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  "Isn't it better to do something like that ... to take out Saddam Hussein, rather than to spend billions of dollars on a war that harms innocent civilians and destroys the infrastructure of a country?"

The comment mirrored what Robertson said Monday about Chavez, creating a firestorm in the United States and abroad. Robertson initially denied Wednesday that he had called for Chavez to be assassinated, saying his comments were misinterpreted. But he reversed course a few hours later and apologized.

On his Christian Broadcasting Network show "The 700 Club," Robertson said of Chavez: "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."

He continued: "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."

It wasn't the first time Robertson has made eyebrow-raising remarks. Last year, he said President Bush told him before the Iraq invasion, "We're not going to have any casualties," but that "the Lord told me it was going to be (a) a disaster and (b) messy." The White House issued denials.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, he said that "God Almighty is lifting his protection from us" because "we have insulted God at the highest level of our government," allowing things like abortion and pornography and barring school prayer.

And in launching a 21-day "prayer offensive" in 2003 to pray for three justices to leave the U.S. Supreme Court after it had decriminalized sodomy, Robertson said: "We ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court."

One justice was 83 years old and two others had serious ailments, he noted.

Religious leaders were universal in denouncing Robertson's latest remarks, and his fellow evangelical Protestants worried he could harm their movement's image in Latin America.

"It's painful for me to see the Christian community miscast through these comments," said J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine. "It's also painful to me because I have friends who are ministers in Venezuela."

The president of the National Association of Evangelicals said he's concerned Robertson's remarks could increase the danger for evangelical missionaries in Venezuela. The Rev. Ted Haggard said he's trying to set up a meeting with Chavez.

Michael Cromartie, an evangelical expert with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said he was amazed by Robertson's ability "to pop off on such serious matters and somehow think it fits within a Christian view."

The Bush administration also swiftly distanced itself from Robertson's comments Tuesday. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the remarks "inappropriate."

Evangelical analysts question how much influence Robertson retains.

A 2004 poll for PBS's "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" and U.S. News & World Report found that only half of white evangelicals viewed Robertson favorably, compared with 75 percent for Focus on the Family leader James Dobson. © 2005 The Associated Press

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