[pcx99]

We didn't kednap him - his mother brought him. And we have long recognized a child is better in freedom than living as a slave with his father. And he WAS living with family - just not his father.

Once his mother had died and his father asserted parental rights, keeping him would have been kidnapping by any definition. The US has NEVER recognized freedom as being a better condition than the familly. You will have to provide several court cases and precidents in order to back up that statement, and I seriously doubt you can because the US just doesn't operate that way where there is no immenent possibility of child abuse.

[Tribune7]

Once his mother had died and his father asserted parental rights, keeping him would have been kidnapping by any definition.

LOL. That's like saying a parent can never lose parental rights. What Clinto & Janet Reno did to Elian was unforgivable.

[ml/nj]

his father asserted parental rights

You are aware, are you not, that claims made under duress are not generally recognized by our courts? Elian's father was clearly a party to his escape based upon his, "Are they there yet?" call to his relatives. Sometime after that he apparently "changed his mind," and you cannot understand what happened.

Shame!

ML/NJ