[movermike] movermike: Charlie Wilson's War

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Posted by movermike:
Charlie Wilson's War
http://www.movermike.com/posts/1199681907.shtml


   [160px-CharlieWilson.jpg]

   We saw Charlie Wilson's war and I'm told that Tom Hanks had Charlie
   Wilson down. Too bad, the movie didn't have the truth about
   Afghanistan down as well. For one thing, did you notice that Pres.
   Reagan was no where to be found?

   Dr. Jack Wheeler in last weeks [1]To The Point News newsletter (By
   subscription only) wrote that it was not Joanne Herring (played by Ms.
   Roberts), but Wheeler himself, that told Wilson "defeating the Soviets
   in Afghanistan could win the Cold War." The movie makes clear that the
   State Department in Pakistan is not interested in winning in
   Afghanistan by defeating the Russians. Then the only one the CIA
   operative, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, mentions as a recipient for aid is
   Afghani Ahmad Shah Massoud. Wheeler writes

     Yet the CIA in fact provided little or no aid to Massoud for most
     of the war. The film never mentions who did get most of the CIA aid
     instead of Massoud: an America-hating Khomeini-loving Islamofascist
     named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and his "Hezbi" Mujahaddin.

   Here's what Dr. Jack Wheeler writes:

     How the Afghans got the Stingers that won the war is a fascinating
     story never fully told and can only be abbreviated here. The very
     condensed version is this:

     All the massive weapons flow organized by Charlie and the CIA had,
     by mid-1986, done no good as it was mostly going to Gulbuddin. When
     I was in Afghanistan in August, the war was over. The Soviets had
     won, most of the Muj had retreated back to the refugee camps in
     Pakistan. Soviet Spetsnaz teams were hunting down and killing the
     Muj who were left.

     Ronald Reagan had been well aware of the need for shoulder-fired
     heat-seeking missiles, and in April 1985 signed a classified
     Executive Order giving CIA Director Bill Casey the authority to
     provide the Muj with Stingers. The EO was blocked by CIA Deputy
     Director John McMahon.

     McMahon was determined that the Afghans not get Stingers, and used
     every bureaucratic trick in the book in a constant stream of
     excuses to prevent their delivery, despite the demands of Reagan,
     Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-NH), Charlie, and many others in
     Congress such as Don Ritter (R-PA).

     By late 1985, the entire conservative movement was demanding
     military aid to anti-Soviet freedom fighters, so we decided to make
     an end run around McMahon. A visit by UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi
     was arranged to Washington, where he met President Reagan in the
     Oval Office on January 30, 1986.

     Savimbi told Reagan about the coming Soviet-Cuban offensive
     scheduled at the end of the rainy season in April, that UNITA would
     be destroyed without Stingers against the Hinds. Reagan gave
     Savimbi his word that the Stingers would be provided.

     The President then called Bill Casey and said he just didn't care
     what the excuses were anymore. Any reason given by McMahon was to
     be disregarded. He signed an EO to that effect on February 18. Two
     weeks later, McMahon resigned. I was in Angola at UNITA's Jamba
     headquarters in April when the Stingers arrived. The Soviet-Cuban
     offensive was stopped thanks to them.

   Now, that's a far cry from the story in the movie. Charlie Wilson, a
   Democrat, who died in 1997, loved this country and found a way to
   fight the Communists in Afghanistan. He didn't fight alone and he
   fought against the CIA elites who were wrong then as they have been,
   at least publicly, so many times since. It's a shame that the movie
   isn't deeper.

   The final scene is one of Wilson seeking $1 million for schools in
   Afghanistan, after we spent $500 million on weapons. He was turned
   down because "no one gives a shit about schools" for Afghanis. That
   seems to be the Movie's lesson for Americans to the question, "Why do
   they hate us?" We didn't spend enough money building them back up so
   the Taliban (Hamas or Palastinians, your choice) marched in.

   Wheeler writes that Charlie Wilson's heroism should be "a deep
   embarrassment to the party of Pelosi Galore and Lost Harry Reid, the
   party who apologizes for America's existence and has neither the spine
   nor will to defend her."

   [2]Charlie Wilson [3]Charlie Wilson's War [4]Mover Mike

References

   1. http://www.tothepointnews.com/
   2. http://technorati.com/tag/Charlie+Wilson
   3. http://technorati.com/tag/Charlie+Wilson's+War
   4. http://technorati.com/tag/Mover+Mike