[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 17, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3290-H3291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SHOW OF FORCE WAS NOT NECESSARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, a few days ago on this floor I mentioned 
that most polls showed that the people thought that Elian Gonzalez 
should be

[[Page H3291]]

returned to his father. As a father, I could understand those feelings. 
I had very mixed emotions about that case.
  But I said that regardless of how people thought the custody should 
be handled, all Americans should have been shocked and saddened by the 
way the excessive gestapo-like way the Justice Department handled that 
predawn raid at the home in Miami. I quoted Lawrence Tribe and Alan 
Dershowitz, two very liberal Harvard professors, who said that the way 
this was handled with the Justice Department taking the law into their 
own hands should be considered a real danger to the freedom of all 
Americans.
  In the May 10 edition of the Conservative Chronicle, there is a 
column reprinted by Charley Reese, the nationally syndicated columnist, 
who last year was voted by C-SPAN viewers as their favorite or most 
popular nationally syndicated columnist. I would like to read most of 
the column that he wrote concerning this, because it expresses a lot of 
views that I think need to be expressed and people need to think about.
  Mr. Reese wrote this: ``The comic book raid on Elian Gonzalez's Miami 
family is a new low, even for the Federal Government. Pointing machine 
guns and screaming obscenities seem to be standard operating procedure 
for Federal law enforcement officers, even when the only people to 
scream at and point guns at are unarmed Christian men and women and 
small children.
  ``The truth is that two unarmed female officers could have gone to 
that home during any normal hour and removed Elian Gonzalez without any 
danger to the child, to themselves or to bystanders. That Miami family 
has never once said it would resist. It has always tried to follow the 
law, which I should point out is not the same as Attorney General Janet 
Reno's whim. Instead, the feds chose to act as if they were raiding the 
hideout of Colombian drug dealers.
  ``The U.S. action was disgraceful. You don't transfer children at 
gunpoint. And I, for one American,'' Mr. Reese continues, ``I, for one 
American, am getting tired of Federal cops screaming profanity, 
pointing guns, and shoving around people who have not been convicted of 
any crime. This is not how a free society operates. It is how 
dictatorships and authoritarian governments act.
  ``The real message of this raid is how estranged the Federal 
Government is from the American people. The government apparently fears 
the people, and people who are feared are soon hated. The Federal 
Government has increasingly acted as if it has merely to speak, and all 
of us must lock heels and shout `Sieg Heil.' Horse manure.
  ``Sovereignty in this country resides with the people. The government 
is our servant, not our master. The American people had better pull 
their heads out of that place where they cannot see and reassert their 
sovereignty before it is too late. There aren't any trends in 
Washington moving toward respect for the law and liberty. The trends 
are moving toward arbitrary and authoritarian government.''
  Mr. Reese continues in this great column and says this:
  ``Reno's poor decision-making notwithstanding, the issue of custody 
is not as clear-cut as she makes it out to be. One of the points to be 
settled by the Appeals Court is can someone else speak for a child when 
the child's interest and that of the parent is in conflict?
  ``The heel-clickers are now pointing to pictures of Elian as if that 
proves their point. It doesn't. Nobody in Miami has tried to estrange 
Elian from his father. Their concern all along has been to keep Elian 
from being forcibly returned to Cuba without having his day in court, 
which Reno tried to deny him.
  ``It is the boy's father who has refused to go to Miami, refused to 
meet with the boy and family at any neutral site. Whether that is his 
decision or his instructions from the Cuban or American or both 
governments, I don't know. But I do know that nobody in Miami ever 
suggested that Elian would not be happy to see his father. They had 
talked several times on the telephone while Elian was in Miami.
  ``Once more the Clinton administration has shown its contempt for the 
law and contempt for the American people, especially conservative 
Americans. It has, from day one, taken exactly the same position as the 
communist dictator Fidel Castro. Those who think that Castro really 
cares about Elian should ask the old greybeard why he ordered his goons 
to drown more than a dozen children and their parents when they tried 
to escape Cuba in 1994.
  ``This administration has slapped in the face and insulted one of the 
finest groups of Americans within the United States, the Cuban exile 
community.''
  I commend this column by Mr. Reese. I will place it in full in the 
Congressional Record. I say again that we should be very concerned when 
the Justice Department takes its law into its own hands and ignores 
very strong criticism from Federal courts of appeal.
  Mr. Speaker, I include the article for the Record.

                     Show of Force Wasn't Necessary

                           (By Charley Reese)

       May 1.--I had thought that there was nothing Bill Clinton 
     could do that would make me think less of him than I already 
     do. That was a mistake on my part.
       The comic book raid on Elian Gonzalez's Miami family is a 
     new low, even for the federal government. Pointing machine 
     guns and screaming obscenities seem to be standard operating 
     procedure for federal law-enforcement officers--even when the 
     only people to scream at and point guns at are unarmed 
     Christian men and women and small children.
       The truth is that two unarmed female officers could have 
     gone to that home during any normal hour and removed Elian 
     Gonzalez without any danger to the child, to themselves or to 
     bystanders. That Miami family has never once said it would 
     resist. it has always tried to follow the law, which, I 
     should point out, is not the same as Attorney General Janet 
     Reno's whim. Instead, the feds chose to act as if they were 
     raiding the hideout of Colombian drug dealers.
       The U.S. action was disgraceful. You don't transfer 
     children at gunpoint. And I, for one American, am getting 
     tired of federal cops screaming profanity, pointing guns and 
     shoving around people who have not been convicted of any 
     crime. That is not how a free society operates. It's how 
     dictatorships and authoritarian governments act.
       The real message of this raid is how estranged the federal 
     government is from the American people. The government 
     apparently fears the people, and people who are feared are 
     soon hated. The federal government has increasingly acted as 
     if it has merely to speak and all of us must lock heels and 
     shout ``Sieg Heil.'' Horse manure.
       Sovereignty in this country resides with the people. The 
     government is our servant, not our master. The American 
     people had better pull their heads out of that place where 
     they can't see and reassert their sovereignty before it's too 
     late. There aren't any trends in Washington moving toward 
     respect for the law and liberty. The trends are moving toward 
     arbitrary and authoritarian government.
       Reno's poor decision-making notwithstanding, the issue of 
     custody is not as clear-cut as she makes it out to be. One of 
     the points to be settled by the appeals court is: Can someone 
     else speak for a child when the child's interest and that of 
     the parent is in conflict?
       The heel-clickers are now pointing to pictures of Elian 
     with his father as if that proves their point. It doesn't. 
     Nobody in Miami has tried to estrange Elian from his father. 
     Their concern all along has been to keep Elian from being  
     forcibly returned to Cuba without having his day in court, 
     which Reno tried to deny him.
       It's the boy's father who has refused to go to Miami, 
     refused to meet with the boy and the family at any neutral 
     site. Whether that's his decision, or his instructions from 
     the Cuban or American or both governments, I don't know. But 
     I do know that nobody in Miami ever suggested that Elian 
     wouldn't be happy to see his father. They had talked several 
     times on the telephone while Elian was in Miami.
       Once more the Clinton administration has shown its contempt 
     for the law and contempt for the American people--especially 
     conservative Americans. It has, from day one, taken exactly 
     the same position as the communist dictator Fidel Castro. 
     Those who think that Castro really cares about Elian should 
     ask the old greybeard why he ordered his goons to drown more 
     than a dozen children and their parents when they tried to 
     escape Cuba in 1994.
       This administration has slapped in the face and insulted 
     one of the finest group of Americans within the United 
     States, the Cuban exile community. I expect that a lot of 
     Florida Democrats will regret that in November.

                          ____________________