Sept. 24: The Real Charlie Wilson
Just got a postcard from Rep. Jim Moran's office announcing this event:An Evening with Charlie Wilson:I thought Charlie Wilson's War was kind of an odd movie, glamorizing Wilson's partying ways while only making vague references to one of the war's unintended consequences -- the rise of the Taliban and ultimately 9/11. Wilson's story is certainly more complicated than Hollywood can handle in a couple of hours.
A Conversation on U.S. Foreign Policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
7:00 PM - 9:00 PMSchlesinger Center
Northern Virginia Community College
3001 N. Beauregard Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22311
Featuring: Charlie Wilson, former Member of Congress whose real life story is
depicted in the hit movie Charlie Wilson’s War
If you go to the event, let us know how it was!
Labels: Charlie Wilson, Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Community College
posted by TheGreenMiles at 8:54 AM
3 Comments:
It was not the war that lead us to 9-11, it was our failure to sustain a presence there. In 1992, during the beginning of the Clinton-era Budget Slashings, when the Democrats controlled the House as well, all aide, funding, and diplomatic relations were PULLED from Afghanistan. This was done against the workings and dealings of Wilson, who advocated our need for keeping not only a presence there, but improving our already allied relationship with them as well. If you ever wish to learn from History as to why we cannot under any circumstances simply pull out of Iraq, this is it. When we left the vacuum in Afghanistan, we set in motion the arrival of Osama Bin-Laden, and the propagation of his Taliban students, along with their Al-Qaeda "Soldiers". Is anyone willing to see who fills the vacuum in Iraq if we leave in a hurry?
11:29 AM
It was not the war that lead us to 9-11, it was our failure to sustain a presence there. In 1992, during the beginning of the Clinton-era Budget Slashings, when the Democrats controlled the House as well, all aide, funding, and diplomatic relations were PULLED from Afghanistan. This was done against the workings and dealings of Wilson, who advocated our need for keeping not only a presence there, but improving our already allied relationship with them as well. If you ever wish to learn from History as to why we cannot under any circumstances simply pull out of Iraq, this is it. When we left the vacuum in Afghanistan, we set in motion the arrival of Osama Bin-Laden, and the propagation of his Taliban students, along with their Al-Qaeda "Soldiers". Is anyone willing to see who fills the vacuum in Iraq if we leave in a hurry?
11:30 AM
The parallels to Iraq are limited and the picture you paint of the US creating a vacuum in Afghanistan is not on an accurate timeline. The withdrawal (of funding) from Afghanistan happened as quickly as the Soviet Union pulled out. There never was a presence in Afghanistan ---it was all out of Pakistan.
I take your point that a quick withdrawal from Iraq could be calamitous, but it's a criticism that has limited application. How long were we to stay in Afghanistan? Would that have prevented the rise of Al Qaeda, or hastened it?
1:34 AM
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