Charlie Wilson was an aimless and directionless Democratic Congressman into little more than hookers and blow until he was spurred to action by God-fearing conservative and commie basher Texan Joanne Herring. In uncompromising terms, the film lays out the moral failure and weak-willed incompetence of the Carter Administration (like the later military incompetent Clinton Admin) in recognizing the real threat that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan posed. Here was a Carter Administration that armed Afghan resistence with pop guns.
The film makes a very good point. Once a liberal Congress lined up behind Ronald Reagan, they brought an end to a global ideology that threatened world security. I thought it was particularly bold in the way that it endorsed the idea that covert action in such instances is very effective. The way it exposes how the Democrats in Congress weren't even willing to fund $1 million in building Afghan schools was a courageous tactic for this film to take, especially given Jack Murtha's role as chairman of that committee. Given that Murtha has been one of the more vocal critics of the current war, I could see how easy it would be to gloss over that fact, but it made no mistake of excusing the short-sidedness of Murtha's failings as chairman.
I know that a lot of conservatives are going to have a knee-jerk reaction to this movie and call it un-American. A lot of liberals are going to line up to look at this as a bold attack on Republicans. But, in the end, it shows that Rudy Giuliani has been fighting corruption and criminal wrong-doing since the 1970s. It shows that Carter was a weak leader and that until the 1980s, we brought the Soviets to their knees. It shows that great things happen when Congress lines up behind these principles and has a strong Republican leader in the White House to back the expenditures and effort.
God Bless Ronald Reagan. And God Bless a Hollywood film with the courage to show what can happen when men like Jimmy Carter are sent to the ash heap of history.
Counter Point: 12/20/07 Charlie Wilson's War – Make that Whopper (8:25 minutes)
# In this short documentary by filmmaker, Melissa Roddy, she counters mis-information presented in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War". This documentary includes interviews with first-hand participants in events surrounding the 1980s war against the Soviet Union, including Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH, Ret.); former Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Edmund McWilliams; Prof. Tom Johnson of the U.S. Naval Post Graduate School and CIA Chief of Station to Pakistan Milt Bearden. The movie, “Charlie Wilson’s War” states only that Ahmad Shah Massoud was the recipient of U.S. assistance during the 1980s. In fact, Congressman Charlie Wilson and the CIA recklessly supported a ferociously anti-American fundamentalist - Gulbaddin Hekmatyar - during the 1980s and early 90s. Ahmad Shah Massoud received a mere trickle of U.S. support during this period, and he was well known to be the most deserving. But then -- unlike Gulbaddin Hekmatyar -- Ahmad Shah Massoud was never involved with Osama bin Laden. Hence the basis for the movie's distortion.
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Your thoughts if you have viewed the movie. Need expert input on the validity of the information in the Counter Point video. - TAB
Actual TV ads run by ex-Congressman Charles Wilson during his re-election campaigns. (4:48 minutes)
TAB
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.