The controversial use of force to seize Elian Gonzalez is just business as usual in the war on drugs.

In the debate over the federal government's use of force to return Elian Gonzalez to his father, the left and right have magically swapped sides.

Liberals who protest the excessive use of police force under New York's Mayor Rudy Giuliani have been quick to defend ferocious INS agents in helmets, camouflage and ninja masks, brandishing assault weapons, arguing that the ends justify the means. Meanwhile many conservatives, some of whom never met a SWAT team they didn't like, are up in arms over the civil-liberties abuses suffered by the Miami Gonzalez family.

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