Pat Robertson threatens documentary team over film that says his Africa charity is a fraud

[coldmountain]

Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2013, 07:25 PM - Edit history (2)

Pat Robertson threatens documentary team over film that says his Africa charity is a fraud

Christian televangelist Pat Robertson is threatening legal action against a Canadian documentary team over their film alleging that Robertson used a bogus charity as a supply line for his diamond mining business in Africa. Right Wing Watch reported Friday that Robertson and the Christian Broadcasting Network are threatening to sue Lara Zizic and David Turner, whose film “Mission Congo” is set to premiere this weekend at the Toronto Film Festival.

“Mission Congo,” according to the Guardian, details how Robertson reportedly used aid money donated to his foreign ministry program Operation Blessing International to provide mining equipment and other services to his diamond-mining operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Robertson also used images of doctors and tents provided by the international medical aid group Médecins sans Frontières (MSF aka “Doctors Without Borders”) to promote Operation Blessing, saying that his group had provided the tents and the doctors and that donor money from his Christian empire was the main source of aid to the war-torn region.

Operation Blessing, says the film, still pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars a year, money that Robertson is using to enrich himself and his family. The film contains damning testimony from former Operation Blessing workers, who say that humanitarian mission flights were routinely diverted hundreds of miles off course to deliver mining equipment and other supplies to Robertson’s diamond mining operation in Kamonia.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/07/pat-robertson-threatens-documentary-team-over-film-that-says-his-africa-charity-is-a-fraud/

[SunSeeker]

1. Pat obviously does not believe in the Bible if he's breaking all those commandments. nt

[Initech]

3. Stealing, lying, cheating, declaring himself a prophet, what else is there?

[silverweb]

2. Good!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I hope he does sue and take it to court! The proceedings will make headlines around the world and everyone will see the evil fraud that he is.

The truth will bury him and I, for one, can't wait.

[liberal_at_heart]

4. they better watch out. Robertson will have God send a blizzard their way and freeze the entire

country.

[pa28]

5. Tax fraud and plain old fraud.

Fortunately for Pat we have two sets of laws in this country.

[alittlelark]

6. My fundy mom has donated to Operation Blessing for years...

I've tried to tell her it is a scam - but I swear that fundies are brainwashed.

[salin]

7. There was a story about a decade ago that ran, in all places,

in Christianity Today - that discussed accusations that witnesses saw a Operation Blessing plane loaded with arms - to destination of Liberia (where Robertson was backing the then strong man dictator Charles Taylor) the story directed the dots to Robertson being involved in the blood diamonds trade under the guise of his Operation Blessing.

Point is that there is more than a decade long trail of tidbits pointing in the documentary's storyline.

Power to the documentary.

[Blue_Tires]

9. Yeah, I live in Robertson's neck of the woods

and the wealth he's made from his "charitable" organization in Africa is a poorly kept secret here...

[MineralMan]

8. Pat Robertson is almost certainly

an atheist. No serious Christian would behave as he does, for fear of eternal damnation. He knows that no such thing will occur, so he behaves as he does.

[hootinholler]

11. Don't even try to pin any lack of morality on Atheism

Thank you very much.

[MineralMan]

13. I'm an atheist myself.

As with anything, there are moral people who are atheists and there are immoral people who are atheists as well. I'm talking about an individual person, not a class of people.

Atheism is simply an inability to believe. Beyond that atheists have nothing in common, frankly. You have misunderstood me. I'm not generalizing from the specific here.

[hootinholler]

15. You are so full of shit n/t

[MineralMan]

17. Hey, thanks for your thoughtful assessment.

[coldmountain]

19. Robertson is a devil worshipper

[Liberal In Texas]

10. This is also interesting:

from another article:

Robertson has been embroiled in mining controversies elsewhere in Africa. He supported the then president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, during that country's civil war without revealing at the time that he had an $8m investment in a Liberian gold mine. Taylor was already indicted by a UN war crimes tribunal at the time and was later convicted of crimes against humanity.

-http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/05/mission-congo-pat-robertson-aid-rwanda

[salin]

12. He has a long-standing track record

of taking other people's money - and using it to support heinous actions by the governments or mine operators in the interest of great self-enrichment. Up thread I recalled the story per his support of Taylor in Liberia - which allegedly includes not just supporting Taylor verbally - but also shipping in arms to support Taylor. It seems that Robertson drips from the wealth from "blood diamonds".

While threads of this story have floated around for years, I hope that the documentary leads to ore common understanding of this story. He can rail about Tinky Winky corrupting infants, while his actions have led to death and destruction in order to extremely self-enrich.

[Berlum]

14. Evangelical Republicon Family "Values." As usual.

Channeling the Holy Filthy Lucre to his diamond mining operation?

RepubliCons in Evangelical clothing just don't get any skankier. Unless, of course, there is a sex and slavery angle to this that has not yet been EXPOSED.

[Wolf Frankula]

16. Now He Is Revealed, Pat Robertson's God

Wolf

[msanthrope]

18. Sue, Pat. I want to see your deposition. nt