-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- NATIONAL POST, Saturday, February 26, 2000 The story about Waco unravels There is evidence that the FBI lied about what happened in Waco, Tex., when it stormed the Branch Davidians' compound, killing more than 80 people following a 51-day siege Jan Cienski National Post WASHINGTON - For years, the U.S. government has insisted that federal agents were following the law and did all they could to protect human life when they ended the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., seven years ago. But over the past year, the government's case has been slowly unravelling. Now there is evidence that the FBI lied about using military-issue tear gas, lied about a U.S. military presence at the siege, may have violated its procedures when it stormed the compound and may have fired at the Davidians as they tried to escape the burning compound. "They are unprincipled liars," said Jim Brannon, a lawyer for some Branch Davidian families who have filed suit against the government. "We ought to be really concerned when our highest law enforcement agency operates little, if at all, above criminal conduct." >From the first day, the operation against the Branch Davidians was ill-starred. Federal authorities decided to clamp down on the group, headed by charismatic rocker David Koresh, because they had been told that the church was stockpiling massive amounts of illegal weapons. Church members insist they were selling the guns -- a legal business for a religious group. On Feb. 28, 1993, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms stormed Mr. Koresh's compound, a scattered collection of buildings in the dusty sagebrush prairie outside Waco. There is controversy over who fired first but a hail of bullets killed four agents and six cult members. Federal agents immediately set up an armed ring around the Davidian compound. Over the next weeks many followers were persuaded to leave. The FBI ratcheted up the pressure on those remaining inside, bombarding the compound with high-decibel music and shutting off the power. Finally, on April 19, 1993, the FBI stormed the compound with tanks spewing tear gas. A horrified country watched on television as the building went up in a yellow-orange fireball, claiming the lives of more than 80 people. The official explanation was that the Davidians, in a suicide pact, set fire to the compound and then shot themselves. At the time, much of the United States was firmly behind the FBI. A Gallup poll found that 83% of Americans approved of the agency's actions. For most of the siege, the hundreds of reporters gathered beyond the FBI cordon were forced to rely on the agency's version of what was going on inside. Federal authorities worked hard to demonize the Davidians, admittedly not a very difficult task for a strange little group obsessed with the wilder sections of the Book of Revelation. Mr. Koresh had also taken child brides, forbidden most of his followers to have sex and was obsessed with guns. Any positive information, such as the videotape of Mr. Koresh playing with his family in the compound, was not released by the FBI. Janet Reno, the U.S. attorney-general, who is ultimately in charge of the FBI, said she had been prompted to order the attack by reports that Mr. Koresh was molesting children inside the compound. In the aftermath of the siege, several Branch Davidian members were convicted of killing the four BATF agents. >From the first, the siege was seen by many Americans as a botched and ill-planned operation. But suspicions over the truthfulness of the FBI's version of events was limited to a militant fringe. Militia groups, which were entering their peak growth period around that time, seized on Waco as an example of an evil federal government out to kill its citizens in order to remove their constitutionally guaranteed right to own weapons. Timothy McVeigh became so incensed at the federal government's actions that two years to the day after the end of the Waco siege he drove a bomb-laden truck to the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, setting off an explosion that killed 168 people. The Oklahoma City bombing took the air out of the militia movement and made anyone who suspected an FBI conspiracy at Waco look like a nut. After a couple of desultory congressional investigations, the fuss over the Branch Davidians appeared to die down as the country moved on to the much more pressing questions of O.J. Simpson's guilt or innocence and Monica Lewinsky's love life. But the quiet consensus over what happened at Waco began to break down under the attack of two renegade researchers, Michael McNulty and David Hardy, who disbelieved the government's story. Mr. Hardy, an Arizona lawyer, sued to obtain documents and evidence related to the siege and fire. Both men pushed Texas authorities to begin an inquiry into evidence under state control. Mr. McNulty, a documentary filmmaker from Colorado, got a first-hand look at some of the evidence, which had been hidden for years. He also helped produce an Oscar-nominated documentary, Waco: Rules of Engagement, that criticized the government's role in the siege. The information they found was invaluable to lawyers who had filed multi-million-dollar liability suits against the U.S. government on behalf of Waco survivors and the families of those who died. The trial is scheduled to begin on May 15. As information about the evidence in the case began to circulate, the FBI's case began to fray. The first big break was the FBI's admission last year that it had lied to Ms. Reno about the use of military issue incendiary tear gas on the final day of the siege. A grainy videotape showed agents asking for permission to use the gas and then firing canisters at a bunker on the compound grounds. The agency continues to insist that the gas had nothing to do with the fire that broke out hours later, but its credibility was weakened. An outraged Ms. Reno appointed former senator John Danforth to launch an investigation into whether federal authorities tried to cover up any facts about Waco and whether federal agents killed civilians. In the last couple of months, the government has suffered even more embarrassments. Documents revealed that three members of the military's elite Delta Force were on hand when the FBI stormed the compound. There is no proof that the soldiers took an active role in the operation, but again it undercuts years of FBI statements. The most pressing issue now revolves around just what happened when the FBI attacked Mount Carmel. The agency has always insisted that its agents never fired into the burning compound. But an infrared videotape made by an FBI surveillance plane on the day of the attack captured what some experts say appear to be muzzle flashes. The FBI insists that the flashes are simply sunlight glinting off a metal roof. That proposition will be tested next month at Fort Hood, not far from Waco, when the military recreates the federal attack. Under similar weather and temperature conditions to the original attack, six gunmen armed with pistols and submachine guns will dart from post to post, firing their weapons in detailed sequence. Grenades will be launched overhead and an advancing tank will crush glass and aluminum siding. If the new tape picks up traces of gunfire, the sect's contention that agents fired on them will get a big boost. As the test day neared, government lawyers acknowledged that the infrared camera the FBI used during the 1993 Waco siege can detect gunfire, a reversal of the agency's long-held position. In yet another chink in the government case, Danny Coulson, former deputy assistant director of the FBI, acknowledged this week that sending tanks into the Branch Davidian compound was inconsistent with the Washington-approved plan for ending the siege. That plan called for demolition of the sect's building only after tear gas had been sprayed in for 48 hours. On April 19, however, FBI tanks began demolishing the rear of the building less than five hours after the gas operation began. Mr. Coulson is the first top FBI official involved in the 1993 incident to be questioned under oath in the Branch Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit. Ms. Reno herself is to make her deposition on March 28. "Only in the last six months are we finally getting at the truth," said Michael Caddell, a lawyer for the Branch Davidians. "Only when we got to the civil lawsuit and started taking depositions has the truth come out." ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! 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