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"In a little over a decade, two events have transformed the world we live in: the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of militant Islam. Charlie Wilson's War is the untold story behind the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the new jihad. George Crile tells how Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a roque CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the Agency's history.".
"In the early 1980s, after a Houston socialite turned Wilson's attention to the ragged band of Afghan "freedom fighters" who continued, despite overwhelming odds, to fight the Soviet invaders, the congressman became passionate about their cause. At a time when Ronald Reagan faced a total cutoff of funding for the Contra war, Wilson, who sat on the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee, managed to procure hundreds of millions of dollars to support the mujahideen.
The arms were secretly procured and distributed with the aid of an out-of-favor CIA operative, Gust Avrakotos, whose working-class Greek-American background made him an anomaly among the Ivy League world of American spies. Nicknamed "Dr. Dirty," the blue-collar James Bond was an aggressive agent who served on the front lines of the Cold War where he learned how to stretch the Agency's rules to the breaking point.".
"Avrakotos handpicked a staff of CIA outcasts to run his operation: "Hilly Billy," the logistics wizard who could open an unnumbered Swiss bank account for the U.S. government in twelve hours when others took months; Art Alper, the grandfatherly demolitions expert from the Technical Services Division who passed on his dark arts to the Afghans; Mike Vickers, the former Green Beret who created a systematic plan to turn a rabble of shepherds into an army of techno holy warriors."--BOOK JACKET.
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Subjects
Drug traffic, Conspiracies, United States Central Intelligence Agency, Fiction, United States Secret service, American Military assistance, History, Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan (1979-1989), United states, central intelligence agency, Military assistance, american, Afghanistan, history, soviet occupation, 1979-1989, Arms transfers, Secret service, United States. Central Intelligence Agency, United States, Large type books, American military assistance, Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan (1979-1989) fast (OCoLC)fst01355030, New York Times reviewedPeople
Charles Wilson (1933-2010)Places
Afghanistan, United StatesTimes
1979-1989Showing 4 featured editions. View all 23 editions?
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1
Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times
November 6, 2007, Grove Press
Paperback
in English
- Reissue edition
0802143415 9780802143419
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2
Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times
April 22, 2004, Grove Press
Paperback
in English
0802141242 9780802141248
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3
Charlie Wilson's war: the extraordinary story of the largest covert operation in history
2003, Atlantic Monthly Press
in English
0871138549 9780871138545
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4
Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History
2003, Atlantic Monthly Press
in English
- 1st ed.
0871138549 9780871138545
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Book Details
Published in
New York
Edition Notes
Includes index.
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ID Numbers
Work Description
An Historical account of the covert operations against the Soviet invasion of Afganistan in 1980's.
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