A Prominent 'Christianist' Cleric Supported Montt's Genocide: Should He Be Droned Next?

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In all the analysis of the Rios Montt trial and conviction for genocide, it is rarely even mentioned that the General was a born again Christian. He was directly and vocally supported not only by Ronald Reagan and Elliot Abrams, but by prominent clerics like Pat Robertson.

"Far from denouncing such practices, Robertson rushed to defend Rios Montt. 'Little by little the miracle began to unfold,' he wrote of the regime. 'The country was stabilized. Democratic processes, never a reality in Guatemala, began to be put into place.' Robertson also praised Rios Montt for eliminating death squads, despite recent estimates that tens of thousands were killed by death squads in the second half of 1982 and throughout 1983. Most damning of all, even as Rios Montt was carrying out the extermination of the Mayan population, Robertson held a fundraising telethon for the Guatemalan military. The televangelist urged donations for International Love Lift, Rios Montt's relief program linked to Gospel Outreach, the dictator's U.S. church. Meanwhile, Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network reportedly sponsored a campaign to provide money as well as agricultural and medical technicians to aid in the design of Rios Montt's first model villages."

Hmm. . . . Aid and comfort to a perpetrator of genocide, defense of its practice, fund-raising on its behalf, concealment of concentration camps as "model villages" . . . Those sound like the crimes that justify the droning is "Islamist" clerics. But there's been not a word about this connection in the U.S. mainstream press, much less from our government officials.

The hypocrisy of it all is not surprising to me. It is exactly what I've come to expect from personal experience of Guatemala and of Central America in general. There during the '70s and '80s Evangelicals and the U.S. media supported dictators throughout the region.

Moreover, far from being seen as the accomplices of terror, the Evangelicals were favored by the U.S. government in its fight against Roman Catholic liberation theology. Remember, Montt's atrocities occurred during what Chomsky calls "the first religious war of the 21 ^st century" -- the war of the United States against the Catholic Church in Latin America.    

My personal experience makes all of this unforgettable for me. For the last 20 years and more, I've been associated with an evangelical term-abroad program for North American students in Central America. My job was to teach our fundamentalist students -- Republicans all -- about liberation theology.  

On one occasion, a student of ours summoned the courage to ask "President" Montt the question that was on everyone's mind: "There are charges," he said, "that you were behind mass killings of Mayan Indians. Now that it's over, do you have any regrets about your policy?"

The ex-president's face grew angry. He stepped from behind the podium and shook his finger at our student. "Listen," he thundered. "I did what I did because God told me to do it! To "regret' my actions would be a sin against God!"  

That's the kind of man Christianist clerics like Robertson supported. That's the kind of Christian jihadist outlook that motivated genocide.

Now imagine what would happen to "Islamist" clerics responsible for aiding, advising and supporting Muslim acts of terrorism exactly like Montt's, in exactly the way the Christianist cleric, Pat Robertson did.    

In fact, little imagination is required. Think of the fate of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S. citizen and Muslim cleric who last week was listed as droned by the Obama national security state. His "crimes" in relation to Islamic terrorism allegedly mirrored those of Robertson in his support of Rios Montt. The C.I.A. not only killed Awlaki, but later murdered his 16 year old son in the same way.