Truespeak

Oh, the outrage! Oh, the indignation! How dare he? What was he thinking?

Of course I'm referring to Pat Robertson's latest foot-inserting gaffe.

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."

(Of course this is just the latest in a long line of insane ramblings from Robertson. Keep in mind this is the same person who claimed that activist judges were more dangerous than the people who flew the planes into the twin towers on 9/11.)

As if on cue, elected officials began lining up to condemn Robertson for his remarks. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not criticizing our elected officials for condemning Robertson. He deserves to be condemned. His statement was abhorrent. But when I hear members of the Bush administration say things like "[Pat Robertson's remarks] do not represent the views of the United States," I have to take issue with that statement. Surely, they must be joking.

Join me, if you will, for a brief trip in the way back machine. Destination: March 20, 2003.

The decision to launch a "decapitation strike" aimed at Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was made by President Bush during an urgently called meeting Wednesday evening in which the CIA director voiced concern that a prime opportunity could be lost, U.S. officials said.

One U.S. official said the attack was launched on the basis of fresh intelligence on the location of "very senior Iraqi leadership," including Saddam Hussein. One of the targets was in Baghdad and another south of the capital, the sources said.

The decision to launch the strike came during the four-hour Oval Office meeting of Bush's national security team that included a briefing from CIA Director George Tenet.

The security team came to see the president urgently Wednesday afternoon, administration officials said, because there was concern at the CIA and the Pentagon that the target of opportunity might be lost.

Bush gave the go-ahead at 6:30 p.m. -- 50 minutes before that meeting broke up, the officials said. In addition to Tenet, those on hand for the meeting included Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Decapitation strike. You know and I know that's just a fancy word for assassination. When the Iraq war started, we tried to assassinate Saddam Hussein. Now whether you agree with that move or not is entirely up to you, but don't try feeding me that bullshit about Pat Robertson's remarks not representing the views of the United States. Not only do we condone assassinating leaders that we don't agree with, we freakin' tried it. True, it didn't work, but that doesn't change the fact that at one time (very recently, I might add) we tried to do just what Pat Robertson is currently advocating.

As repulsive as Robertson's statement was, I find it even more repulsive that anyone from the Bushco war team would pretend that the idea was unthinkable. Their feigned outrage is just as embarassing as crazy Pat's ranting.