George Crile's book, Charlie Wilson's War, gives an in depth picture of how things work in Washington DC, particularly how an unimportant Texas Congressman was able to get $100 billion worth of weapons and aid to the Mujahideen to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan. The clip gives you as almost as much of the movie as the movie gives you of the book. You only get to hear Julia Roberts on the phone and you don't even get that much of Philip Seymour Hoffman who has the best role in the movie as a not usual CIA agent.
The quote from Congressman Wilson at the end of the movie suggests that it wasn't arming the Mujahideen that led to the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, but rather Congress' unwillingness to fund schools after the Soviets left. Did Wilson significantly speed up the fall of the Soviet Union by spearheading the arming of the Mujahideen? I don't know. I do know that the book should be read by as many people as possible given that the US is once again at war in Afghanistan. The movie also gives a glimpse of a refugee camp, another must see for Americans. The movie is entertaining, but not especially enlightening.
If you're taking a long plane trip, this is a great airplane book. It's really hard to put down. Watching the movie won't spoil the book, anymore than watching my short video will spoil the movie. See also the official Charlie Wilson's War website.
Friday, December 28, 2007
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Back through the 70s, I read a lot about the USSR. Current affairs and history, mostly dealing with musical life there. Between knowledge from that and talking to friends who had worked or studied there, I felt that the USSR was already teetering close to the edge before the mid-70s.
ReplyDeleteHedrick Smith's _The Russians_ came out in 1975, four years before the Afghan invasion, during the middle of the short Ford administration. The book fairly clearly describes the already existing structural flaws that led to the collapse of the USSR fourteen years later.
It is possible that by forcing the Soviet government to spend more on defensive and counter-offensive weapons during the 1980s the US sped the inevitable along, but I doubt we'll ever know.