Note that although the BBC article was accompanied by photos, the BBC avoided including any of the series of seven pictures, snapped by Associated Press photographer Alan Diaz, of federal agents seizing 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez from the arms of his protector. These widely distributed images showed a terrified child confronted by a heavily armed, helmeted, goggled, body-armored commando whose HK MP-5 submachinegun was clearly pointed towards, and threatening and endangering Elian Gonzalez and his Cuban refugee protector in Lazaro Gonzalez's home in Miami where the federal assault took place. Elian's protector and retreated to the closet area of the bedroom, as he attempted to shield Elian from the attacking federal agents.
Also note how the BBC article neglects to mention that the abduction of Elian Gonzalez and deporting him to the communist dictatorship in Cuba under the Demcrat President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno was a significant factor that cost the Democrats the 2000 and ultimately the 2004 Presidential election. Thus, the Democrats' respect, admiration, sympathy, and support for communist dictator and mass murderer Fidel Castro cost the Democrats the Presidency, and Elian Gonzalez reshaped U.S. and World history. Also, although Elian's mother drowned in her attempt to liberate her son from Castro's communist dictatorship, and althouth Elian was sent back to the hell hole from which he had escaped, his mother did not die for nothing. The death of Elian's mother, and the deportation of Elian to Cuba, in effect, helped save the Earth. (This should make the liberals happy!)
This was one of several factors that combine to cost the Democrats the 2000 and ultimately the 2004 election. Bill Clinton's enthusiastic and activist support for dangerous, counter-productive gun control laws that targeted, punished, and endangered ordinary nonviolent citizens help bring out the pro-gun voters including the cross-over Democrat voters who vote Republican due to "gun control" laws.
A memorable photo of Bill Clinton, with a pose and a camera angle to remind us of his affair with Monica Lewinsky ("In your face!")
Had Al Gore been president when the 9-11-2001 terrorist attack occurred, he probably would have taken the same approach that Bill Clinton took after previous attacks - and acts of war - against the World Trade Center, two U.S. embassies in Africa, the USS Cole Navy Ship, and other targets. He probably would have ordered the FBI investigate these actos of war as ordinary crimes.
Therefore, Ellian Gonzalez and American firearm owners from both political parties helped save the U.S. and the world from the dangers and ravages of another Democrat presidential administration.
Reason Magazine recounts the machinegun raid in April, 2000, to snatch Elian Gonzalez from his loving guardians to deport him to the evil communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro:
http://reason.com/0007/fe.cf.reading.shtml
Reading Elian
The camera doesn’t lie. But it will confess to just about anything.
By Charles Paul Freund
On the morning of April 22, Attorney General Janet Reno and other Justice Department officials woke to a very big problem: a series of seven pictures, snapped by Associated Press photographer Alan Diaz, of federal agents seizing the country’s most celebrated 6-year- old, Elian Gonzalez. Television and the Internet displayed images of a terrified child confronted by a heavily armed, helmeted, goggled, body-armored commando whose weapon was clearly pointed in the boy’s direction.
<snip>
Janet Reno and her allies used a variety of approaches in their attempt to change the meaning of the raid imagery and mitigate its impact. In fact, they may have broken new strategic ground in this field. Here’s a quick rundown of their major efforts.
<snip>
http://reason.com/0007/fe.cf.reading.shtml
As expected, the communist sypmathizers and supporters within the western and the U.S. press tried to minimize the impact of the photographic evidence against the Clinton administration and Janet Reno:
<snip>
The New York Times did not use the image inside the house but used the picture of Elian being transported from the home by an INS agent, Betty Mills. One interesting twist is that the Times opted to correct the "red-eye" of the subjects' eyes. The Los Angeles Times, using a similar image taken by their staff photographer, Carolyn Cole, did not remove the red-eye.
<snip>
http://legacy.poynter.org/centerpiece/052400.htm
Is Seeing No Longer Believing?
Elian Gonzalez Photos Examined
By KENNY IRBY
Poynter Visual Journalism Group Leader
http://frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=2952
Beat the Press
By Chris Weinkopf
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 1, 2000
"ONE OF THE BEAUTIES OF TELEVISION," Attorney General Janet Reno recently told a news conference, "is that it shows exactly what the facts are." Beauty, as the cliché goes, is in the eye of the beholder. Facts are beautiful only to those with little to fear from them. For law-breakers and tyrants, they are unpleasant and irksome, a nuisance to be quashed at any price.
<snip>
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2000/07-31-2000/vo16no16_elian.htm
Vol. 16, No. 16
July 31, 2000
Such Genteel Storm Troopers!
by William F. Jasper
Federal agents are claiming that they politely and delicately removed Elian from the Gonzalez home, but witnesses and photographic evidence tell another story.
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