By FITSNews || Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson – the heavy-drinking, womanizing “Liberal from Lufkin” who became one of America’s fiercest Cold Warriors – died Wednesday in his Texas hometown.
He was 76 years old.
Immortalized in the 2007 Aaron Sorkin masterpiece Charlie Wilson’s War (in which he was portrayed by Tom Hanks), the former twelve-term U.S. Congressman led the covert effort to secure billions of dollars in for the Mujahideen freedom fighters to do battle with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s. Under the code name Operation Cyclone, Wilson saw to it that the Mujahideen were equipped with all sorts of high-tech weaponry – including shoulder-mounted Stinger missiles – to repel the Russian invasion.
U.S. covert aid – which began in the $20-$30 million range – eventually soared to $630 million in 1987.
It worked, too. The Stingers, in particular, wreaked havoc on Russian helicopter gunships – and the Soviets eventually pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989.
After the war, Wilson lobbied for a continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan but was rebuffed, a foreign policy misstep which obviously had disastrous consequences down the road for America.
“We f*cked up the endgame,” Wilson would later famously remark.
In addition to his womanizing and alcoholism, Wilson was the subject of a federal investigation (led by Rudy Giuliani) during the 1980s regarding allegations of drug use after a woman claimed to have seen him using cocaine at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
Giuliani later dropped the case against Wilson due to lack of evidence.
Regarding his alleged use of cocaine, Wilson said “nobody knows the answer to that and I ain’t tellin’.”
As a result of his efforts in Afghanistan, Wilson was the first civilian to ever receive the Central Intelligence Agency’s “honored colleague” award.
WEB EXTRA
Charlie Wilson’s War (Movie Review)
By Houseguest February 11, 2010 at 8:19 am
Back when these people could make things happen.
By hans February 11, 2010 at 8:27 am
We need a few more Charlie Wilsons.
By Liberty For Me February 11, 2010 at 8:47 am
More intervention,More money well spent….Your welcome Bin Laden
By Mike at the beach February 11, 2010 at 11:08 am
Charlie was a real hero, despite his Kennedy-esque failings on the personal side of the game. Anyone who wants to understand where we are in the Afghan war today needs to read Charlie Wilson’s War. The “we funded Bin Laden” crowd should read it too- although not the definitive work on our involvement there, it would start them down the road to reality. The training we provided over there was very targeted and specific: the use of Stinger missiles against low flying heavy helos. The notion that they’re using our weapons and training against us there now is just silly.
Anyone who thinks they didn’t already have the logistics of moving through mountainous terrain (and guerrilla warfare techniques) down pat hasn’t worked there or read their history. Although they never seem to be able to hold on for long (contrary to the mythology), all they needed from us were the Stingers. They’ve been killing foreign soldiers in the villages, mountains, and passes of Afghanistan thousands of years before MoveOn.org started publishing talking points.
RIP Charlie…
By Darth February 11, 2010 at 11:15 am
Heaven needed soemone to keep Murtha straight…
By Liberty For Me February 11, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Everything is a just war if its against communists..right??Then why did we let Vietnam go?? Why are we not speaking up about attacks on South Korea??..We need to stop meddling in other peoples affairs.
The only patriots we have are the ones that stand up for OUR Liberty…If you people that applaud all these war mongers were half as astute to recognize the people who REALLY fight your fight.We would not have the socialist government we have today.
You have to step back and look at the big picture of what we are about.
.There has been no other country like this in history and it is about to be extinct if we do not fight to regain our liberty now
By K Trane February 11, 2010 at 3:27 pm
He wears cowboy boots with a suit, is from Texas, drinks whiskey, and hooks up with a lot of women? Why can’t Democrats be cool anymore?
By Darth February 12, 2010 at 9:17 am
“Why can’t Democrats be cool anymore?”
Let me see, Charlie was a straight white male… not really cool for Dems unless incumbent (witness the blind eye turned to Robert Byrd’s ‘progressive’ KKK ties vs David Duke’s KKK affiliation).