Originally Posted by
FliesWay2Much
I've got a BIG problem with that, pal.
Elian's final memory of the United States of America -- OUR United States of America -- will be the stark horror of staring down the M-16 barrel of this goon (yes -- goon -- in every sense of the word). Elian will live with this for the rest of his life.
Nobody from Janet Reno down to this guy right out of a Terminator movie had one lick of common sense to say "This is stupid!" I wonder what this officer who, of course, was "only following orders," told his family at dinner that night? The entire legal system of the United States was incapable of solving this situation. So? How did they solve it? Send in the Storm Troopers -- literally. This was totally pathetic.
Reuniting Elian with his father was the proper thing to do. But, like this???
What should have happened was to arrest the neurotic twit who wouldn't surrender the child, even after a court ordered it. The INS back then and the current CBP has a policy of direct family first. The father wanted his son back. End of that story. The only difference was in the method.
So in that we agree.