The Gist: "Charlie Wilson's War" is an inaccurate, cartoon version of history.

Talibanization: That Thing You Do!

“Charlie Wilson is long tall Texan with an appetite for Texan
pleasures. He kept a collection of souvenirs of the Afghan war in his
office on Capitol Hill. A color picture of him riding a white horse
with mujaheddin equestrians was prominently displayed. A Stinger
missile launcher hung over the doorway to his office. A handcarved
plaque leaning on his desk read, ‘Be Prepared: THINK WAR.’ ”
Tim Weiner, Blank Check: The Pentagon’s Black Budget, 1990

In our distracted society, the All-War-All-The-Time elite manage
opinion using a variety of techniques. There’s the active
disinformation system of course, which creates in printed word and
broadcast image dark motivational tales of nefarious dictators
hoarding nukes and weaponized toxins, and pretty fantasies of former
“community organizers” bent on “change” if only we will believe.

There’s the escapist filler of network TV, where between commercials
for joy-inducing cell phones and flatulence potions, would-be
Survivors plot against each other in their quest to stay on the
island. For the sequin-obsessed there’s a kind of happy feet karaoke
where wannabe hoofers go dancing with the face-lifted and
liposuctioned “stars” (often tragically/ desperately beyond their sell-
by date).

For cultural designers with bigger budgets, there’s the allegedly less
vulgar art of cinema. Here, bankable celebrity brands are presented in
comedic or dramatic vehicles which entertain and sometimes seek to
uplift. Actor/producer Tom Hanks worked his way up through smart alec
and romantic comedies, to more “serious” projects (usually featuring
reactionary twists) like Forrest Gump, or odes to personal growth
through slaughter like “Saving Private Ryan.”

One of my Hanks favorites was his 1996 romp, “That Thing You Do!”
which follows the fictional rise and fall of the (one hit) Wonders. As
their title tune climbs the 1964 Billboard charts, they’re propelled
on a pilgrimage from obscurity in (not-yet) rustbelt Erie Pennsylvania
to sunny California. Hanks plays a supporting role as the savvy Play-
Tone Records manager. The sound track is delightfully “snappy,” the
gear impeccably correct, and the film’s arc well south of sappy. In
the end, everybody survives and grows up, more or less.

The more recent Hanks film --- an allegedly “true” story --- “Charlie
Wilson’s War” just premiered on HBO. The first time I watched it, I
was drawn in by the clever dialogue, the affectionately drawn
characters -- especially the scotch-swilling, tail-chasing, geography-
competent central figure of former Texas Democratic congressman
Charles Wilson (Hanks). Charlie, we discover early on, has nearly
total control of the secret Pentagon/CIA “Black Budget” (currently
totaling about $32 billion annually, according to the New York Times).
In the movie’s second scene, we find Wilson tippling in a hot-tub
surrounded by coke-sniffing, chirpy strippers, his bosomy centerfold
date, and a “promoter” of questionable virtue. His attention is drawn
to a CBS evening news spot featuring an unshaven Dan Rather ---
“remote” from Afghanistan --- which strongly endorses the “freedom
fighters” of that mountainous land as they war against the Afghan
central government and its Soviet ally. Upon returning to Washington,
Wilson calls in a staffer and doubles the clandestine (Black) funding
of the mujaheddin (holy warriors) from $5 to $10 million, just like
that.

The movie surges along; a cartoon version of history, painting
Charlie, the “guys” at the CIA, and “the muj” as thoroughly likeable
sorts who just want to “Kill Russians!” The secular Soviets on the
other hand are depicted as “fangs-out” child murderers who practice
Vietnam War-style death-from-above village raking and collective
punishment.

By the movie’s end, Charlie has swelled the covert annual Afghan war
funding up to a billion dollars split between the Saudi monarchy and
the clueless US taxpayer. The muj get high-tech weaponry, military
training, and rivers of cash. Not having to rely on improvised
explosive devises, they destroy hundreds of Russian helicopters, jets
and tanks. Soviets leave. Berlin Wall comes down. Charlie gets
“Clandestine Service” award. Everyone applauds. Credits roll.

This happy tale, however, leaves a few inconvenient details on the
cutting room floor.
As Michael Parenti has reminded us recently (Information Clearing
House, 12/5/ 08), perhaps Afghanistan’s last chance at modernity began
in the 1960s when democratic revolutionary forces organized into the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In 1973 they deposed the king and set
about eliminating Afghanistan’s feudal system where 3 percent of the
rural population owned 75 percent of the land. By the late 70s, the
new government of President Noor Mohammed Taraki had “proceeded to
legalize labor unions and set up a minimum wage, a progressive income
tax, a literacy campaign, and programs that gave ordinary people
greater access to health care, housing, and public sanitation...The
government also ... (worked) to emancipate women from their age-old
tribal bondage. It provided public education for girls and for the
children of various tribes.”

In 2001 the San Francisco Chronicle acknowledged that under Taraki’s
government, Kabul was “a cosmopolitan city. Artists and hippies
flocked to the capital. Women studied agriculture, engineering and
business at the city’s university. Afghan women held government jobs
---in the 1980s, there were seven female members of parliament. Women
drove cars, traveled and went on dates. Fifty percent of university
students were women.”

The government also outlawed opium production, abolished all farmers’
debts, and set about serious land reform. This “egalitarian and
collectivist” approach “incurred the (usual) opposition of the US
national security state,” which quickly threw in with the “ousted
feudal lords, reactionary tribal chieftains, mullahs, and opium
traffickers.” (Parenti)

In 1980, the New York Times reported, “Land reform attempts
undermined their village chiefs....But it was the Kabul revolutionary
Government’s granting of new rights for women that pushed orthodox
Moslem men... into picking up their guns...”

When the Kabul government enlisted the Soviets in their battle against
the theocratic, skin-peeling counter-revolutionaries, the muj began
attacking them as well. Then Charlie Wilson got involved, along with
Saudi contractor Osama bin Laden.

The rest is (cinematically-incorrect) history.

Pass the scotch.

Richard Rhames, 12/10/08