April 25, 2000

Before dawn on a Saturday morning, while most people are asleep, heavily-armed troops burst into a private residence, waving automatic weapons at terrified, unarmed civilians.

Of course we all know that I am describing the raid on the Miami home of the relatives of Elian Gonzales, but, had I described this scene only a few days earlier, what would the reader believe I was describing? A raid on the home of political dissidents in China? The marauding of civilians in the Colombian mountains? The rounding up of Jews in Nazi Germany? Before accusing me of over-dramatizing, think about the amount of force used by the Clinton Administration in this raid, and consider the nature of the operation -- recovery of a six year old boy pursuant to what amounts to a custody dispute! If anyone believes the words I use here to describe the gravity of the situation to be overkill, how much more so is the behavior of our government?

Consider the behavior of Janet Reno -- she promised Senator Gramm and indicated to the media that any recovery effort would not involve force (even while the agents involved were training for the operation); she apparently lied when she said afterwards that negotiations had broken down before the raid. If this were a legal and necessary act, then why has Janet Reno felt compelled to lie about it?

Most disturbing, however, are the polls that have been taken since the raid that indicate that half of Americans approve of the action! This leaves me completely incredulous. Are we as Americans so apathetic that we can wink and nod at such behavior by our government? Certainly, in some circumstances, law enforcement must resort to violence, but is this really such a circumstance?

Do not cloud the issue -- it doesn’t matter whether or not we think Elian should be returned to Cuba. The issue here is how much freedom this Attorney General believes she has in crashing into private homes to carry out policy decisions. Such behavior belongs with the Bolsheviks.

Most Americans were asleep when the raid took place. It appears that half of us are still asleep.

Rob Carey