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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (490318)	6/23/2009 10:59:00 PM
From: TopCat	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572551

"I don't know who Charlie Wilson is." Everybody take note.....CJ admits to not knowing something and he didn't even bother to Wiki it.

To: combjelly who wrote (490318)	6/24/2009 12:10:10 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572551

Charles Wilson (Texas politician) en.wikipedia.org "He is best known for leading Congress into supporting Operation Cyclone, the largest-ever CIA covert operation, which supplied the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. His behind-the-scenes campaign was the subject of the film Charlie Wilson's War."... "Soviet-Afghan war Main article: Operation Cyclone In 1980, Wilson read an Associated Press dispatch on the congressional wires describing the refugees fleeing Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. The communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan had taken over power during the Afghan Civil War and asked the Soviet Union to help suppress resistance from the mujahideen. According to biographer George Crile III, Wilson called the staff of the House Appropriations Committee dealing with "black appropriations" and requested a two-fold appropriation increase for Afghanistan. Because Wilson had just been named to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (which is responsible for funding CIA operations), his request went through.[7] That was not the last time he increased the CIA budget for its Afghan operation. In 1983, he won an additional $40 million, $17 million of which was allocated for anti-aircraft weapons to shoot down Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopters.[8] The next year, CIA officer Gust Avrakotos directly approached Wilson – breaking the CIA's policy against lobbying Congress for money – asking Wilson for $50 million more. Wilson agreed and convinced Congress, saying, "The U.S. had nothing whatsoever to do with these people's decision to fight ... but we'll be damned by history if we let them fight with stones."[9] Later, Wilson succeeded in giving the Afghans $300 million of unused Pentagon money before the end of the fiscal year.[10] Thus, Wilson directly influenced the level of U.S. support for the Afghan Mujahideen. Wilson has said that the covert operation succeeded because "there was no partisanship or damaging leaks."[11] Joanne Herring played a significant role in helping the Afghan resistance fighters get support and military equipment from the U.S. government. She persuaded Wilson to visit the Pakistani leadership, and after meeting with them he was taken to a major Pakistan-based Afghan refugee camp so he could see for himself the atrocities committed by the Soviets against the Afghan people. About that visit, Wilson later said: "That was the experience that will always be seared in my memory, was going through those hospitals and seeing, especially those children with their hands blown off from the mines that the Soviets were dropping from their helicopters. That was perhaps the deciding thing... and it made a huge difference for the next 10 or 12 years of my life because I left those hospitals determined, as long as I had a breath in my body and was a member in Congress, that I was going to do what I could to make the Soviets pay for what they were doing!" For his efforts, Wilson was presented with the Honored Colleague Award by the CIA. He is the first civilian to receive the award.[12]" Not Ronnie RayGun. CHARLIE WILSON!

To: combjelly who wrote (490318)	6/24/2009 12:18:03 AM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572551

Fine. That still explodes your contention that nothing happened until Reagan. I made no such claim. My only claim has been that Reagan was the guy who provided Stingers to the Mujs and the the movie is not a factual account of the situation. Charlie Wilson's role was an important one and nobody is trying to take that from him; but ultimately, it was Reagan's support for the program that made it happen. It really kills you that Reagan was the greatest president of modern times, doesn't it? It is like you are constantly try to tear down his accomplishments. I'm sorry, but you just won't be able to do it. The man is just too damned big.