The road to 9/11 was great fun

"Charlie Wilson's War" is a film about Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson and his efforts to provide secret military aid to the Afghan resistance (the Mujahedeen) against the Soviet intervention in 1979-89.

The movie comes across more as a comedy than as a serious drama. It seems the road to 9/11 was great fun, with blonde females, belly dancers, Jacuzzis and cocaine (presumably from Medellin rather than Afghanistan). Tom Hanks is excellent as Charlie Wilson, or at least the fictionalized version of the Mujahedeen's main backer (apart from, I suppose, Rambo).

The story ends with Hanks/Wilson being handed a secret CIA report, stating that "the crazies" are moving into Kandahar (an important town in Afghanistan). In reality, the crazies were there all along, being provided with some really heavy weaponry by Good Time Charlie...

What a shame the man's dead. I mean, he could come in handy in Syria, couldn't he? All those Muslim fundamentalist freedom fighters battling an evil Russian-backed regime...