron
Burbank, CA 91522
Warner Bros./Writer/Producer

OUR COMMON VALUES PAC

$2,500
general

06/12/06

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Warner Bros./Writer

PROGRESSIVE PATRIOTS FUND

$1,000
primary

04/24/06

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Warner Bros./Writer

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D)

$2,000
primary

02/23/06

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
COLVIN ROAD ENTERTAINMENT, INC./WRI

KENNEDY, EDWARD MOORE SENATOR (D)
Senate - DC
KENNEDY FOR SENATE 2012

$2,100
primary

11/15/05

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
COLVIN ROAD ENTERTAINMENT, INC./WRI

KENNEDY, EDWARD MOORE SENATOR (D)
Senate - DC
KENNEDY FOR SENATE 2012

$2,100
general

11/15/05

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Warner Bros./Writer

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D)

$1,700
primary

09/30/05

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Colvin Road Entertainment Inc./Writ

PAC FOR A CHANGE (D)

$5,000
primary

03/25/05

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Warner Bros./Writer

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D)

$25,000
primary

03/08/05

Sorkin, Aaron
Burbank, CA 91522
Warner Bros./Writer/Producer

OUR COMMON VALUES PAC

$1,000
general

10/16/04

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Self/Writer

TROUTMAN, NANCY ELIZABETH "BETH" (D)
House (NC 08)
BETH TROUTMAN FOR CONGRESS

$2,000
general

10/12/04

Sorkin, Aaron
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Warner Bros./Producer

MARKEY, EDWARD J MR. (D)
House (MA 07)
MARKEY COMMITTEE, THE

$2,000
primary

06/28/04

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
WEST WING

BOXER, BARBARA (D)
Senate - CA
BOXER / DSCC '04

$500
primary

06/24/04

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Self/Writer

TROUTMAN, NANCY ELIZABETH "BETH" (D)
House (NC 08)
BETH TROUTMAN FOR CONGRESS

$2,000
primary

06/18/04

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Warner Bros./Writer

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D)

$25,000
primary

03/25/04

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
WRITER/PRODUCER

BOXER, BARBARA (D)
Senate - CA
BOXER / DSCC '04

$5,000
primary

10/30/03

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Kingsbridge Eat./Writer

CLARK, WESLEY K (D)
President
CLARK FOR PRESIDENT INC.

$2,000
primary

09/30/03

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Self employed/Writer

EDWARDS, JOHN (D)
President
EDWARDS FOR PRESIDENT

$2,000
primary

09/30/03

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
West Wing/Writer

GEPHARDT, RICHARD A (D)
President
GEPHARDT FOR PRESIDENT INC.

$2,000
primary

05/28/03

Sorkin, Aaron
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Self employed/Writer

DEAN, HOWARD (D)
President
DEAN FOR AMERICA

$1,000
primary

05/08/03

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES , CA 90024

BAYH, EVAN (D)
Senate - IN
EVAN BAYH COMMITTEE

$1,000
primary

03/27/03

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES , CA 90024
WEST WING

BOXER, BARBARA (D)
Senate - CA
BOXER / DSCC '04

$10,000
primary

02/13/03

Sorkin, Aaron
Burbank, CA 91522
Warner Bros./Writer/Producer

EMANUEL, RAHM (D)
House (IL 05)
FRIENDS OF RAHM EMANUEL

$1,000
primary

12/10/01

Sorkin, Aaron
Burbank, CA 91522
Warner Bros./Writer/Producer

EMANUEL, RAHM (D)
House (IL 05)
FRIENDS OF RAHM EMANUEL

$1,000
general

12/10/01

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
WRITER & DIRECTOR

BIDEN, JOSEPH R JR (D)
Senate - DE
CITIZENS FOR BIDEN

$1,000
primary

12/03/01

SORKIN, AARON
STUDIO CITY, CA 91604
WEST WING

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE - CONTRIBUTIONS (D)

$10,000
primary

10/09/00

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
KINGSBRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT LTD

SCHIFF, ADAM (D)
House (CA 29)
SCHIFF FOR CONGRESS

$1,000
primary

03/02/00

Sorkin, Aaron Mr.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Sports Night

BRADLEY, BILL (D)
President
BILL BRADLEY FOR PRESIDENT INC

$1,000
primary

06/29/99

SORKIN, AARON
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
WEST WING

KENNEDY, EDWARD MOORE SENATOR (D)
Senate - DC
KENNEDY FOR SENATE 2000

$1,000
primary

06/17/99

Tom Hanks , 51 (bio)
actor

$45,300	Democrat
$500	special interest
total: $45,800

Contributor

Candidate or PAC

Amount

Date

FEC Filing

Hanks, Thomas J
Beverly Hills , CA 90211
Self employed/Actor

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM (D)
President
HILLARY CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT

$2,300
primary

05/03/07

Hanks, Tom
Beverly Hills , CA 90211
Self employed/Actor

OBAMA, BARACK (D)
President
OBAMA FOR AMERICA

$2,300
primary

03/21/07

HANKS, TOM J
BEVERLY HILLS , CA 90211
SELF-EMPLOYED/ACTOR

FRANKEN, AL (DFL)
Senate - MN
AL FRANKEN FOR SENATE

$2,300
general

03/15/07

HANKS, TOM J
BEVERLY HILLS , CA 90211
SELF-EMPLOYED/ACTOR

FRANKEN, AL (DFL)
Senate - MN
AL FRANKEN FOR SENATE

$2,300
primary

03/15/07

Hanks, Tom
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Self-employed/Actor

KENNEDY, PATRICK J (D)
House (RI 01)
FRIENDS OF PATRICK J. KENNEDY INC.

$250
general

09/19/06

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90069
SELF/ACTOR

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM (D)
Senate - NY
FRIENDS OF HILLARY

$2,100
primary

04/20/06

Hanks, Tom
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Tom Hanks/Actor

WAXMAN, HENRY A. (D)
House (MD 30)
CONGRESSMAN WAXMAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

$500
primary

12/12/05

Hanks, Tom
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Self/Actor

ENVIRONMENT2004 INC PAC

$500
primary

10/08/04

Hanks, Tom
Los Angeles, CA 90069

KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC

$2,000
primary

03/10/04

HANKS, TOM
LOS ANGELES, CA 90000
ACTOR/DIRECTOR

DNC SERVICES CORPORATION/DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE (D)

$10,000
primary

09/30/00

HANKS, TOM
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90069
ACTOR

LICHT, RICHARD A (D)
Senate - RI
LICHT 2000 COMMITTEE

$500
primary

09/11/00

Hanks, Tom Mr.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Self employed/Actor/Director

GORE, AL (D)
President
GORE/LIEBERMAN GENERAL ELECTION LEGAL AND ACCOUNTING COMPLIANCE FUND

$1,000
general

09/07/00

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90069
ACTOR

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM (D)
Senate - NY
NEW YORK SENATE 2000

$5,000
primary

03/21/00

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90069
ACTOR

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM (D)
Senate - NY
NEW YORK SENATE 2000

$2,500
primary

11/19/99

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90069

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE - CONTRIBUTIONS (D)

$500
primary

10/19/99

Hanks, Tom Mr.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Self employed/Actor/Director

GORE, AL (D)
President
GORE 2000 INC

$1,000
primary

10/08/99

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90069
ACTOR

MAJORITY 2000 (D)

$5,000
primary

05/20/99

Hanks, Tom Mr.
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Self employed

GORE, AL (D)
President
GORE 2000 INC

$1,000
primary

04/13/99

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90069

DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D)

$500
primary

10/20/98

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049

DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D)

$500
primary

09/16/98

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
ACTOR

GRAHAM, BOB (D)
Senate - FL
FRIENDS OF BOB GRAHAM COMMITTEE

$1,000
general

03/20/98

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
ACTOR

GRAHAM, BOB (D)
Senate - FL
FRIENDS OF BOB GRAHAM COMMITTEE

$1,000
primary

03/20/98

HANKS, TOM
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
ACTOR

FEINSTEIN, DIANNE (D)
Senate - CA
FEINSTEIN FOR SENATE '94

$500
general

06/05/97

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
CLAIRUS BASE ZINC

ZBUR, RICK (D)
House (CA 38)
RICK ZBUR FOR CONGRESS

$500
general

10/23/96

HANKS, THOMAS J
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
ACTOR

CLINTON, WILLIAM JEFFERSON (D)
President
CLINTON/GORE '96 PRIMARY COMMITTEE INC

$250
primary

05/15/95

HANKS, TOM
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
ACTOR

FEINSTEIN, DIANNE (D)
Senate - CA
FEINSTEIN FOR SENATE '94

$500
general

10/26/94

Mike Nichols , 76 (bio)
filmmaker

$3,500	Democrat
$3,400	special interest
total: $6,900

Contributor

Candidate or PAC

Amount

Date

FEC Filing

Nichols, Mike
New York, NY 10022
Self-Employed/Director

DGA-PAC THE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA INC.

$1,200
primary

07/24/03

Nichols, Mike
New York, NY 10022
Self-Employed/Director

DGA-PAC THE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA INC.

$1,200
primary

07/16/02

NICHOLS, MIKE
NEW YORK, NY 10022

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM (D)
Senate - NY
NEW YORK SENATE 2000

$2,500
primary

09/28/00

NICHOLS, MIKE
NEW YORK, NY 10021

FREEZE VOTER

$500
primary

10/01/84

NICHOLS, MIKE
NEW YORK, NY 10028
ICARUS PRODUCTIONS

BRADLEY, BILL (D)
Senate - NJ
BILL BRADLEY FOR U.S. SENATE '84

$500
primary

06/08/84

NICHOLS, MIKE
NEW YORK, NY 10028
AUTHOR

CRANSTON, ALAN (D)
President
CRANSTON FOR PRESIDENT COMMITTEE INC

$500
primary

06/06/83

NICHOLS, MIKE
NEW YORK, NY 10028
SELF-EMPLOYED

WOMEN'S ACTION FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT(WAND)

$500
primary

08/19/82