JPhillips
05-25-2005, 09:36 PM
I've mentioned Charlie Wilson's War before, but now that school is over and I have been able to finish it, I wanted again to make a recommendation for this great book.
The story is completely true and recounts how a drunk, woman-chasing Democratic congressman from Texas and a foul-mouthed, racist, second generation Greek American CIA agent from Alquippa, Pennsylvania teamed with a very unlikely group of folks to turn Afghanistan into the last battle of the Cold War. The story is remarkable and would seem unlikely if it were fiction. Wilson gets Israelis to agree to build weapons for a Muslim Jihad, Avrakotos, the CIA agent, almost gets run out of the agency before getting a friend to appoint him to a position while the assistant director is on vacation, a socialite, John Birch Society loving woman gets to be an official ambassador for Pakistan and sells the Afghan cause to Wilson, and on and on.
Its a great primer on the currentsituation in Afghanistan, but its also a great read, better than any Clancy book IMO. There are a lot of familiar characters fro mAfghan warlords to Richard Perle and Oliver North, who Avrakotos thought were idiots! What was most fascinating to me was that the Afghan program really grew from Wilson and not from the White House. The admin and most of Congress was focused on Nicaragua while Wilson and Avrakotos exploded the budget from 40 mil to over 1 billion and eventually forced the White House to officially declare that the goal was to defeat the Soviets.
Its just a great book and I hope some of you will take the time to pick it up. Its in paperback now and relatively cheap. If you like military books, spy books, or history I think you'll really enjoy Charlie Wilson's War.
The story is completely true and recounts how a drunk, woman-chasing Democratic congressman from Texas and a foul-mouthed, racist, second generation Greek American CIA agent from Alquippa, Pennsylvania teamed with a very unlikely group of folks to turn Afghanistan into the last battle of the Cold War. The story is remarkable and would seem unlikely if it were fiction. Wilson gets Israelis to agree to build weapons for a Muslim Jihad, Avrakotos, the CIA agent, almost gets run out of the agency before getting a friend to appoint him to a position while the assistant director is on vacation, a socialite, John Birch Society loving woman gets to be an official ambassador for Pakistan and sells the Afghan cause to Wilson, and on and on.
Its a great primer on the currentsituation in Afghanistan, but its also a great read, better than any Clancy book IMO. There are a lot of familiar characters fro mAfghan warlords to Richard Perle and Oliver North, who Avrakotos thought were idiots! What was most fascinating to me was that the Afghan program really grew from Wilson and not from the White House. The admin and most of Congress was focused on Nicaragua while Wilson and Avrakotos exploded the budget from 40 mil to over 1 billion and eventually forced the White House to officially declare that the goal was to defeat the Soviets.
Its just a great book and I hope some of you will take the time to pick it up. Its in paperback now and relatively cheap. If you like military books, spy books, or history I think you'll really enjoy Charlie Wilson's War.