First This S*hithead Prays that Justices Should Die and

[Ralph]

now he openly calls for an assassination. By the way, for those interested in the law, an Executive Order specifically forbids assassination of foreign political leaders (negotiated with Congress to avoid a bill making that prohibition statutory law).

*****

Robertson calls for Chavez assassination
8/23/2005, 12:21 p.m. ET
By SUE LINDSEY
The Associated Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

An official of a theological watchdog group on Tuesday criticized Robertson's statement as "chilling."

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club."

"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."

On Tuesday, critics objected to Robertson's statements.

"It's absolutely chilling to hear a religious leader call for the murder of any political leader, no matter how much he disagrees with such a leader's policies or practices," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

David Brock, president of Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group, said the remarks should discredit Robertson as a spokesman for the religious right.

Robertson, 75, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, accused the United States of failing to act when Chavez was briefly overthrown in 2002.

A Robertson spokeswoman, Angell Watts, said he would not do interviews Tuesday and had no statement elaborating on his remarks.

A call seeking comment from the U.S. State Department was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Chavez was believed to be in Cuba, but his whereabouts were unknown and no media access was announced.

In Caracas, pro-Chavez legislator Desire Santos Amaral accused Robertson of shedding his Christian values.

"This man cannot be a true Christian. He's a fascist," Santos said. "This is part of the policies of aggression from the right wing in the North against our revolution."

Santos said she thinks U.S.-Venezuelan relations could still improve but comments by "charlatans and fascists" like Robertson only get in the way.

Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier of oil to the United States. The CIA estimates that U.S. markets absorb almost 59 percent of Venezuela's total exports.

Venezuela's government has demanded in the past that the United States crack down on Cuban and Venezuelan "terrorists" in Florida who they say are conspiring against Chavez.

Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

___

On the Net:

Christian Broadcast Network: http://www.cbn.com/700club/

[jbuck919]

Chavez is a relatively common name. I hope Cesar Chavez (if he is still alive) has enough sense to hire bodyguards against a misunderstanding. Linda Chavez is probably safe.

[Corlyss_D]

now he openly calls for an assassination. By the way, for those interested in the law, an Executive Order specifically forbids assassination of foreign political leaders (negotiated with Congress to avoid a bill making that prohibition statutory law).

*****

Robertson calls for Chavez assassination
8/23/2005, 12:21 p.m. ET
By SUE LINDSEY
The Associated Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

I want to go back to those old rules too. The new rules were devised by people notorious for not being able to pull the trigger, for hobbling Republican presidents more than enemies of the US. The old rules were very practical and saved American lives in the long run. Assissination is cheaper than war. I'd vote for it in a heart beat. Important strategic thinkers have also advocated a return to sensible options befitting a superpower on a limited resource budget:

Rule No. 6
Bring Back the Old Rules

I refer to the pre-Vietnam War rules by which small groups of quiet professionals would be used to help stabilize or destabilize a regime, depending on the circumstances and our needs. Covert means are more discreet and cheaper than declared war and large-scale mobilization, and in an age when an industrial economy is no longer necessary for the production of weapons of mass destruction, the American public, burdened with large government deficits, will demand an extraordinary degree of protection for as few tax dollars as possible. Impending technologies, such as bullets that can be directed at specific targets the way larger warheads are today, and satellites that can track the neurobiological signatures of individuals, will make assassinations far more feasible, enabling the United States to kill rulers like Saddam Hussein without having to harm their subject populations through conventional combat.

As for international law, it has meaning only when war is a distinct and separate condition from peace. As war grows more unconventional, more often undeclared, and more asymmetrical, with the element of surprise becoming the dominant variable, there will be less and less time for democratic consultation, whether with Congress or with the UN. Instead civilian-military elites in Washington and elsewhere will need to make lightning-quick decisions. In such circumstances the sanction of the so-called international community may gradually lose relevance, even if everyone soberly declares otherwise.

Bringing back the old rules would help to circumvent the UN Security Council, which in any case represents an antiquated power arrangement unreflective of the latest wave of U.S. military modernization in both tactics and weaponry. In the future we should attempt to manage most problems long before they get to the Security Council, by increasingly emphasizing Special Forces and an intelligence service bolstered by its own military wing—an emphasis we applied successfully in Afghanistan. Of course, the CIA's military wing will never be large enough to do everything. Thus the CIA and the Special Forces need to coordinate their efforts more closely, under "black," or super-clandestine, rules of engagement. Not only should the CIA be greener (that is, have a larger uniformed military wing), but the Special Forces should be blacker.

To be sure, such clandestine methods might not be enough to change a regime like Iraq's. But that kind of regime is exceedingly rare; the diplomatic farce at the UN a few months back, with France and Germany working indefatigably to contain the power of a democratic United States rather than that of a Stalinist, weapons-hungry Iraq, need not be repeated.

As shocking as some of the above may sound, much of what I advocate is already taking place. The old rules, with their accent on discretion, were on the way back even before 9/11. Witness the increasing use of security-consulting firms and defense contractors that employ—in places as diverse as South America, the Caucasus, and West Africa—retired members of the U.S. military to conduct aerial surveillance, to train local armies, and to help struggling friendly regimes. Consider Military Professional Resources, Inc. (MPRI), of northern Virginia, which during the mid-1990s restructured and modernized the Croatian military. Shortly afterward Croatian battlefield success against the Serbs forced Belgrade to the peace table.

Encouraging an overall moral outcome to the Yugoslav conflict involved methods that were not always defensible in narrowly moral terms; the Croats, too, were murderers. And moral ambiguity is even greater in protracted wars, such as the Cold War and the war on terrorism, in which deals will always have to be struck with bad people and bad regimes for the sake of a larger good. The war on terrorism will not be successful if every aspect of its execution must be disclosed and justified—in terms of universal principles—to the satisfaction of the world media and world public opinion. The old rules are good rules because, as the ancient Chinese philosophers well knew, deception and occasional dirty work are morally preferable to launching a war.

Source: Robert Kaplan's essay in Atlantic Supremacy Through Stealth 7/03 http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200307/kaplan

[Corlyss_D]

I hope Cesar Chavez (if he is still alive)

He's long dead, possibly without any outside help.

[Teresa B]

Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

Well, I never exactly called myself a feminist, and now I'm sure glad I didn't! Geez, I guess me and the all-female coven would be sitting around the pentagram devouring our young and reading Marx.

And didn't I read somewhere that Christians are supposed to love their enemies...?

And how come our darn agents didn't just go in and assassinate Saddam?

And...

Teresa

[Werner]

That's what he Republicans allowed to run for their presidential nomination not so long ago.

As for Colyss' blue print "old rules," I don't have to read them in detail to get the drift.

[Corlyss_D]

Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device.

I wouldn't go that far. It would ruin the property value of some prime real estate in DC.

Geez, I guess me and the all-female coven would be sitting around the pentagram devouring our young and reading Marx.

Braless! You forgot sitting around the bonfire of your bras!

And how come our darn agents didn't just go in and assassinate Saddam?

It wasn't for want of trying. His inner circle was so tight we couldn't penetrate it. You saw what happened to his sons-in-law after they defected briefly. Over the loud pleas and protests of his daughters, he had them executed the instant they returned to Iraq. He couldn't take the chance that one or both of them weren't US agents sent to kill him.

[Ralph]

I don't know that we tried to assassinate Saddam. The Executive Order forbids targeting political leaders. The targeting of Qaddafi rankled many Republicans as well as Democrats and if the E.O. had not been agreed to, most observers and scholars believe a vetoed anti-assassination bill would have had enough votes for an override.

[jbuck919]

For the love of heaven above and all children below, why are we discussing this as though there was ever any blessing on assasssination of foreign leaders? The most famous case is Castro, and the US did actually try to assissinate him. If we can't manage it with a monstrous dictator only a few miles off our shores and only in control of a small island, what is the point at all? If assassination were a meaningful policy, we wouldn't have the nightmare situations we have faced with innumerable other countries headed by ghastly dictators.

[Ralph]

So we're either Nationbuilding or Regime Destabilyzing? Actally killing top honchos often causes greater problems and stronger leaders have been known to emerge.

Before authorizing the targeted killing of Fleet Admiral Yamamoto in World War II C-in-C Pacific, ADM Nimitz, specifically required a fast analysis as to who was likely to replace him and would we be better off with that successor. In that instance the intelligence estimate about the clear successor was pretty accurate.

[jbuck919]

So we're either Nationbuilding or Regime Destabilyzing? Actally killing top honchos often causes greater problems and stronger leaders have been known to emerge.

Before authorizing the targeted killing of Fleet Admiral Yamamoto in World War II C-in-C Pacific, ADM Nimitz, specifically required a fast analysis as to who was likely to replace him and would we be better off with that successor. In that instance the intelligence estimate about the clear successor was pretty accurate.

Yamamoto was the least likely and at the same time most facilitated assasination. He was the one who said "We have awakened a sleeping giant." He would probably not have realized the ultimate penalty in post-war cirmes tribunals. His assassination is a famous but ultimately dreary episode of the war.

Ralph, you make it sound like there is some kind of elaborate judicial process based on high principles behind organized political assassination. Though no one wishes more than I that Stalin had met a premature end from the business end of a rifle, it is evidently a matter of civilization not to go in that direction. I can't explain it; it is just there.

[Corlyss_D]

Though no one wishes more than I that Stalin had met a premature end from the business end of a rifle, it is evidently a matter of civilization not to go in that direction. I can't explain it; it is just there.

Oh, please, John. You're telling me if we could have knocked him off, and saved 20+ million deaths in Russia alone and possibly the cold war, that in the interests of some standard of civilized behavior, we shouldn't have done it? Which is more moral? To sacrifice 20+ million people in the interest of an ideal of civilized behavior? Or to kill one man in an "uncivilized" assissination to save 20+ million? Seems pretty obvious to me. In what moral calculus can you justify not killing the one to save 20+ million.

[Werner]

We're sinking pretty low in this discussion. "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."

If it's admissible for us to speculate along these lines, isn't it equally legit for foreign plotters to similarly target our Chief Exec?

So far, previous presidential assassinations seem to have been by domestic assassins. Has our prevailing moral and intellectual climate darkened so that our President's security is threatened as much as our President has undermined the nation's security?

[Teresa B]

Braless! You forgot sitting around the bonfire of your bras!

Natch, that would be a given.

Teresa

[Ralph]

Braless! You forgot sitting around the bonfire of your bras!

Natch, that would be a given.

Teresa

*****

Actually, Teresa, Corlyss wrote that, not me.

My young, often very pretty female law students don't seem to go braless - the rage is huge tattoes, A new student passed me today wearing a very short top and her entire back was covered by a tattoo. As I've said here before, I don't understand it.

[Ralph]

White House dismisses Chavez assassination call
Venezuela VP calls for U.S. to act on Robertson's 'criminal' remark

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Bush administration officials Tuesday disavowed Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Venezuela's Vice President Vicente Rangel accused Robertson of inciting violence and challenged the White House to take action against Robertson.

"What is the U.S. government going to do about this criminal statement made by one of its citizens?" he asked.

Robertson told viewers of his longtime show, "The 700 Club," on Monday that Chavez was turning his oil-rich South American country into "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent." (Full story)

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it," said Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition.

"It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop. This man is a terrific danger, and this is in our sphere of influence." (Watch video of Robertson's comments)

Robertson -- who has a history of stirring controversy with remarks on subjects from Islam to the Supreme Court -- did not explain how Venezuela was to be used by Muslim extremists. The U.S. State Department Web site says 98 percent of the population are Roman Catholic or protestant.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday that Robertson has the right of any private citizen to say whatever he wants, but added that the televangelist's remarks "do not represent the views of the United States."

"His comments are inappropriate and, as we have said before, any allegations that we are planning to take hostile action against the Venezuelan government are completely baseless and without fact," McCormack said.

But Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez, said Robertson was "no ordinary private citizen" and demanded the White House strongly condemn the remarks. Alvarez also condemned endorsement of assassination by a "prominent former government lawyer in Utah" who uses a classical music board she co-owns to preach a "return" to times when assassination was a government tactic. "She too is a criminal inciter," he said declining to name her.

Alvarez said the Christian Coalition, which Robertson no longer leads, claims some 2 million members and helped jump-start President Bush's 2000 presidential campaign after his New Hampshire primary loss to Arizona Sen. John McCain.

"Robertson has been one of this president's staunchest allies," he said.

"The United States might not permit its citizens to use its territory and airwaves to incite terrorists abroad and the murder of a democratically elected president," Alvarez said. "Venezuela demands that the U.S. abide by international and domestic law and respect its country and our president."

Venezuela's vice president said the U.S. response "challenges the antiterrorist ideology of the American government."

"What are the American authorities going to do? The ball is in their court," Rangel said.

And former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, who ran against Robertson for the GOP presidential nomination in 1988, called the comments "stupid" and "ludicrous" and suggested Robertson apologize "very quickly."

Ties to Cuba

Chavez has built extensive ties to Cuba since he was elected in 1998 and has become a close friend of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, selling oil to the communist island at preferential rates.

This week, Chavez visited Cuba, where Castro appeared on his weekly television call-in show.

Chavez said Tuesday he was unimpressed and unconcerned by Robertson's comments.

The colorful former Venezuelan army officer, who once led a coup attempt himself, has the widespread support of his country's poor.

His opponents, largely drawn from the country's middle and upper classes, accuse him of undermining democratic institutions.

Chavez was re-elected under a new constitution in 2000. In 2004, he won a recall referendum with the support of 58 percent of voters.

But he has become an increasingly outspoken critic of the United States, which he accuses of having been behind a 2002 coup attempt that forced him from office for two days.

The Bush administration denied involvement in the coup attempt, but refused to condemn it.

Executive orders issued by presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan banned political assassinations.

Chavez has also said the United States has tried to stir opposition to his government, and he warned this month that U.S. troops would be "soundly defeated" if Washington were to invade Venezuela. (Full story)

Administration officials have been sharply critical of Venezuela, the fourth-largest supplier of oil to the United States.

During her confirmation hearings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice singled out Venezuela as a "negative force" in the region, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has suggested Venezuela has interfered with the internal affairs of other countries in the region.

Rumsfeld also dismissed Robertson's comments Tuesday, telling reporters at the Pentagon that "our department doesn't do that kind of thing."

Last week, the head of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee asked Rumsfeld to tone down his anti-Chavez rhetoric, warning that the United States needed Venezuelan help to battle the drug trade.

The concern of Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, stemmed from remarks Rumsfeld made during a trip to the region, when he said Venezuela and Cuba had been involved in Bolivian affairs "in unhelpful ways."

Venezuela has accused agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency of spying on the Chavez government. The Bush administration denies those allegations as well.



Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/23/robert ... index.html

[Ralph]

From The New York Times:

August 23, 2005
Robertson Is Pilloried for Assassination Call
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Pat Robertson, the conservative Christian broadcaster, has attracted attention over the years for lambasting everything from feminists and "activist" judges to the United Nations and Disney World.

Now Mr. Robertson has set off an international firestorm with his comments on his television broadcast that the United States should kill Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, a leftist who sits atop the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East.

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it Mr. Robertson said on his program, "The 700 Club" on Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Today, Mr. Robertson's statements were denounced by both the State Department and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. In Caracas, Mr. Robertson was criticized by the vice president of Venezuela, and in Cuba, by President Fidel Castro.

Vice President José Vicente Rangel of Venezuela said: "This is a huge hypocrisy to maintain an antiterrorist line and at the same time have such terrorist statements as these made by Christian preacher Pat Robertson coming from the same country." He told reporters, "The ball is in the U.S. court now."

Mr. Rumsfeld dismissed Mr. Robertson's call for Mr. Chávez's assassination, saying to reporters: "Certainly it's against the law. Our department doesn't do that type of thing." He added, "Private citizens say all kinds of things all the time."

Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman called Mr. Robertson's comments "inappropriate." Mr. Robertson unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988. He has often used his television program and the political advocacy group he founded, the Christian Coalition, to drum up support for Mr. Bush.

"Mr. Robertson has been one of the president's staunchest allies," said Bernardo Álvarez, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States. "His statement demands the strongest condemnation by the White House."

Some of Mr. Robertson's conservative Christian allies distanced themselves from his comments. Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council in Washington, released a statement calling on Mr. Robertson to "immediately apologize, retract his statement and clarify what the Bible and Christianity teaches about the permissibility of taking human life outside of law."

The Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals said in an interview that he and "most evangelical leaders" would disassociate themselves from such "unfortunate and particularly irresponsible" comments.

"It complicates circumstances for foreign missionaries and Christian aid workers overseas who are already perceived, wrongly, especially by leftists and other leaders, as collaborators with U.S. intelligence agencies," he added.

But other conservative Christian organizations remained silent, with leaders at the Traditional Values Coalition, the Family Research Council and the Christian Coalition saying through spokesmen that they were too busy to comment.

A spokeswoman for Pat Robertson said today that he is not giving interviews and had no further comment.

Liberals, however, were not silent. The Rev. Jesse Jackson called for an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission, just as it did when Janet Jackson's breast was exposed during a Superbowl broadcast. "This is even more threatening to hemispheric stability than the flash of a breast on television during a ball game," he said.

One liberal watchdog group, Media Matters for America, sent a letter urging the ABC Family network to stop carrying Mr. Robertson's program. Another group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, asked President Bush to repudiate Mr. Roberson personally.

The program is broadcast by ABC Family, which agreed to carry it as part of the deal ABC made in 2001 to buy Fox Family Worldwide, which previously aired it.

In a statement today, ABC Family said the network was "contractually obligated to air 'The 700 Club' and has no editorial control over views expressed by the hosts or guests."

It added, "ABC Family strongly rejects the views expressed by Pat Robertson in the Aug. 22 telecast of the program."

Mr. Chávez, who won office in 1998, has become the Bush administration's most vocal antagonist in Latin America, accusing President Bush of terrorism for the war in Iraq and of trying to impoverish developing countries by pushing market reforms for their economies.

Mr. Chávez has often accused the United States of trying to assassinate him. The White House quickly welcomed a coup against Mr. Chávez in April 2002, but the Venezuelan president was returned to power two days later.

Today, Mr. Chávez was visiting Mr. Castro in Havana, where he shrugged off Mr. Robertson's assassination call. But Mr. Castro, standing beside the Venezuelan president, said of Mr. Robertson's remarks, "I think only God can punish crimes of such magnitude."

Mr. Robertson made his comments on his program immediately followed a segment about Venezuela. Speaking live in the studio, Mr. Robertson asserted that Mr. Chávez had "destroyed the Venezuelan economy" and was turning Venezuela into "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

"Without question this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil that could hurt us very badly," Mr. Robertson said. "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."

"The 700 Club" has an audience of about one million people, according to Mr. Robertson's Web site.

Mr. Robertson has a history of getting attention for inflammatory remarks. In May, he argued that the threat to the United States from activist judges was "probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings." In 2003, Mr. Robertson said "maybe we need a very small nuke thrown" at State Department headquarters "to shake things up."

In 1998, he warned that hurricanes and other natural disasters would sweep down on Orlando, Fla., because homosexuals were flocking to Disney World there on special "gay days." And he has often denounced the United Nations as a first step toward a dangerous "one world government."

Juan Forero contributed reporting from Bogotá, Colombia, for this article.

[Corlyss_D]

I guess this just about finishes his presidential ambitions, huh?

[Ralph]

I guess this just about finishes his presidential ambitions, huh?

*****

Are you kidding? He's movin'!!!

[Teresa B]

Braless! You forgot sitting around the bonfire of your bras!

Natch, that would be a given.

Teresa

*****

Actually, Teresa, Corlyss wrote that, not me.

Oops, sorry--I got the "Quote" things screwed up.

Corlyss, (ahem)--

Teresa

[Kevin R]

He has always been a nutcase, and this only proves it.

[Ralph]

I just e-mailed my colleagues recommending he be our May 06 graduation honoree. We can use the publicity.

[Guest]

Now foreign missionaries get a taste of being discriminated against - by Hugo Chavez. IMO Chavez better watch his backside - Robertson is only the tip of the iceberg of those who do not like him. As Allende was to copper and boxite, Chavez is to oil. Good thing the domino theory of communism is no longer viable, although oil, cocaine, and land redistribution might strike fear (and acceptablility of intervention) into the hearts of many Americans.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ ... 567B18.htm

Venezuela's government has temporarily suspended permits for foreign missionaries after a US evangelist said Washington should assassinate President Hugo Chavez.


The policy announcement came four days after conservative evangelist Pat Robertson said Washington should execute Chavez, a former soldier who often accuses the United States of plotting to kill him.

The chief of the Justice Ministry's religious affairs unit, Carlos Gonzalez, said on Friday authorisation of good office permits for missionaries would be curbed while the government tightened regulations on preachers inside Venezuela.

The permits "are suspended for a short time, it could be three or four weeks, while we organise a system to see what additional data we need for people coming into the country to preach," Gonzalez said.

"We were already working on this, but these declarations have made us speed things up," he said.

Worsening ties

Robertson later apologized, but his comments have illustrated the political gulf that has opened up between the United States and one of its biggest oil suppliers since Chavez was elected in 1998 promising populist reforms.

The Venezuelan president said on Friday US President George Bush would be to blame if anything happened to him after the comments by Robertson.

"He was expressing the wishes of the US elite ... If anything happens to me then the man responsible will be George W. Bush. He will be the assassin," Chavez said at a public event. "This is pure terrorism."

Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition and a leader of the Christian right that has backed Bush, said that if Chavez "thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it".

He retracted his comments on Wednesday, saying he spoke in frustration over Chavez's constant accusations against Washington.

Relations between Caracas and Washington have soured since Chavez survived a brief 2002 coup he says was backed by US authorities. US and Venezuelan officials have since frequently traded accusations.

A close ally of communist Cuba, Chavez presents his self-proclaimed revolution as an alternative to US policies in the region.

[Guest]

Above by me, Operafan. I dunno what happened - the registry must be having a senior moment or something.

[jbuck919]

Above by me, Operafan. I dunno what happened - the registry must be having a senior moment or something.

Everyone needs to check that their cookie-based permanent log-in is working and re-log-in if necessary. When the moderators do an archive, some bug does a reset, at the same time permitting people to post as guests, which should not be happening in the first place. This is selective by user (it hasn't happened to me yet).