From Waco to Belgrade: Wesley Clark and America's "Army of the Future" NewsHawk was forwarded this article by respondent Lance Struthers. Lance noted that he had not personally verified the information in the article. NewsHawk HAS verified SOME of the information therein: enough to consider the article sound and worthy of serious consideration. NewsHawk� Inc. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/clarkatwaco.html ================================================== All brasscheck.com dispatches on the US-led attack on Yugoslavia are available, complete with index, at http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia Please inform your friends, colleagues, and others who you think might care. ================================================== June 14, 1999 *** Special Brasscheck Report *** - Did the tactics of NATO's commander Wesley Clark in the war against Yugoslavia seem oddly familiar? There's a good reason for that - >From Waco To Belgrade: Wesley K. Clark and America's "Army of the Future" By Ken McCarthy - Brasscheck http://www.brasscheck.com/clarkatwaco.html Copyright: Ken McCarthy, 1999 ============================================================= "I knew we would win it. I knew you would win it, Mr. President." - Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO Supreme Commander to Bill Clinton, fellow 50-something Rhodes Scholar and Arkansan, after NATO agreed to stop bombing Yugoslavia Source: "Clinton Claims Victory in Air War" - Terence Hunt, AP White House Correspondent, June 10, 1999 ============================================================= General Wesley Clark was involved in the siege and final assault near Waco, Texas that killed, by a combination of toxic gas and fire, at least 82 people including some three dozen women, children and infants. As outlandish as this claim may seem, it's a reasonable conclusion that can be drawn by any fair minded person who takes the time to examine the evidence. Further, there is substantial circumstantial evidence that, Clark, in addition to acting as a tactical consultant, may, in fact, have been the prime architect and commander of the entire operation. If this is true, why is it important? First, it represents a clear violation of US law. The military is banned from involvement in the enforcement of US civil law except under certain carefully defined circumstances. The incident at Waco did not come even close to legally qualifying. Second, it casts light on some of the more outrageous tactics used in the war against Yugoslavia, in particular the bombing attacks on Yugoslavian news media, essential life support services, and on civilians, the latter which were sometimes, but not always, described as "accidents." Third, President Clinton began the year with the statement that he is considering a Pentagon proposal to create a new US military command, commander-in-chief for the defense of the continental U.S., a first in peace time and an alarming move for reasons described in "Bombing 'suspended' - and now, the future" http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/directory/61099a.html One of the officers most likely to receive this appointment would be, as the result of his "success" in Yugoslavia, General Wesley K. Clark. Fourth, US military leadership must be well aware of Clark's role in Waco, yet they have rewarded him with significant promotions ever since. * The US military was at Waco The initial reaction of virtually every person who hears about Clark's involvement in the attack on the Mt. Carmel Center of the Branch Davidians outside of Waco, Texas is surprise and/or disbelief: "I thought it was an ATF/FBI operation that went wrong and all the military did was lend a few tanks." Let's start by dispelling that myth. Here is the list of US military personnel and equipment that the US Justice Department admits were used at Mt. Carmel: "Military Personnel and Equipment - Personnel Active Duty Personnel - 15 Texas National Guard Personnel - 13 - Track vehicles Bradley fighting vehicle (OMZ) - 9 Combat Engineer Vehicle (M728) - 5 Tank Retrieval vehicle (M88) - 1 Abrams Tanks (M1A1) - 2 Source: Department of the Treasury, Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell also known as David Koresh, U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1993 If you'd like to see a photocopy of the original document, it's here at: http://www.monumental.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum/war/doc/w_doc04.gif The Justice Department list has some very important deliberate omissions as will become clear later in the section on the final assault. * The real command structure at Waco Since the recent bombing campaign against Yugoslavia started, "NATO commanders" (i.e. General Wesley Clark) have insisted that that NATO, not the UN, would be the commanding force in Kosovo and everyone else, like the Russians, would have to submit to NATO orders. Epic ineptitude on Clark's part may has thwarted NATO's designs, but the lesson is of critical importance for understanding Waco. It is this: No military commander "lends" 17 pieces of armor and 15 active service personnel under his command to anybody, let alone the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, willingly. The principle is very simple: my men, my arms, my show. In a lawful operation, the command structure would have been publicly announced, but since the involvement of the military in Waco was entirely illegal and indefensible, it was necessary to paint the situation as an FBI operation. The obviously substantial presence of US military equipment used in the operation was dismissed as being equivalent to a "rent a car" service. The US news media which received all of its information on Waco by dutifully attending FBI press conference briefings and then repeating them uncritically swallowed the "FBI in charge" story hook, line and sinker. Still not convinced Waco was a military operation? There's more. * The key role of the Fort Hood, Texas army base The military equipment and personnel used at Waco came from the US Army base at Ft. Hood,Texas, headquarters of III Corps. Here's an succinct account of the initial raid that caused the standoff submitted by David T. Hardy, an attorney who battled to force the government to release evidence in the case. Take special note of the passages I've marked with *** "The incident originated in an attempt by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to serve search and arrest warrants on a building, known to its residents as Mount Carmel, located in a rural area a few miles outside of Waco, Texas. The operation required mustering approximately a hundred agents (flown in from sites around the country), and who ***received military training*** at Ft. Hood. They traveled in a convoy of sixty vehicles and were supported by three National Guard helicopters and one fixed-wing aircraft, ***with armored vehicles in reserve***." http://www.indirect.com/www/dhardy/waco.html The personnel, described as ATF employees, received military training at Ft. Hood in preparation for the raid. Why? The reason is that the original charges against the Branch Davidians included drug violations. On the strength of these charges - which later were found to be absolutely false - the ATF qualified to receive military training and other assistance for the raid. Given that the training was customized for this particular raid, the assistance in all likelihood included intelligence support. In other words, military personnel looked the compound over, drew up attack plans, created a training program for the ATF agents, and then, one would assume, were there on the day of the raid - along with the local news cameras which had been tipped off in advance - to watch the thing go down. (The Department of Justice reports that the code word used to launch the raid was "Showtime.") Note too that armored vehicles were held "in reserve" on the day of the raid as well. There are at least two published local press photographs that show armored military vehicles at and on their way to the Mt. Carmel center on the very day of the raid.You can see them here: http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/mil1.jpg http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/mil2.jpg There is another press photograph taken the day after the raid which shows at least nine military vehicles stationed at nearby Texas State Technical College which very soon after the raid was completely taken over as a command center. http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/mil3.jpg The presence of so much military owned equipment on the scene, along with the documented fact that the raid was prepared for at Ft. Hood by military trainers seems to me to be all the evidence needed to show heavy military involvement preceding the initial raid. Perhaps equally significant is the amount of dissembling that surrounded the undeniable fact of pre-raid military involvement. For example, the governor of Texas claimed to the press that she requested National Guard presence after the raid. President Clinton was quoted as saying: "The first thing I did after the ATF agents were killed, once we knew that the FBI was going to go in, was to ask that the military be consulted because of the quasi-military nature of the conflict." (Washington Times, April 24, 1993) Attorney General Janet Reno attempted to explain away the "FBI" use of US Army tanks as being equivalent to an innocuous "rent a car" arrangement. The statements of these three individuals obscure the simple fact that the military vehicles, and personnel who operated and maintained them, were part of the initial raid - and therefore in clear violation of US law. Also, government statements relayed to the public by the US news media made much of the fact that one of the tanks was operated by an FBI agent. It's interesting to note that no reference was ever made to the operators of the other 16 military vehicles used in the operation. * Showtime As I mentioned earlier, the code word that launched the raid was "showtime." The name of the operation itself, according to the aforementioned Department of Justice report, was "Operation Trojan Horse." Early in the siege, "Operation Trojan Horse" became a popular destination for special forces officers both from around the United States and from its closest ally, the UK. They came to observe the effectiveness of various high tech devices and tactics that were being tested against the Branch Davidians. Source: London Sunday Times, March 21, 1993: "FBI brings out secret electronic weapons as Waco Siege drags on" You can see a photocopy of the original article at: http://www.monumental.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum/war/fig/w_fig01.jpg The raid was on February 28. The London Times article ran on March 21. It's noteworthy that Waco became a focus for US and UK special forces officers so quickly. The 3/21 London Times report states that "observer teams from the American Delta Force and British SAS have *already* visited Waco." (Emphasis mine.) Organizing groups of officers to make a field trip normally takes far more lead time than a couple of weeks. This is the military, not a group of freewheeling bohemians who can pile in a van and travel across the country, or the globe, on a whim. Yet, there they were, with plane and hotel reservations, briefings, tours and the like, all arranged. Such organization implies pre-planning or at least very strong pre-existing relationships with Delta Force and SAS on the part of the officer in charge. It would have taken an officer with unusual connections and motivations to pull off this level of "show and tell." By the way, the notion that Delta Force and SAS officers would make such a trip to observe the *FBI* using various secret high tech warfare devices is laughable. Who in the FBI would know how to operate them? In any event, the equipment and tactics used came from the military, not any law enforcement agency. In reality, the FBI was not in charge of the Waco siege. Its role instead was twofold: 1) to keep up fruitless negotiations with the Branch Davidians and 2) to act as the front for the real operation which was under military command and therefore entirely illegal. * Cold blooded murder Based on the claim that Branch Davidian leader David Koresh was abusing the children in the compound - a lie according to survivors - and sympathy for the "tired" FBI agents, Attorney General Janet Reno signed off on the plan for the final assault which resulted in the death by toxic gas and fire of over 80 civilians. Who presented the plan to her? An article in CounterPunch relates the essential facts: "Two senior Army officers subsequently travelled to a crucial April 14 meeting in Washington, D.C. with Attorney General Janet Reno and Justice Department and FBI officials in which the impending April 19 attack on the compound was reviewed. The 186-page "Investigation into the Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Towards the Branch Davidians", prepared by the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and lodged in 1996 (CR 104 749) does not name these two officers..." Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/waco.html >From the sound of this, it appears clear that the final solution to the growing political problem of Waco came directly from the US military. How odd if, in fact, Waco was an FBI operation. * The final solution The final assault on the Mt. Carmel complex occurred in three stages: 1) armored military vehicles punched holes in both ends of the main building of the complex, 2) "crowd control" gas was sprayed in, and 3) a fire started which destroyed the complex Witnesses expected that the gas would drive the inhabitants out. Instead, no one came out and the complex was engulfed in fire. Why didn't the residents come out? The cover story as related by the FBI and the Department of Justice is that the Branch Davidians killed their own children and then themselves and simultaneneously set the complex on fire rather than surrender. There is no forensic evidence to support this claim. Here's what a Failure Analysis Associates' study found about the nature of the "crowd control" gas that was used: "1. The first assault started at approximately 6:00 A.M. .... CS concentrations in the rooms directly injected by the M5 delivery alone ranged from 2 to 90 times that required to deter trained soldiers. Methylene chloride concentrations in the rooms directly injected by gas were as high as 1.8 times the IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health) concentration and nearly to the concentration that would render a person unconscious. 2. The second assault started at approximately 7:30 A.M. CS concentrations in the rooms directly injected by gas from M5 delivery alone ranged from 2 to 80 times that required to deter trained soldiers. Methylene chloride concentrations ... were as high as 1.6 times the IDLH...." All in all, nearly 400 gas filled projectiles were fired into the building, and CS was sprayed from four tank rack dispensers on the armored vehicles. As Failure Analysis Associates concluded in it report, this was the most intensive use of crowd control chemicals in the history of the United States. Methylene chloride is even more dangerous than CS--and five pounds of MeCl were injected for every ounce of CS. MeCl is an industrial solvent, with powerful anesthetic properties. It was once used as paint remover before being banned for that purpose for being too dangerous to handle. Both gases are flammable. In other words, the gases used and the quantities they were used in were sufficient to kill many of the inhabitants on contact, especially the young children, and would have been more or less capable of instantly incapacitating the rest. Finally, there is the issue of the fire which destroyed most of the evidence. Edward Allard, a leading expert in FLIR (forward looking infrared recorder) stated his conclusions in a court document after reviewing the official FLIR footage of the final assault: "11. At 12:08:32, the FLIR depicts events at the rear of the building, where the large "gymnasium" structure has largely been demolished. Two very bright thermal flashes are visible near to or in the window at the center, in front of and to one side of the (armored vehicle) which is stopped there. I see no natural explanation for these flashes. They would not, for instance, be reflections of sunlight off glass... I declare under penalty of perjury that the above is true and correct." Source: http://www.indirect.com/www/dhardy/allard.html Less than one minute after this hot, bright sustained flash occurred "in front of and to one side of the (armored vehicle)", the Mt. Carmel complex began the process of burning down Fire department personnel on the scene were told they could not move forward to put out the fire until "the danger had passed." The FBI determined the danger had passed well after the building had burned to the ground. * Who commanded "Operation Trojan Horse"? Let's review the evidence that the US military was involved in the raid, siege and final assault on the Branch Davidian complex outside of Waco, Texas: 1. The training, and probably the tactics, for the raid were designed by the Army and provided at its base in Ft. Hood, Texas. 2. At least some military vehicles were at or near the scene of the initial raid the day it occurred and nine or more were stationed nearby no later than the day after. 3. Advanced "non-lethal" military tactics and technologies were used to surveil and harass the Branch Davidians in the complex and, as a result, the Mt. Carmel center quickly became a study destination for special forces officers from both the US and the UK. 4. The Justice Department admits at least 15 active duty personnel and 16 armored vehicles (and one tank retrieval vehicle) were involved in the operation. 5. Lethal quantities of toxic gas were used in the final assault and FLIR video documentation shows that there was a bright flash in the front of one of the tanks used for spraying the gas less than one minute before the fire began. 6. Two unnamed high ranking Army officers personally presented Attorney General Janet Reno with the final assault tactics for her, as chief law enforcement officer of the US, to sign off on. It sure sounds like a military operation to me. If so, then who was the military commander behind Waco? You can learn a lot from reading a man's resume which may explain why the US news media has gone to such great pains to avoid even the suggestion that General Wesley K. Clark, Supreme Commander of NATO, had a life before his current exalted position. But he did and here's his official bio from the NATO web site: http://www.shape.nato.int/Biographies/gen_CLARK/GEN_CLAR.htm Clark was the Commander 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas from August 1992 to April 1994. The Mt. Carmel raid was on February 29, 1993. The arson-murders occurred April 19. This means he would have been the officer who authorized and commanded the armored vehicles used in the raid, the siege, and the final assault. This alone is sufficient to make Clark a prime suspect, but there is much more. Clark came to Fort Hood with an unusual background. He had been Commander of the National Training Center (October 1989-October 1991) and Deputy Chief of Staff for Concepts, Doctrine and Developments, US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Fort Monroe, Virginia (October 1991-August 1992) See: http://www-tradoc.army.mil He was not your typical armor officer. If there were a high profile, cutting edge training exercise to be conducted at Ft. Hood, it probably would have been handled, if not initiated, by him. Here's why: TRADOC, where Clark was Deputy Chief right before becoming an armor commander at Ft Hood, has as its primary mission to "prepare soldiers for war and design the army of the future." And what will that army look like? Item number one from the TRADOC vision statement: "...enable America's Army to operate with joint, multinational and interagency partners across the full range of operations." This would include working the ATF and FBI which would have put Clark in touch with the high ranking officials in both agencies long before Waco. Further, Clark's resume explains the mystery of the quick appearance of special forces study groups at Waco. His background - was there another officer at Ft. Hood with similar credentials? - gave him exactly the kind of clout and professional relationships needed to arrange for the hosting of special forces officers from the US and UK at the Mt. Carmel siege on such short notice. * Clark's tactics re-emerge in Yugoslavia There are many similarities between the war in Yugoslavia and "Operation Trojan Horse" at Waco, but most of them are part of the conduct of any US war. Here's a quick short list of seven: 1. Exert tight information control over a mostly cooperative US news media 2. Attribute civilian casualty reports to "propaganda" 3. Declare that the attacks are for humanitarian purposes, to "stop the bad guy." 4. Break numerous agreements then call the other side unreliable 5. Offer absurd terms in negotiation sessions, hide these terms from the public, then punish the other side for its recalcitrance in failing to accept a "reasonable" settlement. 6. Coordinate a propaganda effort against the other side before the assault (The Waco Tribune-Herald ran a two part smear piece against Koresh on Feb 27, 1993, the day before the raid, and on the morning of entitled, "The Sinful Messiah") 7. Accuse the other side of being responsible for crimes they did not commit. In addition to these commonly used tactics, there are a few unique similarities in tactics between Waco and Yugoslavia that show Clark's unique stamp: 1. Symbolic destruction of property dear to the "bad guy" Yugoslavia: Milosevic's private home was bombed repeatedly in spite of the fact that it was not a military target and was located in a residential neighborhood. Waco: Tank operators repeatedly rolled over and destroyed numerous vehicles belonging to the church which Karesh, an avid car mechanic, had personally worked on. 2. Obsession with silencing the victim's "propaganda" Yugoslavia: Clark repeatedly bombed Yugoslavian television and radio transmitters and stations, even though NATO had promised in writing not to attack stations. Several workers were killed in these attacks. Clark declared them "legitimate military targets" though their only function was news reporting and entertainment. Waco: One of the first acts of post-raid Waco was cutting off the complex's phone system to anyone but the FBI and disabling its short wave radio system. As the siege wore on, the electricity was also cut off, turned back on, then cut off again. 3. Mislabeling the nature of the attacking force Yugoslavia: The war was painted as a NATO operation. In reality, the vast majority of funding, manpower, aircraft, targeting and munitions were provided by the US and the operation was commanded by a US general. The entire operation was in violation of the NATO charter, US law, and the UN Charter. Waco: The assault was painted as an ATF, then FBI operation. In reality, the training, tactics, equipment and essential manpower were provided by the US military and the operation was commanded by a US general. The entire operation was in violation of US law. 4. Failure to plan for obvious contingencies Yugoslavia: No meaningful preparations were made for the likelihood of large numbers of refugees, who, after all, the war was supposedly being fought on behalf of. However, immense military power was arranged for. Waco: No ambulance was on call during the initial raid in spite of the fact that over 100 armed agents were involved and the complex housed numerous women and children as well as men who were thought to be armed. However, a convoy of armored vehicles was provided as a "backup." 5. Assuming the victims would "fold" immediately to a massive show of force Yugoslavia: It took over 70 days of terror bombing and attacks on basic life support services to win a surrender. Clark initially predicted settlement in a matter of days. Waco: Mr. Carmel residents, who, in keeping with rural Texas culture, were well armed, (they were also legally licensed gun dealers), returned fire on the attacking ATF agents killing four of them. They then held out for another 50 days until being gassed and burned alive. (It's important to note that the ATF agents continued firing until they completely ran out of ammunition. They then had to retreat one mile across an open field. Not a single shot was fired by the Branch Davidians during their retreat.) 6. Non-combatants were killed in large numbers "by accident" using the most vicious of weapons. Video evidence of assaults was "lost" due to unlikely technical problems Yugoslavia: Clark's PR people claim the flight camera malfunctioned in the US warplane that killed 87 Albanian refugees in Korisa in Kosovo. Clark's extensive use of cluster bombs and his targeting of hospitals and other health care facilities, including old age homes and maternity wards, is well documented Waco: Key video taken during the initial raid was declared "not shot" because, say ATF officials, the Branch Davidians "jammed" their video camera operations with "radio signals." (Video people know this is ridiculous.) The footage from other videos and still pictures, official and unofficial, taken during the raid also "disappeared." The gas attack on the residents of Mt. Carmel was sheer savagery. 7. And last but not least, tactical incompetence on an epic scale driven by Clark's desire to have his accomplishments recorded for posterity on video. Yugoslavia: Clark stopped the movement of British troops into Kosovo to give unprepared US troops a chance to get in place for a triumphant televised liberation scene. Meanwhile, the Russian army, which Clark was trying to keep out of the Kosovo "peacekeeping" mission, marched in and secured the province's key strategic area, the airport at Pristina. Waco: Local television news media were informed of the Mt. Carmel raid the day before and by showing up at the scene (one news van got lost and reportedly asked neighbors where the raid was), removed the surprise element and completely undermined the raid. The bottom line on Clark's modus operandi: Murder innocent civilians with cold blooded viciousness for personal and political gain, add heavy doses of military incompetence, then sell it to the President, who is apparently an eager buyer. This is the man Bill Clinton, who like Clark is 50-something, an Arkansas native, and a Rhodes Scholar, would like to make commander-in-chief for the defense of the continental U.S. In the meantime, he intends to be supreme commander of "peacekeeping" efforts in Kosovo. One last thing about Clark. In between Waco and Yugoslavia: "General Clark's last assignment was as Commander-in-Chief, United States Southern Command, Panama, from June 1996 to July 1997, where he commanded all U.S. forces and was responsible for the direction of most U.S. military activities and interests in Latin America and the Caribbean." - the part of the world where the US has raised military, police, and paramilitary (death squad) collaboration to a high art. More on Wesley Clark's career: http://www.counterpunch.org/clark.html More on Waco: http://www.waco93.com Full text of this article appears at: http://www.brasscheck.com/clarkatwaco.html Copyright: Ken McCarthy, 1999 http://www.brasscheck.com
