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What Do John McCain and Charlie Wilson Have In Common? Arming Syrian Rebels: History Repeats Itself

By C. J. Refsland on June 15, 2013 • ( 2 )

We’ve been down this road before! Here is a excerpt from wikipedia about Charlie Wilson, the Democratic Representative from Texas that once partnered with the CIA to supply weapons to the Mujahadin to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. Most of Wilson’s money from Congress went to Al-queda! And we all know how well that worked out. Just thought I’d show a little background for why Russia might be upset.

Soviet-Afghan War

Main article: Operation Cyclone

In 1980, Wilson read an Associated Press dispatch on the congressional wires describing the refugees fleeing Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. The communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan had taken over power during the Afghan Civil War and asked the Soviet Union to help suppress resistance from the mujahideen. According to biographer George Crile III, Wilson called the staff of the House Appropriations Committee dealing with “black appropriations” and requested a two-fold appropriation increase for Afghanistan. Because Wilson had just been named to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (which is responsible for funding CIA operations), his request went through.

That was not the last time he increased the CIA budget for its Afghan operation. In 1983, he won an additional $40 million, $17 million of which was allocated for anti-aircraft weapons to shoot down Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopters. The next year, CIA officer Gust Avrakotos directly approached Wilson—breaking the CIA’s policy against lobbying Congress for money—asking Wilson for $50 million more. Wilson agreed and convinced Congress, saying, “The U.S. had nothing whatsoever to do with these people’s decision to fight … but we’ll be damned by history if we let them fight with stones.”Later, Wilson succeeded in giving the Afghans $300 million of unused Pentagon money before the end of the fiscal year. Thus, Wilson directly influenced the level of United States government support for the Afghan Mujahideen. Wilson has said that the covert operation succeeded because “there was no partisanship or damaging leaks.”Michael Pillsbury, a senior Pentagon official, used Wilson’s funding to provide Stinger missiles to the Afghan resistance in a controversial decision.

Wilson posing with Mujahideen in Afghanistan

For his efforts, Wilson was presented with the Honored Colleague Award by the CIA. He became the first civilian to receive the award.However, Wilson’s role remains controversial because most of the aid was supplied to Islamist hardliner Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, now a senior Taliban leader and a supporter of al-Qaeda.