-Caveat Lector-
FBI Termed Uncooperative in Waco Probe
Danforth Says New Documents Wouldn't Alter Conclusion Clearing Federal
Agents
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 1, 2001; Page A12
The FBI was so uncooperative in the Waco investigation that special
counsel John C. Danforth threatened FBI Director Louis J. Freeh with a
search warrant to gain access to relevant documents, Danforth said
yesterday in an interview with The Washington Post.
Danforth, a former U.S. senator from Missouri who conducted a 14-month
investigation into the 1993 deaths of 75 Branch Davidians in Waco, Tex.,
said that he could not be sure that he received all the records from the
FBI because of the agency's poor record keeping and its "spirit of
resistance" to outside scrutiny.
But Danforth also said that additional records would not change his
conclusion that federal agents did not fire shots at members of the
heavily armed religious cult or start the deadly blaze that engulfed
their compound.
"It was like pulling teeth to get all this paper from the FBI," Danforth
said during an interview in the Washington offices of Bryan Cave LLP,
the St. Louis-based law firm in which he is a partner and which
assisted in the investigation.
"Can I say to you that there isn't some box of paper somewhere that we
never found? I can't say that to you," he said later. "Do I think
there is any chance that it would be paper that would have any effect on
our findings? I think there is no chance that it would have any effect
on our findings because the evidence was so overwhelming."
An FBI official said that many of the problems encountered by Danforth
were due to strained relations with one key lawyer in the FBI's general
counsel office, and that the problem was fixed once Freeh intervened.
The bureau also had trouble locating and retrieving many documents
because of outmoded filing and computer systems, the official said.
"Freeh's intent was always to have full cooperation with Danforth," the
official said. "He said that on multiple occasions."
Danforth's comments came on the same day that lawyers for Oklahoma City
bomber Timothy J. McVeigh asked for a stay in McVeigh's execution
because the FBI failed to turn over 4,000 pages of records in that case.
Danforth was appointed special counsel in the Waco probe by Attorney
General Janet Reno in 1999 after officials disclosed that potentially
incendiary tear gas canisters were fired on the Davidian compound on the
final day of the standoff -- contrary to years of denials from the
Justice Department and the FBI. Danforth's investigation concluded that
the canisters did not start any of the fires that consumed the compound,
landing 75 feet from the main building hours before the fires started.
Danforth, an ordained Episcopal minister who served in the Senate for 18
years, said his St. Louis-based investigation "had a lot of difficulty"
getting documents from the FBI. The problem came to a head in late 1999
when his office threatened to get a search warrant from a federal judge,
he said.
Danforth said that he agreed in a phone conversation with Freeh not to
seek a warrant if 14 postal inspectors would be allowed to search bureau
files themselves. The search netted hundreds of pages of documents that
had not been turned over, investigators said.
Freeh sent a clear message that FBI employees should cooperate with the
Waco probe, Danforth said, "but I think there was a spirit of resistance
elsewhere in the FBI." Earlier in 1999, Reno had sent U.S. marshals
into FBI headquarters to seize other Waco-related documents.
Danforth said his experience in the Waco investigation makes him doubt
the pledges of Freeh and Attorney General John D. Ashcroft that every
FBI document in the McVeigh case has been located. "I bet that Timothy
McVeigh at some point in time, I don't when, will be executed, and after
the execution, there will be some box found somewhere," he said.
Danforth, who had scheduled yesterday's interview with The Post before
the new McVeigh documents came to light, said there is no evidence
whatsoever of "dark acts" by federal agents in the 51-day standoff with
the Branch Davidians, who killed four officers and wounded 20 others.
He said that "conspiracy theorists" will always find fault with the
investigation, but that most Americans realize the government did not
cause the Davidians' deaths.
Danforth, a Republican, also staunchly defended Reno in a controversy
that dogged her throughout her tenure. Danforth said he penned a note
to Reno earlier this year commending her handling of the Waco situation.
"She did a very conscientious job of trying to minimize the bad things
that could have happened," Danforth said. "She did the right thing."
=======================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
=======================================================
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
