-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- .............................................................. >From the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed]: Conspiracy Shopping Cart: http://a-albionic.com/shopping.htmlFrom: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <undisclosed-recipients:;> Subject: DMN: Tank action at 93' siege draws criticism Date: Sunday, February 06, 2000 5:09 PM This piece was passed on to me by Carol Moore. Thanks Carol. ~Sharlene~ Tank action at '93 siege draws criticism Branch Davidians contend it was planned part of attack 02/06/2000 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News Even in grainy black and white, the snippet of video is riveting: A 60-ton tank lumbers again and again over the back of the Branch Davidian compound, shredding a 60-square-foot swath of wall and roof like sodden paper. Is it a demolition or a mercy mission? Part of the approved plan for forcing the sect's surrender or a deadly deviation? Attorneys representing the Branch Davidians in a federal wrongful-death lawsuit argued last week that sending in tanks less than five hours after agents began tear-gassing the building violated operational orders set at the highest levels in Washington. They told a federal judge that the two FBI commanders who ordered the tanks in during the final hours of the 1993 siege near Waco should be stripped of normal federal protections and subjected to civil trial by jury. Such actions are allowed under U.S. law only when officials violate government policy or constitutional rights. If successful, the motion would set the stage for a full, public review of the decisions that led to the final assault on the Branch Davidian compound. The motion would bring FBI commanders Jeffrey Jamar and Richard Rogers into a courtroom for the first time to defend their handling of the siege. Both men have declined repeated requests for interviews. It also could bring Attorney General Janet Reno to the center of the trial in Waco, set to begin in mid-May. Attorneys for the sect say they will question her in a videotaped deposition late next month in Washington and plan to use that testimony at length if U.S. District Judge Walter Smith grants their bid to bring the two FBI commanders to trial. "She managed to bob and weave in most of the congressional hearings and issued some wonderful platitudes, like 'the buck stops here,' " said Mike Caddell, lead attorney for the sect. "But she never provided any real, hard answers. I do think that deposition will be an opportunity for everybody to get some hard answers to tough questions from Janet Reno." A spokesman for Ms. Reno and the Justice Department declined to comment. Questions about straying from the Waco plan could be painful for the FBI and for Mr. Rogers, former head of its Hostage Rescue Team, because of parallels to another recent deadly situation. The bureau drew intense criticism for Mr. Rogers' decision to alter key FBI operational rules during the August 1992 standoff with white separatist Randy Weaver and his family at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. That decision, loosening the bureau's policy on use of deadly force, led to the fatal shooting of Mr. Weaver's wife, Vicki, by an FBI sniper. The government ultimately paid more than $3 million in damages to the family, and Mr. Rogers and other senior FBI officials were formally reprimanded. One official, Michael Kahoe, went to jail after pleading guilty to lying about destroying evidence that would have shown that he and others - including some of the FBI's decision-makers in the Branch Davidian siege - knew of or allowed revised rules of engagement. The sniper, FBI Agent Lon Horiuchi, is now a defendant in the Waco case, accused of shooting at the Branch Davidian compound, Mount Carmel, during the FBI tank-and-tear gas assault. Agent Horiuchi has denied that and recently sought to be dropped from the case for what he said was a lack of evidence. "The message that comes through loud and clear from their actions and their testimony is that these people think they're above the law. These people believe that they are the law," Mr. Caddell said. "What happened both at Ruby Ridge and at Mount Carmel is they decided they didn't like the policy formulated by their superiors. So they decided to change it," said Mr. Caddell, who has raised the issue of FBI lying about Ruby Ridge at every deposition of FBI agents in the Waco case. "And what happened as a result? In each case, people died who didn't have to die." In the Branch Davidian siege, Mr. Caddell's motion alleges, Mr. Jamar and Mr. Rogers violated a plan approved by the attorney general that called for spraying tear gas into the compound for at least 48 hours before considering tearing down the building. Although they have not responded to the sect's motion, government attorneys have argued that the Branch Davidians should not be allowed to take the government to court over issues such as how its agents used tanks in the assault. Their brief contended that such issues amount to judgment calls and are generally exempt from civil litigation under federal law. But the Branch Davidians' recent motion seeking to widen the case alleges that the two commanders knew what they did was improper and tried to cover it up by telling Congress that the tanks were trying to open routes for the embattled sect members' surrender. Attorneys for the sect also contend that the FBI's commanders sent the tanks in at midmorning April 19, 1993, despite repeated warnings from the FBI's most seasoned and respected behavioral experts that such aggressive action would push the Branch Davidians over the brink. Within an hour, the compound and its 80 occupants were consumed in a massive fire. Justice Department lawyers have argued that the government cannot be held responsible because of overwhelming evidence that the sect set the fire. But lawyers for the Branch Davidians say that even if that can be proved, the massive loss of life was caused by the FBI's aggressive tactics. "The unauthorized decision made by Rogers and Jamar to deviate from the operations plan approved by Attorney General Reno by ordering tanks to begin punching holes in Mt. Carmel and dismantling/demolishing the building . . . both triggered the fire - whoever started it - and kept persons from leaving," the plaintiff's motion says. Mr. Caddell said the issue could ultimately prove more problematic for the FBI than the sect's allegations that the government shot at the compound, which the government has also denied. "The truth is, on the gunfire issue, I truly believe that no more than 10 people knew about it,'' he said Friday. "The destruction of the building, that's a cover-up. Everybody's known about it for years, and they've lied about it.'' Detailed planning Internal FBI records and a 1993 Justice Department review of the Branch Davidian incident show that the plan was hammered out during weeks of debate between Justice and FBI officials. Senior FBI officials wrestled over every detail. One seasoned FBI tactical expert initially cautioned that using tanks to poke holes and insert gas could cause massive panic and loss of life. His warnings the previous August led to the rejection of a similar gas plan proposed by Mr. Rogers at Ruby Ridge, records show. The bureau's negotiators and behavioral experts had also warned for weeks that approaching the compound with tanks guaranteed violence and death. One told Mr. Jamar early on that "they could not send in the tanks because if they did so, children would die and the FBI would be blamed even if they were not responsible," internal Justice Department records show. But Deputy FBI Director Floyd Clarke worried that the best alternative to gassing with tanks - using shoulder-fired launchers to lob tear gas canisters into the compound windows - might leave the impression that the FBI had fired the first shots, records show. One FBI official recalled that Mr. Clarke feared it might be both a catalyst for violence and a potential public-relations nightmare. FBI leaders also vetoed Mr. Rogers' bid to hit all sides of the building at once with gas. They settled on an "incremental" plan presented to Ms. Reno on April 14. A tank with a long boom would poke through a wall, spray in gas and back away to await reaction. To address Hostage Rescue Team concerns about Branch Davidian gunfire, tear gas could be fired into any area of the compound where shooting was detected. But tearing down the building would not be considered until the gassing had gone on for at least 48 hours without full surrender, FBI and Justice officials later recalled in FBI reports. A report of a post-siege FBI interview with Ms. Reno shows that bureau officials assured her that "they were prepared to wait two or three days for everyone to come out. . . . The action was viewed as a gradual, step-by-step process. It was not the intent, from law enforcement, that 'this is it; this is D-day.' " Ms. Reno approved a formal plan on April 17. Each contingency was explicit: Gunfire would be answered with more tear gas, and there would be no demolition for at least two days. The plan made no mention of the possibility of sending in tanks if it appeared that the Branch Davidians were holing up deep inside the compound. In a detailed discussion of "tactical concerns" shaping the approved plan, the Justice review stated that the demolition was not considered a viable early option because "the FBI considered that such a plan would risk harming the children." Ms. Reno later told FBI investigators, "it was agreed that once she approved the plan, decisions would be made on-scene. . . . She would not tell them how to run the operation, what tactics to employ. But she could stop the operation at any time," an FBI internal report shows. But by the time Mr. Jamar and Mr. Rogers sent tanks deep into the rear of the compound on April 19, FBI officials had persuaded Ms. Reno to leave their headquarters to make a previously scheduled speech in Baltimore, FBI and Justice records indicate. The FBI began gassing just after 6 a.m. It escalated minutes later when agents reported that sect members were firing. Ms. Reno was in the FBI's Washington command post monitoring events at the compound when Mr. Jamar and Mr. Rogers sent a tank into the front doors of the building and reported that they were opening up an escape path for Branch Davidians. But at midmorning, FBI officials urged the attorney general to keep her scheduled speech date, even though it meant she would have to leave FBI headquarters at 10 a.m. Waco time. Deputy Attorney General Mark Richards later recalled that she agreed to go after being reassured that the operation would probably continue for days. Minutes before that, Mr. Rogers had asked Mr. Jamar for a face-to-face meeting. In a post-siege interview with a federal prosecutor, the Hostage Rescue Team commander recalled that he had radioed Mr. Jamar with his assessment of a "clear case" that the gas "was not effective," notes retained by the Justice Department state. Mr. Rogers "expected surrender within one hour . . . not happening. Convinced gas not getting/retreated to inner section of building," the interview notes stated. "AG about to leave . . . not over. Not working." The notes indicate that Mr. Rogers argued for driving the tanks into the building, telling the prosecutor afterward he thought that would "open up holes for bigger escape routes. Very necessary. Always in plan." He told the prosecutor he didn't know whether Mr. Jamar sought approval from Washington. He added that they had "no reservation about authority to make this decision," the notes state. In the same notes, the prosecutor later wrote: "48 hours . . . No assault or dismantling for 48 hours." Tank action ordered Almost an hour after Ms. Reno left FBI headquarters, Mr. Rogers ordered a tank to begin smashing through the rear area of the compound known as the gymnasium. About the same time, Ms. Reno later recalled to FBI investigators, she called President Clinton. "AG Reno called the President and described the situation as going well. She was encouraged. It seemed, piece by piece, it was working and people were coming out. Obviously, that was not the case," a 1993 FBI report stated. During the next 45 minutes, the tank on the back side of the compound flattened a large part of the gymnasium. An FBI surveillance pilot recalled in a recent deposition that agents in his plane that morning watched the growing destruction and remarked that "people are going to have to get out pretty soon" because the building is "being taken away from them . . . so they're going to have to go somewhere else." Recent depositions of the agents in the rear tank prompted one of the angriest and most personal confrontations yet between attorneys from both sides. After insisting that "we were not destroying the building," the clearly nervous FBI agent conceded under aggressive questioning that "portions of it" were destroyed. As the tank rolled in again and again, an FBI airplane equipped with an infrared video camera recorded white flashes from the compound and from areas around the FBI tanks. Government attorneys and experts insist that those flashes were electronic glitches in the camera or sunlight glints, and they deny that anyone from their side fired guns that day. But attorneys and experts for the sect say the flashes came from gunfire. Just before noon, Mr. Rogers ordered tanks in front to drive deep toward the compound tower. At its base was a concrete room where officials believed the "hostiles" were hiding, records show. Minutes after that tank's retreat, wisps of smoke appeared. The building was soon engulfed in flames. The deadly fire Ms. Reno, just back from her speech, watched the inferno on FBI TVs. Senior FBI negotiators later told Justice investigators that they believed the demolition triggered the fire. But Mr. Jamar and Mr. Rogers maintained that the tanks had been sent in not to destroy the building or even to clear the way for more gassing, but to make holes for Branch Davidians to escape. "We were never going to enter the compound," Mr. Jamar told Congress in 1995. In the fall of 1993, the Justice review of the siege described the order to send in the tanks as "an apparent deviation from the approved plan." But while senior FBI officials acknowledged to Congress and the news media that they had not expected demolition to begin for several days, they defended Mr. Jamar's decision to begin demolishing the compound six hours into the assault. Although it was never mentioned anywhere in the FBI's detailed operational plan, Mr. Clarke told skeptical members of Congress in 1995 that "it was part of the overall plan, with Mr. Jamar having the authority to move that up." In his 1995 congressional testimony, Mr. Rogers repeatedly insisted that the tanks weren't dismantling the building. Documents from his own Hostage Rescue Team files show that he and his lieutenants described what the tanks did that day to other FBI officials as a demolition operation. In a lengthy proposal seeking plaques, medals and cash awards for the Hostage Rescue Team's work in Waco, officials with the team singled out the two agents in the tank that destroyed the gymnasium. "At mid-morning, . . . [the two agents] were given the mission of slowly and methodically beginning dismantling of . . . the gymnasium," stated a 13-page request for FBI shields of bravery for the entire team. "They continued with their mission until half of the gymnasium had been dismantled and the roof completely collapsed." The awards were eventually vetoed as a potential public-relations problem, FBI officials later said. <A HREF="http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/picturethis.html">Please take a moment to picture this...</A> <A HREF="http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/picturethis.html">http://www.wizardso faz.com/waco/picturethis.html</A> "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." 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