Woody Harrelson on the War in Afghanistan

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Washington Unplugged

Woody Harrelson, who is in Washington for a screening of his new film "The Messenger," stopped by the set of "Washington Unplugged" with costar Ben Foster and director Oren Moverman to discuss the film and his feelings about the war in Afghanistan.

"I don't think it's up to me to tell the president anything," Harrelson said after being asked by host John Dickerson what he might say to President Obama. "But I do think it's important that he's weighing the escalation so heavily."

"I'd love to see them get out of Vietnam – rather, Afghanistan," Harrelson said, laughing at his mistake. "Well, there's a lot of parallels."

"I really don't think we have a lot of justification for being there," he said of both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The Messenger" explores the experience of soldiers who tell family members that a loved one has died in combat. Moverman said soldiers and their families have become a marginalized and isolated subculture in America; the film, he said, was designed in part to shine a light on their situations.

Foster said members of the cast went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit wounded soldiers, an experience that allowed them to "see up close the results of war, rather than talk about it in a very cold way – statistics, numbers."

Harrelson called the president's trip this week to Dover Air Force Base to see fallen soldiers returning from war "huge," but Moverman, who said he respected the trip, cast it as largely ceremonial. He said both the president and the press corps need to put the focus more on the wounded and the families of the dead.

"Let's start getting the cameras on the families, let's start getting the cameras on those that want to talk, guys who are coming back," he said. "Let's listen to them, and let's start getting that story out. Because that's a buried part of the conversation and it shouldn't be that way."

Watch the interview above, along with a discussion of the off-year elections taking place next Tuesday and an interview with Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by AttentionDeficit November 1, 2009 7:19 AM EST: "a politically uneduated actor"

his eduation should have included speling; Reply to this comment

by rplat October 31, 2009 8:01 AM EDT

Who in the right mind gives a rat's backside what this moron Harrelson thinks about the war. This poor, once great Republic is seriously ill.

Reply to this comment


by brianbwb-2009 October 31, 2009 10:08 AM EDT: Whoever asked the question had a concern. You didn't ask, so you have no concern, but more people have heard of, and like Harrelson, than they have heard of, and like you.

by talltimber41 October 30, 2009 11:45 PM EDT

Who cares what Woody Harrelson thinks? His opinion and $3.50 will buy a latte. What does the man on the street think? What do the families of those serving think? What do the political experts think? Woody Harrelson is a foul-mouthed actor.

Reply to this comment


by fss2009 October 31, 2009 7:38 AM EDT: Who cares what YOU think, you ignorant warmonger. Your opinion is worth nothing!. If you're going to shoot yer fool mouth off, you should at least load the gun first.


by AttentionDeficit November 1, 2009 7:24 AM EST: talltimber: woody is foul mouthed? based on what? his disagreeing with you?

by one4gipper October 30, 2009 8:29 PM EDT

America, I have just one question. Have we really forgotten why we went into Afganistan? If the answer to that question is yes, then there no hope for this country.

Reply to this comment


by billpl-2009 October 31, 2009 12:34 AM EDT: we don't but woody?

probably spent most 2001 drunk, stoned or in rehab
how can you expect him to remember?

...why are we are listening to him in the first place?????


by brianbwb-2009 October 31, 2009 10:05 AM EDT: Have you forgotten that even Bush forgot why we went into Afghanistan?

Was not the stated reason to "get" bin Laden?

Seems you have also forgotten, and that is because the lie must be remembered, whereas truth stands without effort.


by nopatriot October 30, 2009 7:35 PM EDT: WHAT IS THE USA ARMY?
IN JAPAN, USA ARMY'S KIDS USED THE ROPE AND ONE WOMAN WAS ON THE BIKE AND SHE ROLLED DOWNED TO THE ROAD GOT A HEAVY INJURY.
I THINK OBAMA SEEMS COWARD NOW, HE SAID " NO WAR" OR " DISLIKE WAR " OR SIMILAR WORDS HE USED.
NOW AFTER BUSH, HE DOES NOT HAVE RESPONSIBILITY ON THIS KIND OF PROBLEM RELATED USA ARMY IN THE WORLD TOO.
ATTITUDE LIKE WHO CARE, PAY MONEY FOR USA ARMY IN JAPAN, KOREA , GERMANY ETC, WHO CARE
IF THOSE COUNTRIES PEOPLE DISLIKE USA ARMY IN THEIR COUNTRIES.

" WE ARE BOSS OF THE WORLD, WHO CARE ABOUT TORTURE OR NOT, SUCKS UN COUNCIL."

KIDS OBSTACLE WITH ROPE ON THE ROAD , THAT'S USA ARMY KIDS DO.
I DON'T THINK THEY GET A HIGH EDUCATION FROM FAMILY, LIKE MORAL, ETHIC ETC.
SORRY FOR THOSE KIDS, THEY NEED PEACEFUL EDUCATION RATHER THAN WAR.; Reply to this comment


by jefleshman October 30, 2009 6:59 PM EDT: "Let's start getting the cameras on the families, let's start getting the cameras on those that want to talk, guys who are coming back," he said. "Let's listen to them, and let's start getting that story out. Because that's a buried part of the conversation and it shouldn't be that way."
--------------------------------

I could not agree with you more! But I would add also, Why does the world believe we are not wanted in Afghanistan? How many Afghans have you seen on the News saying what they want? It would end that garbage real quick...oh no wait...the media will find the 10 out of 100 who say they do not want us here and put them on the news (instead of the 90 that do)...nevermind.; Reply to this comment

by mav547166 October 30, 2009 6:50 PM EDT

Another Jane Fonda that will apoligize in a few years when it is politically convenient. Thats the problem with liberals no core beleifs.

Reply to this comment


by brianbwb-2009 October 31, 2009 10:13 AM EDT: Having no core beliefs is by far better for humanity than having the wrong core beliefs, and killing people because of them, as demonstrated daily by the right wing supporters and "core believers" in genocide.


by tpeks40 October 30, 2009 5:32 PM EDT: Who cares what Woody Harrelson thinks about political issues? And in a related story, Nancy Pelosi gives a 2 thumbs up to Kingpin.; Reply to this comment

by DoubleHappiness88 October 30, 2009 5:21 PM EDT

All of the Middle East is not worth another dop of American blood.
Let them save themselves from the Taliban. Those who will not stand-up to religious thuggery deserve it.

Reply to this comment


by thesevenveils October 30, 2009 5:30 PM EDT: Afghanistan is the trainning grounds of al Qaeda and why do people forget this? is it because they are dim witted with a short attention span? Or is it because p[eople like Doublehappiness, who are Taliban supporters trying to drum up sympathy for the devil?


by brianbwb-2009 October 31, 2009 10:00 AM EDT: to thesevenveils

It is not that anyone has forgotten, but rather you have forgotten the Al Qaeda was created by, and still does the bidding of the CIA.

Cut off the CIA's money, and you strangle Al Qaeda, simple as that.

From the late Robin cook, former foreign minister of England,

"Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."

In the late 1980s, Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, concerned about the growing strength of the Islamist movement, told President George H. W. Bush, "You are creating a Frankenstein." Now Bhutto is dead.

American officials estimate that, from 1985 to 1992, 12,500 foreigners were trained in bomb-making, sabotage and urban guerrilla warfare in Afghan camps the CIA helped to set up.

There is also no evidence that bin Laden used the term "al-Qaeda" to refer to the name of a group until after September the 11th, when he realized that this was the term the Americans had given it.

The name of the organization and details of its structure were provided in the testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, who claimed to be a founding member of the organization and a former employee of Osama bin Laden.

Sam Schmidt, a defense lawyer from the trial, had the following to say about al-Fadl's testimony:

There were selective portions of al-Fadl's testimony that I believe was false, to help support the picture that he helped the Americans join together. I think he lied in a number of specific testimony about a unified image of what this organization was. It made al-Qaeda the new Mafia or the new Communists. It made them identifiable as a group and therefore made it easier to prosecute any person associated with al-Qaeda for any acts or statements made by bin Laden.

The devil is the creator of Al qaeda, but you have nothing but praie for it.

by DoubleHappiness88 October 30, 2009 5:15 PM EDT

Pardon my typo. The comment should have read...

I am please to see Woody Harrelson and others, who have access to news coverage, speak out regarding the culture of war that has consumed America and our GDP. The Military Industrial Complex has accomplished a coup d'état.

Reply to this comment


by thesevenveils October 30, 2009 5:32 PM EDT: Woody is nothing more than a politically uneduated actor with no experience in worldlly events except for Grammies. Listening to him is akin to listening to Sarah Palin talking about the Japanese scientific whaling endeavors.