When They Fell

I am joined by US political history academic David Marshall and US and film history academic Joshua Brown to discuss the tight, witty film 'Charlie Wilson's War' which documents the secret operation of the CIA in the 1980s to aid Afghan rebels in their war against the Soviet Union. The operation, spearheaded in Congress by Rep. Charlie Wilson of Texas, would prove to be the largest in US history, with wide-reaching ramifications. Directed by Mike Nichols ('Primary Colors', 'The Graduate'), and written by Aaron Sorkin ('West Wing', 'The Social Network'), 'Charlie Wilson's War' is a satire that can't help but remind us that the past isn't really that far away.

Jake Hunter, a security and justice consultant at Deloitte, joins me to discuss to complicated web woven by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the acclaimed documentary 'The Unknown Known', directed by Errol Morris ('The Thin Blue Line', 'The Fog of War').