Heavy-handedness joined with heartlessness begets shame. A child was terrorized and traumatized. America's government looks revealed as a collection of bullies. Janet Reno, never a mother herself, shows that she hasn't a clue to a child's feelings. The smiling photographs of Elian reunited with his father, stepmother and stepbrother cannot erase the memory of the storm troopers.
Memory holds panic.
It makes little difference to the boy whether the federal trooper's finger was on the trigger. The boy looking down the barrel didn't know that. Elian's eyes express the terror any one of us would have felt. Memory holds dread. How secure can Elian feel at night, tucked in his bed, when he hears a noise in the night.