TV Evangelist apologized for call to kill Venezuelan President

A US TV evangelist has apologized for calling for US Special Forces to kill Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Pat Robertson conceded that comments made on his widely-watched TV show amounted to a call for assassination.

On Monday, Pat Robertson said of Mr Chavez: "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."

He said he had spoken in frustration, but stood by remarks saying Mr Chavez "makes common cause with terrorists".

In a statement on his website, Mr Robertson, who has a history of making inflammatory remarks, repeated criticisms of Mr Chavez, the twice-elected leftist president of Venezuela.

"Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologise for that statement," he said, reports BBC.

During his speech on Monday, Robertson also noted that Bonhoeffer had been executed by the Nazis for supporting a plot to kill Adolf Hitler. His example, Robertson said, "deserves our respect and consideration today."

This is not the first time that Robertson has issued a convoluted apology. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he appeared to agree with the Rev. Jerry Falwell on a "700 Club" broadcast that the attacks were God's punishment for feminists, gays, lesbians and liberal groups. But Robertson later said he had conducted the interview with Falwell over a studio monitor and had not fully understood what Falwell was saying, reminds San Francisco Chronicle.