Published Monday, April 24, in the Miami Herald 

Reno says she has 'no regrets' over raid

BY HERALD STAFF AND WIRE SERVICES

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said this morning on NBC that despite the controversy swirling around the weekend raid that returned Elian Gonzalez to his father, she had ''no regrets'' about giving the go-ahead for the operation.

''We tried our best to make sure that it was done peacefully,'' she told the NBC television network. ''I have no regrets whatsoever.''

Also on NBC today, a psychiatrist who accompanied Elian on the plane taking the boy to be reunited with his father said Elian cried and asked to see his Miami relatives during the flight, but he later brightened up when he saw his father.

''He started asking about his relatives in Miami, he started asking about his cousin, about his uncle -- asking when he was going to be able to see them,'' said psychiatrist Gustavo Cadavid in an NBC interview, providing the first detailed account of what transpired during the flight. ''Basically what I told him was that it was going to be up to him and his father as to when he was going to be seeing them.''

With that, the child began to stare out the window and quietly cried, the psychiatrist said.

But Elian's face lit up when the plane landed and he saw his father out the window, Cadavid said.

When the boy was reunited with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the two of them hugged and Gonzalez told his son he thought he would never see him again, according to Cadavid.

Reno told NBC in the early-morning interview, ''I tried my level best to make sure that we avoided this situation.'' She was referring to up-to-the-last-minute talks on the eve of the raid that ultimately faltered.

''The safety of Elian was the paramount issue,'' in the operation Reno added. US officials ordered a raid Saturday on the home of the Miami relatives who were his caretakers for the past five months. Elian was later reunited with his father on a US Air Force base in suburban Washington.

Authorities seized the 6-year-old boy after the relatives refused to turn custody of the child over to his Cuban father,

Republican leaders called Sunday for congressional hearings after what they described as a ''police-state'' raid to seize Elian.

And Florida Sen. Bob Graham, a Miami Lakes Democrat, chided President Clinton for ''violating'' a promise to avoid a nighttime invasion by federal agents.

Much of the political fallout Sunday centered on a news photograph of a federal agent with an assault weapon pointed toward the fisherman who rescued Elian from the sea -- in the words of newsman Sam Donaldson on ABC's This Week: ''The picture that is being shown around the world.''

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a statement: ''The use of this type of force clearly was not justified. This could only happen in Castro's Cuba.''

House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said on NBC's Meet the Press: ''You bet there will be congressional hearings.''

Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, promised the panel would investigate.

''The Senate Judiciary Committee should take a close look at the propriety of the federal government breaking into a child's house,'' Specter said Sunday on ABC's This Week. ''When you have governmental action as forceful as this, you put a judicial magistrate between the individual and the government.''

'FRIGHTENING'

DeLay said on NBC: ''I was ashamed that the United States government, for the first time I know of, has raided a private home without a court order. This is a frightening event, that American citizens now can expect that the executive branch on their own can decide to raid a home.''

However, the Immigration and Naturalization Service said Sunday that it obtained a warrant from a federal magistrate before entering the Little Havana home of Elian's great uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez.

Eric Holder, deputy attorney general, said: ''If there are congressional hearings. . . , I will proudly talk about what was done.''

Calling criticism by Lott and DeLay ''Monday quarterbacking at its worst,'' Holder said on ABC, ''The picture I think America should focus on is the picture that shows Elian reunited with his father and apparently very happy.''

Referring to the raid, Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Miami said: ''It was a monstrous crime. Clinton and [Attorney General Janet] Reno took Elian by force so that Castro's psychiatrists will have time to brainwash the child before the appellate court orders Reno to grant Elian a political asylum hearing.

''Have you listened to Castro's speeches today? He says the U.S. was sending him encrypted faxes. Castro knew more about what was going to happen than the American citizens who were negotiating on behalf of Elian.''

Graham said the predawn raid ''was a clear commitment which was violated.''

Seated outside the Gonzalez relatives' home in Little Havana for an interview on This Week, Graham recalled a meeting three weeks ago:

''I stood in the Oval Office with the president of the United States and I said, 'Mr. President, this is a very sensitive situation. . . . There needs to be some commitment by the U.S. government that there would be no taking of this child at night. . . . ' The president made that commitment to me.''

A White House spokesman Sunday could not confirm any such discussion but noted that Reno decided to conduct the operation just before dawn in an effort to minimize the possibility of confrontation.

MAJORITY SUPPORTS

A weekend poll taken by CNN-Gallup showed that Americans are divided over the level of force used in the operation. Forty percent said agents used too much force and 36 percent said it was ''just about right.'' A larger majority, 57 percent, approved of the decision to reunite Elian with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, in Washington, while 37 percent opposed the action.

Ironically, the lasting image of the raid -- a helmeted agent with his weapon facing Elian -- may exist because Reno insisted during the planning of the operation that the photographer not be obstructed, according to a participant in the planning who requested anonymity.

Top officials knew the Gonzalez family had an arrangement with photographer Alan Diaz to let him in the house. Some federal officials wanted him shoved aside so he could not snap pictures. Reno vetoed it.

''We have nothing to hide,'' she said, according to that participant.

Amid the calls for hearings and investigations of the raid, one former associate decried the ''strident propaganda'' that has been voiced about it.

''If four unarmed marshals in blazers and penny loafers had walked up to the house in daylight, do you think the family and that crowd would have let them leave with the boy?'' asked Carl Stern, a former newsman and Reno's first spokesman. ''Would any responsible supervisor send in an agent that way?''

But, Graham said, ''There was an insensitivity and crudeness to this. It was a gross and excessive use of force.''

ABUSE OF POWER?

''It was an abuse of power and it was a violent abuse of power,'' added New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, a Republican who has filed legislation -- supported by Graham, Republican Florida Sen. Connie Mack and even Vice President Al Gore -- to grant Elian permanent residency in the United States.

Past controversies, from Waco to campaign-financing scandals to possible spying at nuclear weapons labs, have brought criticism on Reno. The raid in Little Havana sparked a fresh round of critiques that focused on her decision-making.

''Theres a strong perception that she should have gotten a court order first to try to get the family to turn the boy over,'' said Paul Rothstein, a Georgetown University law professor and commentator who has supported the administration on many issues.

''Getting a court order is the American way, not raiding a home at night,'' Rothstein said. ''This will damage her legacy and reputation.''

Harvey Kushner, a consultant on terrorism who has worked with the FBI, said ''the amount of force used, the weapons, the ski masks -- that was a mistake.

''It was very heavy-handed and just fuels the fears of people in the political center who worry about government actions like this,'' said Kushner, a Long Island University professor.

Officials involved in the decision insisted the move to take the boy was necessitated by the Miami familys inability to agree to turn over the boy.

''I was in those meetings -- Janet Reno did everything she could to resolve this peacefully,'' an exasperated Doris Meissner, the INS commissioner, said in an interview with The Herald.

Some of the criticism of the force used in the raid was simplistic, missed the point or was politically motivated, said Stern, a George Washington University journalism professor.

''Yes, the agents look frightening. Thats the whole point -- to frighten you into giving up the child so you can get the job done and get out of there.''

Copyright 2000 the Miami Herald.
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