-Caveat Lector- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=001863356114602&rtmo=qseudRK9&atmo=99999999 &pg=/et/99/8/28/waco28.html ISSUE 1555 Saturday 28 August 1999 State role in Waco siege deaths to be investigated By Hugo Gurdon in Washington Delta Force had active role in raid, ex-CIA officer told [27 Aug '99] - Dallas Morning News Statement by Attorney General Janet Reno [26 Aug '99] - US Department of Justice US Department of Justice The Waco Tragedy: information page [with extensive links] FBI CONGRESS plans to investigate the 1993 siege at Waco, Texas, as evidence mounts that the government may have been responsible for the death of 80 cult members, including 25 children. The disclosure, after six years of denials, that incendiary tear gas canisters were fired into the Branch Davidian compound before it erupted in a fireball, and that members of the elite Delta Force, equivalent to the SAS, took part, have stoked suspicion of a whitewash. Gene Cullen, a former CIA officer, told the Dallas Morning News yesterday that Delta Force members told him they were "present, up front and close" during the siege, and had been on the tanks with which federal forces smashed through the compound. The Texas public safety department said it has evidence that may confirm this illegal military involvement. President Clinton did not sign a waiver allowing the army to join the action at Waco, and if soldiers participated without it, they broke the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act which bans military involvement in domestic law enforcement. Congressman Dan Burton, chairman of the House of Representatives oversight committee, has not yet announced hearings. But congressional sources say this is because he wants a lengthy period during which to sift evidence of a wide-ranging cover-up, rather than simply consider the admission that pyrotechnic canisters were fired. "We will be looking into all the evidence relevant to this case," Mr Burton's spokesman said. He would not confirm that this would include examination of infra-red surveillance tapes which appear to show the FBI shooting at Branch Davidians as they tried to escape. FBI eavesdroppers recorded Branch Davidians apparently discussing starting the fire, and arson experts say this seems to be what happened because the flames sprang up in three places simultaneously. But Congress may start picking holes in the Justice Department's account of the siege, just as survivors and relatives go to court this autumn to sue the government for the wrongful death of cult members. A Texas judge has rejected the government's request for summary dismissal of the case, ruling that there is enough evidence to go to trial on October 18. Janet Reno, the Attorney-General, admitted that, contrary to assurances given repeatedly for six years, the FBI did fire two pyrotechnic gas canisters on the last day of the 51-day siege. But she claims that they were fired at least four hours before the fire started and were directed not at the Davidians' house, but at concrete bunkers some distance away. She had no reason to believe "at this point" that the FBI was responsible for the deaths, but conceded: "I don't think it's very good for my credibility." Michael Caddell, the plaintiffs' lawyer, said: "I think what the government is doing is trying to get its story straight before all the evidence comes out." Jay Young, a chemical safety consultant, said that gas canisters fired hours earlier could have started the fire. "When you fire this device . . . you ignite a fuse, which burns until a certain time later, at which time the incendiary part is ignited, and burns with a very hot flame and causes the tear gas material to vaporise. These fuses . . . sometimes are delayed. It's possible that one of those incendiary tear gas devices had a fuse which malfunctioned and did not ignite the incendiary stuff for a long time." The belief that the Branch Davidians and their eccentric leader, David Koresh, were more or less mad, and government claims that the cultists fired the first shots, have meant that Waco's victims have received little sympathy. Directly after the fatal conflagration, Mr Clinton said: "Some religious fanatics murdered themselves." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=001863356114602&rtmo=qseudRK9&atmo=99999999 &pg=/et/99/8/28/waco28.html Bard DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. 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