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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29358.Charlie_Wilson_s_War?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Charlie Wilson's War" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1168021400m/29358.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29358.Charlie_Wilson_s_War?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Charlie Wilson's War</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16477.George_Crile">George Crile</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19124742?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>A tremendously fun read and how many books on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the jihad against the Soviets can you say that about? I'd give it 5 stars, if I felt I could trust it completely, but if it isn't entirely true, you'd want it to be. An alcholic dissolute Congressman brings down the Soviet Union, working with renegade CIA agents, right wing Christain fundamentalists aligned with fundalmentalist Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan. How can you not like this story? It's a bit like reading a Flashman novel in the modern world. <br/> <br/>I spent time in Pakistan working with Afghan refugees in a resettlement program, and a lot of what I read certainly rings true. I met a fair number of mujahideen. Some groups were completely against the small resettlement programs, some were in favor. We had armed guards on the interview site, well away from the camps, as the Afghans were as likely to go after each other as anything else if the wrong two people ran into each other. The groups would also turn on the NGOs in the camps in Pakistan and occasionally capture and shoot one of the Afghan workers to register a complaint, if they felt they weren't getting their fair share of the pie. My favorite interview was a field commander with one of the muj groups, who'd been captured and escaped. His specialty was knocking down helos, but he was too badly mistreated to continue the jihad. There were various pictures of him in the field with his men standing around various downed copters. He had a full white beard and a round belly and was a very decent, seemingly mild person. It was a bit like finding Santa with a AK-47. <br/> <br/>All of which is to say, the book resonates with me and I highly recommend it, with a pinch or two of salt. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/243419?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>