Charles Wilson on the Soviet-Afghanistan War - Part 2 (1988)February 9, 1988 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZDQI9E?ie=UTF8&tag=doc06-20&link... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/10/charles-wilson-on-soviet-afghanis... Charlie Wilson's War (2007) is a biographical comedy drama film recounting the true story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson (D-TX) who partnered with "bare knuckle attitude" CIA operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen in their resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The film is adapted from George Crile's 2003 book Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. It is directed by Mike Nichols, written by Aaron Sorkin, and stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Om Puri, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty and Emily Blunt. It was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, including "Best Motion Picture", but did not win in any category. Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Wilson since recounted that, "I always, always, whenever a plane goes down, I always fear it is one of our missiles. Most of all I wanted to bloody the Red Army. I think the bloodying thereof had a great deal to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union." He now surmises that some of the weapons probably wound up in the hands of the Taliban regime, which took power in Afghanistan and harbored Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, organizer of the September 11 attacks. "I feel guilty about it," he said. "I really do." "Those things happen," Wilson said of wartime weapons that wind up in the wrong hands. "How are you going to defeat the Red Army without a gun? You can't blame the Marines for teaching Lee Harvey Oswald how to shoot." Wilson, who did not seek re-election to Congress in 1996 after serving 24 years, now believes he could have worked harder to steer Afghanistan away from the course that led it to today. "The part that I'll take to my grave with guilt is that ... I didn't stay the course and stay there and push and drive the other members of Congress nuts pushing for a mini-Marshall Plan," he said. "And I let myself be frustrated and discouraged by the fact that (the Afghan) leadership was so fragmented that we were unable to do the things we needed to do, like clear the mines, like furnish them millions of tons of fertilizer to be able to replant the crops." The policy was later embraced by Reagan administration foreign policy and defense officials, who escalated conflict with Soviet-supported governments. Jimmy Carter — who had already served his term previous to Reagan — distanced himself from the policy's broader application, and was a vocal opponent of U.S. aid to such "nation building" movements. Congressional Democrats also largely opposed the broader application of the Reagan Doctrine. Carter's national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, stated in an interview that the U.S. effort to aid the mujahideen was preceded by an effort to deliberately draw the Soviets into a costly and presumably distracting Vietnam War-like conflict. In a 1998 interview with the French news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Brzezinski is said to have recalled: "We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would... That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Soviets into the Afghan trap... The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, "We now have the opportunity of giving to the Soviet Union its Vietnam War." Jimmy Carter reacted with "open-mouthed shock" to the Russian invasion, and began promptly arming the Afghan insurgents. Vice-President Walter Mondale famously declared: "I cannot understand -- it just baffles me -- why the Soviets these last few years have behaved as they have. Maybe we have made some mistakes with them. Why did they have to build up all these arms? Why did they have to go into Afghanistan? Why can't they relax just a little bit about Eastern Europe? Why do they try every door to see if it is locked?" Before the invasion, the Soviets staged conversations with the Afghan leadership several times, suggesting that they had no desire to intervene, even as the Politburo was--with much hesitation--considering such an intervention. They had apparently orchestrated these meetings in a manner that would allow the Americans to easily intercept them. Though some have argued that US financial assistance given prior to the invasion to Afghan dissidents, including Islamists and other militants; along with a Soviet desire to protect the leftist Afghan government, helped convince the Russians to intervene. The Soviets murdered the Afghan President and his son, replacing him with a puppet regime, immediately after the invasion for fear that the US had secretly been collaborating with him. code pour embarquer la vidéo : >>> http://www.youtube.com/embed/djE6hWz_Fi8 <<< |