George Crile: Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times

Charlie Wilson loved to have a good time, and found a seat in Congress to be a fine place for it - there was booze to drink, beautiful women to meet, and a secret mission to destroy international communism.

In one of his last public appearances before passing away at the age of 61, author George Crile appeared at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library to discuss his book Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Charlie Wilson and his partner in the CIA, Gust Arvakotos, who were both fiercely anti-Communist, established a major covert operation in response. They found way to smuggle weapons, diverted funds to strategic locations, and ultimately convinced Congress to arm the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet Union and set off a chain of events that would lead, in part, to collapse of at the U.S.S.R. - and further events whose consequences resonate even today.

Crile, a former producer for "60 Minutes" and CBS News, gave a lively talk on Wilson and the book, and followed with a spirited 40 minute question and answer session on a variety of topics, including Mike Nichols' film adaptation of his book, starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.