Was Pat Robertson's Call For Assassination Of A Foreign Leader A Crime?
John W. Dean has put together a great article with the blunt subtitle, “Had he been a Democrat, he’d probably be hiring a criminal attorney.” You’ll really enjoy the rest of it; he starts with:
On Monday, August 22, the Chairman of the Christian Broadcast Network, Marion “Pat” Robertson, proclaimed, on his 700 Club television show, that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez should be murdered.
More specifically, Robertson said, “You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination,” referring to the American policy since the Presidency of Gerald Ford against assassination of foreign leaders, “but if he [Chavez] 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.”
“We have the ability to take him out,” Robertson continued, “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.”
What, Mr Robertson can say this and there’s no outcry, no political storm? Think the reaction would be the same—i.e., none at all—if “Pat Robertson” changed to any name from the Middle East, and “Chavez” was “Blair” ?
