Everett Attacks British Army 'Wimps'

Outspoken actor RUPERT EVERETT has sparked fury from British soldiers after branding them "whining wimps" who are "pathetic" compared to recruits in the days of Victorian Britain.

The Stardust actor, whose own father was a major in the British Army, made the controversial comments in a documentary he has filmed for the U.K.'s Channel 4 about 19th century soldier Sir Richard Burton.

The star compares modern day soldiers to old fashioned recruits, insisting British fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan constantly "whine" about facing the risk of death.

And the 49-year-old insists soldiers have no right to complain, as enlisting to the Army is the same as having a death wish.

He says, "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 15,000 feet above the war zone to avoid getting hit.

"I don't think there is any point in having wars if that's how you're going to behave. It's pathetic. All this whining!"

And the star doesn't only blast the state of the British Army, he also attacks the U.S. and their cultural identity following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York in 2001, branding the country as a "blobby" nation.

He adds, "I'm totally off the States now. The reaction to 9/11 and then George Bush - really, they've got very blobby as a nation.

"Now they are whiny victims whose language is entirely taken from two TV shows - Friends and Sex And The City - and there's nothing sexy about them any more.

"And that kind of semi-blindness about the rest of the world, which was attractive when America was exciting, is really unattractive now."