# Bill O'Reilly and his Falklands War experience **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 22, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359 "2015-02-22T18:08:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/61 "2015-02-23T22:29:02Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > ISTM that BOR exagerated his experiences but not as much as BW. He didn’t exaggerate, he flat out lied. He said he was in combat “in the Falklands.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/62 "2015-02-23T23:06:25Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > ISTM that BOR exagerated his experiences but not as much as BW. Does Anderson Cooper get to say he “went into combat” because he was in Ferguson? Williams said his plane was near enemy fire when it wasn’t. O’Reilly _wasn’t even in the theater where the war took place_. I still maintain that Williams’ crime was worse because he’s supposed to be a proper newsman, but O’Reilly’s lie was much worse. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/63 "2015-02-23T23:11:38Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Williams said his plane was near enemy fire when it wasn’t. Wasn’t it a helicopter, and didn’t he claim it was hit and had to force landing? That’s a bit different from saying he was “near” enemy fire-- it’s claiming to be in, and hit by, enemy fire. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/64 "2015-02-23T23:36:29Z")
I liked Brian Williams and am a tad disappointed by his fibbery. I have no respect for O’Reilly so he could tell flat-out lies and I wouldn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/65 "2015-02-23T23:36:36Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Wasn’t it a helicopter, and didn’t he claim it was hit and had to force landing? That’s a bit different from saying he was “near” enemy fire-- it’s claiming to be in, and hit by, enemy fire. I thought he was, in fact, “near” enemy fire - the helicopter ahead of his did take a hit, just not the one Williams was actually riding in. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/66 "2015-02-23T23:52:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I thought he was, in fact, “near” enemy fire - the helicopter ahead of his did take a hit, just not the one Williams was actually riding in. He was 30 minutes behind. So, he may have been “near” enemy fire for some definitions of “near” (if we assume the copters are flying even at 60 mph, that would be 30 miles away), but he claimed to not only have been “in” enemy fire, but to have been “hit” and “forced to land”. It’s kind of funny that this thread was started to keep the BW thread form being hijacked into a discussion about BO, and here we are talking about BW instead. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/67 "2015-02-23T23:57:26Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I thought he was, in fact, “near” enemy fire - the helicopter ahead of his did take a hit, just not the one Williams was actually riding in. Actually, I think that’s what his first explanation/apology _implied_ with some vague, weaseling words, but it turned out he was somewhere around 30 minutes to an hour \*behind \*the heli that got hit. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/68 "2015-02-23T23:59:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > He was 30 minutes behind. So, he may have been “near” enemy fire for some definitions of “near” (if we assume the copters are flying even at 60 mph, that would be 30 miles away), but he claimed to not only have been “in” enemy fire, but to have been “hit” and “forced to land”. Yeah, I know about the lie. I was asking about what had actually happened. I was under the impression that his copter had been a lot closer to the one that was shot, but thirty minutes away is stretching the definition of “near” pretty badly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/69 "2015-02-24T00:08:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yeah, I know about the lie. I was asking about what had actually happened. I was under the impression that his copter had been a lot closer to the one that was shot, but thirty minutes away is stretching the definition of “near” pretty badly. Yeah, but if one is looking back, I can see one thinking… Jeez, I missed out on being shot down by just 30 minutes!! Near in time as opposed to near in space. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/70 "2015-02-24T00:22:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, I guess O’Reilly’s bid for NBC nightly New Anchor is all washed up! Yes, and along side Gwen Ifill on the PBS NewsHour ain’t gonna happen anytime soon either. He would make a funny Daily Show correspondent if they played up his bloviating know-it-allness and riffed on his persona. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/71 "2015-02-24T01:39:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yeah, I know about the lie. I was asking about what had actually happened. I was under the impression that his copter had been a lot closer to the one that was shot, but thirty minutes away is stretching the definition of “near” pretty badly. There are conflicting accounts. The pilot of the Chinook he was in says no, ground crew and pilots of other choppers in their “convoy” or whatever say yes. How any of them (Williams included) can claim to remember exactly what happened is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/72 "2015-02-24T01:49:52Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s kind of funny that this thread was started to keep the BW thread form being hijacked into a discussion about BO, and here we are talking about BW instead. 🙂 More than half the discussion is comparing the two anyway. The threads might as well be recombined. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/73 "2015-02-24T12:44:06Z")
[MediaIte weighs in.](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ex-nbc-bureau-chief-backs-up-oreillys-account-of-falklands-war-riot/) ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/74 "2015-02-24T13:15:30Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > [MediaIte weighs in.](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ex-nbc-bureau-chief-backs-up-oreillys-account-of-falklands-war-riot/) So a guy that was in Miami at the time says O’Reilly’s recollections are correct? Or was Browne in Argentina? Here is what others who were in Argentina have to say. > [@](#): > > Mr. Engberg, the former CBS News correspondent, also strongly disputed Mr. O’Reilly’s claim that he had rescued an injured cameraman while being chased by the Argentine army. “Nobody reported a cameraman being shot or injured,” he said. His account was supported by a senior member of the CBS News management team, with close knowledge of the events that night, who said that nobody was reported injured, and no request for medical attention was made to CBS News’s local medical team. > > Another CBS News correspondent on the ground, Charles Gomez, said in an interview that though he likes Mr. O’Reilly and was surprised by the accusations, his memories matched those of his former colleagues. > > “I do remember that there was tension between the authorities and the crowd,” he said, but added that he “did not see any bloodshed.” No cameraman was injured, he said, to the best of his recollection. Mr. Gomez, who covered wars in Nicaragua and other conflict zones, said he would not describe the events that night as war. > **[Bill O’Reilly and Fox News Redouble Defense of His Falklands Reporting...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/business/media/bill-oreilly-and-fox-news-redouble-defense-of-his-falklands-reporting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0)** > > On Monday’s show, Mr. O’Reilly played CBS News footage from 1982 that showed violent protests and quoted correspondents describing the scene, but former colleagues said his account was still flawed. (With video.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/75 "2015-02-24T13:57:54Z")
O’Reilly says, “I want to stop this now.” Yes, Bill, I’m sure you do: [Bill O'Reilly tries to end Falklands controversy: 'I want to stop this now'](http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/23/media/bill-oreilly-falklands-cbs-news/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/76 "2015-02-24T14:24:59Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Here is what others who were in Argentina have to say. > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/business/media/bill-oreilly-and-fox-news-redouble-defense-of-his-falklands-reporting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/business/media/bill-oreilly-and-fox-news-redouble-defense-of-his-falklands-reporting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0) It’s worth noting that the contemporaneous CBS News account that I linked above suggests that while O’Reilly is exagerating the riots, these others are now downplaying it, and the truth is somewhere in middle. For example, the claim that no camera crew was injured is apparently contradicted by the report at the time. And while people are now claiming that it’s impossible for anyone to have been killed and them not to have known about it, the CBS report (while not suggesting anyone was killed) said that the number who were seriously injured is unknown due to a media clampdown by the Argentinian government. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/77 "2015-02-24T14:53:00Z")
[Retrospective of O’Reilly’s bullying & tantrums.](http://www.salon.com/2015/02/24/bill_oreillys_bluster_5_of_the_fox_news_bloviators_most_bombastic_threats/) ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/78 "2015-02-24T16:59:48Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > As I said in the other thread, IMO the key question - which seems to have been overlooked in the focus on the Falklands - is to what extent his description of the riot and his whereabouts relative to it are accurate. If he was in the midst of a thousand protestors storming the presidential palace and being fired on by the army, then the exact location seems to be of minor importance. If he was significantly exagerating that - as has been suggested by some - than it’s a BW-type deal. Well, certainly either O’Reilly is exaggerating _now_ or was a lousy reporter _then_, because reports of people being shot dead in the streets of Buenos Aires would have made quite the story. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/79 "2015-02-24T21:18:46Z")
Clear enough from the CBS footage is that there were a LOT of people yelling, police in riot gear, and something being shot by those police. Fair enough to call it a riot. A [review of contemporary news coverage in Buenos Aires](http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-23762004000100011) authored in 2004 by a Chilean noted: > [@](#): > > June 16: The aftermath > > La Nación announced in the cover that “Our forces withdraw from Malvinas”; even in this stage of events, the paper was careful in its word choice to avoid the word “surrender” in titles and decks. Instead it used “Argentina terminated the Malvinas battle” or “the military contest in the islands doesn’t alter Argentina’s decision to claim sovereignty on the archipelagos”. The news on riots in Buenos Aires against the military junta for the defeat in Malvinas was placed in the left bottom corner of the paper. The story was, instead, the lead article in El Mercurio’s cover, “Disturbances [in Buenos Aires] for the surrender” and had a prominent display as well in the Times. While La Nación said that the demonstrators were around 4,000 people, the Times said they were 15,000 and El Mercurio went for 40,000. Seems the contemporary media certainly understood that thousands were taking to the streets in Buenos Aires, with estimates of 4,000 up to 40,000 protesters depending upon the bent of the reporter. The referenced numbers come from reportes from The London Times, in Britain, La Nación, in Argentina, and El Mercurio, in Chile. El Mercurio, the supposedly neutral party, had the highest estimate. The [New York Times reported](http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/16/world/thousands-in-buenos-aires-assail-junta-for-surrendering-to-britain.html) in its June 16, 1982 report that police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters. > [@](#): > > Chants of ‘‘Argentina! Argentina!’’ and the whine of police sirens echoed off the buildings of the business district as police trucks moved in. One large gray van pulled into an intersection a block from the plaza, and policemen emerged, seizing anyone they could. One policeman pulled a pistol, firing five shots over the heads of fleeing demonstrators. > … > Officials gave no arrest figures, but they appeared to number in the dozens. Several demonstrators were reported to have been injured, along with at least two reporters. Police grabbing anyone. Shots being fired over protesters. The government led by a military dictatorship refusing to provide arrest figures. Reporters being injured. That would seem to support O’Reilly’s version of events and not Eric Engberg’s. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359/80 "2015-02-24T21:28:15Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Well, certainly either O’Reilly is exaggerating _now_ or was a lousy reporter _then_, because reports of people being shot dead in the streets of Buenos Aires would have made quite the story. Now, if he had simply said, “I was in Buenos Aires during the Revolution . . .” But I can’t see him saying that. Not his style. Might be taken as **celebrating** a revolution against a RW military dictatorship. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreilly-and-his-falklands-war-experience/713359.md?page=5)