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

CIA budget for covert ops...

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.

to fight the Russian Army

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.

The United States is

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.

You offer Afghans rifles

from the First World War

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.

I learned about you

before you came here.

I learned that you're a man

of many character flaws.

I am.

But I also learned that

you never promise anything

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

have character flaws by a man

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.

I saw something shiny on the

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.

I'm catching a plane back to

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

the Afghan intel service

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.

Everybody knows about it.

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.

One day, I heard a bunch of

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

to the black section of town.

Now, these people hadn't voted

in any of these elections, so...

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