Janet Reno has guts.

You have to admit that.

Say whatever you like about what happened this past weekend in Miami, Fla. Agree with it or disagree with it.

But if you’ve paid any attention to the goings-on at all, you have seen Janet Reno stand up and take responsibility.

Janet Reno, whether or not you like what she chose to do, made the decision and then she stood up and she said she made the decision.

No passing the buck. No searching for someone else to blame.

No putting highbound politics, Trent Lott, above doing her job.

Someone like that in the muck that has become the American government has to be admired.

As far as what she chose to do, after having exhausted every avenue possible, it was the only thing that could be done.

Elian’s relatives in Miami kept moving the parameters under which they would cooperate in reuniting the child with his father.

At the end of her rope, she had to do something drastic.

Why in the middle of the night? With the emotions running high among Cuban Americans in Miami, that was probably the time that would ensure no one in the streets would be injured.

Had they waited until morning or the middle of the afternoon, a tremendous and violent crowd would inevitably have gathered outside of the house Elian was staying in and the chances of someone getting hurt would have substantially increased.

Now to the Associated Press photograph displayed on every daily newspaper in the country &045; you know the one I’m talking

about, the one with the armed officer apparently reaching for

6-year-old Elian Gonzalez.

First of all, if I were a law enforcement officer, I would not have entered a building, a home, a warehouse or anywhere for that matter unarmed &045; especially dealing with such an

explosive situation.

Second, if you look closely at the photograph, he is not pointing that gun at anyone. It is pointing to the side and his finger is not on the trigger.

Third, he is not reaching out as if to GRAB Elian Gonzalez.

He is reaching out as if to say "Calm down. No one is going to hurt you."

They were in and out of that house in three minutes.

No one was hurt. And the child has been reunited with his father until all this nasty mess is over.

Now, I’m not going to make any comment about letting a 6-year-old decide with whom he should live when an American child must wait until he is 12 before his desires are taken into consideration in a custody battle such as this one.

That’s a soapbox for another time.

I was just happy to see the joy on that little boy’s face as he sat with his daddy.

It’s about time.