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US rejects call for Chavez assassination
WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday distanced itself from a call by prominent religious broadcaster Pat Robertson for Washington to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The conservative televangelist’s comments outraged Venezuelan authorities, who expressed concern about Chavez’s safety when he travels to the UN General Assembly in New York next month.

Speaking from Cuba, Chavez downplayed the remarks, saying he had more important things to deal with. “I don’t know who this person is, and I don’t know him. In my view, it is neither here nor there,” he said. “We take care of ourselves when we have to. I am here to talk about life, there are more important things,” said the normally effusive Chavez.

“I would say that Pat Robertson is a private citizen and that his views do not represent the policy of the United States,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, describing the TV preacher’s comments as “inappropriate.”

“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 added.
"But we wouldn't mind watching the little bastard squirm," he muttered under his breath.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied that the Pentagon has considered assassinating the leftist president. “Our department doesn’t do that type of thing,” Rumsfeld said.
"We have more ... direct ... ways," he added.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez called Robertson’s comments a “public crime” that should be investigated by US authorities. “Pat Robertson’s statement must be condemned in the strongest term by the Bush administration and we are concerned about the safety of our president,” Venezuela’s ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, said in a news conference.

“It is essential that the US government guarantees his safety when he visits this country in the future, including his scheduled visit to the United Nations in New York,” Alvarez Herrera said.
We do that as a matter of course. But perhaps we could induce some of the visiting party to defect. That's always fun.

Posted by: Steve White 2005-08-24
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=127577