Wilson applauds his 'War'

Washington Times ^ | April 28, 2008 | Christian Toto

[Tailgunner Joe]

Former Rep. Charles Wilson played no official role in the making of last year's film "Charlie Wilson's War," which chronicled how he helped the Mujahedeen repel the invading Soviet army in the 1980s.

If the Texas Democrat had participated, it's clear he would have cast an actor to portray a figure all but ignored in Mike Nichols' production — President Reagan.

"He was absolutely essential to the victory," over the Soviets in Afghanistan, Mr. Wilson says during a phone interview to promote "War," out on DVD this week. ...

Mr. Wilson's work, by all accounts, helped bring about the Soviet's eventual retreat, hastening the end of the Cold War. But other players were just as important to the Soviet's defeat, even if they weren't seen in the Oscar-nominated film.

"If it hadn't been for [Mr. Reagan], there wouldn't have been any Stingers," Mr. Wilson says of the missiles that helped turn the tide in Afghanistan's favor. ...

"Charlie Wilson's War" ends with a cautionary note about the lack of follow-through that left a power vacuum in Afghanistan.

"The American people are a generous people, a creative people, a can-do people, but we have the world's shortest attention span," he says, a lesson he hopes will be applied to the current Iraq war.

"Learn from it. Finish the job," he notes, adding that the United States owes it to Iraq to reconstruct the battered nation. "We must at least try."

Mr. Wilson is less sanguine about the current impasse in the U.S. political system, which he says would have made his work arming the Mujahedeen impossible.

"We couldn't ever fight this war again," he says. "We did the whole thing without a serious leak to the press and without partisan games."

[Tallguy]

Achmed Shah Massood.

[discostu]

It might have been a problem. The biggest problem we’d have had, the one that I think is the excuse used to do nothing, is that we officially had nothing to do with the Mujahadeen and stepping in would have broken that official designation. We lead a weird double life in that one, everybody knew we were involved, members of the American press even went over and talked to rebels and telecast stuff where they pretty much admitted where the weapons were coming from; but OFFICIALLY none of that was the case, officially we had nothing to do with it and didn’t know what any of these reporters were talking about. It was one of the most open secrets in US history.

It’s very possible the American people might not have supported it, much like many don’t support doing that in Afghanistan and Iraq now. It also very well might have failed. All these possibilities are there, the one thing I know for certain though is that I’d be much more impressed with our Cold War victory if we’d at least have tried.

[LS]

That be him.