‘Good Time Charlie’ Wilson Dead at 76

Charlie Wilson, the former Texas Representative played by Tom Hanks in the 2007 film “Charlie Wilson’s War,” died today at the age of 76.

Wilson, of course, helped fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 80′s by funneling aid and arms to the Afghan mujahedin — who later became the Taliban.

A 2007 profile of Wilson in Time quotes him as saying he had no regrets. It also offers this food for thought:

What is truly mind-boggling about Wilson’s extraordinary saga is that not one word of it leaked to the press. He credits this to the bipartisan spirit in Congress at the time. “It never leaked because nobody wanted it to,” he says. “Everybody was pulling for [the mujahedin]. It was amazing and will never, never, ever happen again.”

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