Gov't Report On Elian Raid

CBS News has obtained an unreleased government "After-Action Report" on the U.S. Border Patrol's dramatic, pre-dawn operation to seize custody of Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives on April 22.

The report contains detailed, moment-by-moment descriptions of the actions of all six Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) team members who carried out "Operation Reunion."

The key "debriefing results" contained in the report were:

• "No one on the team threatened to shoot anyone during the operation."
• "Team members made no threats to use force against anyone in the home."
• "Marysleysis Gonzalez was not touched in any way during the operation."
• "No force was required to remove Elian Gonzalez from Donato Dalrymple's arms."
• "No team member struck anyone with a weapon during the operation."
• "The fire selector lever on the MP-5 depicted in photographs (of a Border patrol agent, Elian, and Dalrymple in the bedroom closet area)…is positively in the safe position. It is virtually impossible to fire the weapon inadvertently or purposely with the selector in the safe position."

"The news footage of the operation clearly shows that the team members acted with discipline and restraint under extraordinary circumstances," the report asserts. "This report indicates that this same level of professionalism and control was maintained during the rest of the operation."

The Operation Reunion report contains a blow-by-blow, first person account by the agent holding the gun in the famous and controversial picture of Elian Gonzalez in the bedroom closet the morning of the raid. The agent is referred to simply as "Team Member 3" in the report.

Team Member 3 (TM3) says he entered the bedroom after another agent, TM4, kicked open the door. "In the closet I could see a man holding a small child who I believed was Elian Gonzalez. The subject holding the boy, later identified as Donato Dalrymple, shouted, 'Don't take Elian,'" TM3 said in his debriefing.

"When I determined that Mr. Dalrymple was not a threat, I immediately went into a defensive controlling posture…I diverted the barrel of my weapon downward and away from Mr. Dalrymple," TM3 continued.

"The widely published picture of this encounter depicts the search technique I was using, but it does not present a clear rendition of the entire event," TM3 asserted. "While my weapon was being pointed in the general direction I was searching, I never purposely pointed my weapon at Elian Gonzalez or Mr. Dalrymple."

The after-action account also claims "no profanity was used by team members," that no one was pushed or held to the floor in the Gonzalez home, that a video cameraman was not touched in the home, and that "no force was required to remove Elian Gonzalez from Donato Dalrymple's arms."

The debriefing does confirm tht three doors were "breached"—or forcibly opened— in the operation.

Each team member was using an MP-5 carbine rifle while also carrying a .40-caliber Beretta pistol, a tactical baton, and a can of pepper spray. The pepper spray was not used in the home, according to the report.

The report insists "dramatic photographs" taken during the operation "have been subject to inexpert analyses and misinterpretation."

Thus far, there have been no formal allegations of misconduct concerning the controversial operation.