The 'real' Charlie WilsonI'm not much of a movie reviewer -- I can't remember the last time I went to a theatre. But I do know a little about what we did for the Afghan 'freedom' fighters during their 10 year (79-89) war with the Soviet Union.
I guess Tom Hanks is basically a wimp. Not much surprise there. Hanks plays 'Charlie Wilson', "a whiskey-swilling, skirt-chasing, scandal-prone congressman from Texas", who during the 1980's worked with the CIA to supply billions of dollars in aid for the Afghan mujahiddin who were fighting communism run amok.
You see, Tom Hanks and the movie's producer, Playtone Productions, caved to pressure from Charlie (yeah, he's still kicking) Wilson and left out the part about 99% of all those billions in aid going to the likes of Osama bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Instead of insisting on the facts, Hanks bows to the pressure and the movie falsely portrays, 'U.S. support to the mujahiddin went only to the faction led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Afghan leader who was assassinated on Sept. 9, 2001', when in fact, the CIA states that Massoud 'received less than 1 percent of it'.
So, "Charlie Wilson's War" has to earn two thumbs down from me and I won't even see it until it comes on cable. A movie that was suppose to be based on facts but has now been revised due to political pressure can't earn anything but, two tumbs down.
Melissa Roddy over at AlterNet has a really good read on "Charlie Wilson's War". Roddy spoke to Charlie Wilson in 2002 - when he was telling the truth .
And, another little tidbit of history; Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is one of the Afghan leaders Ronald Reagan comically, and as usual, ignorantly, referred to as, "the moral equivalent of the founding fathers." We are still pursuing Hekmatyar for his support for the Taliban, bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Ronald Reagan -- another great leader with foresight, huh?.
