Pat Robertson Taken to Task for Urging Foreign Leader's Assassination
by Fred Jackson, Ed Thomas, and Jenni Parker
August 24, 2005
(AgapePress) - Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) founder Pat Robertson is showing no sign of regret over the controversial remarks he made Monday on his 700 Club television program, calling for the U.S. assassination of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, a leader the evangelist described as "a terrific danger" to America. News sources quoted Robertson as saying the U.S. should have its operatives "take Chavez out," in order to stop him from making his country "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism." And despite widespread criticism on network TV shows the following day, the outspoken evangelist did not shy away from making further controversial observations on his 700 Club program on Tuesday.
Discussing the biblical roots of Islam, Robertson noted on the Tuesday 700 Club broadcast that "Abraham had a couple of sons. One was named Isaac; the other was Ishmael, and the Bible talks about Ishmael as being a wild ass. He's just uncontrollable. And it's almost like that seed of rebellion and uncontrolled anger has filtered into these people." The Christian commentator went on to say that Islamic terrorists seem to be motivated by "a spirit of murder."
Although Robertson did not repeat or even mention his call for assassinating President Chavez on the Tuesday show, CBN representatives say the longtime 700 Club host stands by his previous statements. Other prominent conservatives have disagreed with and criticized the evangelical leader for his comments, however.
Fellow Conservatives Consider Calls for Death Unwarranted
Tuesday on Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson, well-known conservative author and radio commentator G. Gordon Liddy remarked that, without being at war with Venezuela, the U.S. would not have moral grounds to try to assassinate Chavez. He suggested that Pat Robertson, who is a personal acquaintance of his, should stick to his role as a religious advisor.
As far as Robertson expressing his political and strategic opinions goes, Liddy says, "I think the difficulty that Rev. Robertson has is, you can be a political leader [or] you can be a religious leader. It's very difficult to do both and not get into difficulty." However, the talk-radio host says he would not be surprised if the Central Intelligence Agency does have plans to destabilize Chavez's government.
But for a number of Robertson's fellow Christian conservatives, that is hardly the point. Their greatest concern here, according to Ed Vitagliano of the Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association, is that the "the name of Christ should not be mixed in, even accidentally, with the call for an assassination."
Vitagliano recently told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that the position Robertson advocated is not one that represents Christianity as a whole and that most believers like himself "do not think it is a Christian thing to do to call for assassination of another country's leader." The AFA spokesman adds, "We understand the nation does things it thinks it should to preserve survival, but for someone who is a minister, we feel greater care should be taken in representing the name of Christ."
Venezuela's President Chavez was quoted in an Associated Press news story as saying, as he wound up a visit to Cuba, that he had not read or heard anything about Pat Robertson or his comments. In fact, the democratically elected leader said, "I don't even know who that person is." However, his vice president, Jose Vicente Rangel, commented that the U.S. response to the TV minister would be a test of America's anti-terrorist policy and that Venezuela was studying its legal options after "this criminal statement by a citizen of that country."
Meanwhile, when asked by an AP reporter about Robertson's comments, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld seemed to suggest that his office does not place much importance on such remarks. "He's a private citizen," the Bush administration official said of the religious broadcaster, adding, "Private citizens say all kinds of things all the time."
With regard to Robertson's advice to "take Chavez out," Rumsfeld told AP that the U.S. Defense Department "doesn't do that kind of thing. It's against the law."
