Sending in tanks beyond the plan, senior FBI official testifies
06/22/2000
By Lee Hancock and Brenda Rodriguez
The Dallas Morning News
WACO – FBI commanders went beyond a Washington-approved plan for
tear gassing the Branch Davidian compound when they ordered tanks
to drive deep into the building on April 19, 1993, at Mount
Carmel, a former senior FBI official testified Thursday.
"I don't recall that the plan contemplated this activity," former
FBI deputy assistant director Danny O. Coulson testified when
shown photographs of damage wreaked by FBI tanks. "You could use
the term deviation. You could use the term inconsistent with
what I understood the plan to be."
Excerpts of his deposition and those of other senior FBI
officials were shown on the fourth day of the Davidians' wrongful
death lawsuit.
Among other allegations, the lawsuit charges that the FBI's two
commanders in Waco violated the gas plan approved by Attorney
General Janet Reno when they ordered tanks to begin tearing down
the rear area of the compound known as the gym on April 19. The
operation plan had called for gassing the building for at least
48 hours before starting demolition.
A fire erupted within an hour after an FBI tank began smashing
into the compound's rear gymnasium and ripped half of it to the
ground. More than 80 Davidians died in the blaze.
Government lawyers have contended that the fires were
deliberately set by sect members, and the FBI's actions played no
role in the tragedy. They also have argued that the commanders'
decisions, even if negligent, are protected by broad federal laws
shielding federal employees and agencies from private challenge
in lawsuits.
They plan to present testimony in which Ms. Reno said the Waco
commanders acted properly. Both now-retired agents in charge of
the FBI's Waco operation, former Hostage Rescue Team leader
Richard Rogers and former San Antonio FBI chief Jeffrey Jamar,
are expected to be called to testify early next week by lawyers
for the sect.
Houston attorney Michael Caddell spent much of the morning
showing jurors three early drafts of the FBI's gas plan. In
those documents, bureau officials proposed issuing a surrender
ultimatum when they began injecting tear gas and then sending
tanks to begin demolishing the building if all Davidians did not
give up within an hour.
But the final plan presented to, and ultimately approved by, Ms.
Reno repeatedly mandated gassing for 48 hours before using a
specially outfitted tank to rip down the outer walls of the
building.
.In the segment of testimony presented from Mr. Coulson's
deposition, the former official recounted watching the Waco gas
operation on a monitor at FBI headquarters in Washington with
another senior official. When a tank smashed deep into the front
side of the building, he said, his stunned colleague blurted,
"Holy [expletive!]
."I said I hope that's a bad camera angle," he recalled
responding. . "My first reaction was that the tank could be
disabled and trapped inside the building, and I was surprised to
see it exit."
In another deposition excerpt, former assistant FBI director
Larry Potts was shown a memo prepared with the initials of Mr.
Jamar and Mr. Rogers after the incident in which they described
some of their agents being assigned to begin "systematic
demolition" of the rear gymnasium.
"I believe that an intentional dismantling of the building at
that stage would've required an exigent circumstance [or
emergency]," Mr. Potts said, adding that he never heard of Mr.
Jamar or Mr. Rogers seeking permission to take such action. Asked
if he were aware of any emergency on April 19 that would've
required early demolition, he said, "I'm not aware of any."
But government lawyers responded with deposition testimony in
which former FBI deputy director Floyd Clark said that the agent
in charge in Waco, Mr. Jamar, "had a tremendous amount of
autonomy and authority."
Asked if Mr. Jamar should have told Washington before sending
tanks into the building, Mr. Clark said he would have expected
such notification. "But would it require it? No.I don't think
it would."
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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