A stiff drink. A little mascara. A lot of nerve. Who said they couldn't bring down the Soviet empire. Charlie Wilson's War is the outrageous true story of how one congressman who loved a good time, one Houston socialite who loved a good cause and one CIA agent who loved a good fight conspired to bring about the largest covert operation in history. Charlie Wilson was a bachelor congressman from Texas whose "Good Time Charlie" personality masked an astute political mind, deep sense of patriotism and compassion for the underdog. In the early 1980s, with the looming advance of a Russian invasion, that underdog was Afghanistan. Charlie's longtime friend, frequent patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring, one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anticommunist. Believing the American response to the invasion of Afghanistan was anemic at best, she prodded Charlie into doing for the Mujahideen-the country's legendary freedom fighters-what no one else could: secure funding and weapons to eradicate Soviet aggressors from their land. Charlie's partner in this uphill endeavor was CIA agent Gust Avrakotos, a bulldog, blue-collar operative who worked in the company of Ivy League blue bloods dismissive of his talents. Together, Charlie, Joanne and Gust traveled the world to form an unlikely alliance among Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, lawmakers and a belly dancer. Their success was remarkable. Over the nine-year course of the occupation of Afghanistan, United States funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually, and the Red Army subsequently retreated from Afghanistan.