Rowland, This in today. Ramon

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PRESS RELEASE Pat Robertson Clarifies His Statement Regarding Hugo Chavez

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., August 24, 2005–I want to take this opportunity to clarify remarks made on the Monday, August 22nd edition of The 700 Club where I adlibbed a comment following a very brilliant analysis by Dale Hurd of the danger that the United States faces from the out-of-control dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. In this story, Col. Chavez repeatedly claimed that Americans were “trying to assassinate him.”

In my frustration that the U.S. and the world community are ignoring this threat, I said the following:

Thanks, Dale. If you look back just a few years, there was a popular coup that overthrew him; and what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing; and as a result, within about 48 hours, that coup was broken, Chavez was back in power. But we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he’s going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger, and this is in our sphere of influence, so we can’t let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, and we have other doctrines that we have announced, and without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another 200-billion-dollar 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.

Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him.

Col. Chavez has found common cause with terrorists such as the noted assassin Carlos the Jackal, has visited Iran reportedly to gain access to nuclear technology, and has referred to Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro as his comrades. Col. Chavez also intends to fund the violent overthrow of democratically elected governments throughout South America, beginning with neighboring Colombia.

As I report the news daily from around the world, I am acutely conscious of the fact that our nation is at war. Not only are there active wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but there is a war of terror being waged against civilized nations throughout the world.

We are in the midst of a war that is draining vast amounts of our treasure and is costing the blood of our armed forces. I am a person who believes in peace, but not peace at any price. However, I said before the war in Iraq began that the wisest course would be to wage war against Saddam Hussein, not the whole nation of Iraq. When faced with the threat of a comparable dictator in our own hemisphere, would it not be wiser to wage war against one person rather than finding ourselves down the road locked in a bitter struggle with a whole nation?

The brilliant Protestant theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lived under the hellish conditions of Nazi Germany, is reported to have said:

“If I see a madman driving a car into a group of innocent bystanders, then I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe and then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver.”

On the strength of this reasoning, Bonhoeffer decided to lend his support to those in Germany who had joined together in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and killed by the Nazis, but his example deserves our respect and consideration today.

There are many who disagree with my comments, and I respect their opinions. There are others who think that stopping a dictator is the appropriate course of action. In any event, the incredible publicity surrounding my remarks has focused our government’s attention on a growing problem which has been largely ignored.

————————————————————————- Ramon A.Williams Religious Media Consultant and Photographer PO Box 494 – Padstow NSW 2211 – AUSTRALIA phone: +61-2-9792-2393 – fax: +61-2-9792-2881 <> http://community.webshots.com/user/ramon_williams ————————————————————————– Telling others, what others are doing for the Lord

Tuesday August 23, 2005 The Guardian (UK)

http://www.guardian.co.uk

US broadcaster calls for assassination of Venezuelan president

Staff and agencies

Outspoken US religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has used his TV show to urge the American government to assassinate the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, to stop his country from becoming “a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism”.

Speaking on Christian Broadcast Network show The 700 Club today, Robertson said it would be a lot easier to have US secret service agents kill president Chavez than fight a war to get rid of him.

Robertson’s comments were condemned by US liberals and Venezuelan politicians. “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 $200bn war to get rid of one, you know, 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,” he added.

“You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war … and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”

Mr Chavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush, accusing the US of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him – accusations dismissed as ridiculous by the American government.

“It’s absolutely chilling to hear a religious leader call for the murder of any political leader, no matter how much he disagrees with such a leader’s policies or practices,” said the Rev Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

David Brock, president of Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group, said the remarks should discredit Robertson as a spokesman for the religious right.

Robertson, 75, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, accused the US of failing to act when Chavez was briefly overthrown in 2002.

A Robertson spokeswoman, Angell Watts, said he would not do interviews today and had no statement elaborating on his remarks.

Mr Chavez’s whereabouts were unknown and no media access was announced.

In Caracas, a pro-Chavez politician, Desire Santos Amaral, accused Robertson of shedding his Christian values.

“This man cannot be a true Christian. He’s a fascist. This is part of the policies of aggression from the rightwing in the north against our revolution,” Ms Amaral said.

She added that she thinks US-Venezuelan relations could still improve but comments by “charlatans and fascists” like Robertson only get in the way. Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier of oil to the United States.

Venezuela’s government has demanded in the past that the United States crack down on Cuban and Venezuelan “terrorists” in Florida who they say are conspiring against Chavez.

Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the US state department be blown up with a nuclear device.

He has also said that feminism encourages women to “kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians”.

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http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1554899,00.html

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Response to Pat Robertson’s call for Jihad by the Venezuelan ambassador to the USA.

EMBASSY OF THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

Statement by Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez on Pat Robertson Declarations August 23, 2005

We would like [to] thank the American people for the support they have offered us in the wake of the Reverend Pat Robertson4s call for the murder of our President, Hugo Chavez. The messages of support have flooded our Embassy4s electronic and voice mails.

We are very disappointed with Pat Robertson4s statements over the Christian Broadcast Network. Mr. Robertson is of course no ordinary private citizen. He was a candidate for the GOP4s Presidential nomination in 1992. The organization that Mr. Robertson leads, the Christian Coalition, claims nearly 2 million members and has a multi million dollar a year budget. In 2000 it was credited with helping George W. Bush win the important South Carolina primary and catapulting him to the nomination of his party for President. Mr. Robertson has been one of this President4s staunchest allies. His statement demands the strongest condemnation by the White House.

Mr. Robertson4s call that U.S. government covert operatives murder President Hugo Chavez is a call to terrorism. His call that President Bush violently impose the outdated Monroe Doctrine on Venezuela is a call for American intervention in the sovereign affairs of our democratic country.

The United States may not permit its citizens to use its territory and airwaves to incite terrorism abroad and the murder of a democratically elected President. Venezuela demands that the U.S. abide by international and domestic law and respect our country and its President.

Pat Robertson4s statement must be condemned in the strongest terms by the Bush Administration, and we are concerned about the safety of our President. It4s essential that the U.S. government guarantee his safety when he visits this country in the future, including his scheduled visits to the United Nations in New York.

From the messages we have received, it4s clear that Pat Robertson does not speak for Christians in the United States, nor even for the Christian Coalition, when he calls for the assassination of our President.

August 23, 2005

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Institute for Public Accuracy http://www.accuracy.org ___________________________________________________

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Robertson and Chavez: Deeper Issues

A full transcript and video of Pat Robertson’s recent statement advocating the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are available at: <http://mediamatters.org/items/200508220006>. The following are available for interviews:

Rev. GRAYLAN SCOTT HAGLER, http://www.mrsej.org, http://www.plymouth-ucc.org Rev. Hagler has written the article “Pat Robertson Is Not a Christian,” available at: <http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0823-32.htm>. He is national president of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice and senior minister of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C.

WILLIAM BLUM, http://www.killinghope.org Author of the books “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower” and “Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Intervention Since World War II,” Blum said today: “Any surprise at the notion of killing foreign leaders expressed by U.S. officials is certainly to be questioned — since World War II, the U.S. has plotted to assassinate more than 40 foreign political leaders, most recently Saddam Hussein and his two sons. Of course, the U.S. attempted to overthrow Chavez in a failed coup attempt in 2002 and, through the National Endowment for Democracy, tried to remove him through referendum, so assassination is only one of the ways the U.S. government illegitimately interferes in the affairs of other states.”

EVA GOLINGER, http://www.venezuelafoia.info/english.html, http://www.venezuelanalysis.com A Venezuelan-American attorney and author of “The Chavez Code: Cracking U.S. Intervention in Venezuela,” Golinger said today: “The U.S. government has been attempting to undermine the Chavez administration because for the first time, a government in Venezuela is taking an independent course. Clearly Venezuela’s immense oil industry plays a major role, but beyond that, the U.S. government disapproves of Chavez’s successful foreign policy based around Latin American integration and sovereignty. It’s noteworthy that Pat Robertson mentioned the Monroe Doctrine when advocating the U.S. assassinate Chavez to preserve its ‘sphere of influence’ — as if this were a legitimate legal tenet and not a repugnant imperialist tendency. Domestically, the Venezuelan government is investing substantial resources in social programs like healthcare, education and job training, what Chavez has labeled 21st century socialism. This model has apparently angered many in the Bush administration.”

* Shalom! Rowland Croucher * * http://jmm.org.au/ * (15500+ articles, 3200 clean jokes/stories)

*

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