I really find thought provoking the quote at the end that if only 20 years ago Americans had viewed Pakistanis and Afghans as important as human beings. I'm on Team Charlie Wilson with that man, I really am. And the comment about the helo on the roof of the embassy in Saigon. That's hard to hear, even though I agree with him. I've been thinking a lot about Vietnam recently.
"I believe that it was a direct recognition that in the eyes of the U.S. leaders at the time, they were barbarians, subhuman, not worth it. And I would submit that they are human beings, that if U.S. leaders had treated them as important in a human way, then society in Pakistan and Afghanistan would be far further along today, because we would have helped them avoid all the things that are happening now. If you remember, at the time, we were loved. Both countries were in such a state of need, and then we just left. "We got rid of our big enemy, let's get outta here," and boy, wasn't that a strategic error. When the [Berlin] Wall came down and we were waving flags and saying "America, America," why weren't we waving Pakistani flags? I remember seeing the Wall come down and all that, and I don't remember hearing anything about Pakistan."
Hindsight sure is 20/20. Sigh.