-Caveat Lector-
"Also on Sunday, filmmaker Michael McNulty, who has questioned government
findings that the Davidians were responsible for their tragic end, said on
``Fox News Sunday'' that he had new evidence that federal operatives were
firing ``long streams of automatic weapons fire'' at the back of the
compound, preventing those inside from escaping the fire."
This is very interesting!!! Why would they want everyone dead?
Hilary
Monday September 6 1:24 AM ET
Republicans Vow Probe Into Waco
Full Coverage Waco Investigation
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19990906/pl/waco_investigation_27.html
By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress returns this week with Republicans intent on
investigating the latest Waco dispute and asking whether Janet Reno should
resign over what one senator said was a Justice Department ``in shambles.''
On the Democratic side, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said Sunday he had
written GOP committee chairmen asking them to put off hearings until an
independent investigator finishes looking into new controversies swirling
around the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound.
Schumer, on ABC's ``This Week,'' said hearings would probably descend into
partisan squabbling. ``My worry is that congressional investigations would
bring up a lot of heat and not very much light.''
But Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said Congress must be involved. ``You can't
have the country misled for six years by the Justice Department and the FBI
and not have Congress do something about it,'' he said on ABC.
At issue is recent FBI revelations that it fired several flammable tear gas
canisters at a storm shelter hours before the main Branch Davidian building
went up in flames. The FBI and the Justice Department had previously denied
use of any incendiary devices, and investigations will focus on whether
this misinformation was the result of a bureaucratic slip-up or a coverup.
The Justice Department insists there is no change in conclusions that it
was David Koresh and his followers that started the fatal fire. The
department also stresses that military special operations officers were on
the scene only as observers and advisers, and not in an illegal capacity as
participants in the operation.
Any GOP-led investigation would be sure to touch on the competence of Reno,
who has constantly clashed with Republicans over campaign finance and
Chinese spying scandals, to be attorney general.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on NBC's ``Meet
the Press'' and CNN's ``Late Edition,'' said he had lost confidence in
Reno's ability to lead. ``The Justice Department is in a shambles. There is
a demoralization over there because they realize they are not doing the
job.''
FBI Director Louis Freeh, in contrast, is the ``single best'' director he
had known, Hatch said. On Freeh's reported differences with Reno, Hatch
said ``you don't want some milquetoast guy in there who won't stand up and
do what's right.''
Schumer, however, said there was a double standard in attacking Reno and
defending Freeh when it was the FBI that was apparently responsible for not
getting the facts to Reno, their ultimate superior.
President Clinton, asked by reporters Saturday if he had confidence in Reno
and Freeh, pointedly supported Reno but not Freeh. On Freeh, he said he
said there wasn't ``any purpose to assign blame until the investigation is
concluded.''
Reno is expected to name an outside investigator sometime this week, with
the emphasis on an impartial judge, possibly a Republican, who is respected
by both sides.
``As the attorney general has said, she wants to get to the bottom of this
and will appoint an outside investigator to do just that,'' Justice
Department spokesman Myron Marlin said.
Freeh was not FBI director at the time of the Waco siege, but did head the
agency later when Reno, relying on FBI information, was denying that
flammable devices were used against the Branch Davidians.
``Maybe Louis Freeh is to blame too,'' Gramm said. ``Maybe they both should
go.''
Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, on CNN, said it was ``very
regrettable that people up to and including the president are now being
asked to choose sides. This is unprecedented. I have never seen a situation
like this where there has been this split between the two agencies.''
But Hatch also said he had talked to both Reno and Freeh this week and had
been assured by both that they were on good terms and reports of
differences between the two were blown out of proportion.
Also on Sunday, filmmaker Michael McNulty, who has questioned government
findings that the Davidians were responsible for their tragic end, said on
``Fox News Sunday'' that he had new evidence that federal operatives were
firing ``long streams of automatic weapons fire'' at the back of the
compound, preventing those inside from escaping the fire.
Former FBI agent Richard Schwein, who was at Waco, said that was
``absolutely false,'
