Appearing on the June 22 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Geraldo Rivera, who is also host of the Fox News syndicated program Geraldo at Large, claimed that “in the last 35, years I've seen a hell of a lot more combat” than Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), adding that Kerry's Senate amendment to redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq by July 2007 “only aids and abets the enemy.” Rivera prefaced his remarks by noting that Kerry “is a combat veteran, so he gets some props.”

In 2003, Rivera was reportedly expelled from Iraq by the U.S. military for reporting sensitive information about troop locations.

Rivera's remarks were first noted by the weblog Crooks and Liars.

From the June 22 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

BILL O'REILLY (host): Because now we're getting, as I predicted, and I hate to be an “I told you so” guy, but it's so predictable, the moral equivalency, all right, by these far-left people saying, “You know, it's not the terrorists responsible for the deaths of those two soldiers, it's the American government responsible.” How do you react to that?

RIVERA: Well, I don't think that I have to accept that premise to say what I'm about to say. The only way we can find an honorable exit from Iraq is to do what the commander in chief is now suggesting and what good people like [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham] Clinton [D-NY] are also suggesting, and that's stay the course. We have to stay the course, [not?] to withdraw at a date certain.

I've known John Kerry for over 35 years. Unlike me, he is a combat veteran, so he gets some props. But in the last 35 years, I've seen a hell of a lot more combat than John Kerry. And for a smart man like that in a political ploy to set a date certain only aids and abets the enemy, and the Democrats are at their own self-destructive behavior once again.