Everett: Modern day soldiers are wimps

Rupert Everett has made a series of controversial comments about modern-day British troops and warfare.

The actor is playing 19th Century explorer and soldier Sir Richard Burton in upcoming Channel 4 drama-documentary The Victorian Sex Explorer.

"In Burton's day they were itching to get into the fray," he told the Sunday Telegraph. "Now it is the opposite. They are always whining about the dangers of being killed. Oh my God, they are such wimps now!

"The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed, wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15,000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit... It's pathetic. All this whining!"

Everett also made reference to soldiers' illegal mistreatment and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

"The whole point of being in the Army is going to war and getting yourself blown up," he said. "That and p***ing on prisoners. Yet we all get shocked by Abu Ghraib.

"But that's war. If you don't like that side of it, don't do it. Of course soldiers are going to p*** on the first prisoners they take. It goes with the territory."