By Associated Press
– Charlie Wilson, the former U.S. congressman from east Texas, died Wednesday at the age of 76.
His funding of Afghanistan's resistance to the Soviet Union was chronicled in the book and movie "Charlie Wilson's War."
A hospital spokeswoman in Lufkin says Wilson died of cardiopulmonary arrest.
Wilson represented the 2nd district in East Texas in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996.
The film was about Wilson's efforts to arm Afghani mujahedeen during their war against the Soviet Union. Wilson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, helped secure money for weapons.
Wilson was known as "Good Time Charlie" when he was in Washington.