Matt Ortega

FOX News commentator Bill O’Reilly continues masquerading whatever it is that he does on television under the banner of “news” and “journalism.”

Last night, O’Reilly unveiled a new defense on the continued American involvement in Iraq, just two days before “Mission Accomplished Day” on Thursday: “We didn’t invade Iraq.”

Yesterday, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly made the incredible claim that the United States never invaded Iraq: “We didn’t invade Iraq.” He added, “It was a declaration of war, it was a declaration to enforce the first Gulf War Treaty.”

First, the United States did not declare war on Iraq. Congress authorized President Bush to use force against Iraq. In fact, the U.S. has not declared war against any nation since the Second World War. The U.S. declared war on other nations five times and Iraq was not one of them — in 1991, or 2003.

Second, the maneuvers that led to open warfare are immaterial to the point that a nation was, in fact, physically invaded by another nation. In fact, O’Reilly himself referred to the invasion on a number of occasions, as well as the Bush administration.

Third, there is no such thing as the “First Gulf War Treaty.”

O’REILLY: [W]e liberate Iraq — liberate Kuwait, all right, and then we have a treaty, and the treaty says U.N. weapons inspectors are allowed to do X, Y, and Z, and 17 times Saddam says — violates those. Now you can understand why the United States government might be a little teed off about that. […]

O’REILLY: But do you understand that when you have 17 violations of a treaty, a war treaty, that you basically have to take action?

BLIX: Well, you’re talking about a war treaty. It was a cease-fire. It was not a war treaty.

O’REILLY: Oh, come on. Now don’t play semantics here, sir.

BLIX: Second — all right. I’m trying to be precise. You are imprecise.

“Semantics!”

Most free-thinking people who are aware of O’Reilly’s track record and loose handling of the facts would take the opinion of former United Nations weapons expert Hans Blix over a cable television commentator who worked for Inside Edition.

The kicker: after O’Reilly’s back and forth with guest Warren Ballentine, he says to him: “It was a declaration of war, it was a declaration to enforce the first Gulf War Treaty, which you don’t know anything about, Mr. Ballentine.”

Priceless.

Shorter Bill O’Reilly:

The minority is small, therefore, it is OK to persecute and oppress them.

In an interview with former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, FOX News commentator Bill O’Reilly said more incredibly offensive things.

O’Reilly, just off the heels of his comments about Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem, stated that the White House Press Corps should be wiped out, like cancer — referencing Snow’s bout with colon cancer.

When Snow revealed his plans to write a book on how to deal with cancer, O’Reilly responded:

O’REILLY: You know what you can do with all respect? You can combine how I deal with cancer with how I deal with the White House press corps. Because they’re both insidious, invasive. They both have to be wiped out.

Snow also informed O’Reilly that he’s considering returning to Fox News, but that he is also open to other networks that would give him the opportunity to do a “radio/TV piece.” O’Reilly responded:

O’REILLY: But you can’t go over to CNN. I mean, that’s the devil over there. You can’t. You know. You’re a religious guy. You can’t go into the pagan throne over there. [original emphasis]

Think Progress Editor Faiz Shakir provides the video. (Perhaps so that O’Reilly’s supporters do not fall back on the infamous it was “taken out of context” excuse.)