The Elian Cover-up

The Weekly Standard ^ | 04/15/2002 | Christopher Caldwell

[Incorrigible]

We should ahve kept Elian and shipped Michael Moore to Cuba.

[Calculus_of_Consent]

I said at the time. "We should invite the entire family to the United States so they can enjoy our hospitality for a week or so before we Elian home." That way Castro would have no hostages.

[Jewels1091]

Think they would take moore anyway???? We could offer a trade, or just give moore to castro.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Yesterday I spent some time with a family member who arrived here about six years ago. He was a "winner" in Cuba's visa lottery.

He was one of over six million who applied.

Cuba has about eleven million people.

[rageaholic]

"Family reunification," Meissner said, "has long been a cornerstone of both American immigration law and INS practice."

And family reunification at gunpoint has been a cornerstone of Janet Reno's administration. Meanwhile IN FLORIDA as Elian is hauled away at gunpoint by a SWAT team, Mohammad Atta and his Al Qaida buddies were taking flying lessons!!

The INS is a fiasco.

[PoisedWoman]

He was one of over six million who applied. Cuba has about eleven million people.

I never saw those statistics before but I certainly do believe them. Glad your friend got out.

[spokeshave]

What happened with the big event with Judicial Watch last Wednesday...another damp squib...?

[Luis Gonzalez]

Radio Free Republic Presents

A Very Special Edition Of The Banana Republican Hour

With your host Luis Gonzalez

This week’s guest:

INS whistleblower Rick Martinez!

[Luis Gonzalez]

Check out post #10

[Ken H]

Another crack in the dam of the Elian Gonzales story.

A little more truth comes out.

[Sonny M]

There were always rumors that the father was told that if he and Elian did not come back, other members of his family would be harmed. He was married with children and I do not believe they came. Several Republican Senators including Jesse Helms wanted to on the minimum give Elian citizenship or some kind of special status that would have allowed him automatic re-entry into the U.S. when he turned 18. The dems shot this down.

[cricket]

"And family reunification at gunpoint has been a cornerstone of Janet Reno's administration. Meanwhile IN FLORIDA as Elian is hauled away at gunpoint by a SWAT team, Mohammad Atta and his Al Qaida buddies were taking flying lessons!! "

. . .bump for Elian. . .bump, for sanity. . .

[cricket]

Do not know how these Lib-Left-Democrats live with themselves; but they do it with the greatest of arrogance. . .by ignoring or denying all truth.

"People of the Lie". . .

and a bump for Elian. . .

[Molly Pitcher]

FYI

[xsmommy]

And that is far from the most infuriating revelation. According to Chardy, "Hand-scrawled notes at the bottom of the two-page memo said then-INS Commissioner Doris Meissner ordered the destruction of the memo one day after it was written when she learned of its existence. According to the notes, Meissner ordered that no more discussions related to Elian be committed to writing." Luckily for the cause of truth, someone at the INS had forwarded the e-mail out of the system by the time Meissner tried to sweep over her traces.

Word that Enron execs destroyed documents prompts a huge hue and cry of outrage, Doris Meissner orders INS docs destroyed and there is nary a raised eyebrow....

[bjs1779]

The INS--i.e. Meissner, reporting to Reno, reporting to President Clinton--rejected out of hand Elian's standing to apply for political asylum

I see, Reno and Clinton are the victims here, being mislead every step of the way by old Doris.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Jeff Jacoby's three part series on Cuba- "A walk in Havana" - "Keeping hope, conscience alive in Cuba" - "The US embargo and Cuba's future"--[Excerpt] And make no mistake: Doing business with Cuba means doing business with Castro. There is no private property in Cuba, no private enterprise, no private employers. Foreign investors must deal with the government. They cannot hire Cuban workers directly; a government agency chooses their workers for them. The investors pay Castro - in hard currency - for each worker; Castro in turn pays the workers a fraction of that amount - in all-but-worthless pesos. So long as Cuba's dictator maintains his stranglehold on every aspect of Cuban life, ending the embargo would be counterproductive. It would do nothing to end the far more restrictive embargo that Castro imposes on the Cuban nation. It would give him the propaganda victory and the US dollars he craves, but it would do little to bring liberty or hope to ordinary Cuban citizens. Every president since JFK has extended the Cuban embargo; to lift it in exchange for nothing - no free elections, no civil liberties - would be a betrayal of the very people we want to help. ''Tiende tu mano a Cuba,'' says Paya when I ask what he thinks of American policy, ''pero primero pide que le desaten las manos a los cubanos.'' Extend your hands to Cuba - but first unshackle ours.[End Excerpt]

Fidel Castro - Cuba

[cyn]

"New evidence suggests that INS chief Doris Meissner knew that Elian's father was acting under duress. And that she tried to suppress it."

We all knew 1) Elian's father was acting under duress; 2) meissner, clinton, and reno knew it, too, and also knew what was at stake for Eliancito (loss of freedom), but coldly acted to hand him over anyway. I cannot understand such cold actions. I cannot dwell long in thought on them, either.

My sorrow for Elian remains...and for us all at what we have all lost. I wish more people would realize that, but there is only so much that we can do. May God bless our efforts as we do what we can, but especially as we look after our primary responsibilities -- for me, my precious family and relationship with God.