Posted on 08/23/2005 11:54:53 AM PDT by kddid
Venezuela's vice president accused religious broadcaster Pat Robertson on Tuesday of making "terrorist statements" by suggesting that American agents assassinate President Hugo Chavez.
Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Venezuela was studying its legal options, adding that how Washington responds to Robertson's comments would put its anti-terrorism policy to the test.
"The ball is in the U.S. court, after this criminal statement by a citizen of that country," Rangel told reporters. "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." The State Department distanced itself from Robertson's comments.
"We do not share his view, and his comments are inappropriate," spokesman Sean McCormack said.
There was no immediate comment from Chavez, who was winding up an official visit to Cuba on Tuesday. Scores of journalists awaited Chavez at the airport, where he was to board a plane for a trip to Jamaica to discuss a Venezuela initiative to supply petroleum to Caribbean countries under favorable financial terms.
On Monday, Robertson said on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club": "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 war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
Chavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush, accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials have called the accusations ridiculous.
"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," Robertson said. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."
Rangel called Robertson "a man who seems to have quite a bit of influence in that country," adding sarcastically that his words were "very Christian."
The comments "reveal that religious fundamentalism is one of the great problems facing humanity in these times," Rangel said.
Robertson's remarks appear likely to further stoke tensions between Washington and Caracas. Chavez has repeatedly claimed that American officials are plotting to oust or kill him _ charges U.S. officials have denied.
The United States is the top buyer of Venezuelan crude, but Chavez has made it clear he wants to decrease the country's dependence on the U.S. market by finding other buyers.
Chavez has survived a brief 2002 coup, a devastating two-month strike that ended in early 2003 and recall referendum in 2004. The former army paratroop commander, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, is up for re-election next year, and polls suggest he is the favorite.
>Pat Robertson isn't a terrorist - he's an a**hole.<
Pat's getting on up in years. If he's not pushing 80, I'd be really surprised.
Perhaps he's not as, ahem, sharp as he once was. If so, we should give the man a break.
What do you mean "if he said it". Have you been reading any of the threads?
***What do you mean "if he said it".***
When I posted, the story was breaking. At that point I did not know whether it was an accurate quote or not.
The MSM certainly has show it knows how to misrepresent and misquote religious leaders - though it seems in this case they got it right.
Mr. R. was an a**hole twenty years ago. Believe me, he is not a nice man.
Thanks for the note.
On one end of the spectrum there's Jimmah Cartah, and on our end there's Pat
I'll take Pat any day.
Wacko Pat: 0
LOL! Nothing entertains more than a Christofascist preacher like Pat Robertson engaging in a little moral relativism. Pat's ill-advised remarks convert the Ten Commandments into the Ten Suggestions that don't apply to Christofascists when they engage in verbal games as part of an imaginary world-wide war against commie and/or Muslim hordes
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 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.
Robertson also claims he was assured by Dubya before the Iraq War that the invasion wouldn't cause any casualties, an assurance that didn't turn out so well. Clearly his earlier experience caused Robertson to rethink his views somewhat on the general desirability of invading and occupying medium-sized, oil-rich nations, something more people should do. Of course, it's hard to see what actually assassinating Hugo Chavez can actually accomplish. Nor does it seem wise for the United States to be engaged in removing democratically elected leaders from power, even when they turn out to be apostles of the dread "illiberal democracy." And Robertson's loose talk is going to be a boon to Chavez and, therefore, a fiasco for American interests in South America.
Besides which, advising people to kill other people is an odd thing for a so-called Christian to be doing.
I say we hand Pat a handgun and airdrop him into the Venezuelan capital. Let's see him carry through with his tough talk. Somehow I doubt his big mouth would receive a warm reception.
Particularly when he fancies himself a religious leader.
This continues the common problem of raising the First Amendment. Critics tend to not question somebody's legal right to say something (a genuine First Amendment issue). They tend to criticize by saying that they 'shouldn't' say something: that is, criticizing the substance of what the other person said, or otherwise criticizing their judgment.
When someone says something dumb, inflammatory, or worse, their legal right to say it is not in question. Raising the legal right to say something in response to a criticism of words or judgment is silly.
But I suppose Robertson is okay there, too. He didn't say HE was going to assassinate they guy, only that someone else should.
As far as the first amendment thing goes, of course he can say whatever he wants. But not only does he fancy himself a religious leader, he also has delusions of political power. Any good politician would speak of such matters behind closed doors, then feign ignorance after such a thing occurs.
Hey, Pat? Ever heard of covert operations???? Howsabout you don't give anyone a heads up, just in case?
He is simply a very poor spokesperson.
Hmmm. Yes, interesting. But don't read too much into this.
Mr. Robertson said something stupid - and he knows it.
He is, unrelentingly, an a**hole. Mr. Robertson has a real gift for acting like he's from the planet Zongo.
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Which explains all those Jesus-sanctioned hits on Romans that are catalogued in the second letter of Paul to the Assassins.
The Tyrannicide and the Catholic Church.
There is nothing improper about the commentaries made by the Evangelical preacher, Pat Robertson, referring to the possible tyrannicide of the Venezuelan dictator, Hugo Chavez.
Tyrannicide has been sanctioned as morally compatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church, based on the social doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas. Chavez has reaffirmed his intentions of establishing in Venezuela a genocidal regime following the Cuban model and the commands of Fidel Castro.
What are we going to wait for?, Allow Chavez to surpass Castros dreadful record of 20,000 shot by firing squads, and for more than half million of Venezuelans to suffer political imprisonment as the Cubans have suffered in Castros dungeons inside the Island prison of Cuba.
Chavez, like Hitler, was elected democratically only to become a dictator later. Castro kept well hidden his aims of establishing a Stalinist regimen in Cuba until he consolidated this power over the Cuban people. But, as Hitler exposed his diabolic plan in Mein Kamp, Chavez has no only openly and publicly bragged about his plans of imposing a communist regimen following the Cuban model, but he has put Venezuela under Castros control using his thugs and repressive apparatus to keep subjugated the people of Venezuela.
If Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Chavezs life had been terminated, how many lives would have been saved and how much suffering humanity would have been spared.
In fact, tyrannicide is so justified that His Holiness Pius XII gave his approval for the plot by a group from the Germans army intelligence service planning to kill Hitler.
For St. Thomas Aquinas, tyrannicide is to opt for the lesser of two evils. Pacifism is a morally correct personal option, but is an option that is morally unaceptable for the state. A person might choose not to resist an aggression to the extreme of loosing his life, but a government has the duty to defend his people.
A pacifist might loose his life without offering resistance; but he cannot impassible allow in his presence the murder of an innocent person. Those are basic principles of Catholic teachings that are being ignored in the middle of the assault of the totalitarian correct ideological movement where political correct positions prevail even though they might be morally incorrect options.
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I was going to object to this statement but I realized that no adult with any understanding of how the world works (little things like the sovreignty of nations) could have written something so absurd unless it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
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