Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks in "Charlie Wilson's War"

[Cocoa]

the story of how Ronald Reagan and the neocons created Osama bin Laden.

http://www.slashfilm.com/article.php/20060111233721177

Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks. Ten years ago, it would be a perfect match for a romantic comedy. Well, now it’s time for films with an agenda. Two of the most bankable Hollywood stars may star together in a CIA drama, Charlie Wilson's War. Mike Nichols is in discussion to direct.

The script by Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing. is based on a book by a former 60 Minutes producer George Crile. It centers on the CIA's covert operation in Afghanistan to arm the mujahideen during the 1980s, when they were fighting against the Soviet Union. Many of the men armed by the CIA went on to become the Taliban's enforcers and Osama bin Laden's protectors.

The covert ops were engineered by Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), a charismatic, wheeler-dealer, liberal Texas congressman. Julia Roberts is in talks to play Joanne Herring, a beautiful Texas socialite who influenced Wilson to support the mujahideen cause.

more...

[babylonsister]

1. My goodness, I'm salivating at the prospect of seeing this, and

I relish films with an agenda, as opposed to, say, 20 years ago! ;-)

[adriennui]

2. read ghost wars

you'll have nightmares.

[KittyWampus]

3. The Law Of Unintended Consequences. Sounds like Munich's

cinematic sibling.

[Nevernose]

4. WIlson was a coke-snorting, skirt-chasing, lightweight liberal lawmaker

And a damn fine guy. He was one of the old-school liberals that believed, I mean really believed in the dangers of communism, and basically dreamed up and carried out our covert war against the SU in Afghanistan. Yes, we fucked yup the aftermath (an American tradition), but the motives were good, at least for Charlie -- for him it wasn't about geopolitics so much as protecting the innocent victims of Soviet aggression.

Fascinating book, if y'all get the chance, funny, at times poignant, and almost totally unbelievable.

The guy's still beloved in East Texas, btw, where he orginally won his seat in the House on a "hunting dogs don't have to be on leashes" platform in the mid 60s. Took the allocation for a staff and office back home and bought an RV, which he drove around and met with constituents in parking lots all over his district. Also took a lot of bribes, slept with a lot of women, took a lot of cocaine, and actually managed to accomplish something while doing it. I'm not saying he was an American hero, but he was one hell of an American character.

(the title, vtw, is a paraphrase from some review of the book I read, maybe in Rolling Stone)

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. I read the book...

it was a good one.

Yeah he actually cared about the Afghans and wanted to give them the tools to win the war, unlike most of the CIA that was just content to give them bolt action rifles and let them die as cannon fodder against the Soviets.