Charlie Wilson's War Quotes

Charlie Wilson You mean to tell me that the ] ] in ] is to have the Afghans keep walking into machine gun fire til the ] run out of bullets?

Gust Avrakotos That's Harold Holt's strategy, it's not U.S. strategy.

Charlie Wilson What is U.S. strategy?

Gust Avrakotos Well strictly speaking, we don't have one. But we're working hard on that.

Charlie Wilson Who's we'?

Gust Avrakotos Me and three other guys.

Joanne Herring I talk about God for one simple reason. We need him on our side.

Charlie Wilson Well, should we try this scotch or is it going to release ] gas when I open it?

Gust Avrakotos Ah, I don't think so — but open it over there.

Joanne Herring Why is Congress saying one thing and doing ]?

Charlie Wilson Well, it's ] mostly.

Gust Avrakotos You see the nerdy-looking kid in the white shirt playing against the four guys at once?

Charlie Wilson Yeah?

Gust Avrakotos Which one of the guys do you think is a strategic weapons expert with the CIA?

Charlie Wilson …hm.

Gust Avrakotos That was a trick question, Charlie; it's the nerdy-looking kid in the white shirt. Alright, no reason this can't be fun, y'know.

Charlie Wilson You're no ].

Gust Avrakotos You're no ], so let's call it even.

Charlie Wilson * Comment about ], who had deposed Prime Minister ].

Charlie Wilson Gosh, Joanne, it's great to hear from you. Could I possibly call you back in just a little bit?

Joanne Herring Is ] in your bedroom right now?

Charlie Wilson No.

Joanne Herring Then I'm considerably more important than whoever is.

Charlie Wilson You ] you've reached rock bottom when you're told you have ] flaws by a man who hanged his predecessor in a ] coup.

Gust Avrakotos *Questioning the firing of 3000 first generation and second generation American spies.

Charlie Wilson *Comment on his meeting with ] and two senior staff.

Gust Avrakotos My ]? For 24 years people have been trying to ] me, people who know how. Now do you think that's because my dad was a ] soda pop maker or because I'm an ] ]? Go fuck yourself, you fucking child!

Charlie Wilson Well, there were three of them; it was like being slapped around by a ] ] team.

Gust Avrakotos A boy is given a ] on his 14th birthday. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how wonderful.” But a Zen master who lives in the village says, “We'll see.” The boy falls off the horse and breaks his foot. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how awful.” The Zen master says, “We'll see.” The village is thrown into war and all the young men have to go to war. But, because of the broken foot, the boy stays behind. Everyone says, “Oh, how wonderful.” The Zen master says, “We'll see.”

Gust Avrakotos *Comment about the nature of uncertainties, in relation to the course of the Afghan war, using a truncated variant of some famous teaching stories, similar to one widely popularized by ], as in In the Eye of the Storm (1991).

Gust Avrakotos Thats how a ] turns into a real ] and that's something you want to keep a very good eye on.

Charlie Wilson These things happened. They were ] and they changed the ]... and then we fucked up the end game.