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Charlie Wilson's War Page #5
So, what I have been wondering is
why your State Department
would send someone here
who thinks he understands the problem.
'Cause I don't think the prayers of
the Texas Second Congressional District
are going to turn the trick.
Well, now, I wasn't sent here by
the State Department, Mr. President.
I was asked to come here
by our friend in Houston.
So this is a courtesy call.
I don't need courtesy. I need
airplanes, guns and money.
Well, we just doubled the
From 5 million to 10 million.
- That's right.
- Is that a joke?
- No.
- Is that meant to be a funny joke?
No, sir.
Congressman, what they're saying is
$10 million from the U.S.
is such a low figure that it
can be mistaken for a joke.
I caught up to the sarcasm there, sir.
Let me be clear.
eager to assist you.
No, you're not. You're not.
Absolutely not.
I went to Oxford
and I know what that word means.
The U.S. is not eager to assist us.
Well, now it's my understanding
that we offered to sell you F-16s.
You didn't want them.
Because you refused
to sell us the radar.
So to hell with that.
And this is emblematic of
American fence sitting
when it comes to fighting the Soviets.
To hell with it!
You sell us the planes
but not the radar.
while Soviet helicopters are
killing everything they can find,
people, animals, food supplies.
So to hell with it!
Yeah.
You sell the Israelis the radar,
so that's why he says,
"To hell with it. "
Again, I understood. Yeah.
Also, the arms and funding
should flow through us.
I'm sorry?
That's been part of the problem.
The arms and the funding
should flow through us.
We have experience with
warfare of this kind.
And your CIA has an
unimpressive track record.
Oh. I wouldn't say that.
They missed 130,000 Soviet
soldiers walking into Afghanistan.
Okay, we blew that call.
I would say so.
Well, I don't want to use up
any more of your hospitality,
so I will take your message
back to my committee chairman,
and we will give it
our fullest attention.
Let me walk you to the door.
before you came here.
I learned that you're a man
of many character flaws.
I am.
But I also learned that
you cannot deliver.
No, I don't, Mr. President.
Then promise me this.
Go to Peshawar and
see the refugee camps.
Right now. Today.
Go to Peshawar and see
with your own eyes.
I have a helicopter waiting to take you.
All right, I'll do it.
Thank you, Mr. Congressman.
Mr. President.
All right, you, come on.
How did it go?
Well, there were three of them.
It was like getting slapped around
by a Pakistani vaudeville team.
You know you've pretty
much hit rock bottom
when you've been told you
who hanged his predecessor
in a military coup.
Can we go home now?
No. No, we have to make one more stop.
I've seen enough.
About 350 people in three
small villages at Kandahar.
But instead of doing it all at once,
the Russians would
make the parents watch
as they slit the
throats of the children.
So, the Russians gathered all the
defectors and piled them like wood
in the center of the village.
Then they ran over
them with their tanks.
ground. I thought it was a toy.
When I reached down to grab
it, it exploded in my hand.
I should have known.
Because last year my little brother
tried to pick up a piece of candy.
It split him in half.
It takes more work to take care of
a wounded child than a dead one.
So when the Russians cover
fields with toy mines,
adults who might help
with the war effort...
have to take care of the children.
You can see yourself.
Like a bug.
They're beautiful.
How many children do you have?
She had six.
So, what do you want to
be when you grow up?
Hi. I have Congressman Wilson here to
see the station chief, Harold Holt.
Down the hall.
Second door on the left.
I'll wait outside.
Look, normally, a
congressional delegation,
we'd give them a courtesy briefing on
the situation, but as you can see,
it's getting pretty late, we don't
have a whole lot of time anyway, so...
- Well, make the time.
- Huh?
F*** your time, Harold.
I'm on Defense Appropriations.
Washington in just a few minutes.
Now, I need a full classified
briefing right now.
Hundred and twenty thousand
Soviet troops in all.
Hundred and twenty thousand?
40th Army is garrisoned in the cities
and in the airports.
Your seventh and eighth infantry
divisions are in Kabul.
The 18th in Mazar-e Sharif,
the fourth armored...
Anything inside?
I'm sorry?
They controlling anything inside?
Soviet advisors have appropriated
and the ministries.
Which ministries?
All of them.
Anyway, the fourth armored
covers Bagram Airbase.
Seventh Armored is...
Why ain't they shooting
down them helicopters?
I'm sorry?
The helicopters, Harold.
Why ain't we giving them something
to shoot down them helicopters?
The helicopters are a problem.
You think?
Congressman...
They're shooting at Soviet gunships
with Enfield rifles. That's
basically what Davy Crockett used.
The Soviet Hind gunship is especially
armor plated to resist bullets.
Yeah, I know, I know. So you tell me
what you need to shoot them down.
What do you mean?
Tell me what you need.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
You tell me what you need, and I
will go about getting it for you.
Congressman, I appreciate
your generosity,
but a sudden influx of money and
modern weaponry would draw attention.
- What?
- A sudden influx of money and modern...
Wait, it would draw attention?
Yeah.
Why, I don't even know what that means.
This is the Cold War.
Should I continue with the briefing?
Have you been to these refugee
camps? Have you heard these stories?
Congressman, I am required
to give you a briefing.
Should I continue?
No. Thank you.
You know, I had a neighbor, growing
up, with a name right out of Dickens.
Mr. Charles Hazard.
And Mr. Hazard didn't like
the neighborhood dogs
messing up his flower beds.
yelling from across the street,
so I ran on over to Mr. Hazard's,
and there were about 15 grown-ups
standing around my dog, Teddy,
who was writhing on the
ground in obvious agony.
Blood was pouring out of his mouth.
Mr. Hazard had ground up a glass bottle
and put it in a bowl of
dog food and fed it to him.
What did you do?
Well, I got some gasoline and
burned down his flower beds.
But that wasn't satisfying enough.
And then I remembered, Mr.
Hazard was an elected official.
He was the head of the town council.
His reelection every two years
was a foregone conclusion.
So come Election Day, I drove over
Now, these people hadn't voted
in any of these elections, so...
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