-Caveat Lector- Davidian lawyer raises questions on Delta Force He says testimony leaves gap in siege account 12/21/99 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News Sworn testimony from two members of the Army's secret Delta Force unit raises questions about the actions of a third Delta soldier during the last hours of the Branch Davidian standoff, a lawyer for the sect said Monday. Two technical specialists from the classified anti-terrorist unit were among 24 government witnesses questioned in recent depositions by lawyers for the Branch Davidians, and their testimony indicated that "there's a combat guy [from the same unit] whose time is not accounted for on April 19," said Mike Caddell, lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians. Mr. Caddell said a protective order in the sect's wrongful-death lawsuit against the federal government prohibits divulging exact testimony of the government witnesses. They were questioned during two weeks of depositions in Washington that ended Friday. Justice Department officials did not return telephone calls for comment Monday. An FBI spokesman said he was unfamiliar with the matter. Justice Department spokesmen have previously declined to comment on depositions in the case. Mr. Caddell said the depositions left unanswered key questions about Delta Force's involvement in an FBI tank and tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound. He said the questioning of FBI and military personnel also failed to resolve whether Delta Force soldiers or any other government agents fired guns into the building on April 19, 1993 - a charge that the government has denied. Pressed on the issue of government gunfire, the FBI's hostage rescue team members questioned during the depositions said they did not personally fire or witness any government gunfire April 19, Mr. Caddell said. But neither they nor FBI technical experts who operated FBI infrared cameras during the standoff could explain the origin of repeated flashes on an infrared videotape recorded by an airborne camera during the last hours of the tear-gas assault, Mr. Caddell said. Experts hired by the plaintiffs have said the flashes could have come only from government gunfire. Government experts dispute that, but an independent expert hired by the House Government Reform Committee to examine the infrared video has said he also thought that flashes were thermal signatures from gunfire. "One thing that became clear from this first round of depositions: Whatever really happened on April 19, there's only a handful of people that really know," Mr. Caddell said. "This operation obviously proceeded on a need-to-know basis. I would say fewer than a dozen people really knew what was going to happen or what did happen that day." Government officials and lawyers have adamantly denied that any Delta Force personnel were actively involved in the April 19 assault, which ended in a massive fire that consumed the Branch Davidian compound with more than 80 people inside. Government officials maintain that members of the sect set the fire. The Branch Davidians' federal lawsuit, set for trial in May in Waco, alleges that government negligence and actions caused the deaths of dozens of innocent women and children and other Branch Davidian followers. Lawyers for the sect have alleged that government agents, possibly including Delta Force members, repeatedly fired guns into the compound in the last hours of the siege. Justice Department lawyers initially tried to limit the Branch Davidian lawyers to written questioning of Delta Force members who were in Waco on April 19. Secret units Defense Department documents indicate that three soldiers from a secret military unit were present as observers on April 19 and that other Special Forces personnel from a classified military unit were shuttled in and out of Waco during the 51-day standoff. Delta Force is a classified military unit so secret that the Defense Department routinely refuses to acknowledge its existence. Defense Department officials ultimately allowed Branch Davidian lawyers to question the Delta Force soldiers who were at Waco on April 19 only if the soldiers could sit behind a protective screen during the deposition, Mr. Caddell said. Lawyers for the sect also had to agree that the soldiers would not have to divulge identifying information, Mr. Caddell said. The two soldiers who were questioned, both technical equipment specialists, denied active involvement in FBI operations in Waco, including the final assault, Mr. Caddell said. But they acknowledged that they could not account for the whereabouts of their unit's combat arms representative April 19 until after the compound burned. "Frankly, their explanation for that, the cover story that was given to explain his absence, was preposterous," Mr. Caddell said, adding that he could not divulge details of that story because of the court's protective order. Mr. Caddell said he hoped to question the third soldier during the next series of depositions. The first round of depositions included FBI agents assigned to the airplanes that circled the compound April 19 with infrared and still cameras, Mr. Caddell said. The agents, including the bureau's most experienced infrared camera operator, acknowledged that they "had not ever seen flashes before" like those that appeared repeatedly on the Waco video during the last hour before the compound burned. "They searched their files to try to find an explanation for them, and they could find nothing similar," Mr. Caddell said. He said the agents acknowledged that the only video footage in the FBI's archives that included remotely similar flashes was a brief snippet recorded by another FBI infrared camera in an unrelated kidnapping case in April 1993. That footage depicts white blips emanating from a car as it is driven down a highway. That tape has been shown to the news media, including The Dallas Morning News, in recent months as bureau officials have sought to dispel the Branch Davidians' allegations about the Waco infrared tape. Field tests Questions about the flashes on the April 19 infrared tape recently prompted U.S. District Judge Walter Smith, who is overseeing the wrongful-death case, to ask both sides to recommend scientific experts to develop field tests aimed at identifying their source. Mr. Caddell said he expected another round of depositions in January and a final round in February. He said the depositions completed last week included about half the government witnesses he will seek to question before the case goes to trial. "Based on what I've heard so far, I think people would be genuinely distressed if they knew their FBI agents had such poor powers of recollection," he said. "I think you could fairly say that the phrases we heard most often were, 'I don't know,' and 'I don't recall.' It does undermine your confidence in the FBI." �1999 The Dallas Morning News This site is best viewed using Netscape 4.0 or IE 4.0. Bard THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND - A SECOND LOOK AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE "The most important book after The Bible." http://www.jbs.org/aobs/ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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