Page "Pat Robertson" Paragraph 27

According to a June 2, 1999, article in The Virginian-Pilot, Robertson had extensive business dealings with Liberian president Charles Taylor.

According to the article, Taylor gave Robertson the rights to mine for diamonds in Liberia's mineral-rich countryside.

According to two Operation Blessing pilots who reported this incident to the state of Virginia for investigation in 1994, Robertson used his Operation Blessing planes to haul diamond-mining equipment to Robertson's mines in Liberia, despite the fact that Robertson was telling his 700 Club viewers that the planes were sending relief supplies to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda.

In response to Taylor's alleged crimes against humanity, the United States Congress passed a bill In November 2003 that offered two million dollars for his capture.

Robertson accused President George W. Bush of " undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels to take over the country.

" At the time Taylor was harboring Al Qaeda operatives who were funding their operations through the illegal diamond trade.