Prozerran
12-30-2007, 5:51 PM
Ok, so I watched Charlie Wilson's War, and I'm impressed. If you haven't seen this, I'll give you the broad summary of what this is about. *Spoiler Warning*
So if you don't know how history played out between 1980 and 1990, Charlie Wilson, a Congressman from Texas, sees Dan Rather on the news reporting from Afghanistan. His interest is drawn in more by a rich southerner (played by Julia Roberts' character) who is sympathetic to the Muslims being slaughtered by the Russian insurgence into Afghanistan. So, Wilson meets with leaders of Pakistan and Israel. The long and the short of it is that the U.S. cannot sell weapons to the Afghans without breaking the law, so they arrange for U.S. funding to go for aid to the Afghans, who then purchase large stockpiles of captured Russian arms from Egypt. The Muslims fight off the Russians, the war ends.
In total, Wilson raised $500,000,000 that was matched by Saudi Arabia. So, this covert war's price tag was a nice Billion to defeat the Russians and end the cold war. Now, when Wilson went back to meet with the committees he chaired to raise a small $1,000,000 to help build some schools in Afghanistan, he was denied. He was told, "Afghanistan is old news. No one is talking about it. No one cares Charlie."
And the long and the short of this ends up being that the U.S., after supplying Afghanistan with weapons to fight a war with a U.S. enemy, didn't follow through to help the millions of children left to fend for themselves after their parents were killed. Four years later, the WTC is targeted by terrorists. Seven years after that, we have 9/11. So, what do we think of this? Should the U.S. have continued funding the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan? Should Wilson have secured enough funds to support reconstruction efforts following the conflict?
Feel free to add any additional discussion relevant to the post.
So if you don't know how history played out between 1980 and 1990, Charlie Wilson, a Congressman from Texas, sees Dan Rather on the news reporting from Afghanistan. His interest is drawn in more by a rich southerner (played by Julia Roberts' character) who is sympathetic to the Muslims being slaughtered by the Russian insurgence into Afghanistan. So, Wilson meets with leaders of Pakistan and Israel. The long and the short of it is that the U.S. cannot sell weapons to the Afghans without breaking the law, so they arrange for U.S. funding to go for aid to the Afghans, who then purchase large stockpiles of captured Russian arms from Egypt. The Muslims fight off the Russians, the war ends.
In total, Wilson raised $500,000,000 that was matched by Saudi Arabia. So, this covert war's price tag was a nice Billion to defeat the Russians and end the cold war. Now, when Wilson went back to meet with the committees he chaired to raise a small $1,000,000 to help build some schools in Afghanistan, he was denied. He was told, "Afghanistan is old news. No one is talking about it. No one cares Charlie."
And the long and the short of this ends up being that the U.S., after supplying Afghanistan with weapons to fight a war with a U.S. enemy, didn't follow through to help the millions of children left to fend for themselves after their parents were killed. Four years later, the WTC is targeted by terrorists. Seven years after that, we have 9/11. So, what do we think of this? Should the U.S. have continued funding the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan? Should Wilson have secured enough funds to support reconstruction efforts following the conflict?
Feel free to add any additional discussion relevant to the post.