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ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: Charlie Wilson, RIP (2/11/2010 10:10:26 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: SL4V3M4YB3
The movie said he funded the insurgency against the Russian's in terms of weapons supplies etc. It was kind of funny the way the Russian's were portrayed as going around in their helicopter gunships decimating whole villages. Apparently Mr Wilson warned of the consequences of just leaving after the end of the war i.e. that it could lead to history repeating but nobody was interested anymore since the Russians had been defeated.
Actually, as an afterthought... since I just noticed that nobody else mentioned it in this thread, and since you're not from America and may not be fully aware of American history during that period... I should point out that the movie was historically inaccurate in it's portrayal of Wilson as being the man responsible for the covert arming of the Muj. He is responsible for the exponential expansion of the program, but it actually began at least a year and a half before he ever heard of it.
According to Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, the funding of the Islamic "freedom fighters" (as they were called then) actually began before the Soviets even invaded - in fact, if I recall correctly, he later said that it was begun in the summer of 1979 as part of a secret strategy to draw the Soviets into invading Afghanistan in the first place. They were hoping to create a Soviet Vietnam, and it worked. But it is correct to say that Wilson was instrumental in turning what had been a small operation into the juggernaut that ultimately broke the back of the Soviet Union.
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