cat waco Path: news.primenet.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!library.ucla.edu!csulb.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!csun.edu!hbcsc096 From: hbcsc096@huey.csun.edu (WildThing) Newsgroups: alt.privacy Subject: *WACO* What really happened Date: 4 May 1995 06:45:23 GMT Organization: Anti-Windoz Society Lines: 219 Message-ID: <3o9t63$tn@dewey.csun.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: huey.csun.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] The Waco Tragedy - Behind the Scenes by Justin Gombos 5/3/95 After hearing all the inconsistent reports on the Waco Texas massacre, have you ever wondered what really happened? If you rely on the mainstream media, you only heard a one- sided interpretation of all the events. The interesting phenomena of unpopular religious cults such as the Branch Davidians needs to be approached objectively, rather than accepting the medias blanket method of labelling the whole group as nuts. Outsiders rejected the Branch Davidians faith to the point that the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (AFT) unexpectedly opened fire, targeting everyone in the compound. The AFT fired the first shots, and a 20 minute gunfight erupted. Six Branch Davidians and four federal agents were slain. The FBI staged a 51 day siege on the Branch Davidian compound. On Sunday, April 19th, 1993, feds eventually got impatient waiting for Koresh to surrender, so they proceeded to bring in tanks. On attorney general Janet Reno's orders, tanks smashed into the compound and pumped in flammable tear gas, filling the building in hopes that David Koresh would come out. Being Sunday morning, it was opportune for an attack because the AFT expected the Davidians to be praying, not preparing. No one came out for six hours, in fear of being gunned down. You can't blame them; obviously force used by the feds was a little excessive. Getting impatient, feds began firing. Flying bullets ignited the tear gas, and the whole compound exploded into flames. Some escaped out the back, off camera, and were gunned down by the FBI. Twenty-four children and sixty-two adult Branch Davidians were killed. Why? According to ATF director Stephen Higgins, the Davidian Religious Center "was a threat to both the community and to the safety of the people who were in that compound." David Koresh's views became a target for ridicule when he claimed to be the second Messiah. One reason people didn't believe him is because he committed adultery. (He had 15 wives). Perhaps many were just skeptical having grown up in a country where it's nothing new to hear eccentrics announcing that they are Jesus. But David Koresh remains the most controversial of all. Unlike many of the messiah wanna-be's, Koresh had, and still has followers. There were a hundred twenty-nine Branch Davidians, and the survivors are still followers today. Religious passions are held in such high esteem that the Branch Davidians are "willing to die for what they believed to be God's will," according to Bible scholar James Efird (qtd.by George Cornell). The Branch Davidians are convinced that Koresh is a son of God, and that he will rise again. They are pure Bible, and say that Revelations four and five will tell you when Koresh will come again. In fact, they are just as solid about their beliefs as you'd expect other Christians to believe that Jesus is the son of God. Among the groups Christian beliefs, the most expressed was that they believed in free love and that the end of the world is near. News of Koresh's automatic weapon arsenal spread like a brush fire, making Branch Davidians look like people of hatred. After reading Jeff Nightbyrd's article on his interview with two of the survivors, I got quite a different feeling. Catherine Matteson who lived at the compound for 25 years, said "...Mount Carmel was our home, and we got along exceptionally well for a family of 129 persons" (qtd.by Jeff Nightbyrd). Sheila Martin, who was a nursery school teacher for the Branch Davidian children, explained "We're trying to tell everybody we're not demons." And that's no joke. The government used the media to go out on a limb to portray the Branch Davidians as evil creatures. They made Koresh look like a gun-happy lunatic because he was converting semi-automatics into automatics, which he very much needed to eventually defend the Davidian religious center. The mainstream media claims that the Branch Davidians participated in a mass suicide. They labelled Koresh's followers as "hostages." Attorney General Janet Reno went so far as to make accusations that David Koresh was beating babies and molesting children. Not only was media coverage a circus of fictitious events, but it became a game. The Associated Press Managing Editors presented the Waco Tribune-Herald an award for "The Sinful Messiah," a series of articles on alleged "abuses" of David Koresh. Koresh -did- convert legal guns into illegal ones, and that was proven. Breaking a federal gun law was all they had on Koresh, which was worth a sentence of up to ten years. That's what the arrest warrant is for. If the federal gun regulations weren't so strict, the 86 Davidians wouldn't have been massacred. But what were the guns for? According to trial attorney Van Susteren, "this group was a relatively peaceful group. They were amassing weapons, but there is no crime against collecting weapons." Koresh was the only one modifying the weapons. The rest of the Davidians didn't break gun ordinances, though the media attached them to Koresh's gun crime. I assume the guns were needed to defend themselves and their messiah from any violent people that may not approve of their religion. Their policy was that they wouldn't use violence, unless attacked; then returning fire became necessary for survival. Violence was certainly anticipated. Koresh predicted an apocalyptic event in which he would be sacrificed. From the mid-80's on, he announced it to the media and anyone who would listen. Earline Clark, Koresh's maternal grandmother, said "I don't think he will come out alive" (qtd.by Carol Cirulli). When blowing up the compound, the heavily armed federal thugs "played directly into David Koresh's hands and fulfilled his prophecy" (Paul Roberts). The Defense Department claims that the inferno was a mass suicide. I think it's the most bold cover-up ever attempted. Everyone saw the explosion live on national TV, and the government responds by saying that people started fires inside the compound. The most common report was that three different people each set a fire within the building. The explosion obviously hit too fast for three separate flames to develop. One report claims that David Koresh himself blew up the compound. Claiming that Koresh blew up the compound wouldn't even make sense with respect to his beliefs. An apocalyptic prophecy doesn't include suicide or bringing your followers to death. Any Branch Davidian will tell you that the suicide accusations are absurd. We're are dealing with sane people who hold the same beliefs as many Christians, with the exception that they believe Koresh is a messiah. University sociologist James Aho said "These people are not crazies. They're religious (zealots)...[They] can not be dismissed as insane. That's not going to help us. We have to begin taking religion seriously as a factor in what people do" (qtd.by Marty Trillhaase). It was really just another blotched raid. I don't think the feds wanted to kill everyone, but they did screw up. They made some fatal mistakes, ultimately destroying families that were happy until Uncle Sam made an appearance. Feds had no business on Mount Carmel. David Koresh left the grounds to make frequent trips to town, alone and unarmed. When Matteson was asked why Koresh wasn't arrested on his trips to town, she replied "Because it wouldn't generate good TV coverage" (qtd.by Jeff Nightbyrd). It's no wonder the Branch Davidians saw "the government as the agent of the devil and refuse[d] to submit" (Marty Trillhaase). You may have heard that the Branch Davidians are hostages of David Koresh. Some articles say Koresh brainwashed his followers. This is not the case. "The Davidians' belief might be intense, but they held their group together through conviction, not intimidation. Members could come and go as they pleased" (Jeff Nightbyrd). When asked why so few left the compound, Matteson replied: A few would leave at a time, and we would see how they were treated. They were humiliated. They were laid on the ground, hand-cuffed, and even strip-searched. Mount Carmel was our home. We watched tanks knock down our fences, smash motorcycles and roll over parked cars. They even smashed the trees we planted. (qtd.by Jeff Nightbyrd) It's most shocking that the press managed to portray Koresh as a child molester. Not only was it never proven, but none of the Branch Davidians even made the claim. Reno made that statement without a shred of evidence even resembling a lead. David Koresh was investigated anyway. The sheriff and expert social service workers made two visits to question the Branch Davidian children. The county social agency concluded that there was no abuse. In fact, the children were very happy. However, the feds attempt to punish the Davidians didn't stop there. Even today the government continues to harass Branch Davidian survivors. Eleven of the Branch Davidians are accused of murdering the four ATF officers. Nevermind the six Davidians that were killed while trying to defend themselves in the initial shoot-out. The ATF attacked the law abiding Branch Davidians, and now press charges against the ones they couldn't kill. I say -law abiding- because David Koresh was the only one who committed a crime, the rest were attacked for being associated with him. The authorities never did seem to acknowledge that Koresh's followers were disconnected with his crimes. The Justice Department only admits to one mistake. Philadelphia attorney Edward Dennis Jr., former Justice Department official, compiled a report. Michael Kirkland paraphrases: "Pressure tactics" ... included the use of amored military vehicles, plainly visible to cultists inside the Waco compound. The review said at one point negotiators objected to them because they may have re-inforced (sic) cult leader David Koresh's predictions of an apocalyptic event. Marty Trillhaase was right on when saying "federal agents failed to adequately respond to the religious nature of the conflict." As a nation that prides itself on religious freedom, the behavior of the government and media comes as quite a surprise to me. Being raised in history classes that look on religious wars as a foolish display of ignorance, I see that we haven't really risen too far above it. I can only hope that my children will be trained to accept the fact that no normative view is better than another. The Branch Davidian massacre will provide a modern, close-to-home example of what happens to minorities holding ideas that conflict with the majority. The Waco tragedy has re-affirmed my conviction that regardless of how crackpot ones ideas are, we need to treat everyone as equals. Opinions should be disputed verbally, not with weapons, if we want to gain a better understanding of each other. Works Cited Carol Cirulli. "Cult Leader Product of Broken Home, Religion an Early Influence." The Reuter Liberary Report 2 March 1993 Cornell, George W. "Cult's Suicides Fit Historic Mold." The Times-Picayune 1 May 1993: D8 Higgins, Stephen. CNN News @ 8:21 am ET. With Cathy Marshall. 30 September (1993) Kirkland, Michael. "Cultists deliberately set Waco fire, report says." Proprietary to the United Press International 8 October 1993 Nightbyrd, Jeff. "Face to Face with Branch Davidians." Austin American-Statesman 6 April 1995: E3 Nightbyrd, Jeff. Interview with me via E-mail April 2, 1995 Roberts, Paul Craig. "Above the Smoke and Stir." The Washington Times 22 April 1993: G1 Susteren, Van. CNN News @ 9:16am ET. With Donna Kelly. 10 January (1994) Trillhasse, Marty. "Research Angle." The Post Register 2 June 1993 Bibliography Baye, Betty Winston. "Inquiring Minds Want to Know." Gannett News Service 30 April 1993 "Cox Newspapers' Waco Tribune-Herald Wins National Award For Public Service." PR Newswire 23 September 1993. "Second Report Attacks Decision to Hit Cult Paper." Reuters North American Wire 1 October 1993. usr2%