On the October 18 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor, host Bill O'Reilly stated that Rosie O'Donnell, co-host of ABC's The View, “would not answer” his question as to whether “she wanted the United States to win in Iraq.” O'Reilly, who appeared on The View earlier the same day, had asked O'Donnell if she “want[ed] America to win in Iraq,” to which O'Donnell responded, “I don't think it's possible.” O'Reilly concluded that O'Donnell's response was “very telling” and indicated that “she doesn't want George Bush and his administration to have a victory in Iraq because she feels they're evil. It's as simple as that.” O'Reilly also asserted that O'Donnell “is basing ... her position in Iraq on emotion rather than what's good for the country,” but added: “I like her -- for you left-wing websites writing all this down.”

From the October 18 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'DONNELL: Sixty-four percent of the people don't agree with Bush's position on the war. What do you say to that? Sixty-four percent.

O'REILLY: Hold it, hold it, hold it. Want America to win in Iraq, by the way?

O'DONNELL: I don't think it's possible.

O'REILLY: Do you want, do you --

O'DONNELL: I think it's an ill-thought-out plan and I think we should get out of that situation before Americans are killed. Out. Out of Iraq.

O'REILLY: Do you want America to win in Iraq?

JOY BEHAR (co-host of The View): What does it mean to win?

O'DONNELL: I want America to be what the founding fathers wanted it to be, a democracy, where we the people --

O'REILLY: OK. So you don't want America to win in Iraq.

BARBARA WALTERS (co-host of The View): No, no, no. Don't put words in her mouth.

O'REILLY: She won't answer the question, Barbara. She won't answer the question. Do you want America to win there?

O'DONNELL: Listen, it's like saying do you believe in God or the devil. If you're not with us, you're against us. That's antiquated thinking, Bill. Peace and harmony --

O'REILLY: The sign, the sign.

[...]

O'REILLY: All right. There you go. So, it was a lot of cacophony, but it was fun. I like that. I don't know how much anybody learned. And I when I speak with Oprah next week, I think we'll get a lot more out there as far as, you know, our positions and what happened. But the telling part of that interview was when I asked Miss O'Donnell if she wanted the United States to win in Iraq and she would not answer the question. And then fell back on the canard, “Would you send your child to Iraq?” Which is ridiculous. That's the [filmmaker] Michael Moore question. If my child was 18 and wanted to go into the service, I would give my blessing to that, as I did with my nephew, who, when he turned 18, enlisted in the army. That's the answer, which I tried to get out but was -- you know, I don't know if anybody heard it.

But that's -- it's all based on emotion, you see what I mean? It's all based on emotion. Now with all due respect to Rosie O'Donnell, again, I like her -- for you left-wing websites writing all this down -- she is basing, I believe, her position in Iraq on emotion rather than what's good for the country, what can happen if we prevail and what can happen if we get out and leave it to Iran to dominate.

Now, I can't get into geopolitics on The View. I'm lucky I got my, you know, the words I got out I'm lucky I got out. OK. I can't be getting into geopolitics. But I'm gonna invite Rosie on the program, and if she wants to debate geopolitics, I'm more happy to do that. But she's an entertainer. She's entitled to her point of view. All right. She's not an anti-American, she loves her country, I believe she does, but she's a secular-progressive. You know, she doesn't believe that we have any right to do any of what we're doing. You know, any authority to do this, moral or otherwise, in Iraq. She doesn't believe it.

Now she's free to hold that position because that's our country. But that is the secular-progressive position. We didn't have a right to remove Saddam [Hussein]. Even though he violated the first Gulf War cease-fire 17 times, we didn't have a right to remove him. Even though he was training and arming terrorists, we didn't have a right to do anything to him unless France signed off on him. You see? That's not my position.

Now, there's a difference between tactics and philosophy. So obviously our tactics in Iraq have not been successful. We -- I hope they will. I want them to prevail. You do too, right?

LIS WIEHL (co-host): Of course I do.

O'REILLY: But when I asked Rosie --

WIEHL: She wouldn't answer.

O'REILLY: -- if she wanted us to win, she wouldn't answer. That is a very telling position. It's not un-American, it's not unpatriotic, it's telling. It's telling. Because all -- I think, for the good of the nation, we obviously would like to win there. All good things would come from victory.

WIEHL: But isn't she just defining a win by getting out? In other words, we win by saving people, our own people now --

O'REILLY: No, she didn't -- she doesn't want, she doesn't want to be pinned down to say, “I want a victory in Iraq,” because she feels that the people who put us there are evil. She doesn't want them, she doesn't want George Bush and his administration to have a victory in Iraq because she feels they're evil. It's as simple as that.

WIEHL: And as she said, she didn't believe that a win is possible. That's what she said, it's not possible.

O'REILLY: She may be right about that. You know, I mean there are a lot of people who feel that way. But that's not the question. Do you want the USA to win?

WIEHL: She wouldn't answer you -- you asked her three times, she wouldn't answer that question.

O'REILLY: It's like [Rep. Charles] Rangel [D-NY] last night.