ThinkProgress.org reports on its website that on April 29th, 2008, 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.”

O’Reilly himself has, in the past, admitted that the United States invaded Iraq:

- “I’ll submit that most folks still have no idea why the Bush administration invaded Iraq.” [1/28/08]

- “Iraq was invaded to create a friendly country between Iran and Syria, thereby pressuring those nations into a more sensible foreign policy.” [3/6/06]

O’Reilly’s “first Gulf War Treaty” claim is also questionable. During a March 15, 2004 interview, former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix challenged O’Reilly on this exact point:

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.

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Fox News is sparing no exaggeration to continuing its quest to justify the Iraq War. There is no statement to incredible for them to make it seems. 1st, there were Bill O’Reilly’s claims that there aren’t any homeless vets sleeping under overpasses (many folks offered to introduce him to them right in New York City, now this claim that it wasn’t an invasion. It’s very sad how many people get their ‘”news” from Fox. To those who hear this from Fox, and do nothing about it (i.e. keep watching this and giving Fox ratings) — This is analogous to those who heard knocking coming from the dungeon of Josef Fritzl’s house, and did nothing about that.

Wake up Fox viewers…demand truthfulness from them. We should all take a stand against biased reporting.

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