The Truth About Guantanamo Bay...

The truth about Guantanamo Bay: that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo".

As we told you last week, the detainee abuse story is being used to undermine the war on terror, at least the way the Bush administration is fighting it. Check out my column posted on billoreilly.com for details on that.

Now over the weekend, Senator Joseph Biden joined the abuse chorus and called for the shutting down of Guantanamo Bay (search).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: [It]...has become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world. And it is unnecessary to be in that position, but the end result is I think we should end up shutting it down, moving those prisoners. Those that we have reason to keep, keep. And those we don't, let go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

We asked the senator to appear this evening, but as always, Biden turned us down. He does not like close questioning.

But it's amazing to me that he and others actually believe that closing Gitmo would accomplish anything. The entire Gitmo situation has been driven by the anti-Bush press and the far left human rights organizations.

As "Talking Points" mentioned a week ago, there have been abuses by U.S. interrogators down there, but not many. And now we have some stats to back that up.

The Pentagon report found that there have been more than 28,000 Gitmo interrogations over the past three years, and only five cases of Koran abuse, two of which were accidental.

And the chief critic from inside Gitmo, former Army translator Eric Saar (search), said this on “The Factor” a few days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: What was the worst thing you ever saw?

ERIC SAAR: You know, sir, I would have to say the worst thing I saw was actually some of the sexual tactics that were used in the interrogation booth. And I would have to say the reason for that is because it really defied the values we stand for as a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And those techniques were unbuttoning blouses, women interrogators, things like that, but no touching or anything like that.

So what are we talking about here? Some minor cases of abuse, that's what. And we should shut down Gitmo because the anti-Bush press doesn't like it? Come on.

The truth is that any closing of Gitmo would send a signal that the USA did indeed abuse Gitmo prisoners on a mass scale. That's not true, but it is a perception the anti-Bush people want out there.

Once again, you can't fight a war on terror when every small mistake is magnified into a page one scandal or a book! Also once again, the Bush administration should set up an independent commission to investigate American detainee policy across the board. The president must take the offensive on this, or else the country's image will continue to suffer and the jihadists and their enablers will win another victory.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

A bunch of "Factor" items: First the results of our billoreilly.com poll, which asks, "Is Mark Felt aka Deep Throat, a hero, a villain, or is it too hard to say?"

Sixty-four percent of the 25,000 of you who voted believe the man's a villain. Twenty-four percent say it is too hard to say. And just 12 percent think he's a hero. Very interesting.

Second, the lead item in Liz Smith's column today was about "The Factor's" investigation into the money Angelina Jolie (search), the actress, reportedly donated to help third world causes through the U.N.

Ms. Smith writes, quote, "On the heels of the oil-for-food scan (search)dal, is there a chance that Angelina is being taken for a ride by some in the United Nations? Bill O'Reilly says he will answer that question. Soon."

Well, that's true, we're finishing up our investigation into Ms. Jolie's donations. It's very fascinating. The story is probably going to be on Thursday, but we want to be certain so we're taking the time to echeck everything. Rechecking is never ridiculous.

—You can watch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com