National Affairs: Charlie & the Whale

For two long days last week, while ashes from chain-smoked cigarettes dribbled down the front of his blue suit, Defense Secretary Charles Wilson faced up to a drumfire attack on defense policy directed at him by Democrats on the Senate's airpower subcommittee. Sometimes he answered questions with the weary patience of a father harassed by a child; sometimes he wandered unresponsively, while senatorial patience frayed. But always—with remarkable success for Engine Charlie Wilson—he fought to keep a curb on his shop-foreman's tongue.

Like Any Other Funds. Calmly Wilson told the committee he knew...

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