Pat Robertson should be "taken out"

Mike McManus, an ethics and religion writer, thinks Pat Robertson is the one who should be "taken out", so to speak. He reiterates many of the points I attempted to make in my post on this subject. Wonder if this means McManus must be a communist, as ditto-head Dave asserted I must be for holding the same views?

It is time for Pat Robertson, 75, to be fired as host of "The 700 Club."

Consider what he said Monday about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the left-wing strongman of a nation with the largest oil reserves outside of the Middle East. Chavez has been an outspoken critic of the United States which he believes is trying to topple his government.

Robertson noted that Chavez has accused America of backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials call that ridiculous.

Robertson then added, "If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It is a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop.

"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 labeled him a "terrific danger" to the United States who was using his nation's oil wealth as a "launching pad for Communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."
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On Wednesday's show, Robertson inexplicably asserted, "Wait a minute. I didn't say `assassination.' I said our Special Forces should `take him out,' and take him out can be a number of things, including kidnapping." Cable TV ran his Monday calls for assassination next to his absurd denial. Belatedly, Robertson issued a written apology.
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"On a very practical, political level, the assassination of a foreign leader is both unwise and counterproductive. Examine the history of American efforts do such things in the Dominican Republic, the Congo, Cuba, Vietnam and Chile. The consequences are often worse than what was prevailing. Pinochet in Chile was a worse dictator than Allende."

Indeed, the U.S. made eight attempts on Castro's life. This history led to Senate hearings which prompted the President Ford to sign a law prohibiting assassinations of foreign leaders. Asked about Robertson, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld replied, "Certainly it's against the law. Our department does not do that type of thing."