Charlie Wilson, lawmaker of movie fame, dies at 76
HOUSTON: Former U.S. Representative Charlie Wilson, chronicled on screen for helping secure billions of dollars to fund covert US operations against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, died on Wednesday of cardiac arrest. He was 76.
Wilson, a Democrat, served 12 consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, and was known as the Liberal from Lufkin, the town in mostly conservative east Texas where he lived. He had complained of chest pains on Wednesday and was pronounced dead when he arrived at Memorial Health System of East Texas in Lufkin, the hospital said in a statement.
In the 2007 movie Charlie Wilsons War, actor Tom Hanks portrayed Wilson, who found his lifes cause in helping freedom fighters in Afghanistan fight and eventually repel occupying Soviet forces. As a long-time member of the House Appropriations Committee, he quietly steered billions of dollars to the US Central Intelligence Agency, which distributed the funds to buy Afghan fighters high-tech weapons like Stinger missiles used to shoot down Soviet helicopter gunships. Wilson was born in Trinity, Texas, in 1933, attended the US Naval Academy, and served in the U.S. Navy. He was elected to the Texas legislature and went on to serve in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1997. He is survived by his wife Barbara and sister Sharon Allison. reuters
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