Subject:
Delta Force Murdered Branch Davidians
Frustrated Angry Clinton Said Ultimately Behind Move
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Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 15:03:11 EDT
Subject: Military Unit Responsible at Waco
http://www.spotlight.org/New_Story/waco/waco.html
http://www.spotlight.org/New_Story/waco/waco.html
Military Unit Responsible at Waco
An elite U.S. Army military unit was responsible for the massacre of 76
Branch Davidians after a 51-day siege by federal officers of their compound
at Waco, Tex., in 1993.
EXCLUSIVE TO THE SPOTLIGHT
By Mike Blair
Orders were given to the top secret Combat Applications Group of Fort Bragg,
N.C. (known as the Delta Force), by President William Jefferson Clinton
because the seemingly endless stand-off between the FBI and members of the
religious sect had become an embarrassment to his administration, according
to a former Army Special Forces member.
Also involved in the final days of decision-making that brought "closure"
to the siege was first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, currently the U.S. media
poster girl as a result of her venture into Senate politics in New York.
Reports have been received by The SPOTLIGHT that Gene Cullen, a former CIA
agent, has asked a Senate committee for "protection" in return for his
testimony regarding Delta Force activity at Waco. Cullen is requesting
"protection," according to reports, because he has been threatened with
prosecution for violating national security if he talks.
WHITE HOUSE BRIEFED
The recent release of documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
reveals that Army officials, and in particular those from Delta Force, met
with White House and Justice Department officials, including Attorney General
Janet Re-no and her then second-in-command and former Hillary Clinton law
partner, Webster Hubbell, to discuss a resolution to the Waco standoff.
However, information obtained by The SPOTLIGHT reveals that Delta Force
played far more than an advisory role in ending the siege. In fact Delta
Force had a direct, operational role in the attack on the Branch Davidian
compound that resulted in the holocaust that took the lives of 76 residents
of the religious community, including dozens of women and children.
Steve Barry, a retired long-time member of Army Special Forces and a top
expert in the field of military special operations, said a team of about 10
members of Delta Force was involved in the Waco massacre.
Barry's military career included training with Delta Force.
On April 19, according to Barry, "two bricks," or four-man teams, were
involved in the actual attack.
In recently released FBI infrared video tapes of the crucial minutes of the
April 19 assault on the compound, fully-automatic gunfire is seen being
directed into an area of the structure, which Branch Davidians were
attempting to use to escape from flames, fanned by high winds, consuming the
wooden buildings.
<snip>
Barry told The SPOTLIGHT that there was a team of "as many as 10" Delta
Force troopers assigned to Waco, including, as he describes them, "a commander,
a sergeant major, two to three communications guys, two to three intel
[intelligence] guys, a medic and two to three operations guys."
He said assigned to them, supposedly in an advisory capacity, were
members of the British SAS (Special Air Service), an elite British
special operations
force.
The Delta Force, Barry explained, shared a Tactical Operations Center (TOC)
at Waco with an FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) force. Since the 1993 tragedy,
the American people have been led to believe that the HRT force alone
conducted the assault on the compound.
Barry said the Delta Force receives its orders from what is known as the
National Command Authority, which then included Clinton, Secretary of State
Warren Christopher, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Colin Powell.
The ultimate decision to send Delta Force into action rests with the
president, Barry said. It can be no other way, he added.
FAMILIAR FACE
Adding to the controversy, it has been confirmed that Lon Horiuchi was in
charge of a sniper post where Texas Rangers recovered spent .223 and .308
shell casings.
Horiuchi was the FBI sniper who fatally shot the wife of Randy Weaver, while
wounding both Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, during the federal standoff at
Ruby Ridge in Idaho.
The recovered shell casings would be consistent with government-issued sniper
rifles. Horiuchi has denied that he or any members of his "team" fired
any shots at Waco.
The retired special operations expert said that during the siege at Waco,
first lady Hillary Clinton operated a "crisis center" at the White House,
put together on her own initiative. Serving with her was another former
member ofher Little Rock law firm, White House Deputy Counsel Vincent M.
Foster Jr.
Foster was later found dead under mysterious circumstances in a Virginia park
across the river from D.C.
According to Barry, it was from this "crisis center" that word went out
that there was "child abuse" by adult members of the sect, including leader
David Koresh, at the Waco religious facility.
This revelation about the part Foster played in the Waco tragedy has been
confirmed by Mike McNulty, a producer of a documentary film on the siege.
McNulty said he was told by Foster's widow, Lisa, that the White House
attorney's depression at the time of his death "was fueled by horror at the
carnage at Waco for which the White House had given the ultimate green light."
McNulty also said that Foster was preparing a Waco report when he died. This
has been confirmed by veteran British journalist, Ambrose
Evans-Pritchard, in his book, The Secret Life of Bill Clinton.
Pritchard wrote:
The Branch Davidian siege was clearly on Foster's mind. He was "drafting
a letter involving Waco" on the day of his death, surely a point of some
significance. He kept a Waco file in the locked cabinet that was off limits
to everybody, including his secretary. His widow mentions Waco twice in her
statement to the FBI. Toward the end of his life, Foster had no sense of joy
or elation at work. The Branch Davidian incident near Waco, Tex., was also
causing him a great deal of stress. Lisa Foster believes that he was
horrified when the Branch Davidian complex burned. Foster believed that
everything was his fault.*
BREAKING THE LAW
When asked about how the Delta Force action jibes with the Posse Comitatus
Act, which outlaws the use of Army forces to enforce civilian law, Barry
said: "That's just it. It doesn't jibe with Posse Comitatus."
A violation of Posse Comitatus is indeed "a high crime or misdemea-nor,"
which would be an impeachable felony offense.
And if Clinton's reasons for ordering the Delta Force attack at Waco are
murky, the reasons for directing a cover-up are obviously not.
Posse Comitatus clearly states that "Whoever . . . willfully uses any
part of the Army or the Air Force as a Posse Comitatus or otherwise to
execute the
laws shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than two
years." (18 U.S. Code, Section 1385)
*The Secret Life of Bill Clinton is available from Liberty Library for $27
(Hardback, 416 pages). Send payment to Liberty Library, 300 Independence
Avenue SE, Washington, D.C.
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Military reluctant in Davidian siege
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap19991030_887.html
WIRE:10/30/1999 16:53:00 ET
Report: Military reluctant in Davidian siege
WACO, Texas (AP) _ U.S. military leaders were reluctant to assist in the
1993 siege of the Branch Davidian headquarters near Waco and questioned
the legality of their role, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Saturday.
Federal law prohibits the military from becoming actively involved in
domestic law enforcement matters unless directed to do so by the president.
Citing federal documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act,
the newspaper reported that at one point, a top Army officer questioned
the legality of military support for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The military previously has acknowledged that it provided assistance to
federal law officers. In August, the General Accounting Office, an
investigatory arm of Congress, reported that military personnel were
called to the scene after the ATF "cited possible drug-related activity"
at the Davidian compound.
A senior Pentagon official then said no consideration was given to
requesting a presidential waiver of the law that prohibits military
involvement in domestic law enforcement because it wasn't deemed
necessary or applicable.
According to the Tribune-Herald, the military role began before Feb. 28,
1993, the day ATF agents tried to serve members of the Davidians with
search and arrest warrants. A gunfight ensued; four agents and six
Davidians died.
The ATF had contacted Operation Alliance, an agency that coordinates
law-enforcement requests for military help in fighting drugs, the
newspaper said.
In a Jan. 22, 1993 letter to Operation Alliance, ATF officials requested
training by special-forces troops, instruction in driving Bradley
Fighting Vehicles and the loan of seven Bradleys.
Operation Alliance forwarded ATF's request to Fort Bliss and Joint Task
Force-6, the military's headquarters for domestic anti-drug efforts.
Officials there were told that assistance was "in direct support of
interdiction activities along the Southwest border," the newspaper said.
But Maj. Mark Petree, commander of the Army's special forces, questioned
the legality of the request. Maj. Phillip Lindley, his legal adviser,
wrote in a Feb. 3, 1993 memo that the ATF request would make the
military an active, illegal partner in a domestic police action.
After Joint Task Force-6 accused Lindley of trying to undermine the
mission, he consulted his boss, Lt. Col. Douglas Andrews, the deputy
staff judge advocate, the newspaper reported.
Andrews told Lindley that the military could probably evaluate the ATF
plan, but could not intervene to cancel it or revise it for the agency,
the paper reported.
There have been allegations that members of the Army's Delta Force squad
engaged in a shootout with the Davidians on the day of the April 19,
1993 fire in which sect leader David Koresh and about 80 followers died.
However, military officials insist three Delta Force members were
present that day as observers only.
Delta Force officers did meet with Attorney General Janet Reno to
discuss proposals to flush the Davidians from the compound.
The newspaper cites a document in which an unidentified Delta Force
officer reported that Reno was only offered limited advice _ including
the military's belief that inserting tear gas into the residence might
cause mothers to panic and "run off and leave infants."
<snip>
No Army official familiar with the situation was available for comment
Saturday, said Gerry Gilmore, a Pentagon Army spokesman.
