I know this could belong in the movie forum, but due to the political nature of this film, I thought many here may have an opinion. Has anyone seen this movie yet? Do you think this movie in any way affects the simplistic notion that "the CIA created and funded al Qaeda"?
America was all up in al Qaeda's grill ... BEFORE we were "all up in" al Qaeda's grill. IF you know what I mean. Of course, the U.S. funds and trains half the nutjobs that hate us or attack us. It's become a given. And no, they don't "hate us because of our 'freedoms' " as President Chimp likes to lie and say.
I think he means why should we make a hero out of the man responsible for arming and developing the mujahideen and creating Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
The mujahideen were there before we started funding them, and they were there after we stopped. I hate to side with waky here, but the middle east has a constantly shifting political landscape. People who are fighting our enemies one day may become our enemies the next (in the case of the taliban and saddam).
I love to be able to agree with Libertine. And referring to the Middle East's changing political landscape: don't give any of them anything.
I think some people just find reality too complicated so they just like to reassure themselves that in one way or another America is ultimately to blame for everything. I mean we helped Stalin in WWII, was that wrong? Eugene and Wacky are right. "We" didn't invade Afghanistan, created the Mujahadeen, Al Queda, Bin Laden or the Taliban.
The scene where Charlie Wilson goes to meet with Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (the guy who hung Benazir Bhutto's dad) was very interesting and funny. Okay movie with not enough substance to the whole denouement of the actual war and theme of the film itself.
The fact is, the US was already funding the Mujahideen MONTHS before the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Zbigniew Brzezinski admits this himself. The movie is based on a lie. The only reality it presents is the one they want you to believe, which is that the Mujahideen, which evolved into al-Qaeda, was funded by the West as a natural response to the Soviets' invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. See Al-Qaeda and the 'War on Terrorism' by Michel Chossudovsky: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7718 Of course the US government created and funded al-Qaeda, but this movie doesn't really point to that. It used low-level people that in reality had little to do with the Mujahideen or al-Qaeda, and it paints them as these sort of heroic figures.
well bin laden created al-qaeda and the U.S funded them, just like they funded saddam during the iran-iraq war that caused over 1million deaths and nothing was resolved(no one even gained any land, in the end nothing happened but 1million dead young men)
I disagree that it actually painted the main characters as heroes. It showed some pretty ugly and realistic attributes of the prominently wealthy and powerful as well as what it's like to be a corrupt and sell out politician. It did lack a lot of truth. Not enough truth, and I was very disappointed in the film. But the scene in reference to having your head taken - which is what happened to Benazir Bhutto's dad - was funny.
