Comments on: “Charlie Wilson’s War” Celebrates Our Destructive Foreign Policy

By: MaryAnnJohanson

MaryAnnJohanson — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:47:27 +0000

If Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, two of the biggest movie stars in the world, can’t nudge people into waking up, then nothing will do it, and we’re doomed.

By: calscientist

calscientist — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:03:58 +0000

When I read the book on Charlie Wilson, I was rather blown away. First, it was an amazing story, that this playboy congressman got behind going after the Soviets. The other piece that I read as a mixed blessing was this: there is no question that this particular intervention played a bigger part in bringing down the Soviets than anything Casey/Reagan/… did in central America, and quite possibly anything else they did. It of course means a big problem in the central narrative from so many on the left, that all the blowback from Afghanistan is a function of Reagan/Bush and not the dems. It is true that once the deal was done in Afghanistan Bush never looked back. But it is also true that Tip O’Neil, John Murtha, and of course Charlie Wilson did much to bring about the situation that is Afghanistan now. We all have blood on our hands.

By: leftionthenews

leftionthenews — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:01:40 +0000

More on the true story and the bogus nature of the film.

By: leftionthenews

leftionthenews — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:00:41 +0000

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a brutal violation of international law

As was the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan (and of course the U.S. invasion of Iraq).

By: kaleberg

kaleberg — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:25:17 +0000

I followed the same analysis and also looked at the economics. The Soviets were bleeding from the ears through the 70s. Their empire was costing them, not paying them. By 1980, it wasn’t worth their while to invade Poland. They did invade Afghanistan, and to be honest, I was rooting for them. There are worse places to live than under a godless communist dictatorship, especially if you are a woman.

By the mid-1980s, the only thing holding the Soviet Union together was Reagan’s military buildup. Surely, I’m not the only person to have caught Chernyenko’s acceptance speech to the Supreme Soviet or Andropov’s various exhortations. The battle against the USA was the new Great Patriotic War, and when US pressure weakened in the late 80s, the Soviet Union collapsed.

By: MarkH

MarkH — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:36:52 +0000

By “here” I meant FL. Sorry ’bout the confusion. And we got Springhsteen tickets for when he comes here - Florida.

Has he campaigned for any presidential candidate yet?

It would be great to have his backing for Edwards down in Florida!

By: MarkH

MarkH — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:21:36 +0000

Aaron Sorkin “liberal”? Have you ever seen “The West Wing” circa 2002? The warmongering is bloodcurdling, despite the teddy-bear cuddliness of the dramatis personae.

Wasn’t that after he was caught with drugs?

Put it down to one more blackmailed opinion-maker. The show changed pretty dramatically.

By: sona

sona — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:22:38 +0000

Everybody assumes US covert nurture of the Mujaheddins and the Taliban through Pakistan’s ISI was in response to Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. This is not true. US involvement started before the USSR walked into Afghanistan in 1979. Brezinski once admitted that US involvement there was to provoke the USSR to overreact and overplay their hand. I don’t have any links now but remember hearing about CIA’s nefarious activities in the region back in 1976-77.

By: Blue Texan

Blue Texan — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:18:18 +0000

Is he even capable of irony? Are Americans?

Yes. And if the final 20 minutes of “CWW” are intended as irony, Nichols missed badly.

By: BuckTurgisson

BuckTurgisson — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:15:29 +0000

Has anyone ever heard of the director of Charlie Wilson’s War, Mike Nichols? He has made such patriotic, jingoistic, drum-pounding movies as The Graduate, Heartburn, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Remains of the Day, Silkwood, and Carnal Knowledge. Would he make a satire or a comedy? Is he even capable of irony? Are Americans?