-Caveat Lector-
Photo of Modesto Police "SWAT" team carrying the same NATO insignia seen by
TV viewers of original Columbine "live" coverage.
http://216.221.173.225/
same site, at URL:
http://216.221.173.225/24.htm
24 Children Murdered -
Hunt for Killers Continues
8-25-99
To anyone who prizes his or her freedom, Waco needs no introduction. But you
do need to know about recent developments in the investigation of the
matter. The need is especially clear since most of the national media have
been working hard to ignore the story--despite its listing on AP and UPI
wire services, and discussion in the Washington Times, the Washington Post,
and other sources.
First, there have been lawsuits filed by families of those killed at Waco
and by some of the survivors. The suits were transferred to Judge Smith, the
same judge who sentenced some of the Davidians to long prison terms, and is
generally thought of as a very pro-government, very anti-Davidian judge. The
government of course moved to dismiss the cases. To the surprise of many,
Judge Smith refused, leaving open such claims as the Davidians' assertion
that the government shot at people leaving the burning building. This, Smith
stated, had at least some evidence to support it, and if proven would "shock
the conscience of the court."
Judge Smith must have been startled at the next development. Without
warning, the Texas Department of Public Safety appeared in his court. TDPS
announced that the Texas Rangers (which are part of TDPS) had two large
rooms full of Waco evidence that had never seen the light of day. It
explained that members of the public--documentary producer Michael McNulty
and attorney David Hardy--had been asking for copies, but that when it
offered to make them, federal agencies forbade it. Yet when McNulty and
Hardy asked the federal agencies for copies, the same agencies claimed that
they couldn't give them because only the Rangers had control over the
evidence. TDPS added that it did not want to be responsible for withholding
the evidence, hinted that it did not trust the federal agencies to have it,
and offered to file the entire mass (estimated at twelve tons of material)
in court!
Things became more lively when TDPS explained just what was in the evidence.
TDPS commissioner Jim Francis said that it contained government fired
projectiles, which appeared to be pyrotechnic (that is, fire producing). It
appears to this author that may prove that FBI started the fire that killed
74 people, including two dozen children. He allowed he was no expert, but
said the evidence would be at least "problematic" for the FBI's position.
(The projectiles, fired from the FBI's M- 79 grenade launchers, including
pyrotechnic CS gas rounds. These expel the CS by burning a mixture similar
to black powder, and are stamped with warnings that they cause fires and may
not be used against buildings.) The evidence was so sensitive, Francis
explained, that he had instructed the Rangers to keep FBI out of the
evidence locker until it could be secured with the court, and he had ordered
the Rangers to commence their own investigation.
The revelation of hidden evidence must have shocked Judge Smith, hitherto
seen as very pro-government. He issued an order accepting the Ranger's
evidence. Then he issued a second order, which is utterly unprecedented. He
ordered all federal agencies to turn over to the court all evidence "in any
way relevant to the events at Mt. Carmel [the Davidian building]." No one
had even thought to ask for such an order; in a civil case, judges just
don't order all the evidence turned in, whether it has been subpoenaed or
not. An anonymous law enforcement authority was quoted in the Dallas Morning
News as predicting that "The Justice Department is going to have a fit!"
That's a safe prediction. Attorney Hardy's Freedom of Information Act suit
drove ATF to admit that it had three and maybe four video cameras filming
what happened at the Davidians' front door, and likely showing exactly what
had happened when the first shots were fired--but ATF claimed all copies had
vanished. So had an infrared tape of the building, which would conclusively
show if and when the Davidians fired. We may now know exactly where those
tapes are sitting, and exactly why they've had to be hidden for six years.
Now for the things we can't talk about--or, at least, things were we can
only reveal part of the story. Michael McNulty, producer of the documentary
"Waco: The Rules of Engagement," is producing a second documentary. If the
first one was stunning--it won an Academy Award nomination--the second one
makes it look mild. With solid evidence, most of it from the government's
own files, he shows that the FBI may be guilty of lying, perjury, and
homicide. He found the 40 mm Pyrotechnic shells, and tied them to the fire.
Retired FBI and government sources agreed to talk. The picture that emerges
is even grimmer than we might have thought.
Some Davidians had claimed
