Newsgroups: austin.general,alt.conspiracy,alt.activism,tx.politics,talk.religion.misc Subject: Truth and Cover-up -- Sorting out the Waco tragedy (corrected) Date: 8 Jun 1993 15:12:09 -0500 Truth and Cover-up Sorting out the Waco tragedy by: Robert W. Lee New American Magazine Vol 9, N. 12 June 14, 1993 Filtering fact from fiction in the wake of the disastrous confrontation between federal agents and the Branch Davidian religious sect led by self-styled "prophet" David Koresh will be quite a task. Crucial evidence and key witnesses were consumed by the fire that destroyed the sect's complex near Waco, Texas on April 19th. Then on May 12th, government officials, citing a need to fill holes and cover trash and raw sewage for safety and health reasons, rolled bulldozers across the burned-out ruins, further depleting the inventory of evidence. Moreover, many important aspects of the entire 51-day standoff have become muddled as federal agencies and officials struggle to justify their actions. On February 28th, more than 100 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) agents stormed the complex to execute an arrest warrant for David Koresh and a search warrant for the premises. Four agents were killed and 16 wounded in the resulting shoot-out, while six members of the sect reportedly died and an unknown number were injured. According to the affidavit on which the search warrant was based, the sect was suspected of harboring illegal weapons and converting some of the weapons obtained legally to illegal ones. The BATF apparently did not attempt (or intend) to serve the warrant in the usual benign manner. One agent involved told the Houston Chronicle, "We had practiced to where it took seven seconds for us to get out of the tarp-covered cattle trailers we rolled up in, and 12 seconds to reach the front door." (photograph of compound in flames omitted) caption: The April 19th fire at the Branch Davidian compound concluded the needless tragedy Past Cooperation In the past, the Davidians had cooperated with law enforcement and human services authorities. In 1987, for instance, David Koresh (who was then Vernon Howell -- he legally changed his name in 1990) was involved in a shoot-out with a rival for control of the 77-acre property. Koresh and seven associates were arrested indicted, and tried for attempted murder. The seven associates were acquitted; charges against Koresh were dropped after the jury deadlocked. The prosecutor in the case was then -- McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell. During a March 1st interview with the Houston Chronicle, he recalled, "We had no problems" with arresting the Davidians. The sheriff and a deputy simply called Koresh and told him that charges were pending and that he and his associates would have to turn themselves in and surrender their weapons. Deputies went to the compound and the suspects readily complied. "We treated them like human beings, rather than storm-trooping the place," Feazell recollects. They were extremely polite people. After the trial -- although we didn't agree with everything they believed or said -- many of the members of the staff were pretty sympathetic with them.'' Feazell describes this year's incident as "a vulgar display of power on the part of the feds being met with fear and paranoia on the part of the Davidians. If they'd called and talked to them, the Davidians would've given them what they wanted." When Henry McMahon and Karen Kilpatrick operated Hewitt's Handguns in Waco, they sold David Koresh some $50,000 worth of firearms. During an April 21st television interview, McMahon recounted a revealing incident involving himself, Koresh, and the BATF. Noting that Koresh was always meticulous in filling out the legal paperwork for his gun purchases, McMahon recalled that at the end of July 1992, a BATF compliance officer, accompanied by a trainee, visited the gun shop to check records on the more than 4,000 guns that the store had sold over the years, included more than 100 sold to Koresh. As the day wore on, the officer began asking questions about the Davidian leader and requested (and was given) a list of the guns that Koresh had purchased. McMahon then called Koresh, while the BATF functionaries were there. As recounted by McMahon, he said to Koresh, "They're here asking about all these guns. They think its a big deal that you've bought so many guns." And Koresh responded, "If there's a problem, tell them to come out here." McMahon offered to take the agents out to see Koresh, but they declined. (older photograph of Koresh outside the compound omitted) caption: Local residents had seen Koresh around Waco in the weeks prior to the first BATF assault Could the arrest warrant for Koresh have been executed while he was outside the compound? Federal authorities at first claimed that Koresh had been under constant surveillance for about two months, had not left the compound for five weeks, and was not expected to do so anytime soon. But Paul Fatta, a Davidian who was running errands elsewhere when the raid took place, told reporters that on several occasions in recent weeks he, Koresh, and others had gone "jogging down the road, almost three miles down the road. Five guys in tennis shoes jogging in shorts. I Want to know why at that time, if they wanted him to come peacefully or serve the warrant why wasn't it done then? We were off the property several times." Brent Moore, manager of the Chelsea Street Pub and Grill which Koresh frequented, told the Houston Post for March 5th, "He was in here three or four weeks ago." One music store owner recalled that Koresh had stopped by in early January. When numerous other neighbors and merchants claimed that they also had seen Koresh around town in the weeks preceding the raid, BATF Associate Director Dan Hartnett admitted that the BATF had not monitored the complex on a 24-hour basis, which contradicted the earlier claims and meant that the agency was not certain of Koresh's comings and goings. Who Fired First? The crucial question of who fired the first shot during the original BATF raid remains in doubt. According to BATF intelligence chief David Troy, the entire mission (reportedly named Operation Trojan Horse) was videotaped, but the tapes are being withheld due to the homicide investigation. The unexpurgated tape could confirm who fired first and clarify other key aspects of the tragedy. To preclude possible tampering, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. in Waco has ordered the FBI to preserve all of the government's audio and videotapes of the February 28th raid. Unless complete, unedited tapes can be produced, and soon, the widespread suspicion that the government is engaged in a cover-up will intensify. Did those inside the compound even realize they were being attacked by law enforcement officials? Sect member David Thibodeau, who survived the fire, was interviewed by the television tabloid A Current Affair for May 3rd. Thibodeau claimed that fellow sect member Douglas Wayne Martin, a Harvard-trained attorney, called 911 to report the assault. As recounted by Thibodeau. the "person at 911 put him through to another agency -- I think it was the sheriff's department, but I'm not 100 percent sure -- and the person at the other end of the phone said, 'Well hi, boys, how y'all doin' out there?' And, you know, Wayne's screaming, 'We're gettin' shot at! We're gettin' killed! We're getting killed!'" Since tapes of 911 calls are preserved, it should be a simple matter to verify Thibodeau's account. But as A Current Affair correspondent Mary Garofalo noted, it "has become a controversial recording [that] police refuse to release to the press." Flawed Affidavit The search warrant issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis G. Green, dated February 25th, was based on an affidavit signed that day by BATF Special Agent Davy Aguilera. The affidavit is larded with unsubstantiated allegations by disgruntled former Branch Davidians and with inherently contradictory claims. Some legal scholars have questioned the legality of the search warrant itself -- which had to be based on "probable cause" -- in light of the flawed affidavit. At one point, for instance, the affidavit refers to Aguilera's conversation with a colleague, Special Agent Carlos Torres, who related to Aguilera the gist of an interview he had conducted on December 4, 1992 with Ms. Joyce Sparks of the Texas Department of Human Services. Responding to a complaint the agency had received from outside the state that Koresh was operating a commune-type compound and was sexually abusing young girls, Ms. Sparks had visited the compound on February 27, 1992 and talked with some of the children. She did not report that any were abused, but (in Aguilera's words) had "talked to a young boy about 7 or 8 years old. The child said that he could not wait to grow up and be a man. When Ms. Sparks asked him why he was in such a hurry to grow up, he replied that when he grew up he would get a 'long gun' just like all the other men there. When Ms. Sparks pursued the subject, the boy told her that all the adults had guns and that they were always practicing with them." Apparently, both Ms. Sparks and Aguilera viewed the episode as sinister, even though the same sort of response could have been elicited from, say, a young Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, or Alvin York. Ms. Sparks returned to the compound on April 6th and (as recounted by Aguilera) "said that during her conversation with Koresh, [Koresh] told her that he was the 'Messenger' from God, that the world was coming to an end, and that when he 'reveals' himself the riots in Los Angeles would pale in comparison to what was going to happen in Waco, Texas. Koresh stated that it would be a 'military type operation' and that all the 'non-believers' would have to suffer." That account, which was widely publicized by the media, helped to underpin the contention that Koresh and his followers may have been plotting a violent attack on Waco. Note, however, that this account has Koresh claiming on April 6th that "the riots in Los Angeles would pale in comparison" to events in Waco, when in fact the LA riots did not begin until April 30th, 24 days later! Unless Koresh was indeed the prophet he claimed to be, something is obviously amiss! On pages 14-15 of the affidavit, Agent Aguilera claims that a BATF informant within the compound reported "that he [Koresh] did not pay taxes or local taxes because he felt he did not have to." Yet on page three, Aguilera describes the 1987 shooting incident mentioned earlier and asserts that, although Koresh's rival "was in jeopardy of losing the property by foreclosure due to delinquent taxes which had not been paid since 1968," the "taxes owed on the Mt. Carmel Center [as the compound was known] have been paid by Howell's [Koresh's] group." And at yet another point, Aguilera asserts that a sheriff's department lieutenant "furnished me with recent aerial photographs of the Mount Carmel Center which had been taken by Captain Dan Weyenberg of the McLennan County Sheriff's Department, Waco, Texas. Among the things noted in the photographs was a buried bus near the main structure..." During her April 6th visit to the compound, Ms. Sparks had noticed a trap door in the floor at one end of the building. In Aguilera's words, "Koresh allowed her to look into the trap door. She could see a ladder leading down into a buried school bus." How could an aerial photograph show a bus so deeply buried that it must be accessed via a trap door and ladder? Despite such contradictions, Magistrate Judge Green signed off on the warrant that led to the attempted search that led to the shoot-out that led to the standoff that led to the holocaust. Mysterious Tip Off? At first, the BATF told reporters that the raid had failed because the Davidians were tipped off by a mysterious caller. It was subsequently learned, however, that actions by the BATF itself and the other law enforcement agencies involved may have enabled the sect to realize what was happening and when. At least 11 reporters were on the scene before the assault team struck. According to the New York Times for March 28th, residents of Waco reported that their radio scanners picked up BATF agents talking to each other on their walkie-talkies prior to the raid. Helicopters were overhead as the first agent set foot on the ground. A BATF spokesman acknowledged on March 1st that local police were talking openly about the undertaking on an easily overheard radio frequency 45 minutes before the raid, but claimed that there was "no evidence" that it was a factor in tipping off the Davidians. On March 11th, BATF Deputy Associate Director Dan Conroy told reporters, "We absolutely, categorically deny we contacted the media prior to the raid." He subsequently acknowledged, however, that Sharon Wheeler, a BATF spokeswoman in Dallas, had contacted several Dallas-based news agencies a few hours prior to the raid and asked for the phone numbers of specific press representatives who could be reached "in case something happened" over the weekend. And during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on April 28th, BATF Director Stephen E. Higgins was asked by Representative John Bryant (D-TX): "Did somebody at the BATF notify the press in advance of the raid?" Higgins replied: "Yes, I think there's evidence which indicates that someone did." An especially disturbing aspect of this whole affair is the extent to which federal authorities have relied on unverified charges by former Branch Davidians as the basis for their decisions. The testimony of disgruntled members of religious organizations, of former employees, or of embittered family members is notoriously unreliable standing alone. The most sensational charges about David Koresh's alleged adulteries, multiple wives, sex with children, etc., have come from disaffected Davidians such as Australian musician James Tom, who has received extensive media coverage for his claim that Koresh once spanked his (Tom's) daughter for some 30 to 40 minutes (or 45 to 50 minutes, depending on the interview), until the child's bottom was bleeding and bruised, because she would not sit on his lap. Asked why he did not intervene, Tom once explained that "I couldn't," because he might get hurt himself. Tom has also charged that Koresh once asked him to surrender one of his children for a literal human sacrifice, and that on another occasion Koresh locked his own three-year-old son in a garage as punishment and told the boy there were rats in the garage who liked to gnaw on children. Tom has said, "When I first saw him [Koresh], I thought this guy is the spitting image of Charles Manson." Why, then, did he join the sect in the first place? Why would he bring his children into a compound run by someone he perceived as a Charles Manson clone? Tom could conceivably be telling the truth, as could the other disaffected Davidians who have made similar sensational allegations against Koresh, but there is simply no independent verification of their charges. In any event, even if these charges are true, they do not justify the federal intervention that occurred. Child abusers should certainly be brought to justice, but child abuse is a local or state matter, not a federal matter. Demonizing Koresh David Koresh was no angel (nor prophet, nor Jesus for that matter). He also headed a sect that most people would call a cult. But how do these facts explain the wild exaggerations by his critics? During a MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour interview on April 20th, for example, terrorism expert Frank McGuire claimed that "David Koresh left a trail of criminal behavior going back to at least 1987," when the most that can be said is that he left a trail of alleged criminality. FBI spokesman Bob Ricks labeled Koresh "a classical sociopath," Attorney General Janet Reno branded him "a dangerous criminal," Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Bill Thompson described him as "one of the vilest mass murderers of our time," and President Clinton said he was "dangerous, irrational and probably insane." Such unsubstantiated statements have served primarily to condition the public to accept the calamitous federal response as justified, no matter how unconstitutional and brutal, since the target was characterized as being a monster who had to be brought down by any means. At one point during the standoff it was rumored that Koresh was planning to destroy a dam in the Waco area, presumably to initiate a Noachian-type flood. The charge, it turned out, was predicated on a letter Koresh had written in mid-April claiming that he had been shown (presumably by God) "a fault line running throughout [the] Lake Waco area," and that an "earthquake in Waco is something not to be taken lightly." Even the FBI interpreted the letter to mean that the Davidians intended to destroy a dam, but the agency was assuaged after Koresh lieutenant Steve Schneider explained, in the words of FBI spokesman Bob Ricks, that Koresh was merely "predicting a natural disaster, and there is no criminal intent on his part nor is he requesting anyone else take action on the part of David to fulfill their prophecy." But even after the fire, the rumor persisted, and Inside Edition for April 21st somberly claimed that authorities had told the publication "that there is concern that surviving cult members will try to fulfill that prophecy by vandalizing the dam." Needless to say, such an act would not fulfill the prophecy which entailed destruction by earthquake, not vandalism. Charges of Child Abuse As we have already indicated, child abuse falls outside the Constitutional purview of the federal government. Yet concern that children within the compound were being physically and sexually abused has been cited by President Clinton, Attorney General Reno, and other officials as a justification for federal intervention. White House spokesman George Stephanopoulos told reporters on April 21st that there "is absolutely no question that there's overwhelming evidence of child abuse in the Waco compound." Indeed, as the ashes smoldered, Attorney General Reno claimed on April 19th that it was concern for the children that had first brought federal attention to the Davidians, that suspected sexual abuse of children was a basis for the original raid, and that the decision to punch holes in the compound and insert chemical irritant was based in part on "information that infants were being slapped around and beaten." She subsequently admitted, though, that "we can't prove it [child abuse] in terms of a criminal case." Moreover, the Justice Department acknowledged on April 21st that there was no hard evidence of any recent child abuse, but instead only speculation by psychiatrists who had studied Koresh, analyzed his writings, and interviewed former members of the sect. On that basis, the "experts" had concluded, and advised federal authorities, that abuse had occurred and was probably continuing. Also on April 21st, 1,100 pages of unsealed documents were released in Waco. They contained only two allegations of child abuse, both of which emanated from disgruntled former members of the sect. On April 28th, FBI Deputy Director Floyd Clarke told the House Judiciary Committee that the Branch Davidians had used their own children as human shields. He asserted that sect members "would appear in the windows and hold the children up" and would even refer to the children as "Kevlar Kids." Kevlar is a bulletproof material. Clarke's account is evidently based on an incident that occurred one month earlier when federal agents used an M1-A1 Abrams battle tank to clear vehicles, brush, and other debris from the front of the compound property. Some sect members lifted children to windows, apparently to satiate their curiosity about what was taking place. There were no other indications of evil intent, no display of weapons, no acts of aggression. FBI spokesman Richard Swensen acknowledged that the children may have been hoisted up simply to satisfy their curiosity about the tank, but added that it was a dangerous maneuver which "raised the anxiety level of everyone." The FBI's concern was understandable. but so was the Davidians' deportment, and the episode hardly merited the selfserving spin given it by Deputy Director Clarke. In the wake of the tragic fire, FBI spokesman Bob Ricks told reporters on April 19th that one of the surviving sect members reported that the children had been safely placed in a bunker before flames swept the compound. "It appears that this was one final lie on David's part to assure the people that the children had been taken care of," Ricks asserted. "It appears once again his final act to the American public was to go through a lie." But on May 14th, the Associated Press revealed, "As it turned out, it was no lie; Most of the children were found huddled in the concrete bunker, enveloped in the protective embraces of their mothers." During the standoff itself, the tactics employed by the FBI seemed to show little regard for the welfare of the children. The bizarre psychological operations (psy-ops) to deprive Davidians of sleep included recordings of dental drills and rabbits being slaughtered, which was hardly conducive to the children's welfare. Indeed, if officials actually believed that adult members of the sect were prone to child abuse, making them more highstrung and emotionally exasperated could only make matters worse. On March 5th, FBI spokesman Ricks had said that the goal of the negotiations was to make Koresh feel comfortable with the federal officials and to convince him that authorities act in a humane fashion. The Houston Chronicle had claimed earlier in the week that psy-ops were being planned, but on March 6th reported that FBI officials "deny that they have any plans to use 'psychological warfare' techniques such as the loud rock music" used against Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega in 1989. Psy-Op Effect After the fire, FBI spokesman Jeff Jamar told Nightline's Ted Koppell that the goal of the psy-ops was to keep the Davidians "from being able to sleep" and to"distract them and at least hopefully break down some of [Koresh's] control over them." Yet it is a well-established principle of psychological warfare that sleep deprivation makes individuals more suggestible and therefore more likely to believe what they are told by those with influence over them. Rather than "break down" the sect leader's control, the psy-ops approach may have enhanced it. Actually, though, the loud-sound, bright-light histrionics appeared to have little impact on the Davidians. They may have done more to unnerve federal agents, and possibly contributed to the "fatigue" cited by Attorney General Reno as another reason for giving the go ahead for the April 19th assault. Newsweek for May 3rd noted that, according to Steve Schneider's attorney Jack Zimmermann, the spotlights shining through windows all night simply provided "more illumination for Bible study" and was "especially welcome since the electricity had been cut off." And FBI spokesman Bob Ricks admitted on April 8th that if "we were to say psy-ops were to have the least effect on almost anyone, it probably would be Mr. Koresh." Its greatest impact, in all likelihood, was on the children. The Texas Department of Human Services had on at least three prior occasions investigated allegations of child abuse at the compound. Both children and adults were interviewed, but investigators were unable to gain any hard or credible evidence of abuse. Similarly, 21 children were released during the early days of the standoff, and authorities could find no evidence of abuse. Janice M. Caldwell, executive director of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, told reporters on March 5th, "They're in remarkably good shape considering what they have been through. No signs of physical abuse have been found." The next day's Houston Post reported that authorities had found that "all the youths appear to be in good condition psychologically and physically," and that only one child required even "minor medical attention." Social worker Joyce Sparks, according to the Post, "said the children are remarkably well-educated and they're fascinated by the books in the residence where they're staying." (striking photograph of the compound at night taken from a distance, illuminated from behind by banks of BATF/FBI searchlights omitted) caption: The bizzare "psy-ops" employed against the compound's inhabitants included incessant bright light and loud noise Psychobabble But while the authorities who checked the children when they were released could find no evidence of abuse, a team of therapists led by Dr. Bruce D. Perry announced on May 4th that the kids were afflicted with all sorts of problems. Dr. Perry, chief of psychiatry at Texas Children's hospital and vice chairman for research of the department of psychiatry at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, spent two months working with 19 of the 21 children (the others were too young). While his team's report did not claim that the children had been physically or sexually abused (he specifically said that the team had found no evidence to support President Clinton's and Attorney General Reno's contention that the children had been abused), Dr. Perry told reporters that the children had been subjected to harsh physical discipline for minor infractions, that round lesions that might have been caused by paddling were found on the buttocks of some of the girls, that there had been gym classes that included marching and drilling possibly with firearms, that Koresh had told the children to call their parents "dogs," that only he was to be referred to as their father, that girls as young as 11 were given a plastic Star of David signifying that they were ready to have sex with Koresh, etc. Dr. Perry also claimed that the children feared Koresh, even though he acknowledged that nearly all of them talked about their love for him. "Fear is what it was," he said during an interview. "They learned to substitute the word 'love' for fear." The credibility of much of what the children told the Perry team is questionable. As Newsweek for May 17th observed, "Some of the children's more fantastic stories may not be true. In his report, Perry mentions that several children said dead babies were kept in the freezer until they could be buried or burned. Perry says that there's no way to determine the accuracy of these stories." Nor is there a way to determine the accuracy of the stories Dr. Perry does appear to believe. In one of the most dramatic segments of his May 4th news conference, Dr. Perry displayed pictures drawn by the children. In one instance, a girl had depicted her "home," and when Dr. Perry asked if there was anything else, the youngster took the crayon and pounded a number of marks at the top of the structure. When Dr. Perry asked what it meant, she replied "bullets." This was viewed as an indication that the sect's alleged obsession with guns and shooting had scarred the youngster emotionally. But the possibility that the youngster was emotionally affected by the government's raid on the compound was ignored. It is no exaggeration to state that the event must have been traumatic for the children. As the Houston Chronicle for March 2nd had reported: Children trapped inside the Mount Carmel cult compound during Sunday's deadly gunbattle cowered under their beds, horrified, while federal agents pumped a barrage of bullets into their quarters. Six of the children were released Sunday, joined by four others Monday afternoon. The first group told social workers and therapists Monday that bullets were whizzing through windows and walls and they feared they would be killed with their families. Deteriorating Conditions Deteriorating sanitary conditions within the compound, due to the presence of dead bodies and the buildup of raw sewage, were cited as another justification for the tragic April 19th assault. Attorney General Reno asserted on CNN's Larry King Live that her "horrible fear" was that "if I delayed, without sanitation or toilets there ... I could go in there in two months and find children dead from any number of things." But as explained on Nightline for April 28th by former Pentagon official Noel Koch, whose specialty was counterterrorism and internal security, deteriorating conditions within the compound were actually "good problems for the negotiators. They buy you time. If you think things are getting bad inside, that's just a signal to you to continue to let them get worse and not try to interrupt the process." After all, "it's better to have a terrible situation than be dead." (photograph of seemingly normal, healthy small child in the front seat of a car omitted) caption: Children released after the first raid recalled the terror of the attack The Drug Connection For weeks, officials insisted to reporters that there was no suspicion of illegal drugs at the compound. But the BATF enticed Texas officials to allow the use of three National Guard helicopters in the raid by claiming that illegal drugs were indeed suspected. Only in late March, when the governor's office maintained that it had been misled, did the BATF for the first time publicly state that the compound may have harbored a methamphetamine laboratory. The Houston Chronicle for March 25th reported that "a review of federal guidelines by the governor's staff indicated that the only way the Guard could have assisted in the ATF investigation was that evidence indicated illegal drugs were involved." A BATF source "confirmed that the Texas Guard was told of the possibility of an illegal drug lab at the compound," but at the same time, "the source said the agency was uncertain whether a lab actually was in operation at the time of the raid." Indeed, as revealed by the Waco Tribune-Herald for March 28th, the BATF's "evidence" that the sect was making and selling illegal methamphetamines consisted of nothing more than that 11 members had been involved in prior drug activity. Just as it is not known with certainty who fired the first shot at the beginning of the 51-day standoff, so it is unclear how the fire started at the end. The government claims that the Davidians ignited the blaze in an act of religiously motivated mass suicide. On the other hand, a number of surviving Davidians contend that the fire began after a tank bashed a hole in the compound and tipped over a kerosene lamp. On April 19th, FBI spokesman Bob Ricks claimed that one of the survivors had heard someone inside the compound yell: "The fire's been lit. The fire's been lit." But when sect member Renos Avraam, the source for Ricks' comment, was queried on camera by reporters, he declared the opposite: "One of the tanks knocked over a gas lantern, and it started a fire under some bales of hay that were lying around... The fire wasn't started by us." Fortress or Firetrap? The possibility of fire, accidental or otherwise, should have been apparent to the federal agents all along. Electricity to the compound had been cut off on March 12th, forcing the Davidians to rely on gasoline-powered generators, kerosene lamps, and propane. The building (on occasion described as a "fortress" by authorities) was a veritable tinderbox constructed of used lumber, plywood, and sheetrock tacked together with tar paper. All of its floors were littered with linens, cardboard, and bales of hay pushed against windows to parry bullets. The FBI claims that heat sensors detected fires at a number of points simultaneously; some accounts say that fires began in two places, others say three, and still others say four. A team of "independent" arson investigators announced on April 26th that, in its Opinion, the fire was set by persons inside the building in at least two separate locations at about the same time. Since the 30-mile-per-hour winds blowing through the many flue-like holes punched by the tanks could have upended other ignition sources throughout the building, while rapidly spreading the fire, the government's position depends in large part on the simultaneous setting of the fires at multiple points. But U.S. News & World Report for May 3rd reported that "FBI officials say their aerial surveillance of the area picked up with infrared imaging flames breaking out at three different points within 50 seconds" (emphasis added). And Newsweek for May 3rd asserted that "Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern says three separate sources reported fires starting in three different locations Within 120 seconds." An interval of 50 seconds to two minutes is hardly "simultaneous" when we are talking about a wind-driven conflagration in a tinderbox that burned to the ground in under 45 minutes. The arson investigation team led by Paul Gray, assistant chief investigator for the Houston Fire Department, discounted Davidian claims that a tank knocked over a can of fuel. Gray claimed during a news briefing on April 26th that it was impossible because, as captured by videotape, the last assault by the tank was at least four minutes before the fire actually broke out. But NBC News reported later in the day that it had videotaped a tank "tearing away the corner of one building only 2 minutes 50 seconds before the first signs of fire." Those first indications of fire emanated from a window almost directly above the point where the tank ripped the hole. On April 28th, the CBS News correspondent Sarah Hughes reported that the supposedly "independent" arson investigation team "has close ties with the FBI." In response, Mr. Gray groused that to "even suggest that any information we may be getting from the FBI is somehow tainted is absolutely ridiculous." During an ABC News Nightline interview that evening, attorney Jack Zimmermann asked, referring to Gray, "Why in the world did they bring in as chief of this investigating team looking into the fire, a fellow who had been on an ATF joint task force for eight to ten years, out of the Houston office of the ATF, the office that planned and executed the raid?" Good question! (photograph of BATF agent in combat gear holding a Heckler and Kotch 9mm Machine Gun near the compound omitted) caption: A BATF agent stands ready with weapon during the 51-day siege The government's position also depends heavily on whether members of the sect actually intended to commit mass suicide. If so, then the possibility that they torched the compound to fulfill their role in apocalyptic prophecy becomes plausible. If not, however, then the likelihood that they purposely set the fire dwindles. In 1992, former sect members in Australia charged that Koresh was contemplating a mass suicide. The State Department relayed their information to authorities in the U.S., Koresh denied it, and it obviously never happened. Nevertheless, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen told reporters on March 3rd that concern that the Davidians would commit mass suicide had guided federal actions since the initial raid. As with child abuse, keeping people from killing themselves is a state and local concern, not a federal government concern. In any event, the preponderance of evidence, including that gleaned by federal authorities themselves, indicates that suicide was not only alien to Davidian religious tenets, but that Koresh and others were making plans for the future. On the day of the fire, for the first time, the FBI's Bob Ricks told reporters that on March 2nd Koresh intended to emerge from the compound with "hand grenades attached to himself." Ricks continued: "When the FBI approached him, he was going to pull the grenades and was going to kill himself... Everybody knew this was the plan. They all reconvened back in the chapel. David Koresh kissed the kids good-bye and was going to go outside and was going to commit suicide in front of all the TV cameras. At the last second, he chickened out." If this indeed was Koresh's intention (and we only have Ricks' word), it would have been a clear indication of suicidal tendencies on Koresh's part. But according to FBI Director William Sessions, the agency had no such indication at all that Koresh was suicidal. During an April 20th MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour interview, Sessions asserted that "every single analysis made of his writing, of what he had said, of what he lad said to his lawyers, of what the behavioral science people said, what the psychologists thought, the psycholinguist, thought, what the psychiatrists believed, was that this man was not suicidal, that he would not take his life." Which makes Agent Ricks' version of events seem somewhat apocryphal. Plans for the Future One of the experts that the FBI consulted was Syracuse University psychologist Dr. Murray Miron, a linguistics expert. On April 20th, Dr. Miron told NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw that, regarding the five letters by Koresh that the FBI had asked him to analyze, "All of his communications were future-oriented. He claimed to be working on a manuscript. He was talking about the publication rights to that manuscript through his lawyer. He was intent upon furthering his cause." Koresh had reportedly retained New York literary attorney Ken Burrows to negotiate the sale ot his story. He had asked his local attorney, Richard DeGuerin, to prepare a will protecting sect property rights and establishing a trust fund for his children to safeguard any money made from movie or book deals. When armored vehicles moved his black Camaro from the front of the compound, he reportedly became enraged, indicating that he had hopes of driving it again someday. There are also indications that other sect members were not contemplating suicide. According to Newsweek for May 3rd, Steve Schneider, who always tried to be well-groomed, asked his attorney, Jack Zimmermann, "Should I get one of our people in here to cut my hair before I come out or let the people at the jail cut it?" And FBI spokesman Ricks told reporters on March 15th that "occupants of the compound .. . are very interested in how the judicial process might work" should they surrender. In these and other ways, David Koresh and other sect members were sending signals that seriously conflict with the government's contention that they had a tropism toward self immolation. The location of the bodies that were discovered after the fire also challenge the suicide hypothesis. In the words of arson investigator Paul Gray, the bodies were "generally distributed throughout the rubble," not huddled close together as one might expect in a pre-planned mass suicide. As we write, 78 bodies have been recovered, including 22 that reportedly died from gunshot wounds. It has not been (and may never be) established if those gunshot wounds were the result of willful suicide, murder while trying to escape, or an expedient alternative to the excruciating pain and suffering of burning to death. According to Attorney General Janet Reno, nobody high up in government said "don't do it" as she considered the disastrous plan. But it is not mere hindsight to say that someone should have. On March 10th the Houston Chronicle reported that former Houston police SWAT commander Lieutenant Jim Gunn had advised that, considering the variety and firepower of weapons Koresh and his followers were alleged to have, "About the only thing you could do is go in there with the M-1 talks and start knocking down walls, and they are not going to do that with the children in there." And use of tear gas was not a feasible alternative, according to Gunn, because "tear gas can get into a child's lungs and cause congestion and kill them." Use of Tear Gas Lieutenant Gunn was proven wrong, but only because our new attorney general and President were so terribly wrong. The tear gas that was inserted into the compound -- a white, crystalline powder called CS (O-chlorobenzylidene malonitrile) - is scheduled to be banned for military use by the Chemical Weapons Convention signed in Paris in January by the U.S. and some 130 other nations. There is an exception in the treaty, however, for its use in domestic law enforcement. Used during the Vietnam War to flush the VietCong from hidden tunnels, the gas causes dizziness, disorientation, shortness of breath, chest tightness, nausea, burning of the skin, intense tearing, coughing, and vomiting. Benjamin C. Garrett, executive director of the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute in Alexandria, Virginia, told the Washington Times for April 23rd that CS would have most harshly affected the children in the compound. "The reaction would have intensified for the children," the noted, since "the smaller you are, the sooner you would feel response." The FBI claimed that it had hoped that mothers, anxious to protect their children, would run outside when the chemical irritant was inserted into the building. At a news conference, White House spokesman George Stephanopoulos declined to explain why, if that were the case, a substance that temporarily blinds and disables a person was selected. The tragedy near Waco has predictably spawned new calls for additional gun controls to close alleged "loopholes" in existing federal laws and further erode the Second Amendment guarantee of law-abiding Americans. On May 5th, for instance, Senator John Chafee (R-RI) announced that he would seek a new law requiring handgun owners, with new exceptions to surrender their firearms for $25, or the market value of each firearm, as part of a nationwide ban on handgun ownership. He also seeks to prohibit the sale, purchase, transfer, manufacture, possession, transportation, and import and export of handguns and handgun ammunition. Killer Gun Laws Assuming (it has yet to be confirmed) that the Davidians obtained some of their weapons illegally, they lid so despite the plethora of already-existing gun control statutes. A waiting period for gun ownership would not have precluded them from collecting an arsenal over many months or years. Neither would a one-gun-per-month restriction have affected them, since more than 100 persons were involved. On May 5th, the Associated Press reported that the Texas Rangers leading the investigation into the standoff and its aftermath had collected 1,916 pieces of evidence from the charred ruins, including "200 recognizable firearms," or about two per adult Davidian. (David Koresh, by the way, was a licensed firearms dealer.) Make no mistake about it; Gun control laws increase the power of government and the criminal element over the average citizen, and serve no other purpose. As syndicated columnist Paul Craig Roberts has noted, the tragedy near Waco "happened precisely because of federal laws regulating gun ownership. The Branch Davidians hadn't assaulted anyone. They lived peacefully in the community. Except for the federal gun laws, they would all still be alive." It is, Roberts continues, the liberal premise "that gun ownership should be illegal, or at least heavily regulated," that "has created the atmosphere in which the ATF, like an unthinking bully, feels compelled to increasingly and brazenly show its presence." * * * During an April 20th ABC News special on the tragedy, FBI Director William Sessions asserted that "the American public expects that law enforcement will deal with those people who have broken the law." He is right, and that expectation includes -- indeed should begin with -- those federal officials who violate both the spirit and the substance of the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. --------------------------------- cut --------------------------------------- Additional copies of this, or any other, issue of New American, or, subscription or other information can be obtained by calling toll-free, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day: 1-800-341-1522 This file was scanned using the CAERE "Text Plus Graphics" Scanner + OCR system for the IBM PC. It has been carefully checked for errors. In the event that an error is found, please contact me. Lance Bledsoe [l w b] at [cs.utexas.edu] -- +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Lance W. Bledsoe [l w b] at [im4u.cs.utexas.edu] (512) 258-0112 | | "Ye shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free." | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+