Fox News Host Bill O'Reilly Snaps Back At 'War Zone' Critics

(RTTNews) - Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly has issued his most vigorous defense yet against allegations that he exaggerated his coverage of the Falklands War decades ago.

In the wake of a recent scandal that may have cost NBC News anchor Brian Williams any credibility, the question is whether O'Reilly did in fact report from a war zone in Argentina in the early 1980's.

According to a piece in Mother Jones, O'Reilly repeatedly said on air and in print that he reported for CBS News from a "war zone" in the Falklands. He was actually more than a thousand miles away covering what former CBS colleagues have described as relatively uneventful protests in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

Last night on his show, O'Reilly blasted the Mother Jones report and subsequent stories by the New York Times as an ideological witch hunt.

O'Reilly says he never claimed to be covering a "war zone," only that he correctly said he covered the Falklands War.

As for his disputed accounts of security forces "gunning down protesters in the streets," O'Reilly is sticking by his version of events.

"We couldn't get casualty numbers because, as you know, it was a military dictatorship, and they don't give that to you. But I saw people hit the ground hard," said O'Reilly. "I saw them hauled off, put into ambulances and police vehicles. And the local reportage was that there were fatalities. We have not been able to say how many, all right? But I believe there were."

O'Reilly also threatened a New York Times reporter with retribution for its part in drumming up the story, the paper wrote today. "I am coming after you with everything I have," Mr. O'Reilly said by phone. "You can take it as a threat."

Unsurprisingly, Fox News is standing by its most popular host.

"Fox News Chairman and C.E.O. Roger Ailes and all senior management are in full support of Bill O'Reilly," a spokeswoman said in a statement.