-Caveat Lector-
Davidian lawyer calls for test
of gunfire theory
Letter invites government to join in
re-enactment of last day of '93 siege
10/21/99
By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News
A lawyer for the Branch Davidians challenged the
federal government Wednesday to join in scientific
infrared field tests that he says will prove his
experts' contention that agents fired guns at the
group's compound on the last day of a 1993
standoff near Waco.
"The results of this demonstration will prove
conclusively that the only possible explanation for
the flashes seen on FBI FLIR [infrared video] tapes
from April 19, 1993, is gunfire," Michael Caddell
of Houston wrote in a four-page letter to the
Department of Justice. "The refusal of the FBI to
participate will certainly be interpreted as an
admission of liability."
FBI and Justice Department officials didn't have
much to say about the matter Wednesday night.
"We're reviewing the letter," said Justice
Department official Myron Marlin, declining
further comment.
A Maryland scientist retained by the Justice
Department to help defend the government in the
pending Branch Davidian case said his company
has found no recorded evidence of gunfire.
"According to our analysis, it isn't gunfire," said
Norris Krone, an aeronautical engineer whose
Maryland Advanced Development Laboratory has
used computer programs developed for a
sniper-detection project to study the FBI infrared
tapes. "It doesn't have a signature that resembles
gunfire"
He declined to detail his lab's analysis, noting only
that it determined that the FBI camera was too far
away to record muzzle flashes from weapons on
the ground and that white blips on the infrared
videotape last too long to be from gunfire. He
declined to say what might have caused the
flashes.
"I could speculate, but I wouldn't want to. It just
leads to more controversy," he said.
Disputed cause
Officials with the FBI and the Justice Department
long have vehemently denied that any FBI agent
fired a single shot at the Davidian compound
during the 51-day standoff. They have dismissed
the allegations in the Davidians' wrongful death
lawsuit as baseless, arguing that Davidians alone
were responsible for the standoff's tragic end.
Leader David Koresh and more than 80 followers
died in a fire that erupted April 19, 1993, about six
hours after FBI tanks began bashing the compound
and spraying in tear gas. An FBI airplane circling
the compound used an infrared video camera to
capture the outbreak of the fire and the hours that
preceded it.
Infrared cameras record images in black and white
by measuring and capturing temperature
differences. For the crucial hours just before the
compound burned, the FBI's infrared camera was
set to make hotter objects appear lighter and cooler
objects appear darker as it scanned the landscape
below.
Just after 12:08 p.m., the airborne camera recorded
the white flashes of three fires breaking out in the
compound within a three-minute period. Arson
experts used that footage to conclude that sect
members deliberately set the fires.
In the hour that preceded the fire, the infrared
camera also captured repeated bursts of white
flashes erupting from both government positions
and from the windows of the Davidian compound.
On recently released, high-quality copies of the
FBI infrared recordings, some bursts of white
flashes come out of Davidian windows toward
maneuvering FBI tanks.
Others appear near FBI tanks and move in the
direction of the compound.
Flashes detailed
In a time line sent to Justice Department lawyers
along with his challenge Wednesday, Mr. Caddell
indicated that his law firm has identified 32
separate "flash" events.
Nine of those flash events appeared to come from
government positions and 15 from the Davidians,
he wrote. He contended that eight were of unclear
origin but were probably caused largely by
home-made Davidian hand grenades or the
launching of government "flash-bang" distraction
devices - ordnance that government officials have
denied using on April 19.
The devices explode with a loud bang and a
blinding flash and are commonly used to distract
suspects. FBI agents fired them at least seven
times in the last two weeks of the siege, using them
to scare Davidians back into the compound when
they came outside without government permission.
FBI officials have insisted that its agents used no
flash-bang devices during their final
tank-and-tear-gas assault. But FBI records indicate
that one of the earliest proposals pitched by its
tactical experts included a plan to lob the
distraction devices repeatedly into the building as
FBI tanks pumped tear gas inside.
The plan, dated March 11, proposed launching an
assault on March 11 or on March 12, the day that
Attorney General Janet Reno was sworn into
office.
Mr. Caddell has said that he believes that
government agents involved in the April 19 assault
began firing guns at the Davidians to defend the
government's tanks.
Citing experts
He noted in his Wednesday letter that his
assessment has been supported by scientific
experts hired by outside media and the House
Government Reform Committee, which recently
began a new investigation of the Davidian incident.
An expert for the House committee said last month
that his preliminary evaluation of the infrared tape
indicated that it did capture the thermal images of
government gunfire. He was allowed on Friday to
study the FBI's original copy of the tape for the
first time and is still working on his final analysis,
said committee spokesman Mark Carollo.
"He stands by his initial assessment," Mr. Carollo
said. "However, he has not submitted any formal
findings, and we're still very early in the game."
Mr. Caddell told the Justice Department on
Wednesday that he will invite the House
committee's expert and other outsiders, including
representatives from the office of independent
counsel John Danforth, to participate in a full field
test of infrared cameras.
He said he would also invite Dr. Krone's lab to
participate, noting that his laboratory, retained as
government experts, has offered "no credible
explanation for the numerous flashes . . . flashes
which have the abrupt, precise and repetitive
signature of gunfire. . . ."
The test would be staged at a Dallas-area gun club
using an airborne camera similar to the one used
by the FBI in Waco. It would record gunshots on
the ground from firearms similar to those deployed
by both government agents and the Davidians.
Mr. Carollo said the committee "would welcome"
such a test, adding that a "side-by-side analysis,"
of the FBI's recording and a test recording might
help resolve the gunfire issue.
If the field test did produce results matching what
was recorded on FBI cameras, Mr. Caddell said,
he would ask a federal judge overseeing the
ongoing wrongful death case to impose
"appropriate sanctions against the persons
responsible for perpetrating this massive lie. . . ."
Government officials could avoid that by agreeing
to admit that its agents did fire at the compound on
April 19, he wrote. "We can then deal with the real
issues in this case: who was shooting from
government position, and when did that gunfire
impede or prevent the escape of women and
children from the burning building?"
�1999 The Dallas Morning News
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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