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RIP Charlie Wilson

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by 21, Feb 10, 2010.

  1. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    Great movie, better book.

    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021010dntexcharliewilson.21d2d77.html
     
  2. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Started my own thread, but 21 beat me, literally, by six seconds (and had a link). So Mods, please delete mine.

    If he was anything like Hanks portrayed him, seemed like an interesting dude ...
     
  3. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    The war is over. RIP. :'(
     
  4. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Definitely a guy who lived a full life.
     
  5. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    "but then we fucked up the end game." ::) ::)
     
  6. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Hmmm - first John Murtha and now Charlie. This could be foul play.

    Charlie was on House Ethics committee that absolved Murtha from Abscam. Charlie was placed on committee by Tip O'Neal with sole purpose to protect Murtha.
     
  7. Pancamo

    Pancamo Active Member

    Thought the Gap Band lost a lead singer.
     
  8. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    No, this Charlie Wilson (helped) drop bombs on Russian helicopters.
     
  9. Blitz

    Blitz Active Member

    I'd never heard of the legislator Charlie Wilson before the movie came out.
    RIP Mr. Wilson
     
  10. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    A lot of people are saying rot in hell, Charlie Wilson.

    I won't go that far. But as the poster child for the Law of Unintended Consequences, I don't see how he could ever find peace with his actions.
     
  11. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I think you mean Al Qaeda, by unintended consequences. But according to the book, and Congressional testimony by Robert Gates, after the Soviets withdrew Wilson pleaded with his colleagues to do some relatively cheap things to make an effort to raise living standards in Afghanistan. He asked for what was chump change compared to what they gave the CIA, to build schools and infrastructure, and even though he was usually pretty successful at getting things funded, he couldn't get his appropriations colleagues to put up the money in that case, and was of so low priority to everyone that he couldn't trade favors to get it done.

    He was a flawed guy, and by all accounts he was pretty corrupt and a horse trader and a power broker who stood for a lot of the bad things that make our government unaccountable and a source of misery for so many. But his crusade when it came to Afghanistan seemed to be genuinely motivated by an honest code, and unlike a lot of things he did with his power, I think he thought he was acting in a good a righteous way--whether he was or wasn't. It was one thing he did with his heart.

    It's easy to play Monday Morning QB and blame the rise of Al Qaeda on him, but if anything, he sort of saw some of the dangers of walking away without providing aid, and was one of the few people who actually fought to fund civil projects after the war was done.
     
  12. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    What is conveniently overlooked is that the Soviet-backed Afghan government was beginning a series of progressive reforms, including a radical modernization of the traditional islamic civil and especially marriage law.

    In other words, those "atheist communists" were trying to do things like allow girls to go to school . . . but we had to back the rebels trying to stop this horrible idea because, well, "anybody who fights the Soviets must be on the side of good."

    Idiocy and paranoia was rampant in Washington during the Cold War.
     
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