In 1997 "two pilots came forward with the story ... that Operation Blessing's tax-exempt cargo planes were used almost exclusively for Roberton's diamond-mining operation, not for humanitarian purposes." (Read MS magazine article from 2003)

From today's tv and movie news digest on the IMDb:

Fema Promotes Robertson Charity; Ignores Secular Ones

Televangelist Pat Robertson's controversial charity group Operation Blessing stands to gain millions of dollars after being prominently included on a list of organizations accepting donations for hurricane relief, according to an article posted on the website of The Nation magazine. In fact, only two non-faith-based organizations were included in the FEMA list, one of which is the American Red Cross, which has been at odds with the Department of Homeland Security after being barred from attending to New Orleans holdouts who have refused to evacuate. The Nation pointed out that Operation USA, a prominent secular disaster-relief group, was omitted from the FEMA list. It described Operation Blessing as "a front for [Robertson's] shadowy financial schemes" and cited, among other things, an exposé in the Virginia Pilot alleging that Operation Blessing's planes had been used to transport diamond-mining equipment for a Robertson-owned venture in Zaire."

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:47:08 AM permalink | Other blogs commenting on this post