VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson
insisted Wednesday that he did not call for the assassination of
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, despite comments broadcast on his
program two days earlier.
"I didn't say 'assassination,"' Robertson said Wednesday on
his Christian Broadcast Network show "The 700 Club" about remarks
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 a video of Monday's telecast shows that Robertson's exact
words were: "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. It's a whole lot
cheaper than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments
will stop."
He continued: "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."
When the AP called Robertson on Tuesday for elaboration,
spokeswoman Angell Watts said Robertson would not do interviews and
had no statement about his remarks. On Wednesday, Watts did not
respond to two telephone messages, three pages and a fax seeking
further comment.