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Title: Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History by George Crile ISBN: 0-87113-854-9 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.15 (65 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fantastic Summer Read
Comment: "Charlie Wilson's War" is the unbelievable yet true story of the covert CIA operation to support the Afghan rebels who so courageously resisted Soviet occupation in the 1980's. It is also the story of two extraordinary men, Congressman Charles Wilson and CIA operative Gust Avrokotos, whose guile, determination, and utter disregard for the rules made this quixotic undertaking a reality.
This book is about impossible personalities prevailing against impossible odds to defeat an impossible foe. It is also impossible to put down. The prose is quick and engaging. George Crile and his crack team drop you immediately into the action, creating a close bond with the book's main protagonists. However, Wilson and Avrokotos are not allowed to completely overshadow the action. Crile brings his expert eye to this historic tale, forged after almost two decades of service as an executive producer at "Sixty Minutes". The result is an easy to follow, orderly read- despite the utter chaos of the region's history, politics, and religious, ethnic, and territorial turmoil.
What makes this book all the more fascinating is the direct connections Crile ties to our present day difficulties with Afghanistan and the larger Islamic world, not to mention the final days of the Soviet empire. For the first time since 9/11, one source ties together the complicated web of covert operations, David and Goliath type odds, and the final missed opportunities into a coherent story. A story that is an object lesson into our current relationships in the Middle East. "Charlie Wilson's War" is proof once again that truth is far stranger than fiction, for throughout this story you will be struck time and time again by the sheer magnitude of the undertaking, the force of the personalities, and the effect they have on the entire world.
This book caries my highest recommendation. Whether you like fiction or non fiction, history, spy novels, or fantasy, this saga has something for every reader. Go buy this book, and buy it for a friend!!!!
Rating: 4
Summary: storytelling at its very best
Comment: This book is pure adventure, whether the scene is Congress or Afghanistan. I simply could not put it down. George Crile tells the gripping story of how one congressman, Texan Charlie Wilson, took up the cause of Afghan freedom fighters and escalated American support for them many, many times over. Because of his efforts, billions of dollars were given to the mujahideen, including high-tech weaponry. Crile takes us behind closed doors in Congress, where Charlie Wilson wheels, deals, and strong-arms to get funding for Afghanistan; he takes us into the secret world of the CIA, where danger surrounds overseas stations and bureaucratic politics plagues operations.
At the heart is a cast of colorful characters, including Wilson and CIA man Gust Avrokotos. Wilson--a socially liberal, staunchly anti-Communist Democrat from a conservative and religious district of Texas--womanizes, drinks, (maybe) does drugs, is involved in scandal after scandal (including a hit-and-run car accident), and yet is re-elected over and over and singlehandedly secures funding for the freedom fighters. Avrokotos is the foul-mouthed (he has a sexual analogy for just about every situation), tough-talking son of Greek immigrants from a steel town near Pittsburgh, who joins the Agency in the 1960s and eventually heads up the Near East division, where he adeptly manages the Afghanistan operation.
I loved the book, plain and simple, but I did have a problem or two with it. Crile seems to accept as fact nearly everything Wilson and Avrokotos said in their interviews. Their accounts form the backbone of the book, and Crile seldom questions their veracity. More than that, he usually adopts their opinions as his own: if Avrokotos dislikes this or that CIA colleague, then so does Crile. Furthermore, while he maintains that supporting the Afghans against the Soviets was a noble cause (I think so, too), Crile glosses over or dismisses the fact that what Wilson was doing was questionable ethically and was quite possibly illegal. Wilson bullied congressional colleagues, usurped powers traditionally reserved for the executive branch (while at the same time exalting the separation of powers, especially those reserved for Congress), and avoided any sort of oversight. And yet Crile is harsh--unduly so, I think--on Iran-Contra and paints Oliver North and other participants as fanatics, right-wing zealots, and buffoons. Certainly, Iran-Contra is more clearly problematic (and probably downright illegal), but to praise efforts in Afghanistan and to find no merit at all with loosely similar attempts to aid anti-Communists in Central America is a glaring contradiction.
While this might detract a bit from the book's use as a historical source, it is still a great and rivetting read, full of excitement, danger, intrigue, and suspense. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 5
Summary: A BIT OF HISTORY THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Comment: How would you like to meet Charlie Wilson, Carol Shannon, Mike Vickers, Gust Avrakotos, Joanne Herring, Doc Long and Zia ul-Haq? These are all fabulous people and very high achievers. You will learn what one person can accomplish if they have the fire in their belly and realize the importance of friends and the nurturing of friendship. Charlie Wilson was a senator and his cause was helping Afghanistan during the early and middle 80's while they were at war with Russia. George Crile has done a masterful job in relating a long history of what the CIA and Charlie Wilson accomplished. This is 860 pages (large print) of reading pleasure and an insight of how our government works in the area of foreign affairs. I grew to love Charlie Wilson...with all my heart!...a flawed, yet magnificent human being.
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Title: John Paul Jones : Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy by Evan Thomas ISBN: 0743205839 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 14 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Benjamin Franklin : An American Life by Walter Isaacson ISBN: 0684807610 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll ISBN: 1594200076 Publisher: The Penguin Press Pub. Date: 23 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude by ROBERT BAER ISBN: 1400050219 Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 15 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Main Enemy : The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB by James Risen, Milton Bearden ISBN: 0679463097 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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