Waco

Last night I watched a documentary on HBO (Satellite G3-19 at 8:15 PM) about the Waco holocaust. Back in 1993 when it occurred, I had been led to believe by the media that the ‘‘Branch Davidian's’’ were a group of crazed paramilitary criminals who had committed murder or some other type of horrendous offense against humanity. The report I watched last night was pieced together from a Congressional hearing that occurred afterwards, from the BATF and FBI’s own records and testimony, from the post-mortem investigations of the site by the local sheriff and other officials afterwards, and from what little information the press was given (the press was kept back about a mile or two from the site, so film footage was taken through telescopic camera lenses). What follows is my recollection of that documentary. If it is televised again, I plan to record it, and I recommend that anyone interested watch it for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

As it turns out, the ‘‘Davidian's’’ were just a group of like-minded families living together in what would have been called a ‘‘commune’’ back in the 1960’s. They had pooled their resources and expenses and were sharing the Mt. Carmel facility so they could share their common beliefs and worship together. The attack came because the government alleged the Davidian’s owed $200 in unpaid federal excise taxes. Because the tax involved a gun, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) claimed jurisdiction rather than the IRS. In order to collect the tax, the ATF had obtained a warrant allowing them to arrest David Koresh and search the premises.

One thing that always puzzled me was how it actually started. I had always assumed that an ATF agent had gone to serve the warrant, was refused entry, and things escalated from there. That question was answered in the Congressional testimony by the head of the ATF (whose name I forget). He said, ‘‘The days of two agents walking up to the front door to serve a warrant are gone forever’’. Apparently, the ATF attack force just surrounded the house and opened fire, knowing all the while that there were women and children inside. To what extent the Davidian’s defended themselves, if at all, is not known, but they did call 911 for help. There were no pictures of anyone inside the house firing weapons at the ATF, and a government witness testified the bullet holes he examined in the door had come from the outside, not from the inside. The door and other crucial evidence later disappeared.

After some period of time (I forget how long), the ATF ran out of ammunition (yes, as unbelievable as it sounds that’s what the documentary reported, and even showed video tape of the ATF attack force walking away). At this point, the FBI took charge of the operation, and brought in helicopters, an airplane equipped with infrared cameras, and a military tank equipped with a special device for injecting gases and liquids mounted on the turret instead of the conventional cannon. I think the device was a tank mounted flame-thrower, which had been adapted to expel materials other than napalm. All this to overcome a group of men, women, and children confined because of fear of execution by their own government, into a wood frame building. During Congressional testimony in justification of the attack, Attorney General Janet Reno called the tank ‘‘a good rent-a-car’’. I don’t know if she has a family, but if she does obviously none of them were in the house at Mt. Carmel. So much for the claim made by some, that women in government act as a moderating influence on violence.

Anyhow, the tank proceeded to puncture gaping holes into the wood frame structure through which it injected kerosene and a special kind of cyanide based tear gas that formed a highly flammable fine white powdered residue that coated the ceiling, walls, and floors inside the rooms of the building once the volatile compounds in the tear gas had evaporated. When the powdered residue left by the tear gas burns, it gives off cyanide gas just like the gas used in execution chambers and in some of the Nazi death camps. The holes punched by the tank in the structure provided the ventilation needed for rapid combustion of the injected materials. One government witness testified later, that the FBI had turned the house into something that would burn as efficiently as a ‘‘Pot Bellied Stove’’. When the preparations were completed, the FBI tossed two military incendiary devices about the size of large hand grenades into the rubble at a corner of the building that had been demolished by the tank. The FBI of course denies this, but infrared cameras from the FBI’s own airplanes recorded video of the devices exploding after apparently being thrown by occupants of the tank. The remains of the incendiary devices were found during inspection of the site afterwards.

The tactic worked. In a matter of moments the house became one big fireball and anyone trying to escape was presumably killed indiscriminately by the poisonous cyanide gas. The documentary showed ghastly footage of the incinerated remains of some of the victims. One particularly disturbing image was of an eight-year-old girl whose charred remains were grotesquely contorted by the muscle spasms accompanying cyanide poisoning. The pictures looked like the ones you see in newsreels about Nazi death camps. An expert later testified that although not commonly known by most people, cyanide has such strong effects on the muscles of the body that the muscular contractions it causes can break bones, and that is why victims in gas chamber executions are securely strapped into their execution chairs.

The FBI agent in charge kept the ambulances and fire fighters about a mile away until the structure was totally engulfed in flames, ostensibly to prevent the rescue workers from being shot at by the dead people inside the house.

One might think that this was simply an isolated incident perpetrated by an out-of-control group of jack booted thugs with a Nazi SS storm trooper mentality masquerading as ATF and FBI agents, and that it will never be repeated. After all, the Davidian’s who left early on and those few who did escape with their lives were found innocent of attempted murder of the government troops, and the government did later call a congressional hearing to look into the matter, presumably with the intent of seeking truth and justice. When the final verdict was shown, I almost thought the documentary makers had gotten their film clips mixed up or something. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. In spite of all the evidence that had gone before, the verdict that was finally delivered by Senator(?) Biden was something to the effect that the government agents were innocent of any wrongdoing and that the Davidian’s had committed suicide.

Summary:
Approximately 86 men, women, and children who had been living peacefully in their home near Waco, Texas, were killed by the combined efforts of the US Defense Department and other government paramilitary units: the US Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Most of them were incinerated in the fiery holocaust. None of the survivors we found guilty of murder of the four federal agents who also died, but five of them were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges for defending themselves. Nine federal court lawsuits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages were filed by the survivors.

This is America.