Evangelical assassination update

The Globe and Mail has an interesting story on Rev. Pat Robertson’s call for the assissination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which includes statements from US government officials “distancing” themselves from Robertson’s “doctrine of assassination.”

The self same government responsible for the 1963 slaying of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and several attempts to kill Fidel Castro. In 2001, George W. Bush gave the CIA an explicit go-ahead to carry out covert missions to assassinate Osama bin Laden and his supporters around the world, effectively lifting a 25-year ban on such activities. (See the list below of US-back assassination plots since World War II.)

According to some reports, the US government which was closely involved the failed coup in Venezuela last year had plans “neutralize” Chavez if he was reelected (which he was, of course).

Oh, but now the US has Executive Order 12333, which says “No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.” So I guess Hugo doesn’t have to worry about the toxin-spiked cigars, exploding conch shells, even a wet suit slathered with fungus spores, all of which the US government tried to use against Chavez’s buddy Fidel.

The most hilarious response was from war criminal and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “Our department doesn’t do that kind of thing, it’s against the law.” I guess Rummy draws the line at the torture of prisoners, killing of civilians, and leading illegal wars.

The most stupid response to the affair had be from Senator Richard Lugar, who accused Chavez of creating the network to spread his left-wing message across the continent. Duh!

In response to Robertson’s rant, Hugo, said, “I don’t even know who this person is.”

Chavez then offered to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline. “We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States,” he told reporters at the end of his Cuba visit.

The Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States.

Just for the record, here’s a list of prominent foreign individuals whose assassination (or planning for same) the United States has been involved in since the end of the Second World War. The list does not include several assassinations in various parts of the world carried out by anti-Castro Cubans employed by the CIA and headquartered in the United States. (Source: <a href=”http://www.powells.com/biblio/72-1567512534-0″Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II by William Blum.)