Pat Robertson insists that he was misquoted when he called on the US to go ahead and assassinate Hugo Chavez.
Earlier Wednesday, Robertson said he had been misquoted. “I didn’t say ‘assassination,'” he said on his Christian Broadcast Network show “The 700 Club” about the remarks, which were reported by The Associated Press and other media outlets. “I said our special forces should ‘take him out.’ ‘Take him out’ could be a number of things, including kidnapping. “There are a number of ways of taking out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP, but that happens all the time.”
But wait … didn’t he actually use the word “assassination”? That doesn’t seem open to much “misinterpretation.” And, yes, it sure seems he did.
Well, Pat seems to agree now.
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson apologized Wednesday for calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he spoke in frustration earlier in the week. “Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement,” he said. “I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him.”
Yeah. Because the only alternatives seem to be either accommodation or assassination. Or, I guess, invasion, which was what Pat was touting assassination as the cost-effective alternative to.
Pat, here’s a clue — if your frustration level is so high that you can’t speak on your “mix of news and commentary, interviews, feature stories, and Christian ministry” show without urging the assassination of a foreign head of state, perhaps you’re in the wrong business. Or you need to spend some time in quiet contemplation. Emphasis on the word quiet.
The spousal unit was joking that WWJD stands for Who Would Jesus Dead?
*Snort*.
Well, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the past five years it’s that anything less than the maximal use of force is appeasement (and therefore proof you’re a terrorist sympathiser).
Heh.
Pat’s apology-but-not-really can be found here.
Pat’s doctrine on self-defense-justifies-anything can be found here.
I’m not necessarily saying he’s wrong here. The US has used its armed might in a variety of righteous causes, against direct threats to its people and in defense of other people. Doing so can be, in my opinion, the right thing to do. Pragmatically speaking, assassination can be more efficient, as Pat notes, than sending in the Marines; it can also have significant costs that are not immediately seen (not least of which is precedent).
The US has also certainly misused its might, often with the same excuses of self-defense and/or helping others, such that we can see the dangers of too lightly applying the doctrine.
Is there a place for Christian moral teaching here? Arguably moral beliefs should be a part of any such policy debate, regardless of where those beliefs are based. Looking at the teachings of Jesus, I can see ideas of just war and similar actions implied. I can also see them directly denied — “those who live by the sword” and “turn the other cheek” and similar statements. Those are matters I certainly wrestle with in my own application of religious teaching to the world — but I don’t hold myself up as an evangelical exemplar, speaking to millions of folks via TV (as opposed to dozens via blog); in such a circumstance, the benefit of the doubt from such a teacher would seem to be to look to Jesus’ teachings directly, and be aware that arguing a counter course is treading on very dangerous ground.
I don’t know that I would lose any sleep if someone were to double-tap Hugo Chavez. I do know I lose some (metaphorically, at least) when a Christian evangelical leader asserts that it’s the right thing to do and leads the charge toward it.
We do have a long history of subverting democracy, and getting rid of anyone that stands up to our subjugation of their country directly or through the IMF of the World Bank. Right now Chavez is neo-cons worst nightmare…a democratically elected leftist with oil money.
The Bushies put the Tonton Macoutes and the Duvalier-ists back in charge in Haiti, had a failed assassination and coup attempt in Venezuela.
So…par for the course really.
I am amused that a guy that this government wants dead/overthrown, came to the aid of the gulf coast folks while our own president was off on vacations still….