In his new book, Charlie Wilson's War, George Crile tells the story of the Texas congressman who orchestrated the CIA's war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, America's largest covert military operation ever. After hearing stories of invincible Soviet Hind helicopters decimating Afghani villages, Congressman Wilson became obsessed with shooting down the Communist "angel of death." It took a decade, billions of dollars and all kinds of intrigue, but Wilson and his CIA compadres ultimately managed to equip the mujahideen with American Stinger missiles. A heat-seeking missile that can be carried and fired by a lone man, the Stinger enabled the plucky and heroic Afghani freedom fighters to shoot down the $10 million Hind helicopters with ease. More than any other factor or tactic, the Stinger (and the CIA training and support that came along with it) is credited for the Soviet's ultimate defeat and retreat from Afghanistan.

Reading today's news of a British man arrested in Newark, New Jersey after agreeing to sell a Russian SA-18 shoulder-fired missile to an undercover FBI agent, I couldn't help but think of Charlie Wilson. Newark, New Jersey is better known to my fellow New Yorkers as EWR -- Newark "Liberty" Airport. And the SA-18 is similar to the type of rocket that was fired at an Israeli passenger plane flying out of Kenya a few months back.

When I get on a plane these days, I do a special prayer that includes a very specific mention of shoulder-fired missiles. I was doing the Shoulder Fired Missile Meditation before today's news, and now I guess I'm going to have to figure out a way to pump it up a bit. A flight attendant once told me that before take-off he does a series of deep breaths. On each exhalation he imagines himself inflating a protective bubble around the people beside him, the plane, the airport, and the entire flight path.

This bubble thing might be worth trying because, according to Crile, we and the Saudis continued to send hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high-tech weaponry to the Afghani holy warriors well into the 1990's, years after the Soviets withdrew. Not surprisingly, once the Soviets were gone, the mujahideen returned to their original warlord form. They used their new firepower to turn on each other and settle generations-old scores. After a period of instability the Taliban took over, creating a highly repressive sort of order. And by September 12th, 2001, many of the same mujahideen we secretly funded, trained and equipped throughout the 1980's -- one can certainly find their names and faces in Charlie Wilson's most treasured photo albums -- were on America's Wanted Dead or Alive List.

As much good defensive work as the FBI may be doing now (and who knows if this arrest will turn out to be legit), we spent a good part of the last twenty years ensuring that all kinds of moronic and maniacal characters had access to some of the most serious military technology around. Short of equipping commercial airliners with multi-million dollar defense systems and heavily guarding airport perimeters, there's not a whole lot we can do about someone who has a shoulder-fired rocket on American soil and is eager to try it out on a 737.

The massive secret war in Afghanistan is peanuts compared to the covert and overt action that is taking place today in the name of the War on Terror. We are fanning out around the globe to provide weapons, training and support to new allies in a host of 'stan's, 'esia's and other hotspots. The Charlie Wilson story makes one thing completely clear: The continued development and distribution of high-tech weapons and military knowledge doesn't do anything to bring us greater security. In the places where we sew weapons, we reap war. And our world is now so close-knit and interconnected, there's really no way for us to be uninvolved. If we want genuine security we need to figure out way to stop the large-scale production and distribution of high-tech weaponry. The more weapons we put out there, the more likely they will be used. And used against us.


9:22 PM | Link |