Kaffee Quotes

Judge Randolph: [to Kaffee from the judge's bench] Consider yourself in contempt!
Kaffee: Colonel Jessup, did you order the Code Red?
Judge Randolph: You don't have to answer that question!
Col. Jessup: I'll answer the question!
[to Kaffee]
Col. Jessup: You want answers?

Kaffee: I think I'm entitled to.
Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I WANT THE TRUTH!
Col. Jessup: YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
[pauses]
Col. Jessup: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt.

Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know; that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, *saves lives*. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk

about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I

provide it! I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a *damn* what you think you are entitled to!
Kaffee: Did you order the code red?
Col. Jessup: I did the job I...
Kaffee: [interupts him] *Did you order the Code Red?*

Col. Jessup: *You're God damn right I did!*

Capt. Ross: Corporal Barnes, I hold here the Marine Outline for Recruit Training. You're familiar with this book?
Cpl. Barnes: Yes, sir.
Capt. Ross: Have you read it?
Cpl. Barnes: Yes, sir.
Capt. Ross: [hands him the book] Good. Would you turn to the chapter that deals with code reds,

please?
Cpl. Barnes: [confused] Sir?
Capt. Ross: Just flip to the page of the book that discusses code reds.
Cpl. Barnes: Well, well, you see, sir code red is a term that we use. I mean, just down at Gitmo. I don't know if it's actually...
Capt. Ross: Ah, we're in luck then. Standard Operating

Procedures, Rifle Security Company, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Now, I assume we'll find the term code red and its definition in that book. Am I correct?
Cpl. Barnes: No, sir.
Capt. Ross: No? Corporal Barnes, I'm a Marine. Is there no book, no manual or pamphlet, no set of orders or regulations that lets me know that, as a Marine, one of my duties is to

perform code reds?
Cpl. Barnes: No, sir. No book, sir.
Capt. Ross: No further questions.
[as Ross walks back to his table Kaffee takes the book out of his hand]
Kaffee: Corporal, would you turn to the page in this book that says where the mess hall is, please?
Cpl. Barnes: Well, Lt. Kaffee,

that's not in the book, sir.
Kaffee: You mean to say in all your time at Gitmo, you've never had a meal?
Cpl. Barnes: No, sir. Three squares a day, sir.
Kaffee: I don't understand. How did you know where the mess hall was if it's not in this book?
Cpl. Barnes: Well, I guess I just followed the crowd at

chow time, sir.
Kaffee: No more questions.

Galloway: [refering to Jessup] You put him on the stand and you get it from him!
Kaffee: [sarcastically, refering to Jessup in his apartment] Oh, we get it from him! Yes! No problem! We get it from him.
[turns to Sam as if he were Jessup on the stand]
Kaffee: Colonel Jessup, isn't it true that you ordered the Code Red on

Santiago?
Lt. Weinberg: Listen, we're all a little...
Kaffee: [interrupts with game-show buzzer sound] eeehhhhh! I'm sorry, your time's run out! What do we have for the losers, judge? Well, for our defendants, it's a life time at exotic Fort Leavenworth! And, for defense counsel Kaffee, that's right, it's a court martial! Yes, Johnny! After falsely

accusing a highly decorated Marine officer of conspiracy and perjury, Lieutenant Kaffee will have a long and prosperous career teaching... typewriter maintenance at the Rocco Globbo School for Women! Thank you for playing "Should we or should we not follow the advice of the galactically stupid!"

Col. Jessup: [Judge dismisses the jury after Jessep's revelation on the stand about the Code Red] What is this? What's going on? I did my job, I'd do it again!
[stands up defiantly]
Col. Jessup: I'm gonna get on a plane and go on back to my base.
Judge Randolph: You're not going anywhere, Colonel. MP's... guard the Colonel!

[MPs take post]
Judge Randolph: Captain Ross?
Col. Jessup: What the hell is this?
Capt. Ross: Colonel Jessup, you have the right to remain silent. Any statement you make...
Col. Jessup: I'm being charged with a crime? Is that what this is? I'm being charged with a crime? This is funny. That's

what this is. This is...
[turning to Kaffee and lunging at him]
Col. Jessup: ... I'm gonna rip the eyes out of your head and piss into your dead skull! You fucked with the wrong Marine!
Capt. Ross: Colonel Jessup! Do you understand these rights as I have just read them to you?
Col. Jessup: [contemptuously] You fuckin'

people... you have no idea how to defend a nation. All you did was weaken a country today, Kaffee. That's all you did. You put people's lives in danger. Sweet dreams, son.
Kaffee: Don't call me son. I'm a lawyer, and an officer in the United States Navy, and you're under arrest you son of a bitch.
[glares at Jessup]
Kaffee: The witness is

excused.

Kaffee: [ariving in the conference room after the meeting has already started] Excuse me, sorry I'm late.
Capt. Whitaker: That's alright, Danny, I know you don't have a good excuse, so I won't force you to come up with a bad one.
Kaffee: [gratefully, nods] Thank you, sir.
Capt. Whitaker: The first one's for

you. Seems you're moving up in the world, you've been requested by Division.
Kaffee: Requested to do what?
Capt. Whitaker: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A Marine corporal named Dawson illegally fires a round of his weapon over the fence line and into Cuban territory.
Kaffee: What's a fence line?
Capt. Whitaker:

Sam.
Lt. Weinberg: A big wall separating the good guys from the bad guys.
Kaffee: [sarcastically] Teacher's pet.
Capt. Whitaker: PFC William Santiago threatens to rat on Dawson to the Naval Investigative Service. Dawson, and another member of his squad PFC Louden Downey, go into Santiago's barracks room, tie him up, stuff a

rag down his throat. An hour later Santiago's dead. The attending physician says the rag was treated with some kind of toxin.
Kaffee: They poisoned the rag?
Capt. Whitaker: Not according to them.
Kaffee: What do they say?
Capt. Whitaker: Not much. They're being flown up here tomorrow. Then Wednesday at

0600 you're catching a transport down to Cuba for the day to find out what you can. In the meantime, go see Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway of internal affairs. Any questions?
Kaffee: That flight to Cuba, was that 0600 in the morning? Sir?
Capt. Whitaker: It seems important to Division that this one be handled by the book so I'm assigning

co-counsel. Any volunteers?
Lt. Weinberg: No!
Capt. Whitaker: Sam.
Lt. Weinberg: Sir, I've got a stack of papers on my desk about a mile high.
Capt. Whitaker: Work with Kaffee on this.
Lt. Weinberg: Doing what? Kaffee will have this done in about four days.
Capt.

Whitaker: Doing various administrative things. Backup. Whatever.
Lt. Weinberg: In other words I have no responsibilities whatsoever.
Capt. Whitaker: Right.

Kaffee: [feeling guilty after having lost his temper] Is your father proud of you?
Lt. Weinberg: Don't do this to yourself
Kaffee: I'll bet he is, I'll bet he bores the shit out of the neighbors and relatives, "Sam's made Law Review, his working on a big case right now, his arguing, his making an argument
Lt.

Weinberg: I ever tell you I wrote a paper about your father in college?
Kaffee: Yeah
Lt. Weinberg: One of the best trial lawyers ever
Kaffee: Yes, he was
Lt. Weinberg: If I were Dawson and Downey and if I had to choose between you or your father to represent me in this case I'd choose you any

day of the week and twice on Sunday, you should've seen yourself thunder away at Kendrick
Kaffee: Would you put Jessup on the stand?
Lt. Weinberg: No
Kaffee: You think my father would?
Lt. Weinberg: With the evidence we got, not in a million years, see here's the thing and there's no way of getting

around this, neither Lionel Kaffee nor Sam Weinberg in lead counsel for the defense on the matter of the U.S. versus Dawson and Downey would you put Colonel Nathan Jessup on the stand, so there's only one question, " what would you do?"

Capt. Ross: Your honor, it's become obvious that Lt. Kaffee's intention this afternoon are to smear a high ranking Marine officer in the desperate hope that the mere appearance of impropriety will win him points with the court members. Now, it is my recommendation, sir, that Lt. Kaffee be reprimanded for his conduct and that this witness be excused with the court's deepest

apologies.
Judge Randolph: [from the judge's bench] Overruled.
Capt. Ross: Your honor...
Judge Randolph: [from the judge's bench] Your objection is noted.

[In the film edited for TV on NBC dubbed in the Modified Version. Judge Randolph dismisses the jury after Jessup's revelation on the stand about the Code Red]
Col. Jessup: What the hell is this? Colonel, what's going on? I did my job. I'd do it again. I'm gonna get on a plane and go on back to my base.
Judge Randolph: You're not going anywhere,

Colonel. MP's, guard the Colonel.
M.P.: Yes, sir.
[MP's take to the post. And Col. Jessup find out what's going on]
Judge Randolph: Captain Ross.
Col. Jessup: What the hell is these?
Capt. Ross: Colonel Jessup, you have the right to remain silent; Any statement you make may be used against you in

a trial by court-martial or in other judicial or administrative proceedings. You have the right to consult with a lawyer prior any further questions. This lawyer may be a civilian lawyer retained by you at your own expense...
Col. Jessup: I'm being charged with a crime? Is that what this is? I'm being charged with a crime? This is funny. That's what this is...

[Turning to Kaffee and lunging at him. But the MP's restrain Colonel Jessup]
Col. Jessup: ... I'm gonna rip the eyes out of your head and puke into your dead skull, you messed with the wrong marine!
Capt. Ross: Colonel Jessup, do you understand these rights as I have just read them to you?
Col. Jessup: You friggin' people. You

have no idea how to defend the nation. All you did was weaken a country today, Kaffee. That's all you did. You put people's lives in danger. Sweet dreams, son,
Kaffee: Don't call me son. I'm a lawyer, and an officer in the United States Navy, and you're under arrest, you son of a bitch.
[Glares at Jessup]
Kaffee: The witness is excused.

[Colonel Jessup calms down, taking a deep breath to cool off, bend down and grab his hat on the floor, and MP's taken Colonel Jessup away into custody]

Col. Jessup: [to Danny as he, Sam, and Jo enters Jessup's office for the for the first time] Nathan Jessup, come on in
Kaffee: [as they shake hands, introduces Sam, and Jo] thank you sir, I'm Daniel Kaffee. I'm the attorney for Dawson and Downey.
Col. Jessup: pleasure
Kaffee: [gestures to Jo] This Lieutenant

Commander JoAnne Galloway.
Col. Jessup: [as they shake hands] pleasure meeting you Commander.
Galloway: Colonel
Kaffee: [to Jessup, gestures to Sam] Lieutenant Sam Weinberg, he'll be assisting
Lt. Weinberg: [as they shake hands] sir
Col. Jessup: [gestures to Markinson and

Kendrick] this is my XO Colonel Markinson and platoon leader Lieutenant Kendrick, I've asked them to join us, sit down, please
Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson: [as they shake hands] Lieutenant Kaffee
Kaffee: [as they shake hands] Colonel Markinson
Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson: I had the pleasure of meeting your father

once. I was a teenager, he spoke at my high school
Col. Jessup: [to Danny] Lionel Kaffee?
Kaffee: yes sir
Col. Jessup: [to Kendrick] well what'd you know? This man's dad once made a lot of enemies in your neck of the woods. Jefferson versus Madison County School District. Folks down there said a little black girl couldn't go

to an all white school. Lionel Kaffee said "well, we'll just see about that."