Not about the right to freedom trumping the right of custody, I still feel that way, but I was wrong to make a sweeping generalization that all those who disagree are boneheads. Some people think the custody right is more important than the freedom right. Some pick it because they don't believe things are all that bad in Cuba. For some it's the sheer delight of seeing a father, any father, get custody. This emotional response is understandable considering that fathers are routinely screwed in every American family court.
Some people feel that the right of a child is subordinate to the right of the parent.
And some, of course, really are boneheads. But even if you feel the ultimate right is Elian's father's right to custody, we can't give it to him. As long as he intends to return to Cuba we can only give him the illusion of custody. The Cuban government's manipulation of children and interference in parental rights makes any pretense of custody a joke. While we argue about the father's right to determine his child's future, Castro is taking twenty of Elian's classmates away from their parents to put them in that showcase villa.