Pat Robertson: U.S. should assassinate Venezuela's Chavez
 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/23/rob...vez/index.html

Tuesday, August 23, 2005; Posted: 2:58 p.m. EDT (18:58 GMT)

(CNN) -- Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." Watch video of Robertson's comments

Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel accused Robertson of making terrorist statements and demanded that the United States take action, according to The Associated Press.

"The ball is in the U.S. court after this criminal statement by a citizen of that country," AP quoted Rangel as saying. "It's huge hypocrisy to maintain this discourse against terrorism and at the same time, in the heart of that country, there are entirely terrorist statements like those."

Another Chavez supporter in the Venezuelan parliament, Desire Santos Amaral said "This man cannot be a true Christian. He's a fascist." (Full story)

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Robertson is a private citizen and that his views do not reflect U.S. policy.

"We do not share his view and his comments are inappropriate," he said. "And as we've said before, any allegations that we are planning to take hostile action against the Venezuelan government are completely baseless and without fact."

Robertson, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, called Chavez "a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly."

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said. "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Robertson accused Chavez, a left-wing populist with close ties to Cuban President Fidel Castro, of trying to make Venezuela "a launching pad for Communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent."

"This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen," he said.

While Chavez has sought closer links with Cuba -- and was in Cuba when Robertson made his statement Monday -- Robertson did not explain how Venezuela was to be used by Muslim extremists. The U.S. State Department Web site says 98 percent of the population are Roman Catholic or protestant.

Chavez has said he believes the United States is trying to assassinate him, vowing that Venezuela, which accounts for more than 10 percent of U.S. oil imports, would shut off the flow of oil if that happens.

The Unites States has denied such allegations in the past.

Executive orders issued by presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan banned political assassinations.

Robertson's comments Monday were the latest in a string of controversial remarks in recent years by the religious broadcaster and founder of the Christian Coalition.

Last October, during the heat of the presidential race, Robertson told CNN that during a meeting with President Bush before the invasion of Iraq, the president told him he did not believe there would be casualties. The White House strongly denied the claim.

In May, during an ABC interview, Robertson ignited a firestorm with his response to a question about whether activist judges were more of a threat to America than terrorists.

"If they look over the course of 100 years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings," he said.

Defending his remarks in a letter to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Robertson insisted he was not being cavalier about the 9/11 attacks. But he also refused to apologize, saying Supreme Court rulings on abortion, religious expression in the public square, pornography and same-sex marriage "are all of themselves graver dangers in the decades to come than the terrorists which our great nation has defeated in Afghanistan and Iraq."

In October 2003, Robertson, criticizing the State Department during an interview on "The 700 Club," said "maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up," referring to the nickname for the department's headquarters in Washington.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the remark "despicable."

In July 2003, Robertson asked his audience to pray for three justices to retire from the Supreme Court so they could be replaced with more conservative jurists. "One justice is 83 years old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition," he said.

Robertson insisted he was only calling for prayers for the justices to retire and was not asking his followers to pray for their demise.

In November 2002, Robertson charged that the Muslim holy book, the Quran, incites followers to kill people of other faiths and disputed Bush's characterization of Islam as a religion of peace.

"It's clear from the teachings of the Quran and also from the history of Islam that it's anything but peaceful," Robertson said in a subsequent interview with CNN. "Of course there are peace-loving Muslims. But at the same time, at the core of this religion ... is jihad, and it is to subject the unbelievers either to forced conversion or death. That's what it teaches."

True Christian there! Dude needs to go get bent.

The same idiot which supported Charles Taylor of Liberia. Yup, the person who is accused of crime against humanity in Sierra Leone.

No, He is far from that! But like any Polotician, He do step on His Weenie.

While He is most likely right, You do not put this sort of thing in the press!

Remember, JFK did screw up the Castro thing along with some others like the bay fo pigs invasion.:(

Guess why He and Bobbie were deleted?

How many other Possibles have been out there tapped for Extreme Prejiduce? Oh and some of Our Elected Official?

I'm a true Christian and am not swayed by a single thing he said........:rolleyes:

That's basically like saying "True Fraternity there!" when a chapter gets shut down for hazing......

Re: Pat Robertson: U.S. should assassinate Venezuela's Chavez
 

OK, this is pretty crazy, and really REALLY far off-base, but I love turning Pat Robertson into the terrorist . . . tres hilarious.


This is completely and 100% true.

No, no it's not. You misread his post completely.

Being that I'm part-Venezuelan on my mother's side (I still keep up with the local news, even though I haven't been down there in nearly 30 years - and don't plan on going back to visit anytime soon), I have more than a few choice, unprintable words for the dictator - ahem, president - of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (which would get me thrown in jail if I said them in Venezuela). Let's start that he's a communist Fidel-wannabe (and it goes downhill from there).

On the other hand Rev. Pat... who gave you the authority to conduct America's foreign policy? It sure ain't in that well-worn Bible you keep thumping on the bully pulpit. Last I checked it's one George W. Bush residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in DC who's running the show.

The sad thing is, I'm not surprised by any of this.

Somebody needs to hit their back button and read again!



Correcto!

Sarcasm leads to miscommunication.........

Sorry buddy. Everyone else got it.

To delete any miscommunication via sarcasm, here we are:

Pat Roberston is a true Christian in every sense of the word! (not true).

So true.

I think it's just because so many people here attack Christianity and organized religion that it's hard to tell when it's sarcasm.

But I'll just add the universal word that quashes all disputes (at least around here): Whatever.

True - but Blaine's cool, he wouldn't do that.

The scariest thing about this guy (as well as other dangerous zealots) is that he actually thinks he's speaking the word of God.