WASHINGTON, August 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A call by US President George W. Bush' political ally and fellow Christian conservative evangelist Pat Robertson to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a "call to terrorism", Venezuelan officials said.

"This is a huge hypocrisy to maintain an anti-terrorist line and at the same time have such terrorist statements as these made by Christian preacher Pat Robertson coming from the same country," Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said, Reuters reported Tuesday, August 23.

Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and a presidential candidate in 1988, said Chavez, one of Bush's most vocal critics, was a "terrific danger" to the United States and intended to become "the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said during Monday broadcast of his religious "The 700 Club" program.

"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."

The leftist Chavez has often accused the United States of plotting his overthrow or assassination.

Commenting on the remarks by the US evangelist preacher as he wrapped up his three-day visit to Cuba, Chavez said he didn't care about Robertson's remarks.

"I don't even know who this person is," Chavez told reporters.

Chavez survived a short-lived coup in 2002 that he said was backed by the United States, the claim which Washington vehemently denied.

Chavez was first elected in 1998 and won a referendum on his rule last year. Polls show he would be re-elected in 2006.

Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporting country and a major supplier to the United States.

"I don't even know who this person is," Chavez hit back. (Reuters)

Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, said the US President needs to guarantee Chavez's safety during his visit to the United States to attend next month's United Nations meeting in New York.

"Mr. Robertson has been one of this president's staunchest allies. His statement demands the strongest condemnation by the White House," Alvarez said.

However, the White House remained silent on Robertson's remarks despite calls for repudiation from Venezuela and religious leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Jackson described Robertson's remarks as "morally degenerate", saying that Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "cannot be silent on such a suggestion by one who has had such a relationship with the White House."

About nine of 10 white evangelicals voted for Bush in the 2004 elections – about as high as his support from any group of voters, according to exit polls.

The evangelicals also supported Bush overwhelmingly in the 2000 elections.

In his broadcast, Robertson said: "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."

But the remarks were quickly rebuffed by the US Department of State.

"Any accusations or any idea that we are planning to take hostile action against Venezuela or the Venezuelan government -- any ideas in that regard are totally without fact and baseless," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

He added that Robertson's remarks were "inappropriate", saying that the remarks don't represent the view of the US government.

"I would say that Pat Robertson is a private citizen and that his views do not represent the policy of the United States."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also echoed a similar stance.

"Certainly it's against the law. Our department doesn't do that type of thing."

Robertson's remarks hearkened back to a long history of US political and military interventions in Latin America including the invasions of Grenada in 1983 and Haiti in 1994, attempts to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro and a CIA-backed coup in Chile in 1973, according to Reuters.