Is Charlie Wilson a hero? Educate me, please

Wilson in the movie is not @all a sympathetic character; in fact, after his meeting with Pres. Zia, he complains to his asst. that he's hit rock bottom when "you're told you have character flaws by a guy who hung his predecessor in a military coup." The def. of "hero" varies among fed. agencies.

Thruout the movie CIA officer Avrokotos peddles the notion that defeating the Soviets is not the end: his Zen master parable's "We'll see." So when Charlie asks for a million bucks to rebuild schools, he's rebuffed by the same folks that conceded to Charlie's pleas to increase funding for weaponry.

One puzzle I got from the movie; maybe someone else noticed. There's this obsession with keeping the Am. fingerprint outta Afghanistan; hence, getting the cache of Soviet weapons from Israel. Later, however, it's real apparent that the Stinger launcher's a popular item for the mujahedden: a weapon proudly mfr.'d by Am. co. Raytheon. Charlie's even presented with a Stinger launcher @the end. So, wha' happened?: concern for Am. fingerprint really evaporated, or is this one of those continuity issues that passed unnoticed by producers or was ignored?
51depasser

Wilson in the movie is not @all a sympathetic character; in fact, after his meeting with Pres. Zia, he complains to his asst. that he's hit rock bottom when "you're told you have character flaws by a guy who hung his predecessor in a military coup." The def. of "hero" varies among fed. agencies.

Thruout the movie CIA officer Avrokotos peddles the notion that defeating the Soviets is not the end: his Zen master parable's "We'll see." So when Charlie asks for a million bucks to rebuild schools, he's rebuffed by the same folks that conceded to Charlie's pleas to increase funding for weaponry.

One puzzle I got from the movie; maybe someone else noticed. There's this obsession with keeping the Am. fingerprint outta Afghanistan; hence, getting the cache of Soviet weapons from Israel. Later, however, it's real apparent that the Stinger launcher's a popular item for the mujahedden: a weapon proudly mfr.'d by Am. co. Raytheon. Charlie's even presented with a Stinger launcher @the end. So, wha' happened?: concern for Am. fingerprint really evaporated, or is this one of those continuity issues that passed unnoticed by producers or was ignored?
51depasser

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

It takes years for people to acquire sufficient factual data to understand how the world really works. One can speed up the process by reading authors like Peter Dale Scott, Warren Hinckley, Alfred McCoy, et al. CWW belongs in the same league with "Dr. Strangelove," "Apocalyse Now" and "Network." Turning the truth into surreality is about the only way one can put it out there in a pseudo-sophisticated, but thought-controlled society.

Get your facts straight, dude

The mujahedeen did not evolve into the "Taliban." The mujahedeen themselves were an assortment of bands of afghans who had one goal in common, getting the Soviets the hell out of Afghanistan. After the Soviets withdrew, they didn't unify to form any sort of government but began fighting amongst themselves for power from 1992 to 1996.

One of these various factions were the Taliban who rose to power with the backing of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and Saudi Arabia. While most factions fought without any sort of religious fervor, the Taliban did and sort to implement sharia law throughout Afghanistan. They came into power in 1996, ending the Afghan civil war, and started their reign of terror.

The various mujahedeen groups still exist and were enlisted by the US after 9/11 to fight the Taliban alongside Special Forces units. They were the Northern Alliance and accept the current Karzai administration as a Afghanistan's legitimate body of governance.

Charlie Wilson was hailed as a hero as he helped with the downfall of Soviet forces in Afghanistan, he did not set out to create the Taliban or 9/11. Even the movie implies that it was the indifference of his fellow US officials that helped with the creation of the civil war and rise of the Taliban. As Wilson in the movie wanted to help rebuild Afghanistan but was denied such an opportunity.

As Gust Avrakotos said in the movie that illuminated the situation after the Soviets were defeated;
"You start with the roads. Move on to the schools and factories. Restock the sheep herds. Give them jobs, give them hope...
... Well that’s not good enough cause I’m gonna hand you a code word classified NIE right now, and it’s gonna tell you that the crazies have started rolling into Kandahar like it’s a *beep* bathtub drain."