An Evening With Charlie Wilson and George Crile, 6 p.m., Tuesday, October 7, 2003, LBJ Auditorium
The Scoop: It’s been called the “other war” the United States fought in Afghanistan, the one waged by proxy against the Soviet Union in the 1980s…a war that was never even on the radar for most Americans.
60 Minutes producer and author George Crile tells the unlikely tale of a Texas congressman who uses his political wiles to arm tribes of Afghan holy warriors…which ultimately led to the fall of the Soviet Union…in the best-seller Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History.
Crile and the subject of the book, former Texas congressman Charlie Wilson, will speak to the Friends of the LBJ Library on October 7, 2003.
According to the book’s publisher, The Atlantic Monthly Press, “George Crile tells how Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the Agency's history. 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 mujadiheen.”
The Houston Post writes, “In Charlie Wilson’s War, Crile reveals in extraordinary detail the over-the-top, under-the-table machinations of Wilson, one of Capitol Hill’s ablest political bulldozers, as he spearheaded what eventually became known as the Soviets’ Vietnam.”
In July 2003, Tom Hanks’ company, Playtone, bought the rights to Charlie Wilson’s War and Hanks plans to play the lead role.
Mr. Wilson and Mr. Crile will be signing copies of Charlie Wilson's War from 5:15 to 5:45 p.m. in the lobby of the LBJ Auditorium.