Since we regularly witness Pat Robertson violating two Commandments such as keeping the Sabbath holy and bearing false witness against his neighbor, it should come as no surprise that this is not the first time that Pat Robertson has advocated assassination as the preferred method of resolving problems. It turns out assassination was Robertson's alternative to the whole Iraq qWagmire we're in now. Below the fold is an excerpt from Robertson's interview on MSNBC's Hardball from June 2004.
Update [2005-8-24 13:8:17 by deadinthewater]: Robertson lies and denies advocating assassination.
The entire transscript can be found
here.
BROWN: Welcome back to HARDBALL. Pat Robertson is the founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network and is a strong supporter of President Bush. Earlier this year, he said God told him the war in Iraq was, quote, "going to be messy and actually a disaster."
ROBERTSON: Well, I don`t think God`s opposed to the war, necessarily, but it was a danger sign. I felt very uneasy about it from the very get-go. Whenever I heard about it, I knew it was going to be trouble. I warned the president. I only met with him once. I said, You better prepare the American people for some serious casualties. And he said, Oh, no, our troops are, you know, so well protected, we don`t have to worry about that. But it has been messy. And I think we`re going to come out of it, though. I think we`ll have a free Iraq. But it certainly has been a mess so far.
BROWN: Well, what would you have suggested the president do? Did you support him as he made that decision to go to war?
ROBERTSON: Well, Campbell, once those forces were arrayed in the Gulf, you had this huge armada out there, and all the military preparation, at that point, he couldn`t back down. You have to go. There`s a no-go situation, and there was a point of no return. So at that point, of course, I supported him, as I think all patriotic Americans do. Our forces are going to war, and we support them. But if I had been doing it, I think I would have much preferred the assassination route. I think we could have gotten Saddam Hussein a lot easier than this. And there`s just something about this war that has been really troubling, and I`d been warned by one of my friends who`s an ex-Iraq about what would happen, and you`d have--the Shi`ites and the Sunnis and the Kurds and the Christians and others would be squabbling, and that`s sort of what`s happening over there.
These statements leave me confused and asking questions.
Does this mean that good Christians should write a letter to their law makers asking them to repeal the law that prevents the CIA from carrying out politcal assassinations? How does a pro-life Christian reconcile assassination with the teachings of Jesus? How come good Christians like Robertson don't simply pray for God to smite their enemies such as Chavez or Hussein? And finally, is it the word of God that Hugo Chavez should "Do unto Pat Robertson as Pat Robertson would have done unto him"?
Update [2005-8-24 13:8:17 by deadinthewater]: Robertson now lies and denies saying he advocated assassination. CNN carries the story here.
Here's the blatant lie by Robertson:
"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.'
but what Robertson really said was:
If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it.