Brooks on Books: Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile

"Charlie Wilson's War" is a fantastic account of an amazing but true story. The late George Crile, a former CBS News producer, explains in detail how a congressman from Texas, with the help of key players like CIA bureau head Gust Avrakotos, essentially got the U.S. in the business of funding the Afghan mujahideen as they repelled the Soviet invasion.

I bought the book after seeing the movie last year and thinking, "Wow, that seems like a heckuva story, but I feel like a lot's missing." Indeed, there WAS, and while I don't want to rip director Mike Nichols or screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, the book is a far richer, more pleasurable experience that accomplishes everything the adaptation does not. Surely part of it is the inherent advantage 500-plus pages of text has over less than two hours of screen time. I know Sorkin is aware of how much the film leaves out because I watched a History Channel special in which he told us much of it. Whatever the reason for the movie's superficial aura, everything is in the book, which I recommend without hesitation to anyone intrigued by the story.

As an example, after seeing the film, I wondered what drove Wilson to be such a vehement anti-Communist. Crile explains this effectively in about two pages, and he does it early. Granted, it might be a difficult thing to do in a movie without lapsing into cheesy, contrived-looking flashback scenes for back story, but still. Plus Crile has the opportunity to explore extraordinary but unsung individuals like Mike Vickers, a CIA officer who wound up practically crafting the entire Afghan War strategy.

Despite its title, "Charlie Wilson's War" is not a comprehensive military history. Really this book is about how Wilson pulled strings to get funding for the Afghan resistance. It's about how things get done in Washington, D.C. Crile immerses us in the lobbying, the legislation, the extralegal activities, and how the players maneuver in this world. It's a bit unsettling, but enlightening. Wilson's adventures as a self-made de facto Secretary of State visiting and negotiating with foreign countries are no less entertaining.

Though the author clearly relies heavily on Wilson and Avrakotos themselves as primary sources, he does his homework and incorporates a lot of research and interviews with a wide variety of figures ranging from foreign dignitaries to government insiders to former beauty queen girlfriends of Wilson. There are great stories here that sound too good to be true, yet apparently are just that good.

One of the strengths of Crile's writing is how he structures the narrative so it's easy to follow--no small task given the wide array of individuals and organizations involved. There were competing factions in the CIA itself, for example. Wilson himself was a legislative champion and loyal friend of both Israel AND Egypt, and somehow he got Pakistan to funnel Israeli weapons to Afghanistan in what became essentially an American proxy war. It's a complex story with many tangles to sort out, but Crile turns it into fun read without straining. He's good at reiterating key facts or connections to keep us up to speed without lapsing into dull, repetitive exposition.

One of the issues that will naturally come to readers of "Charlie Wilson's War" is whether or not we "brought on" 9/11 by essentially funding the terrorists that would attack us later. Crile doesn't directly spend much time on this, and I don't blame him; anyone paying attention sees signs that Wilson and Co.'s policies could have bad ramifications, but it isn't a 9/11 book. In fact, the few passages Crile does devote to this matter seem tacked on for an updated edition.

What I find far more interesting is the question of whether Wilson and Avrakotos and company should have been able to do what they did, period, regardless of the blowback factor. Here, Crile is more overt in raising questions. He never interrupts the flow of the book to do so, but he often points out just how illegal Wilson's actions are. Does the end justify the means? There is an interesting parallel drawn to the Iran-Contra stuff that was going on at the time. Many of those figures were disgraced (many were not) for conducting renegade foreign policy. Wilson arguably broke just as many and just as important laws, but he was ultimately saluted as a hero in the intelligence community and is now seen as a likable rogue who "got the job done." What's the difference? Is it just results? Is it the clarity of the goals that were being pursued? Our comfortable feeling today that communism was evil and we beat it?

Crile doesn't attempt to answer all these questions, but he gives the reader enough info to do so on his own. It's an excellent book, packed with vivid detail that never slows a lively narrative. Unlike the movie, it leaves you satisfied.

(P.S.: If you love Hoffman's performance as Avrakotos, you'll love reading the man's dialogue in the book and picturing the actor delivering it.)