Debra J. Saunders. San Francisco Chronicle. Monday, April 24, 2000
THE PHOTOGRAPH of Elian with his father, stepmother and little brother shows the boy is happy to be with his dad, and to that extent, the Saturday morning federal raid on the Miami Gonzalez home did some good.
Figure no matter where Elian ends up, he will be OK. If he goes to Cuba, Fidel Castro will want him to appear happy and free. If he stays here, he will have true freedom. Wherever he goes, the boy will be loved.
No thanks to Washington. Throughout this story, the Return Elian crowd -- aka The Only People Who Truly Care about Elian -- have spoken about the rule of law and the need for the Miami family to respect any court decision, including an order to return of the boy to his father.
Too bad the Department of Justice wasn't interested in what judges write. Nor was President Clinton, who misrepresented an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last week on an appeal demanding political asylum for the boy. Clinton said he supported the raid because ``there was no alternative
but to enforce the decision by the INS and federal court that Juan Miguel Gonzalez have custody of his son.''
On the contrary. The Justice Department asked the court to order that the Miami family turn Elian over to his father, but the court pointedly refused to do so. The decision was highly critical of the government's refusal to question Elian. The judges noted that, while they would not
necessarily advocate letting a 6-year- old determine his own fate, they found it disturbing that the INS never bothered to listen to what the tyke might have to say.
The judges concluded, ``No one should feel confident in predicting the eventual result in this case.'' And: ``We need to think more and hard about this case for which no sure and clear answers shine today.''
So the Big Question is: If the court said that it could rule to keep the boy in America, why did the Only People Who Truly Care About Elian decide to send armed agents, loaded machine guns at the ready and kicking an NBC cameraman, into the boy's home to take him to a man from whom the boy
might later be removed?
This is for the boy's own good?
And what if some hothead had shot at an agent, and the agent shot back? It simply doesn't make sense to risk lives for a case that could be decided in favor of letting Elian stay in the United States.
To be sure, the Miami family didn't always negotiate in good faith. The Gonzalezes wrongly made a videotape of the boy saying he did not want to return to Cuba, turning the public even further against them as the tape revealed, not only their willingness to do anything to keep Elian, but
worse, their lack of sophistication in media manipulation.
The New York Times criticized Attorney General Janet Reno for not trying other avenues -- like getting a court order -- before sending in armed agents. Indeed, the only explanation for this precipitous raid was a need by this administration to let upstarts like Miami Cuban Americans
understand just who is in charge here.
Last year, this administration argued that it was understandable for a president to break the law to protect his family (or his ego, since he gets the two confused). Now Clintonia has aimed gun barrels at citizens who resorted to the courts to protect their extended family -- because the
administration really cares about the boy. |