(REPOST)
I too, watched the History Channel’s slant on Charlie Wilson and was glad that I did. It saved me from even entertaining the thought of going to see it in the theaters or buying it when it comes out on DVD.
In my opinion, it should have titled “Joanne Herring’s War”. She played Charlie Wilson weaknesses like a fiddle which led Wilson to play ANOTHER liberal (Doc Long) who held the purse strings to the needed funding.
While Wilson was driving around in a drunken stupor and ending up in a hit and run, she was in Paris setting up things up to bait Doc Long with all the things it takes to entice any corrupt politician, wine, women and excess.
In the end, who really defeated the soviets in Afghanistan? It was same man who broke the back of the Soviet Union and communism...Ronald Reagan.
The acting might be good in this ludicrous depiction of Hollywood’s version of history but it should be labeled “For Entertainment Purposes Only”.
17 posted on 12/23/2007 7:40:49 AM EST by RetSignman (DEMSM: “If you tell a big enough lie, frequently enough, it becomes the truth”
You nailed it, particularly on Joanne Herring’s role in it. “Joanne Herring’s War” has a good ring to it, and much closer to what we saw in the movie that happened in this particular part - getting Congressional funding - of overall covert effort.
Charlie Wilson “won the war” in the same sense that Al Gore “invented the Internet”, i.e. “took the initiative in creating the Internet” - he voted for and called for funding for advancement of ARPANET / NSFnet within the NSF budget. Al Gore was “influenced” by a report written by real inventors Bob Kahn, Vince Cerf, Leonard Kleinrock, Larry Roberts et al - “Towards a National Research Network.”