Charlie Wilson R.I.P.

My first meeting with Charlie was like a cloak and dagger movie, in the mid 80's in Lufkin, Texas. And I last talk to him in 2007 at a reunion BBQ in Lufkin after the movie came out.

Charlie was a unique individual, a legend, his contributions to the safety and security of our nation will never be completely known.

Regardless of what anyone may think about his personal life, he was a TRUE American patriot .

What he did for the mujahedin was nothing short of amazing.

His efforts to free the Afghan people -- portrayed in the movie Charlie Wilson's War -- don't overstate or dramatize a thing.

He was all that.

God speed, Charlie.

You served your country well.

Goodbye old friend, you will be missed.

Oh yeah, he knew how to party too!

Wishing the best to Barbra...
**************

Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, a hard-partying Democrat who played a key role in the United States' covert war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, has died. He was 76.

Yana Ogletree, the director of media relations at the Memorial Health System of East Texas, says Charlie was at a meeting Wednesday morning in Lufkin with his friend Buddy Temple.

The former congressman started to have trouble breathing. Temple then drove Wilson to the hospital and flagged down an ambulance while en route. The ambulance then drove Wilson to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 12:16 p.m. CT.

Ogletree says the cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest.

Charles Nesbitt Wilson was born June 1, 1933, in Trinity.

He attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville before earning his bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1956.

Wilson served as a Naval lieutenant between 1956-60, then entered politics by volunteering for John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign.

He served in the Texas House and then in the Texas Senate before being elected to the U.S. House in 1972. "Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a state representative, perfect as a state senator.

He was a perfect reflection of the people he represented. If there was anything wrong with Charlie, I never did know what it was," said Charles Schnabel Jr., who served for seven years as Wilson's chief of staff in Washington and worked with Wilson when he served in the Texas Senate.

Schnabel said he had just been with Wilson a few weeks ago for the dedication of the Charlie Wilson chair for Pakistan studies at the University of Texas at Austin, a $1 million endowment.

He said Wilson had been doing "very good. Charlie, known as the “Liberal from Lufkin,” represented the 2nd District from 1972 to 1996. He became known as “Goodtime Charlie” because of his lifestyle, but was known locally for helping bring a Veterans Administration clinic to Lufkin and helping establish the Big Thicket National Preserve.

“Charlie loved this nation and had deep respect and gratitude for the men and women who defended her; he was a force for Veterans his entire career. Throughout his life, this was evident in his thoughts, words, and deeds,” said Dr. Anthony Zollo, director of the VA outpatient clinic that bears Wilson's name.

“The VA is a richer organization because of Mr. Wilson. He will be deeply missed.” Charlie, was considered both a progressive and a defense hawk.

While his efforts to arm the mujahedeen in the 1980s were a success -- spurring a victory that helped speed the downfall of the Soviet Union -- he was unable to keep the money flowing after the Soviets left.

Afghanistan plunged into chaos, creating an opening eventually filled by the Taliban, which harbored Al Qaeda terrorists "That caused an enormous amount of real bitterness in Afghanistan and it was probably the catalyst for Taliban movement," Wilson said in a 2001 interview.

The Soviets spent a decade battling the determined and generously financed mujahedeen before pulling the Red Army from Afghanistan in 1989 After the Sept. 11 attacks -- carried out by Al Qaeda terrorists trained in Afghanistan -- the U.S. ended up invading the country it had once helped liberate.

"People like me didn't fulfill our responsibilities once the war was over," Charlie said in a September 2001 interview with The Associated Press.

"We allowed this vacuum to occur in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which enraged a lot of people. That was as much my fault as it was a lot of others."

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he knew Charlie when he was at the CIA and that the congressman "was working tirelessly on behalf of the Afghan resistance fighting the Soviets."

"As the world now knows, his efforts and exploits helped repel an invader, liberate a people, and bring the Cold War to a close. After the Soviets left, Charlie kept fighting for the Afghan people and warned against abandoning that traumatized country to its fate -- a warning we should have heeded then, and should remember today," Gates said in a written statement.

Mike Vickers, who as a CIA agent in 1984 played a key role in the clandestine effort to arm the Afghan rebels, said Wilson played a part in the Soviet Union's collapse, which happened just two years after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Mike, now assistant secretary of defense for special operations, praised Wilson as a "great American patriot who played a pivotal role in a world-changing event — the defeat of the Red Army in Afghanistan, which led to the collapse of Communism and the Soviet Empire."

After leaving Congress, Wilson lobbied for a number of years before returning to Texas.

As member of the House Appropriations Committee, Charlie's help fund Afghanistan's resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the movie Charlie Wilson's War.

Actor Tom Hanks portrayed Wilson in the 2007 movie about the congressman's efforts to aide the Afghani mujahedeen during their war against the Soviet Union.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called Wilson "a lifetime public servant with a fiery passion for the people of East Texas, our men and women in uniform, our veterans and our freedoms."

"I have had the great privilege to work alongside him on several issues of importance to our veterans in Texas, and I will miss his leadership and dedication," he said.

Charlie is survived by his wife, Barbara, whom he married in 1999, and a sister.





Charlie Wilson arrives with his wife
Barbara at the world premiere of
Charlie Wilson's War in 2007