'Law & Order' actor: I know more about war than troops

NBC's Richard Belzer dismisses '19 and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job'

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Posted: March 19, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


According to actor and comedian Richard Belzer, American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are too uneducated to be expressing support for the U.S. military mission since they're just "19 and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job" and "they don't read twenty newspapers a day."

Belzer, who's best known as Detective John Munch on NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," is a frequent guest on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." On one previous appearance, he threatened to walk off the set when told columnist Ann Coulter was also appearing, calling her a "fascist party doll." On Friday night's live broadcast, Belzer attacked claims by fellow guest Florida Congresswoman Ileanna Ros-Lehtinen's that U.S. soldiers continue to express support for the war.

In the lively exchange, captured by the website NewsBusters, Belzer dismisses Ros-Lehtinen accounts of meeting with troops in Iraq and their credibility as "bull----."


Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: "Having been in Iraq a few times, and Afghanistan, having met the troops one-on-one with free reign and asking them what they're doing, they're saying 'We're proud of our mission, we know what we're doing over here. We don't want you guys in Washington to lose it over there'. And there is a great sense of determination that what they are doing is making a difference. And yes, it has been an important mission what we're doing ... come on."

Richard Belzer: "Yeah, come on. Our soldiers now are at ..."

Ros-Lehtinen: "Are a volunteer force, a volunteer force."

Belzer: "Okay, fine. No one questions the nobility and the honor that these men and woman who are serving and what they're doing. No one questions that. But now they're targets, they're not going out. Now they're just protecting each other and they're in the middle of a civil war. So it's really not fair to have these people who volunteered their lives to protect our nation under false pretenses to now be a target ..."

[Loud applause for Belzer]

Ros-Lehtinen: "Ask them. Ask them if it's fair! Wait a minute, wait a minute. My stepson, wait a minute, my stepson ..."

Belzer: "That's bull----: Ask them! They're not .. they don't read twenty newspapers a day. They're under the threat of death every minute. They're not the best people to ask about the war because they're going to die any second."

Ros-Lehtinen: "Wait a minute! You are talking about my stepson, my stepson who just finished last week eight months of duty ..."

Belzer: "God bless your stepson. Doesn't mean he's a brilliant scholar about the war because he's there. And God bless him."

Ros-Lehtinen: "Oh, you are though! You are though? Okay."

Belzer: "Well I have more time, I'm not there. My life is not under threat."

Ros-Lehtinen: "Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad."

Bill Maher: "I think the point he's trying to make is that a 19-year-old who is in that army because he probably couldn't find other employment ..."

Ros-Lehtinen: "He's a college graduate. He's a Marine officer. He volunteered for the Marines."

Belzer: "He's the exception for the rule."

Ros-Lehtinen: "He's not the exception for the rule. I've been there ..."

Belzer: "You think everyone over there is a college graduate? They're 19 and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job ..."


Ros-Lehtinen: "Yeah, you know because you've been there and ..."

Belzer: "What, I don't f---ing read!? Don't do that!"

Maher [to Belzer]: "Woe, woe, woe. Come on. Wait, wait, wait. That ... Don't."

Belzer: "Pardon my French."

Maher: "Yes ... that was over the line and now you're going to lose ..."

Belzer: "It's this patronizing thing that people have about if you're against the war everyone's lumped together. You know, the soldiers are not scholars, they're not war experts ..."

If the CO's knew who was talking, and to who.I can gaurantee you they didn't have free raign. At least not in Afganistan.

Well I know what my kid said.

ooops, my mistake.

By the way AM, it looks like he will redeploy in September. Same place.

So, tell me Rory........are the majority of the soldiers there college grads?

And ONE of them apologized for being a jackass. Belzer. Ros-Lehtinen was just a jackass without an apology.

Both were jackasses, one apologized for it.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't the Republican congresswoman from Florida.

Obviously Blory did not watch the program.

Belzer was disgusted by the congresswomens insistence to talk the party line rather than speak from a place of intelligence.

And yes, Belzer apologized because he felt he over stepped a boundary something the neo's have no ability to do... that is to see boundaries AND apologize when crossing them!

Dan,

In your opinion, how was Ros-Lehtinen a jackass?

She was a jackass because she went in there to spout off her opinion and pooh-pooh everyone else's opinion. She was rude, arrogant and dismissive.

Belzer was also rude. He apologized for it, and let the congresswoman state her case time and again without interrupting after his initial outburst.

She did no such thing. Every time someone brought up a different point of view, she ridiculed them.

She was a jackass. Just a jackass that felt no need to apologize for her lowbrow behavior.

So, one member of the panel was repectful and let the others state their views without ridicule. One member was rude and dismissive, but apologized and then behaved himself. One member was rude and dismissive and felt no need to apologize for it.

Like I said, a jackass.

dan s - i agree.....she is a jackass....tough but a jackass.

maher had his hands full durring that show.

Ros-Lehtinen: "He's a college graduate. He's a Marine officer. He volunteered for the Marines."
Belzer: "He's the exception for the rule."
Ros-Lehtinen: "He's not the exception for the rule. I've been there ..."
Belzer: "You think everyone over there is a college graduate? They're 19 and 20-year-old kids who couldn't get a job ..."

Having been in uniform, I can say that in this exchange Belzer is completely correct. Something else that is correct is that nobody that is a Marine officer will say anything that is not oked by their superiors, period. Any officer that would dare say anything contrary to the official position would find themselves on the fast track to being a civilian because they'd be passed over for promotion.
Anybody that believes otherwise has not been in the military.

You are right, Chuck E. Having been an enlisted man, I'm always astonished when media types quote some frigging officer as being representative of "soldier" opinion.