by Len Hart, The Existentialist CowboyThe FBI lied to the media and the American people when it dared claim that David Koresh and the 'Branch Davidians' were responsible for the deaths of some 74 men, women and children that resulted when the FBI ordered an attack on the Waco compound, April 19, 1993. It was a bald-faced lie!
I don’t think that the FBI in Waco was giving full information to Janet Reno or those in Washington that were making the decisions. They had this agenda that they wanted to do this tear gas thing and force them out and make it so the FBI could be the heroes. They didn’t give them the reasons not to do it. They lied to them about child abuse going on at the time. They gave them false information about the type of tear gas that was to be used. It was a deadly form of it.I recall a broadcast interview with the sheriff in Waco! He had investigated the Davidians, and found them to be 'law abiding American citizens'. He found no basis whatsoever for the complaints against them. I am hard pressed to find anyone at any time in any office who can tell me --precisely and authoritatively --the laws that had been broken by David Koresh and those living peaceably in the compound near Waco, TX. What crimes were committed? What is the probable cause to begin an investigation of Koresh et al? If crimes had been committed, why could not Koresh have been arrested on one of his regular visits to town?
The people became completely immobilized...it wouldn’t have forced them out. Those that got subjected to a heavy does of it would just collapse. They couldn’t come out. It did create a tremendous fire hazard. A lot of the autopsy reports show a high degree of cyanide in the blood streams of those people who were in a position to have breathed some of the gas. What happens with CS gas is that, when it burns, it creates cyanide gas, the same kind of gas that is used in the gas chamber. --Dick DeGuerin, Houston Attorney, For the People
The sheriff had said that '..these were law-abiding American citizens' who believed in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights which had explicitly guaranteed them 'freedom of religion', the right to practice their faith free of government restraints. They had trusted the government whose only responsibility under the Constitution is the protection of the people. The government not only failed them, it betrayed both them and the U.S. Constitution!
The fact is the Branch Davidians were murdered by FBI agents acting upon orders given them by the U.S. government itself, presumably the Justice Department of one Janet Reno.
Attorney General Janet Reno says she's "very, very frustrated" over recent revelations that the FBI fired explosive devices at the Mount Carmel community outside of Waco, Texas, during the April 1993 siege. I know how Reno feels. I was one of only nine survivors of the Waco blaze -- 74 men, women and children died -- and I've devoted the last six years to understanding what happened there. Frustration is a mild word to describe my feelings about that quest.I recall my first reaction to the news feeds from Waco. I asked myself and friends: where and what is the 'probable cause' that Koresh, indeed, any member of his 'compound' had broken the law? Last time I had checked the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, had not been repealed. Last time I had checked, people had a right to believe or not believe as conscience dictates. Last time I checked, any American had a right to belong to a kooky cult if it had not broken the law! The Baptists, a kooky cult if ever there was one, were proof of that! And, as I recall, even Puritans thought Baptists to be 'weird'! And Waco, home to the Baptist Baylor University, was Baptist 'country' to be sure! To this day, no one has cited any 'probable cause' that Koresh or any member of the compound had broken any law whatsoever --not even minor offenses that might have been addressed with a simple arrest upon one of Koresh's regular visits to the town of Waco for provisions.
Reno's frustration, and mine, has only gotten worse recently as more damaging revelations have surfaced. First there was the CIA agent who told Salon News and the Dallas Morning News that members of the Army's secret Delta Force unit had actively participated in the siege. Then the FBI turned over tape recordings that include audio of an agent requesting and receiving permission to use pyrotechnic devices. Reports on Wednesday revealed the government also used incendiary flares during the Waco siege similar to those used to burn down the hideout of white supremacist Robert Mathews.
The film "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" purported to show infrared images of government agents firing on the building. Now there is also a rumored videotape, uncovered by the film's co-producer, Michael McNulty, that reportedly shows agents in an ATF helicopter shooting into Mount Carmel. No doubt there will be more evidence "discovered," more agents coming forward, their six-year amnesia about April 19 suddenly cured. The FBI has not come close to revealing the full government complicity in the Waco massacre.
--By David Thibodeau, Salon, The truth about Waco: A survivor says the government still isn't admitting its role in the deaths of 74 Branch Davidians
Simply --the U.S. government, in arrogant violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights --MURDERED some 74 free citizens of the United States of America. By standards established by our founders the U.S. government has broken its 'social contract' with the people and is no longer legitimate!
What I found was a bunch of people who were devoutly religious and dedicated to their beliefs. They weren’t dedicated to David Koresh. He wasn’t to them a savior or some person who held their rapt attention or controlled their actions at all. He was just the latest of their prophets and they believed his view of the Bible but it wasn’t that he was controlling what they did.
He was difficult in that his religious agenda was more important than his personal agenda.
I could make him understand logically that the best thing for him to do was to surrender and go to court and fight in court whatever battles were ahead.
I could also make him understand that he would be better off if he voluntarily walked out with me than if they had to come in and get him.
I could also make him understand that the people who had him surrounded wanted to kill him. They didn’t want him to survive...that we would have to make it work to have him survive. I didn’t predict the fire. I didn’t predict that they were all going to be killed but I told him in no uncertain terms, “Don’t get by the window. They’ll take you out.” I believe they would have. They had snipers all around the place. --Dick DeGuerin, Houston Attorney, For the People
