Re: In Defense of Elian's Rescue: a response to Barry Schier

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just want to put on record my agreement here with Lou and Mark and of
course Jose's fine post. There is a line between Marxists and Left Liberals
that events like Elian's rescue show up very clearly. Left Liberals  and
anarchist minded critics of capitalism lose sight of the obvious at times
and become anguished about the trivia.

I have been looking very carefully at the footage of Elian just before his
rescue.  To my mind and I have a deal of experience here he seemed a deeply
disturbed child.  In any case the obscenity of what his great uncle and his
daughter were doing to the boy was palpable.  The main point was to get the
child out of their clutches before they did more harm to him.  If that took
the INS and armed raiders so be it and quite clearly there was no
alternative.  To imagine that the Miami mafia would have yielded to
friendly persuasion is plain rubbish.

The use of photo taken during the rescue and the weak defence of the INS
actions by Reno have all lent credibility to the cries of anguish from
liberals and do-gooders but Marxists should know better. At times we do
have to use the bourgeois state. Purists should think back and ask what
would have happened in Russia if Lenin had refused to get on the train
because it was German!

regards

gary