Covert Mission
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Tuesday, April 25, 2000, NY Daily News
Forced Entry Was Bad Tactic
by Sidney Zion
"The only thing Janet Reno should have
ruled out was the use of force."
This statement about Reno's Easter morning
seizure of little Elian Gonzalez does not come
from the Little Havana crowd, or from some
starry-eyed leftist, or a Republican running
for the Senate in New York.
It is the considered view of Peter Malkin, who for 27 years was
operations chief of the Israeli Mossad and, incidentally, the
man who caught Adolf Eichmann by the throat on a dark street
in Buenos Aires.
I consulted Malkin, whom I have known for 20 years, because I
needed an expert without a political ax to grind. He has dual
Israeli-American citizenship, but the last thing on his mind is
how the Elian Gonzalez case will spin in the polls.
"No guns should have been used, under any circumstance," said
Malkin — who had no gun when he captured Eichmann.
"Suppose there were guns in the house?" I asked. "Would you put
the federal agents at risk?"
"Agents are supposed to take risks," he answered. "Where is it
written that they must be risk-free? It's an insult to them to
demand that, they're in business for it.
"But the real risk they faced was that aggressive action would
result in violence," Malkin went on. "If there were guns in the
house, the last thing they should have done was come in with
guns."
Explain, I prodded.
And indeed he did. "It could have meant a shootout, where
anything could have happened, including the death of the boy
they were saving."
What was the alternative? Attorney General Janet Reno said
she had exhausted all other means to deliver Elian to his father.
"She exhausted no alternatives," Malkin said. "I am not talking
about legal alternatives. I think she had the legal right to take
the child, and I believe the child belongs with his father."
So? "Every other alternative was open," Malkin proclaimed.
"That is, intelligence and surprise and deception."
For five months, he explained, the Justice Department had Elian
at home in the U.S. where it wanted him. It could have known
everything about the uncle's family and its possible use of guns
should the feds show up at their front door.
"There are 50 different ways to know what's going on in a house
like that," he said, "Everything from sending in a Con Ed man to
check out the place to electronic and video eavesdropping."
All of which, he said, were unnecessary, given the family's
history. "These people were ideological enemies of Castro; they
were not terrorists. But if our government thought they were,
why did they turn the boy over to them?"
But it worked, I said to Malkin. The kid is with his daddy and
appears happy, so what are you worried about?
"Did it work?" he asked. "That picture of our guy with his M-5
at the head of the man who saved Elian in the waters, and Elian
in total fear, you say it worked?
"I say it made America look like Castro, and in every secret
service organization in the world it made us look stupid. No
other democracy had done it this way, and I have to tell you, I'm
ashamed."
I didn't feel too good either, looking at the photo that will stick
in our retinas long after Elian Gonzalez becomes a memory.
"And consider this," Malkin said. "How can we trust Bill Clinton
to negotiate a Middle East peace if he couldn't take a kid home
free without force?"
Reno Offers No Regrets (04/25/2000)
Forced Entry Was Bad Tactic
by Sidney Zion
"The only thing Janet Reno should have
ruled out was the use of force."
This statement about Reno's Easter morning
seizure of little Elian Gonzalez does not come
from the Little Havana crowd, or from some
starry-eyed leftist, or a Republican running
for the Senate in New York.
It is the considered view of Peter Malkin, who for 27 years was
operations chief of the Israeli Mossad and, incidentally, the
man who caught Adolf Eichmann by the throat on a dark street
in Buenos Aires.
I consulted Malkin, whom I have known for 20 years, because I
needed an expert without a political ax to grind. He has dual
Israeli-American citizenship, but the last thing on his mind is
how the Elian Gonzalez case will spin in the polls.
"No guns should have been used, under any circumstance," said
Malkin — who had no gun when he captured Eichmann.
"Suppose there were guns in the house?" I asked. "Would you put
the federal agents at risk?"
"Agents are supposed to take risks," he answered. "Where is it
written that they must be risk-free? It's an insult to them to
demand that, they're in business for it.
"But the real risk they faced was that aggressive action would
result in violence," Malkin went on. "If there were guns in the
house, the last thing they should have done was come in with
guns."
Explain, I prodded.
And indeed he did. "It could have meant a shootout, where
anything could have happened, including the death of the boy
they were saving."
What was the alternative? Attorney General Janet Reno said
she had exhausted all other means to deliver Elian to his father.
"She exhausted no alternatives," Malkin said. "I am not talking
about legal alternatives. I think she had the legal right to take
the child, and I believe the child belongs with his father."
So? "Every other alternative was open," Malkin proclaimed.
"That is, intelligence and surprise and deception."
For five months, he explained, the Justice Department had Elian
at home in the U.S. where it wanted him. It could have known
everything about the uncle's family and its possible use of guns
should the feds show up at their front door.
"There are 50 different ways to know what's going on in a house
like that," he said, "Everything from sending in a Con Ed man to
check out the place to electronic and video eavesdropping."
All of which, he said, were unnecessary, given the family's
history. "These people were ideological enemies of Castro; they
were not terrorists. But if our government thought they were,
why did they turn the boy over to them?"
But it worked, I said to Malkin. The kid is with his daddy and
appears happy, so what are you worried about?
"Did it work?" he asked. "That picture of our guy with his M-5
at the head of the man who saved Elian in the waters, and Elian
in total fear, you say it worked?
"I say it made America look like Castro, and in every secret
service organization in the world it made us look stupid. No
other democracy had done it this way, and I have to tell you, I'm
ashamed."
I didn't feel too good either, looking at the photo that will stick
in our retinas long after Elian Gonzalez becomes a memory.
"And consider this," Malkin said. "How can we trust Bill Clinton
to negotiate a Middle East peace if he couldn't take a kid home
free without force?"
Reno Offers No Regrets (04/25/2000)