Charlie Wilson

American politician, a 12-term congressman and the subject of the 2007 movie Charlie Wilson's War. A Democratic Party representative from his home state of Texas, Wilson was hawkish in foreign policy. First elected to Congress in 1973, he earned the moniker "Good time Charlie" because of his playboy lifestyle for most of his tenure in Washington. He survived at least two car crashes, allegations of cocaine use and a large fine for financial irregularities. But in 1979 the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and shortly after, Wilson visited the country. When he saw a camp of maimed, wounded and ill Afghans, he vowed to help them. Upon his return to the US, he began raising money for humanitarian aid for the impoverished country all the while covertly channelling funds, weaponry, even mules to the guerilla fighters. For his efforts, Wilson was presented with the Honored Colleague Award by the CIA. He became the first civilian to receive the award. However, Wilson's role remains controversial because most of the aid was supplied to Islamist hardliner Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, now a senior Taliban leader and a supporter of al-Qaeda. A 1956 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Wilson was elected to the Texas House of Representatives and then to the State Senate. He was elected to the US Congress in 1972, taking his seat in January 1973; he retired from Congress in 1995. In later years, he did not regret his help to the Afghans; instead he regretted that the US did not fight harder for that country. He and his wife Barbara had no children. Wilson had a heart transplant in 2007 and died from cardiopulmonary arrest at 12:16pm CST on 10 February 2010 in Lufkin, Texas. Link to Wikipedia biography