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Pat's Mass-Murdering Friends   That's right, even Pat Robertson has friends. Three of them include the now-deceased dictator of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko (also known as the Great Leopard), Jorge Serrano, former dictator of Guatemala, and Frederick Chiluba, the ruler of Zambia. Mobutu was a sadistic, murderous, dictator who kept his country's people in poverty while he became one the richest men in the world. He could have cured all of his nation's ills with a personal check. Under his rule, Zaire was a country with very little personal freedom; public demonstrations were illegal, journalists were murdered by the state, and most religious groups were banned. The US State Department banned Mobutu from the country after he applied for a visa to come to Washington and improve his image. Why would Pat support such a man? In a word, money. Zaire is a resource-rich country, and Pat saw an opportunity to partner with Mobutu to start a diamond mining operation. Pat started a company called the African Development Company, and began shipping diamond mining equipment to Zaire using the non-profit CBN's Operation Blessing aircraft. Check out the news page for more on this. Meanwhile, he also tried to get the State Department to lift the ban on Mobutu's visa. Many people tried to get Robertson to stop his support of Mobutu, but he refused. Instead, he became very friendly with Mobutu; at one point, he flew to Zaire on Mobutu's jet, took in a cruise on his yacht, and dined at the presidential mansion. Fortunately enough, the ADC was a failure, and Mobutu is now dead after being deposed by a rebellion. Jorge Serrano was president of Guatemala, the protege of dictator General Rios Montt. In The New World Order, Robertson had this to say about Serrano: "Serrano continues the enlightened leadership of his patron, former President Rios Montt, who insisted on honesty in government and then had every key official sign a pledge that read, "I will not steal; I will not lie; I will not abuse." Contrast this to what Amnesty International had to say about Rios Montt's "enlightened leadership: In just the four months of Gen. Rios Montt's rule, Amnesty International had documented more than 2,000 extrajudicial killings attributed to the Guatemalan army. Furthermore, these killings were done in horrible ways: people of all ages were not only shot to death, they were burned alive, hacked to death, disemboweled, drowned, beheaded. Small children were smashed against rocks or bayoneted to death." Two months after Montt's rise to power, Catholic bishops in Guatemala stated "Numerous families have perished, vilely murdered. Not even the lives of old people, pregnant women, or innocent children were respected. Never in our national history has it come to such extremes." The story of Frederick Chiluba is also an interesting one. The President of Zambia since 1991, he declared that Zambia would henceforth be a Christian nation. The public school system became Christian-only, despite the existence of a sizable minority of Muslims and Hindus in the country. In response to their need for education, Chiluba simply suggested that they open up their own schools. The national TV and radio stations also turned to all Christian programming. Robertson did an interview with Chiluba on the 700 Club in 1995, telling him "Your country is not only the standard for Africa but for the rest of the world." Afterward, he asked his audience "Wouldn't you love to have someone like that as President of the United States of America?" Robertson's greed and fanaticism have led him to acquaint himself with a strange bunch. It is apparent that he will befriend anyone who can either make him some money or supports his theocratic goals. How Pat can on the one hand say that he doesn't want a theocracy, and then call a theocracy a model for the world is beyond me. Note: Much of the information for this page came from a book by Rob Boston entitled "The Most Dangerous Man in America? Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition" I strongly recommend that you read this book for even more details and analysis about Pat's doings.