H.D.S. Greenway. Published Tuesday, April 25, 2000, in the Miami Herald

H.D.S. Greenway is editor of the Globe's editorial page.

No one likes to see armed men break down the door and snatch a traumatized boy, but make no mistake about it: Justice and right were served in the early hours of Saturday morning in Miami. ``The law has been upheld, and that was the right thing to do,'' said President Clinton.

If humanity and the rule of law were to be preserved, the federal government had no other choice. Attorney General Janet Reno, herself from Miami, had exhausted every last avenue of compromise -- even into early Saturday. But it had become increasingly clear that Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives had absolutely no intention of allowing the boy to return to his father, even though they had won a court decision that would keep Elian from being returned to Cuba without an asylum hearing. The relatives' negotiating tactic had been to stall and stall again -- and all the while, Elian was, in effect held hostage.

President Clinton got it right Thursday when he said there was ``no conceivable argument'' against reuniting the boy with his father, but yet the Miami relatives refused to do so.

The armed operation in Miami was no Waco, the doomed FBI raid in Texas that so damaged Reno's reputation. The door to the house where Elian was being held was broken down only after Elian's relatives refused to open it. Only eight officers were inside the house for a mere three minutes. Nobody was hurt. A potentially dangerous situation was defused.

The Elian Gonzalez affair needed to be resolved, and resolved quickly. It could not be allowed to drag on and on until the boy was hopelessly and irrevocably alienated from his father, and all the while the law defied.

Yes, it was traumatic for Elian, but the blame lies squarely with the Miami relatives who were willing to let politics separate a father from his son. Ms. Reno said, this is ``a child who needs to be cherished . . . to be with his father. And that is what this case is all about.''

Copyright 2000 Miami Herald

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