The Post-Dispatch 3/12/00 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "……Until recently, the government had argued that muzzle blasts from small arms were unlikely to be detected by an airborne infrared camera. But the government now concedes that the Fort Hood test may pick up muzzle flashes. And infrared experts, interviewed by the Post-Dispatch, say the airborne cameras are almost certain to pick up the groundfire as flashes. By comparing the duration, intensity and other physical characteristics of the flashes, Danforth hopes his experts can determine whether the 1993 flashes were gunfire or glint…….. One expert, Edward Friday, is a scientist for System Planning Corp. of Arlington, Va. He conducted two days of tests in 1997 to try to recreate the flashes he saw in the Waco tapes. He admits to being stumped by the mystery of the flashes. Friday's gut instinct is that the flashes are gunfire "because the simplest solution to a problem is often the right one." He is convinced -- like most experts -- that the infrared camera flying above Waco was able to record the muzzle blasts of small arms fire as flashes of heat. He also believes that by analyzing the flashes on the 1993 tape with computer programs, experts can determine the physical characteristics of the flashes. He has not done the work himself, but he finds the results of the Branch Davidians' technical experts persuasive. The flashes repeat with a regularity that is more descriptive of gunfire than glint, he says…….To believe the gunfire scenario, Friday says, it is necessary to believe that the government planned well in advance of the assault to hide the shooters and their weapons from the cameras. This is particularly true in light of the 200 still photographs taken by a second FBI plane on the morning of the raid, none of which shows agents on the ground in the area of the flashes. One of the photos appears to have been shot within seconds of the flashes. The gunfire theory also requires a belief that the FBI has engaged in a massive cover-up that continues to this day. In dozens of statements, sworn and unsworn, over the last seven years, the agents at Waco have said there was no gunfire. Nor has any other witness to gunfire turned up……"

The Post-Dispatch 3/12/00 William H. Freivogel And Terry Ganey "……Another expert -- one who did not want his name used because he works for the federal government -- was suspicious of the use of the FBI Night Stalker. "I think it is a big mistake to involve the FBI Night Stalker FLIR." he said. "The FBI already stated that the Night Stalker FLIR is not the same as used at Waco, and they are not willing to disclose the type of FLIR on board. This camera may be the type of FLIR that is sensitive to solar interference and thus would detect flashes from debris. This could then be used to confuse the jury and cloud the results of the re-enactment. I strongly advise that the Night Stalker not be used during the re-enactment." Friday is also worried about the FBI camera. "The FBI should remove whatever 'upgrade' was performed on the camera to restore it to its original configuration," he said…….."Dallas Morning News 3/12/00 Lee Hancock "…..Sometime next Sunday morning, if the weather is right, a British Navy helicopter and an FBI airplane will circle lazily above a stretch of broken Central Texas ground. Men below in combat garb will charge forward to shoot repeated volleys of gunfire as each aircraft records their actions with a heat-measuring infrared video camera. Bradley fighting vehicles and combat engineering vehicles will lumber over broken glass, crumpled aluminum, and other debris laid out to resemble wreckage from a tank-battered building. …….. On hand to watch the March 19 field test at a closed Fort Hood firing range will be congressional investigators, lawyers and scientific experts from both sides in the Branch Davidian lawsuit. The Texas Rangers also plan to attend - a signal that the state's top lawmen are still working to get to the bottom of the Branch Davidian case seven years after being asked to help investigate it. …….. Attorneys for the sect say they are confident that the test will produce recordings of gun flashes that look so similar to the flashes on the Waco video that the public and the judge hearing their lawsuit will quickly conclude that government agents fired on April 19. "The bottom line is, if we get flashes from gunfire that are at least similar to the flashes on April 19, I don't think that the judge is going to require that it be precise," said Michael Caddell, lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians. "And we're confident that this test is going to show gunfire." ……….

Dallas Morning News 3/12/00 Lee Hancock "…..The government then spent more than a month continuing to fight the test proposal. They argued that it would be impossible to re-create environmental conditions in Waco on the final day of the siege, when the temperature climbed to 85 and winds gusted to 25 miles an hour and skies turned from partly cloudy to clear over a muddy Texas prairie. They also told the court that the test couldn't provide data suitable for comparison with the Waco video because the FBI's infrared camera had been upgraded and nothing else like it was available. They added that even basic information about the camera was classified; even its altitude in Waco was labeled a sensitive government secret. But the government dropped its opposition after Mr. Danforth's office determined that the FBI camera was an off-the-shelf, British-made device still in wide use by the British Royal Navy. ……. Participants say government lawyers fought hard to keep results of the Fort Hood tests secret, but they lost in St. Louis. Despite continued Justice Department lobbying for sealing the test results, Mr. Caddell said that he has been told he will be free to immediately release his copy of the Fort Hood recording to the media and the public. ……. The sect's experts also have persuaded the court's scientist to allow test firings of a "Mark-19" automatic grenade launcher. One of those experts has argued that he believes some of the flashes on the April 19 video match the rapid firing rate of a Mark 19. …….

Dallas Morning News 3/12/00 Lee Hancock "…..A flamboyant New Orleans-based private investigator in the case has announced that he believes the cameras at Fort Hood will be altered in a way to ensure they do not detect gunfire. The investigator, Gordon Novel, has been tied to government conspiracy theories since he was labeled a CIA operative and fugitive witness in late New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation of the Kennedy assassination. Mr. Novel was the first to identify the flashes on the Waco tape as possible gunfire in December 1995 while working on the Branch Davidian case for former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. He said that he partially bases his suspicion on the fact that the British-based company supervising the test is owned by a U.S. defense contractor that has done past work for U.S. intelligence agencies, the defense department and the FBI. …….. "

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/26/00 William Freivogel "…..The top FBI commander on the scene at Waco says that a government tank unintentionally knocked down the gymnasium of the complex as agents tried to inject tear gas into a room where about 20 Branch Davidians were hiding…….Mike Caddell, the lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians, says Jamar is lying. "Every person who has looked at the pictures of the tank destroying the gym has characterized it as demolition," he said. "Jamar and Dick Rogers are trying to keep themselves out of prison." Rogers was head of the hostage rescue team at Waco, and directed most of the assault. The issue of whether the government intended to knock down the complex is important both to the wrongful death suit that the Branch Davidians have filed against the government and to the investigation of special counsel John C. Danforth……. "

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/26/00 William Freivogel "…..Jamar told his story to investigators for the House Government Reform Committee in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 16....... Justice Department sources say that Jamar told this story: By 9:30 a.m., more than three hours after the government began squirting tear gas into the complex, listening devices had picked up conversations from a large group of women and children who had gathered in the kitchen, which remained free of tear gas. Rogers and Jamar decided to breach the gym walls so that one of the converted tanks could shoot tear gas into the kitchen. Around 11:20 a.m., the converted tank began knocking into the gym. The idea, Jamar said, was to make a path for the tank equipped with a boom for the tear gas. Jamar said he believed that the successful gassing of the kitchen had led the Branch Davidians to ignite fuel they had spread on the floor of the complex. The fire was the cause of most of the deaths……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/26/00 William Freivogel "…..But Caddell lists these objections:
* At the time he ordered the attack on the gym, Jamar said it was time to go "all out." That account was given by a senior member of the hostage rescue team after the incident.
* Senior FBI officials monitoring from Washington concluded that Jamar and Rogers had deviated from a plan to end the siege when the tanks began ramming the gym. Danny Coulson, the first leader of the hostage rescue team, testified in a deposition last week that the siege plan he helped draft did not provide for knocking into the gym. He said he was surprised when the tank did so.
* An FBI briefing paper prepared before the assault said the gym side of the complex "is not of good quality" - so Jamar had notice that the gym would fall easily.
* After a pass into the gym and toward the kitchen, the first tank moved away from the kitchen and knocked into other portions of the gym wall five or six times.
* The tank with tear gas sent the fumes into the kitchen from the front of the complex, rather than the back, where the first tank had knocked down the gym. So the destruction of the gym was not needed.
Other sources add two other reasons to question Jamar's account. One is that there was room for the tank to approach the kitchen without touching the gym.
More important, at 11:31 a.m., an agent is heard on the radio traffic of the incident to report, "It's coming down." There was no response from Jamar. If Jamar was warned that the gym was coming down and didn't intend for it to collapse, then he should have taken some action, sources said……."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/26/00 William Freivogel "…..Caddell said drafts of the plan included provisions for creating holes in the structure with tanks. Those tactics were removed from the final plan approved by Reno. …….. According to Caddell, Coulson and others at the FBI were shocked to see the tanks demolishing the building. But other sources say that Caddell left out important parts of Coulson's testimony. Coulson said that he did not consider the tank ramming of the gym to be a speed-up in the destruction of the building. The plan for destroying the building after 48 hours of gassing did not involve the tanks penetrating the building. Instead, one tank was to attach a rail and peel away siding. This operation was to begin in the front of the building. Coulson testified that the reason he was concerned about the tanks ramming into the gym was that he was afraid the Branch Davidians could attack them or that the tanks would drop through the floor. He was not concerned that the Branch Davidians would be hurt……"

Dallasnews.com 2/26/00 David McLemore "…… One of the most painful lessons of the deadly 1993 Branch Davidian standoff is that government secrecy about it continues to corrode public confidence, Waco whistle-blower Bill Johnston said Friday. "When governmental agencies stonewall and deceive the public, they create fertile ground to feed conspiracy theories and let negative perceptions grow," said Mr. Johnston, who resigned as a federal prosecutor in Waco earlier this month. "If they don't open the doors and let people see what happened, how are people supposed to know what is true?" ………. "The [Justice] Department isn't as open as it needs to be," Mr. Johnston said. "Governmental agencies must make more information public as soon as possible and to as many people as possible. I believe it can be done without damaging litigation or legal rights of the accused." ……. "If there had been more openness after Waco, we wouldn't have this mess we have today," Mr. Johnston said. "When the government continues to withhold matters from public scrutiny, it just eats away at the public trust. People feel betrayed. "Another shame is that the tragedy of the deaths of those four ATF agents gets lost amid all the investigations and claims and denials of government cover-up," Mr. Johnston said. ……… "

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "……The Department of Defense has been asked to declassify thousands of secret military documents in anticipation of testimony by Attorney General Janet Reno, and possibly even President Clinton -- in a lawsuit on behalf of three children killed in the 1993 Waco Branch Davidian fire……. The classified documents in question are already in the custody of Judge Walter Smith of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division. Last year the judge ordered all federal agencies to give him all documents related to the Waco incident. But since thousands of pages of the military documents are marked "classified," he cannot make them available to the lawyers involved in this and other cases related to the Waco tragedy. ……"

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "……Attorney James H. Brannon sent a letter to Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and asked for declassification of the documents according to Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton on April 17, 1995. Brannon has not asked Smith to declassify the documents by court order because he must first ask the military to do it. He intends to ask for a court order if Cohen fails to grant his request…….. His letter gives a week for Cohen to respond, but he told WorldNetDaily he would stretch that deadline in order to give Cohen time to view the documentary "Waco: A New Revelation." "I'm going to give him a chance to see the film, because the people I'm quoting in (the letter) are people in the film. So let him take a look at them and hear what they've said in the film," Brannon said. …….. Brannon has already taken sworn testimony from dozens of FBI agents and three Special Forces Delta Force soldiers who participated in the government raid at Waco. Brannon said they have an "epidemic of amnesia" and don't remember anything. ….."

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… "They used 48 hours worth of gas in about three hours," Brannon said. He wants to question Reno about what happened and what went wrong. "They didn't have any difficulty saying we're going to try it this way for 48 hours. All of them knew they were going to be squirting it on little children for 48 hours. They had a gas expert, and he said 'oh, it's not going to hurt them.' But that was on the theory that it wouldn't give them (the children) permanent damage if they did it over 48 hours. He didn't say anything about what would happen if a few hours after they start they shoot every bit of gas in there -- 48 hours worth in three hours. As far as we know, he didn't express any opinions that that kind of dosage would be inconsequential as far as children were concerned," explained Brannon. "But all that comes down to: Is it okay to torture them for three hours? Is it okay to torture them for 48 hours? I don't think it's okay to torture them for one minute," said Brannon. ......"

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "……When Reno is deposed, Brannon will ask her about her role in the event, he says. "We want to know what she was told, everything she was told to make her mind up to approve this disastrous assault on the 19th of April. The main thing is, 'what were you told and what reasons did you have for thinking that it was okay to approve this plan that provided for the gassing of innocent and unprotected children?'" ...... When Smith asked the White House for all Waco-related documents, he was told they were covered under executive privilege. Brannon has not ruled out challenging the executive privilege claim, and may attempt to depose Clinton. He said Reno is purposely trying to make her testimony useless to him. ......"

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "……"So, what have they classified? Especially when we hear that the FBI has taken a clear position that they didn't shoot any guns there. And, not only that, at least one of the weapons we think was fired there is strictly a military weapon. The FBI doesn't have one. So if it was fired there we presume it was fired by military people," he said. The letter gives a number of reasons for the need to declassify the military documents, including:

* Admitted involvement of at least 10 active-duty military personnel during the 51-day siege, and three who admit to being present the day of the fire.
* Sources who have informed Brannon that military personnel were observed with the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team during the assault.
* The congressional investigation discovered that military personnel admitted involvement with the armored vehicles used in the raid.
* A military source told Brannon that Delta Force soldiers were "pulling triggers."
* A CIA employee reported that a high-level briefing with Reno detailed plans for military involvement a month before the raid.
* The Texas Rangers conducted an investigation and told Brannon there is evidence that there were more Special Forces soldiers present at Waco than the government admits to. The Texas Rangers also believe those soldiers were involved in the assault.
* Government documents indicate there were three Delta Force soldiers in forward locations at Waco. The three Delta Force soldiers who gave testimony to Brannon claimed they were in different locations, and they firmly stated they were the only Delta Force soldiers present.

Brannon also points out in his letter to Cohen that the FBI and Department of Defense have not been as specific in their answers as they should be. When asked about shots fired at the Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993, the FBI responded: "No FBI agent shot, and nobody under FBI supervision/direction/control did either." The Department of Defense responded to the same question in a letter, saying, "No DoD person shot, and nobody under DoD supervision/direction/control did either, based on currently available information." ….."

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "……WorldNetDaily is in receipt of a letter from the United States Special Operations Command in response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking military documents regarding Waco. The letter explained why the military has classified some of those documents: "Portions of the documents were found to contain information concerning military plans, weapons, or operations; and vulnerabilities or capabilities or systems, installations, projects, or plans relating to the national security, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security." WorldNetDaily asked Cohen by fax whether the statement also applied to the documents Brannon is seeking to declassify. Cohen's office has not responded. ......"

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..For the first time, a Branch Davidian survivor of the Feb. 28, 1993, shootout at Mount Carmel has admitted that he fired at two of the four U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents who were killed during the battle. Livingstone Fagan, who was one of 11 Davidians tried in San Antonio six years ago, said in a deposition that he shot at ATF agents on the roof of Mount Carmel. Fagan gave the deposition in a wrongful death lawsuit Mount Carmel survivors and their families are bringing against the federal government. ……. Fagan is a party to the wrongful death suit because his mother, Doris, 60, and his wife, Evette, 30, died in the April 19, 1993, fire at Mount Carmel…..

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..During the Davidian trial, federal prosecutors claimed that late in the 45-minute battle, Fagan wounded ATF Agent Eric Evers, who took the stand to identify his assailant. "I know that man over there shot me," Evers testified, pointing at Fagan. "It's everything is etched in my brain until the day I die, because of that incident. There's no doubt in my mind that man shot me." But in his Feb. 1 deposition, Fagan says that on the morning of the ATF raid, he wasn't outdoors, as Evers testified. Instead, he was in Mount Carmel's cafeteria, firing on agents who were standing on a roof outside David Koresh's bedroom. Fagan told federal civil attorney Marie Hagen he acted in self-defense. "Your government murdered people who were very dear to me," he declared. Hagen both cajoled and pressed for details, even offering Fagan her coat to ward off a Pennsylvania morning chill….."

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..Two of the ATF agents on the roof, Todd McKeeham, 28, and Conway LeBleu, 34, both from the bureau's New Orleans team, were killed on the spot. A third man on the roof, Kenneth King, was wounded but survived…………..The plaintiff's team decided to make the deposition public, Lyons said, because Mike Caddell, the lead counsel, "believes that we have to get to the truth about what happened, that's all." ……During the trial, a notation made by a Texas Ranger during a pretrial session in which Evers picked Fagan from a photo lineup was introduced into evidence. The notation said, "unsure if ID'd from TV or shooting." Orchowski, in after-action interviews, said he could not identity the assailant who, in the courtroom, he picked out as Fagan. But Rosen's cross-examination of the two agents failed to impress U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr., who also will hear the wrongful death suit, which is set for trial in May. During the 1994 sentencing hearing, Smith said: "The evidence from this trial has not faded from my memory. Certain images are clear. I see Livingstone Fagan dressed in combat gear, coldly shooting down Eric Evers with a military rifle as he rounded the corner of the compound and came into view. As Evers tried to get up, Fagan shot him twice more." The man who shot at Evers, Fagan told Hagen, was a British male of African descent, who died in the April 19 fire. Fagan refused to provide the man's name. ......"

San Antonio Express-News 2/23/00 Dick Reavis "…..It is unclear what effect Fagan's remarks might have upon his status as a prisoner. Because of constitutional protections against double jeopardy, "it is unlikely that they will indict him for what he says in the deposition," Lyons said. But George Dix, a University of Texas professor of criminal law, is not so sure. …… Other Davidians who were imprisoned as a result of the 1994 proceedings are appealing their sentences, and the U.S. Supreme Court has set a hearing on their case for April. But Fagan refused to join the appeal, he says in a recent letter to the San Antonio Express-News, because "when Judge Smith did what he did, he took the matter out of the realm of the judicial"- a phrase that in the argot of the Davidians, means the Mount Carmel gunman has placed his future in God's hands. …."

Freeper Ed Wolfe 2/19/00 from the Internet "…..According to the St. Louis Dispatch, John Danforth recommended to Judge Smith that a "British" company called Vector Data Systems should be the one to conduct the test and to interpret the results. VDS is reported to have former Royal Air Force pilots in it's employ, to be experts at interpreting infrared images, and most significantly, to be an "independent" expert that both the government and the Davidian lawyers can count on for impartial analysis. This is where something stinks in St. Louis…….Vector Data Systems is not a British company, and as far as this writer can determine, never was. Although it may have RAF pilots in it's employ, that would probably be due to the fact that VDS has branches in the United Kingdom, Australia and Korea in addition to it's headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The company was purchased in 1997 as one of the first in a string of information technology acquisitions by the Anteon Corporation. ……… Anteon Corporation, head-quartered in Fairfax, VA is not a British company either. Although it's possible that Anteon will be using it's British subsidiary of Vector Data Systems to conduct the test and interpret it's results, it is misleading to simply state that the independent expert is "a British company." ……"

Freeper Ed Wolfe 2/19/00 from the Internet "…..Even more interesting is the fact that Danforth who is supposed to be seeking the truth, picked an unusual company to serve as the "impartial" arbiter of the test results. The Anteon Corporation is a very high tech, multi-million dollar company that gets a large share of it's profits from federal government contracts…….. And we're not talking about the British government either. Just last month Anteon signed a 2.2 million dollar deal with the General Services Administration to provide program management analyses and assessments for the United States submarine force…….In December of last year, Anteon scored another $10 mil from the government till in a deal with the Veterans Health Administration. Two months before that, Anteon signed a 7.8 million dollar contract with the U.S. Coast Guard. September was another lucrative month resulting in a $43 million dollar contract with the U.S. Navy. Finally, topping the list is a $250 million dollar Blanket Purchase Agreement with the GSA to provide the federal government with critical infrastructure service as ordered in Presidential Decision Directive #63, penned by Bill Clinton on May 28, 1998……."

Dallas Morning News 2/25/00 Lee Hancock "……Efforts by federal prosecutors to access files from the government computer once used by a Waco whistle-blower prompted angry complaints to the Justice Department this week from a congressional committee investigating the Branch Davidian siege. House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton sent a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno late Tuesday demanding a full explanation for the search, which occurred days after that committee's investigators conducted lengthy interviews with the whistle-blower, former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston……. "

Dallas Morning News 2/25/00 Lee Hancock "……Mr. Johnston said he learned about the effort to search his computer after going to his old office late last week to fill out paperwork and being met by nervous staff and an Austin-based computer technician. He said a staffer from the Waco office told him on Tuesday that the computer technician had been sent by Mr. Blagg, the U.S. attorney, to remove the hard drive of the computer he had used. "The staffer told me that they've had a number of meetings in San Antonio about how to get into my computer and have tried to access it remotely to access information from it. They pulled what they could out of it that way, and then had to come up and get the hard drive," Mr. Johnston said. "The computer person told the Waco staff that she needed to do it in response to congressional subpoenas." He said the staffer who contacted him was particularly concerned because the computer technician did not want to tell Mr. Johnston what she was doing and even ran hurriedly from his former office to hide what she was doing after he unexpectedly dropped by. ……"

Dallas Morning News 2/25/00 Lee Hancock "……Mr. Johnston said he contacted Mr. Burton's committee on Tuesday to question why he had not been told about such a subpoena when both Republican and Democratic committee investigators interviewed him in Austin early last week. He had previously turned over information from his files after the committee issued an exhaustive subpoena seeking Justice Department records on the Branch Davidian case last September. "I wouldn't expect to get a straight answer from the people who ordered this search, so I decided to go straight to the horse's mouth. I called and asked if the congressional committees had issued a new subpoena. They hadn't," Mr. Johnston said. "That's just their [the U.S. attorney's] excuse. It's juvenile. If it weren't the government behaving this way, it would almost be comical." ……… The letter from Mr. Burton, R-Ind., asked for a complete explanation for the search by next Thursday. He wants to know who authorized the computer search, why it was undertaken and whether anyone else involved in the Branch Davidian case was being subjected to similar scrutiny. "It was my understanding that the Justice Department had already identified all documents responsive to our subpoena," Mr. Burton wrote. "Is the Department searching or reconstructing the hard drives of other Department employees in this matter? If so, please provide a list." ….."

Dallas Morning News 2/25/00 Lee Hancock "……Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the House Government Reform Committee, said Wednesday that the chairman lodged the formal demand because of Mr. Johnston's high profile and the "perception" that Justice Department officials might be seeking information to discredit or retaliate against him. "Bill Johnston is someone we've spoken to who has cooperated with Congress," Mr. Corallo said. "We'd love an explanation as to why they felt it necessary to go through his computer. "The committee has had great concern with retaliation. . . . We even held a hearing about retaliation against whistle-blowers," Mr. Corallo said. "While a witness with the Department of Defense was testifying before the committee that day, his superior was trying to gain access to his computer illegally. So we do have a great concern when things like this happen." ……"

Dallas Morning News 2/25/00 Lee Hancock "……One federal official in Washington familiar with the matter said the search conducted last week "is not unique" to Mr. Johnston. "There are lots of people asking questions, so steps are being taken to preserve records." Mr. Johnston said the search was puzzling because it was not conducted until after he left, and his former office knew of no similar searches in the Davidian case……."

Dallas Morning News 2/25/00 Lee Hancock "……As that inquiry progressed, Mr. Johnston sent increasingly alarmed e-mails to his boss, U.S. Attorney Blagg. Those messages warned that the Rangers were developing compelling evidence that challenged the federal government's long claim that no pyrotechnic gas canisters or devices of any kind were used on April 19. Mr. Johnston said he learned Tuesday that his e-mail traffic had been downloaded from the computer earlier this month, and his remaining old files had somehow been removed last week. "The staffer tried to log on, just out of curiosity, and all my stuff was gone," he said……."

Freeper aristeides "….. Bill had live coverage in the WH Situation Room and he invited the fat cat Chinese contributors in for a look-see as it was going on. And Bill went in the evening to a celebration of Shelia Lawrence's birthday at a restaurant in Georgetown, where he was persuaded to eat crabcakes. And he spent two hours "late" on that day being given a private tour of the new Holocaust Museum. …."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/24/00 William Freivogel and Terry Ganey "….. Press advocates argue that opening the test could inspire public trust. But Danforth says the piecemeal release of information would undermine confidence in his investigation.. …….. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, concedes that the courts have never recognized the right of the public or the press to be present during the "discovery" phase of a civil suit, when both sides gather evidence in advance of a trial. The re-enactment is part of that evidence-gathering in the Branch Davidians' wrongful death suit against the government. But from a policy point of view, Dalglish thinks Danforth's decision is a mistake. "By cloaking this whole thing in secrecy, the public gets suspicious about what they were not allowed to see. If they can see what is going on, there is going to be less of a Roswell flying-saucer element," she said. …….. . Dalglish says Danforth's attempt to close the test could have unintended consequences. "Sometimes investigators don't use their heads on this. If television and news reporters cannot view what happens by standing in a viewing area, they are going to have to rely on leaks. If they have visuals and can watch the test occur, that will probably be what they run." …… Danforth has most of the law on his side, the experts say. Peter Joy, a Washington University law professor, noted that Danforth's memo cited several previous court decisions upholding secrecy in similar matters, while the news organizations had little legal support. Over the past two decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has broadened the First Amendment right of the press and public to attend trials and pretrial proceedings. But in Seattle Times Co. vs. Rhinehart in 1982, the court said there was no First Amendment right to disseminate information obtained during pretrial discovery. …….. McNulty has long said the press must shoulder part of the blame for the 1993 Waco tragedy because it allowed the FBI to push it back away from the complex before the final assault, making press scrutiny impossible. …….. "

Dallas Morning News 2/24/00 Lee Hancock "… A former top FBI official has acknowledged that sending tanks into the Branch Davidian compound was inconsistent with the Washington-approved plan for ending the 51-day siege, the sect's lead lawyer said Wednesday. Former deputy assistant FBI director Danny Coulson also testified in a deposition on Tuesday that he and other senior FBI leaders were stunned when they saw live network TV images of FBI tanks ramming deep into the sect's compound on April 19, 1993, said Houston attorney Michael Caddell. Mr. Coulson is the first top FBI official involved in the 1993 incident to be questioned under oath in the Branch Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit….."

Dallas Morning News 2/24/00 Lee Hancock "… The founding commander of the FBI's hostage rescue team and one of its most experienced tactical experts, Mr. Coulson was one of the bureau's key decision-makers in drafting the detailed gassing-operation plan that Attorney General Janet Reno ultimately approved……… But early proposals that called for using tanks in the initial stages of the operation to demolish the building were removed from the final plan approved in Washington, FBI and Justice Department records show. ……. "Mr. Coulson made it clear that the penetrations of the tanks into the building were deviations, were inconsistent with the plan approved by the attorney general," Mr. Caddell said. …… ….. "It's completely understandable from Mr. Coulson's testimony that on April 19, Rogers and Jamar decided to jettison the plans that had been approved in Washington," Mr. Caddell said….."

Dallas Morning News 2/24/00 Lee Hancock "… One Justice Department official said that Mr. Coulson's testimony may be of limited importance because he acknowledged that he was not in the FBI command center that kept direct communications with FBI leaders in Waco. "He wasn't in a position to know if there were authorized modifications to the plan," the official said. "He also said that it was his experience that the people on the ground have some discretion." ……..

Dallas Morning News 2/24/00 Lee Hancock "… The FBI pleading stated that the Branch Davidians have offered no evidence that either commander ordered agents to shoot. But it added that "if government officials were to have fired into the compound, such gunfire would not be 'unprovoked,' nor inconsistent with the FBI's deadly force policy." ......,Mr. Caddell said the government's latest argument appears to be a retreat from the FBI's long-standing assertion that none of its agents fired during the standoff.... "Government lawyers are moving away from an absolute position that there was no government gunfire on April 19," he said. "Those are the first cracks in the stone wall." ..."

Dallas Morning News 2/24/00 Lee Hancock "… Local firefighters were kept away for almost 45 minutes after they responded to the blaze. Mr. Jamar later said he could not let them near the compound sooner for fear that sect members could have shot them. But Mr. Caddell said Wednesday that Mr. Coulson's testimony could strengthen the sect's claims about government negligence in failing to prepare adequately for a fire. "He acknowledged that the attorney general had instructed them to ensure that adequate firefighting equipment was there and told them that cost was not an issue," Mr. Caddell said. "The FBI had acknowledged investigating the use of armored firefighting equipment, but for reasons unknown to Mr. Coulson, they didn't have any." Instead, draft plans for the tear-gassing indicate, FBI officials decided to rely on the closest nearby civilian fire department. That largely volunteer department then had only three paid employees, FBI records indicate……"

Dallas Morning News 2/24/00 Lee Hancock "… Other FBI documents show that senior bureau negotiators and behavioral experts warned that sending in tanks guaranteed violence and loss of life. Mr. Coulson has previously said that he did not know of another FBI operation in which armored vehicles were used to assault a barricaded building. He vetoed use of tanks in the 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, when Mr. Rogers asked to use armored vehicles to demolish the building where white supremacist Randy Weaver was holed up. Mr. Coulson told Congress that he rejected that proposal because tanks would cause panic and loss of life……."

Freeper aristeides 2/24/00 remarks "…..But weren't people in Washington following events in the FBI command center (and, I believe, also in the White House)? Even if they didn't give the critical orders, they could countermand orders that, for example, authorized the use of tanks. Reno was in the FBI command center until -- allegedly, according to the current story -- shortly after 10 AM. Hubbell says he was going back and forth between the FBI building and the Department of Justice. I think one can assume high-ranking people were in the White House Situation Room, which we know was on full alert……"

Dallas Morning News 2/24/00 Lee Hancock "… One Justice Department official said that Mr. Coulson's testimony may be of limited importance because he acknowledged that he was not in the FBI command center that kept direct communications with FBI leaders in Waco. But, according to Coulson's book "No Heroes", he was following events in the FBI building. This from pp. 452-3 of "No Heroes": I was in the submarine [the Strategic Intelligence and Operations Center in the FBI building], watching the whole thing on the bank of television sets and following the actions of Sage, Rogers, and the others via telephone linkup with the command post……" I paced about the big room -- the small command center where I usually sat was occupied by Reno, Clarke, Potts, and a few other big shots. Reno left shortly after 10 A.M. to make a speech. I stayed in the big room -- more pacing space. ….."

Freeper archy "…..They don't even get ourt of the first paragraf befoire the lies begin. The British Anteon is a subsidiary of an American defense and intelligence community contractor, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. More cover-up coming:
Anteon Corp. launches acquisition campaign, buys Vector BY JOHN MOORE (john_moore@fcw.com)
Anteon Corp. has embarked on an acquisition strategy that the company believes will make the Fairfax, Va.-based integrator a $500 million company in less than three years.
Anteon launched its acquisition foray two weeks ago, purchasing Vector Data Systems Inc., a $30 million Alexandria, Va.-based company specializing in command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems. Now Anteon is setting its sights on companies in the $50 million to $100 million range and above, according to Noreen Centracchio, vice president of corporate development at Anteon. ….."

Times/UK 2/19/00 Damian Whitworth "…… A BRITISH company is to stage a re-enactment of the final day of the Waco siege, with Royal Navy helicopter pilots being given the key role in unravelling the mysteries of how up to 80 people died. …….. Vector Data Systems, a Peterborough-based company that often works with the Ministry of Defence and specialises in infra-red imaging, will organise the re-enactment, which is expected to take place next month near Fort Hood, Texas. ……."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/19/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "….. Special counsel John C. Danforth has asked a federal judge to keep the public and the press out of next month's test to determine whether government agents fired at the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco siege. The former senator argues that "piecemeal" disclosure of his investigation "would be a profound disservice to the cause of justice." ……Danforth signed a memo to Judge Smith in response to motions by news organizations seeking to open the test. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the San Antonio Express-News have joined The Associated Press and the Dallas Morning News in seeking access. They claim that closing the test impairs their First Amendment right to gather news and undermines the test's credibility with the public. ……"

Freeper Carry_Okie "….. The glass of a mirror is adsoprptive of some frequencies and others not. It depends upon the spectral adsorption/transmittance of the material as you are clearly aware. The sheetstock of the blind could adsorb IR radiation and convective heat from all that gunfire in excess of the amount from people on the inside of the material, rise in temperature, conduct the heat, and change its radiative energy on the outside. Because the emissivity is high it might be a good radiator. The paint adsorbing the radiation nearby might do the same. These surfaces would integrate the adsorption of the incident energy and increase their thermal radiation. ……… These distinctions would probably not be visible to humans watching the video tape. One would have to perform a digital analysis on the pixels but the data might be there. If, on a cold day you stood in front of a mirror, and you had a very sensitive detector like a FLIR, you could eventually get a change in the radiative power off the surface, but you would probably need a computer to see it. …… Other surfaces would reflect some of the light based upon their poorer emissivities. Hence my comments about the spectral detection frequencies of the sensor in the FLIR and the nature of the materials in the area. One could know the materials measure the differences and do the math. I do not know what they are but it might be worth a look. But there is one more distinction. ……As I recall (and this is deep memory), the signal off the detector array in a FLIR is continuous. Unlike a cryostatic IR camera for example, FLIR is called a "staring array". It is thus particularly good at detecting changes in energy and cannot as easily measure absolute energy. This makes it particularly suited to seeing something like a flash from a gun. To get an image off a mirrror you thus might have to dither the camera to get the image. (I have never done image analysis off FLIR, but it sounds like a hoot.) ….FLIR works in aircraft because it is moving. I just don't know if the post processing could be done. It is perhaps worth a look….."

Associated Press 2/17/00 Michelle Mittelstadt "…..Government officials now say a type of infrared camera used by the FBI during a siege on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993 is capable of detecting gunfire - an about-face. Lawyers for Branch Davidian plaintiffs who have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the government called the acknowledgment a "stunning reversal" from prior claims the camera could not capture images of gunfire. ……… "

Washington Post 2/18/00 David Vise Lorraine Adams "…. Eight gunmen firing submachine guns and pistols. Grenades exploding near a debris field of broken glass, aluminum and tubs of water. Men with painted faces running from place to place in camouflage fatigues alongside three tanks. And pilots from the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom flying Lynx helicopters overhead carrying special infrared cameras to record the entire event……. No one knows precisely how high expenses will run, but one official said it will cost about $300,000 just to transport the British equipment and personnel across the Atlantic Ocean to Texas. A government official has said the entire demonstration will cost an estimated $750,000……"If the judge lifted the order requiring the joint demonstration, the FBI and the Justice Department would back out of this in a minute," Caddell said yesterday. "The bottom line is this is something they are being dragged into kicking and screaming and they are gritting their teeth." ……"

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/17/00 Terry Ganey William Freivogel "….The 21-page blueprint was drawn up during a five-hour, closed-door meeting in the offices of Special Counsel John C. Danforth. Attorneys for the Justice Department and the Branch Davidian survivors signed a document outlining the rules of the test, which may take place as soon as March 18 at Fort Hood, Texas. …… The test will involve six people firing an array of weapons in single shots, short bursts and on full automatic. The shooters will fire from various positions - prone, kneeling and standing. They will wear various combinations of protective clothing such as body armor, flight suits, fire retardant suits and camouflage sniper garb. ……. Weapons and ammunition to be tested

* Heckler & Koch 9mm MP5 submachine gun (suppressed)
9mm 147 grain Hydroshock hollowpoint
* Remington Automatic shotgun M870 12 g
Magnum 00 Buck, 1 oz. Rifled slug
* Heckler & Koch 9mm MP5 submachine gun
9mm 147 grain Hydroshock hollowpoint
* Rifle M-16 rifle with M203 grenade launcher
.223 standard military issue and flashbangs
* CAR-15 rifle
.223 standard military issue
* M-79 launcher
M-79 Ferret, M651 and Flashbang rounds
* Browning 88 9mm pistol
9mm 147 grain Hydroshock hollowpoint
* M60 machine gun
7.62 belt-fed standard military issue
* Mk-19
40mm flashbangs

The Dallas Morning News 2/18/00 Lee Hancock "….. British experts say data not considered classified in their country The release of full plans for a potentially pivotal infrared field test in the Branch Davidian case came after FBI officials were forced to abandon their claim that even basic information about the camera used in Waco was classified, an infrared expert said Thursday. ……. Justice Department and FBI officials had contended for months, to both a federal court and to congressional investigators, that revealing even the manufacturer of the camera or basic data about how high it operated in Waco would jeopardize law enforcement secrets and classified national security information. They offered that argument to U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco in November when they tried to convince him to reject the recommendation of the Waco special counsel's office for a field test. Not only would such a test be confusing and scientifically invalid, they wrote in the November pleading, it also could compromise government secrets. "Disclosure of even the most fundamental information would permit identification of the aircraft and provide notice to those who seek to avoid detection by federal law enforcement," the pleading said. ............A British Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday that the loan was contingent on U.S. agreement that there would be no public access to sensitive operational information about the aircraft and its camera. But in Wednesday's meeting to finalize the March tests, the court's British-based scientific experts and British defense ministry representative said none of the information that the FBI and the Justice Department had tried to withhold was considered secret or sensitive in their country, said Edward Allard, a retired infrared expert who attended the briefing on behalf of the sect's lawyers. ......"

2/18/00 Freeper Ol’Dan Tucker "…..Somehow I think their fallback story may be that it was some Delta Force member who accidentally fired off a few rounds. Maybe. But I think the cover story is already in place. I seem to remember reading that either the Davidian lawyers or McNulty said there's FLIR footage that shows gunfire coming from the building that's firing to the outside. (I wonder why that wasn't included in WANR?) According to the FIB's "Rules of Engagement" for the gas attack, if the feds came under fire from the people in the building, they were allowed to shoot back. And that'll be the end of the discussion about the what the FLIR shows……."

AP Newsday 2/18/00 "……An attorney for Branch Davidians suing the government asked the Department of Defense on Friday to declassify 5,000 pages of documents that he says could help show whether soldiers fired at the burning compound. ``Public interest demands the public be informed of the military activities undertaken against U.S. citizens on U.S. soil,'' Jim Brannon wrote Defense Secretary William Cohen. Brannon said he will ask a federal judge to grant access to the documents if Cohen declines his request. The Defense Department did not return telephone calls seeking comment. …….. Last month, the Defense Department, which acknowledges members of its elite Delta Force were on the scene during the siege in an observational role, denied gunfire by personnel in their agencies -- ``based on currently available information.'' ……"

AP Newsday 2/18/00 "……In another development Friday, Special Counsel John Danforth filed a motion in federal court opposing media access to a re-enactment next month at Fort Hood. …… But Danforth told U.S. District Judge Walter Smith that ``the quickest way to discredit an investigation is to provide the media with selective information during its course.'' ….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/18/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "….. Everyone agrees now how to re-enact the conditions of the 1993 Waco siege, but the test next month may not conclusively determine if the FBI fired at the Branch Davidians. "It will still be subject to expert interpretation," said J. Michael Bradford, the U.S. attorney from Beaumont, Texas. …….. After five months of mostly secret work, the field-test agreement is the biggest public development so far in Danforth's investigation. Without the involvement of his office, it's doubtful that a joint test involving the Branch Davidians and the government would be conducted…… The Branch Davidians and the government will likely have different interpretations of the test results when the two sides face each other in a trial in May on a wrongful death suit. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr., who will preside over the trial, could rule for the government or the Branch Davidians based on the evidence he hears. Later, Danforth could reach a different conclusion in his final report, to be released sometime after the trial. That's because the independent expert -- Vector Data Systems -- will make a separate report to Danforth......."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/18/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "….. Caddell says that if the flashes are gunfire, Danforth probably would want to call back FBI agents who have been questioned before and ask them more questions, this time under oath. Some may be given a lie-detector test. Edward Allard, the Branch Davidians' expert on infrared systems, suggested that Danforth might use his power to call a grand jury to deepen his Waco investigation. "Some people could be facing the loss of their pensions -- and prison," Allard said. ……."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/18/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "….. A last-minute change in plans for the Foot Hood test makes it more likely a flash will turn up on the tape. Allard, the Branch Davidians' expert, persuaded Danforth's infrared expert to include an exotic gun that emits a big flash -- the Mark-19 grenade launcher. Allard wanted the gun included because it can fire 375 repetitions a minute. He believes he sees flashes on the 1993 tape that repeat at that rate and he thinks grenades from the launcher started the fire that destroyed the complex. The draft plan for the test, drawn up by the British firm Vector Data Systems, did not include the Mark-19. The government at first objected to its inclusion because there is no record that any government agents had been issued the weapon at Waco, although FBI agents have trained with it. Pentagon officials also questioned whether the Mark-19 could safely fire the 40 mm flashbangs that Allard wants to test. Allard dismissed this question, citing the government's own specifications. In the end, it was included in the test plan……"

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/18/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "….. In addition, the Fort Hood test could show that the shooters firing the test weapons are visible on the tape and that their gun barrels heat up during firing -- findings that would indicate the 1993 flashes were not gunfire because shooters are not visible and there is no sign of hot barrels. Publicly and privately, the lawyers for the Branch Davidians exude confidence that the test will prove their case. This confidence is based partly on their cast of three reputable infrared experts who say they believe the flashes are gunfire, a cast that includes Allard. In addition, Allard believes that the former Royal Air Force men at Vector Data, the Danforth experts conducting the test, think it is quite possible the flashes are gunfire. The Justice Department is uneasy with Vector Data's role in the test. The people from Vector Data are experts at interpreting infrared tape but are not scientists. For this reason, the Justice Department sought at Wednesday's meeting to have its own scientists sign off on the scientific validity of the test when it is conducted. Judge Smith ruled against the government. ….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 2/18/00 "…… Danforth told U.S. District Walter S. Smith that "piecemeal disclosure" of his investigation "would be a profound disservice to the cause of justice" and discredit his investigation in the same way that leaks discredited the investigations of other special prosecutors. …… Danforth personally signed the memo to Judge Smith in response to motions by news organizations seeking to open the test. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and San Antonio Express-News have joined the Associated Press and Dallas Morning News in seeking accesst. They claim that closing the test impairs their First Amendment right to gather news and undermines the test's credibility with the public. …….. Danforth told Judge Smith that he had vowed from the day he was appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno not to provide an "inning by inning" report. Piecemeal disclosure is "misleading, incomplete, and creates a feeding frenzy of speculation and rumor" that can damage the investigation" and erode public confidence, wrote Danforth. The "recent history of the Independent Counsel law" demonstrates the problems of "engaging in running banter with the media," said Danforth. Danforth did not name names, but independent counsels Kenneth W. Starr and Lawrence Walsh were criticized for leaks. …….In a remark directed at the press, Danforth added, "The Special Counsel would note that those who, in the past, have condemned leaks from investigators now demand piecemeal access to fragments of this investigation." ……"

The Dallas Morning News 2/18/00 Lee Hancock "… The release of full plans for a potentially pivotal infrared field test in the Branch Davidian case came after FBI officials were forced to abandon their claim that even basic information about the camera used in Waco was classified, an infrared expert said Thursday....... Justice Department and FBI officials had contended for months, to both a federal court and to congressional investigators, that revealing even the manufacturer of the camera or basic data about how high it operated in Waco would jeopardize law enforcement secrets and classified national security information. They offered that argument to U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco in November when they tried to convince him to reject the recommendation of the Waco special counsel's office for a field test. Not only would such a test be confusing and scientifically invalid, they wrote in the November pleading, it also could compromise government secrets. "Disclosure of even the most fundamental information would permit identification of the aircraft and provide notice to those who seek to avoid detection by federal law enforcement," the pleading said. ......:

The Dallas Morning News 2/18/00 Lee Hancock "…But in Wednesday's meeting to finalize the March tests, the court's British-based scientific experts and British defense ministry representative said none of the information that the FBI and the Justice Department had tried to withhold was considered secret or sensitive in their country, said Edward Allard, a retired infrared expert who attended the briefing on behalf of the sect's lawyers. …….. "The FBI had thought originally that the height of the aircraft, how high it was flying in operation, should be classified, and the British said, 'We don't care,' " Dr. Allard said. "So finally, someone said, 'Is there anything here that is classified?' " FBI officials in Washington did not return phone calls Thursday. U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford of Beaumont, one of the lead lawyers in the government's Waco trial team, also did not return telephone calls. On Wednesday evening, he said that the information was released "by the Defense Department - not by us." Pentagon officials said Thursday that they had no involvement because the information came from the FBI…..".

The Dallas Morning News 2/18/00 Lee Hancock "…FBI officials have said that the flashes that appeared on the back side of the building during the last hour of the siege were caused by sunlight glints or electronic glitches in their camera. Experts hired by the government have also contended that the camera was too far away and not sensitive enough to record ground gunfire. But after Wednesday's meeting at the office of special counsel John C. Danforth in St. Louis, Mr. Bradford told reporters that the camera used in Waco was capable of detecting some types of gunfire and might record some gun flashes during the March test. But he said the government remains confident that proper scientific analysis of data from the Fort Hood experiment will show that any gun flashes recorded are different from the flashes on the 1993 Waco infrared video. On Thursday, however, the Davidians' lead lawyer said that he believes that the test will provide clear evidence that the flashes were gunshots. "What the government is trying to do is set an impossible standard to give themselves an out," said the lawyer, Mike Caddell of Houston. "If we get flashes from gunfire that are at least similar to the flashes on April 19, I don't think anyone will be fooled." ….."

The Dallas Morning News 2/18/00 Lee Hancock "…The protocol also calls for no news media or public access to the test. After Wednesday's meeting, both sides in the case said they would not oppose some news media presence at Fort Hood. But on Thursday, Mr. Danforth filed a pleading with Judge Smith arguing that he should deny a motion for media access filed earlier this week by The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press. Mr. Danforth's four-page argument noted that no one from the special counsel's office has released information about their ongoing inquiry, and allowing journalists to be present for any part of it - including the infrared test - "would be a profound disservice to the cause of justice." ….. "The test and its results will not be 'shrouded in secrecy' but will be completely disclosed at trial (if not before) and in the final report of the special counsel." ......"

Waco Tribune-Herald 2/19/00 Mark England "……If shots were fired, where are the shooters? That's the question asked Friday by Bradford, who attended the St. Louis meeting where protocol was adopted for a test to determine whether an infrared video taken on the final day at Mount Carmel picked up evidence of FBI agents firing at the Davidians. ...... The Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) video from Mount Carmel shows repeated flashes, but no people are visible. "If there's a flash in the testing, you can't just conclude that means there was gunfire on April 19th," Bradford said. "To me, that would mean the opposite. It would indicate it's not a gun flash because you can't see a person there. There's more to be analyzed than just the flashes.". …."

Waco Tribune-Herald 2/19/00 Mark England "…… Since a FLIR camera creates video images by registering temperature differences between objects, Houston attorney Mike Caddell contends that a person lying on the ground would gradually disappear from a FLIR video as his body temperature adjusted to the environment. "No one has suggested the FBI was so stupid as to run around Mount Carmel firing weapons in an exposed, standing position," said Caddell, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. "The protocol will start out with guys in a prone position on the ground. If those people disappear from the thermal imaging after a few minutes, I think the government's got no case. What's Michael Bradford going to say then?" ……Caddell also has questioned whether the clothing worn by government agents shielded them from detection. That's why the protocol for the test calls for those firing weapons to wear Nomex flight suits, fire retardant suits and camouflage sniper garb - clothing worn by government agents on the final day at Mount Carmel. "As I understand the plaintiffs' position, the reason we don't see a person holding a gun is that the people were wearing FLIR-resistant clothing," Bradford said. "During the test, we'll have people moving around wearing clothing that the plaintiffs requested, clothing they contend is FLIR-resistant. If we can see them walking around, that will be significant. We will clearly have a different situation from one tape to another." …… "I think the test results will be clear to any objective observer," Caddell said. "Everyone but the FBI will be convinced of what happened at Mount Carmel. The only reason the FBI won't be convinced is because they're in denial. I don't think this is going to be a close call." ….."

DallasNews 2/28/00 Lee Hancock "…..A key FBI decision-maker wrote in late March 1993 that he feared bureau officials in Waco were lobbying to gas the Branch Davidians because the officials were tired, frustrated and under pressure from the FBI's hostage rescue team commander, documents show. Congressional officials said that memo is particularly disturbing because they have never seen it or several other internal FBI records detailing the contentious decision-making process that lead to the tear-gassing of the Branch Davidian compound. Some of those documents, which The Dallas Morning News recently obtained, show that senior FBI officials were initially deeply skeptical of their on-scene commander's insistence that tear gas was the only safe way to end the Waco standoff....... "A lot of pressure is coming from Rogers," deputy assistant FBI director Danny O. Coulson wrote in an internal FBI memo during the Waco siege on March 23, 1993. "We had similar problems in Idaho with him and he argued and convinced the SACs [local FBI special agents in charge of the incident] that Weaver would not come out. That proved to be wrong. I believe he is a significant part of the problem here." ….."

DallasNews 2/28/00 Lee Hancock "…..Tens of thousands of pages of documents on Waco have been turned over to U.S. House and Senate investigating committees. But investigators say they've received far less than half of the records requested. Senate staffers said last week that their efforts to obtain what may be key FBI records from the Branch Davidian siege, including files of the bureau's senior leaders, have been stymied…... More than five months after the subpoena was issued, House officials say, they have also been told that thousands of pages of records have been withheld because they are still under review. "We've had a subpoena out there for all relevant documents - all documents - since Sept. 7, 1999," said Mark Corallo, spokesman for the House Government Reform Committee. "Is the Department of Justice withholding only embarrassing documents from us? It makes you wonder." ……"

DallasNews 2/28/00 Lee Hancock "…..FBI officials in Waco started pushing to use tear gas to end the standoff soon after it began, records indicate. And on March 22, three weeks into the siege, FBI negotiators recommended that in writing……. The day after the negotiators' recommendation went to Washington, Mr. Coulson wrote superiors saying that he believed the request was driven by fatigue and frustration of Waco personnel and by pressure from Mr. Rogers. "All of their intelligence indicates that [sect leader] David [Koresh] does not intend suicide and that he will come out eventually," stated Mr. Coulson's memo, which congressional investigators said they have never been given by Justice or FBI officials. ….. Mr. Coulson, founder of the FBI's hostage rescue team, wrote that negotiations were being hurt by an inconsistent tactical strategy, including repeated punishment of the sect just when they appeared to be cooperating. Mr. Coulson wrote that the bureau's lead negotiators had told him personally that "in the short term we will continue to get out very small numbers, [but] in the long term we will get them all out. "Bottom line, I suggest that it is not time to ask the AG or the president for permission to assault the compound with gas," he wrote. "Progress is still being made." ……. "

DallasNews 2/28/00 Lee Hancock "…..Three days later, Mr. Jamar told FBI headquarters to that he wanted to bash the compound with 60-ton tanks. That operation and related efforts to bulldoze the sect's cars away from the area just outside the building would be part of an escalating effort to punish the Branch Davidians for not meeting surrender demands, a March 26 outline of Mr. Jamar's proposal indicated. Mr. Coulson responded with another memo, addressed to deputy FBI director Larry Potts. "Jeff wasn't sure that we had to go outside the FBI to get approval to 'nick' the building. Ha, Ha," Mr. Coulson wrote. Although the Branch Davidians' cars were moved by FBI tanks, plans to cut away siding on the front and bash two feet into the compound's gym were not carried out. ….."

DallasNews 2/28/00 Lee Hancock "…..Despite statements in FBI memos that the cars were moved to punish the Davidians, Mr. Jamar told the public, FBI negotiators and other law enforcement agencies that it was done for his agents' safety. Texas Rangers investigating the shootout that began the standoff were irate. They believed that moving the cars ruined evidence that might prove who killed four agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms during their initial Feb. 28 raid on the compound. "The Rangers thought. . . . that this had become a training exercise for the FBI and they would try almost anything that came to mind," Ranger Capt. David Byrnes said in a July 1993 FBI interview. Justice Department records show that negotiators were also outraged. The bureau's lead negotiator later characterized it as "the worst decision he's seen in 21 years with the FBI." ……"

DallasNews 2/28/00 Lee Hancock "…..FBI records show that on March 28, Mr. Jamar sent a more aggressive proposal to FBI Deputy Director Potts: he wanted full "discretion" to carry out a "mass" tear-gas assault any time in the next week because of the approach of Easter and Passover - key dates to Mr. Koresh's doomsday prophecies. But Mr. Jamar included an explicit warning: Any effort to introduce tear gas would be met by the same kind of massive gunfire that started the standoff. "It is almost certain that we will be met with violent retaliation," he wrote. Mr. Jamar apparently expected controversy. When he faxed his proposal to Washington, he included a personal note to Mr. Potts stating that some of bureau officials already "had a problem with this total approach because it doesn't give much room for the bad guys to do anything else besides 'fight.' " …… . It also challenged Mr. Jamar's argument that an all-out gassing was needed because of the danger of Branch Davidian gunfire. The memo noted that the tanks that would gas the compound could withstand even the sect's .50-caliber rifles. ….. FBI leaders said after the siege that they had to escalate the gas assault because of sect gunfire. ….."

DallasNews 2/28/00 Lee Hancock "…..In an apparent response to Mr. Jamar's request for full discretion on carrying out the plan, the notes stated that the FBI's Waco command had authority to launch an emergency operation - using gas and tanks - only if the FBI got wind that the sect was about to commit mass suicide. "[The] only thing left to the discretion of on-scene commander is the emergency response," the notes stated…….. FBI leaders, including Mr. Potts, told Congress in 1995 that Mr. Jamar acted properly when he ordered tanks to tear into the building on April 19 - even though the tear-gas plan approved by Ms. Reno called for starting the demolition of the compound only after 48 hours of gassing. Mr. Potts, who could not be reached for comment, also told Congress that he had no idea that Mr. Jamar felt certain that any use of tear gas would provoke Branch Davidian gunfire. Under the operational plan, Waco FBI commanders were allowed to escalate from a gradual gassing to an all-out gas attack only if they detected compound gunfire. Mr. Jamar testified in 1995 that he was always "99 percent certain" that any gassing would provoke gunfire, making escalation of the FBI's assault inevitable. But Mr. Potts told Congress that he "certainly didn't understand" that. "If you'd known Mr. Jamar felt that way, would you have had different advice for the attorney general?" one congressman demanded. The deputy FBI director responded: "I would've conveyed it up the line, and I think the decision-makers would have - would have had to significantly consider that." ….."

NationalPost 2/26/00 Jan Cienski "….But over the past year, the government's case has been slowly unravelling. Now there is evidence that the FBI lied about using military-issue tear gas, lied about a U.S. military presence at the siege, may have violated its procedures when it stormed the compound and may have fired at the Davidians as they tried to escape the burning compound. …… At the time, much of the United States was firmly behind the FBI. A Gallup poll found that 83% of Americans approved of the agency's actions. For most of the siege, the hundreds of reporters gathered beyond the FBI cordon were forced to rely on the agency's version of what was going on inside. Federal authorities worked hard to demonize the Davidians, admittedly not a very difficult task for a strange little group obsessed with the wilder sections of the Book of Revelation.......Any positive information, such as the videotape of Mr. Koresh playing with his family in the compound, was not released by the FBI……"

NationalPost 2/26/00 Jan Cienski "….From the first, the siege was seen by many Americans as a botched and ill-planned operation. But suspicions over the truthfulness of the FBI's version of events was limited to a militant fringe….. The Oklahoma City bombing took the air out of the militia movement and made anyone who suspected an FBI conspiracy at Waco look like a nut.. ..But the quiet consensus over what happened at Waco began to break down under the attack of two renegade researchers, Michael McNulty and David Hardy, who disbelieved the government's story…… As information about the evidence in the case began to circulate, the FBI's case began to fray….."

NationalPost 2/26/00 Jan Cienski "….The first big break was the FBI's admission last year that it had lied to Ms. Reno about the use of military issue incendiary tear gas on the final day of the siege. A grainy videotape showed agents asking for permission to use the gas and then firing canisters at a bunker on the compound grounds. The agency continues to insist that the gas had nothing to do with the fire that broke out hours later, but its credibility was weakened….. In the last couple of months, the government has suffered even more embarrassments. Documents revealed that three members of the military's elite Delta Force were on hand when the FBI stormed the compound. There is no proof that the soldiers took an active role in the operation, but again it undercuts years of FBI statements……"

NationalPost 2/26/00 Jan Cienski "….The most pressing issue now revolves around just what happened when the FBI attacked Mount Carmel. The agency has always insisted that its agents never fired into the burning compound. But an infrared videotape made by an FBI surveillance plane on the day of the attack captured what some experts say appear to be muzzle flashes. The FBI insists that the flashes are simply sunlight glinting off a metal roof. ……. If the new tape picks up traces of gunfire, the sect's contention that agents fired on them will get a big boost. As the test day neared, government lawyers acknowledged that the infrared camera the FBI used during the 1993 Waco siege can detect gunfire, a reversal of the agency's long-held position. ......"

NationalPost 2/26/00 Jan Cienski "….In yet another chink in the government case, Danny Coulson, former deputy assistant director of the FBI, acknowledged this week that sending tanks into the Branch Davidian compound was inconsistent with the Washington-approved plan for ending the siege…… "Only in the last six months are we finally getting at the truth," said Michael Caddell, a lawyer for the Branch Davidians. "Only when we got to the civil lawsuit and started taking depositions has the truth come out."…."

Freeper Ol’Dan Tucker from Carol Valentine's Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum, A Death Cult Wears Black page: "…..We now come to another practice of the US military and especially Special Operations: Body laundering, sometimes called "body washing." When Special Ops personnel die on secret and illegal missions, a problem is created for the military bureaucracy. The military cannot tell the families how the serviceman died, so the body is "laundered." That is, a cover story is invented to explain the death, and the body of the dead soldier is mutilated in such a way to corroborate the cover story. ……..Journalists Frank Greve and Ellen Warren wrote of the practice in their series which appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on December 16 & 17, 1984 (cited above). According to the article, during the Vietnam War, soldiers were killed while on CIA secret missions in Laos and Cambodia. "If a guy was killed on a mission, and if it was sensitive politically, we'd ship the body back home and have a jeep roll over on him at Fort Huachuca," one former officer told the two Knight-Ridder writers. Ft. Huachuca is a covert operations base in Arizona. ……"Or," the former officer said, "we'd arrange a chopper crash, or wait until one happened and insert a body or two into the wreckage later. It's not that difficult." …….. "If I'm on one of these missions that's deep, deep black, you can safely bet few, if any, in Congress--maybe not even the secretary of defense--knows about what the hell I'm doing," says a black operative. "And if I get killed and my body's fortunate enough to be recovered, you can also bet I'll turn up dead in a car wreck in some place like Munich or Berlin." (Insight Magazine, January 29, 1996, Secrecy Shrouds Spy Deaths.)……"

newsmax.com 3/10/00 "……[David] Keys, a 17-year veteran of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that about 4 p.m. on April 19, over an hour before Texas Rangers took possession of the Mt. Carmel site, his superiors ordered him to permit a white van to enter the area "to pick up a body," according to James Brannon, an attorney for the plaintiffs. The trooper said he saw an empty body bag inside the van. …. When the white van left the compound, Keys said he saw the body bag containing what looked like the shape of a corpse, Brannon said. "The van that Keys saw could only have been kept secret, at that level, by the military," Brannon told reporters. "If somebody was killed, they could just say that he was killed in a training accident. It's a mystery who it was and we're waiting for somebody in the government to tell us." ……"Keys also says that he saw something as big as a door being loaded into a U-Haul truck. One of the doors from Mount Carmel has been missing since the day of the fire - the door that might prove that during the Feb. 28 raid, the ATF fired first," Brannon added. …..Keys also testified that earlier on April 19, 1993, while he was at the DPS Waco commando center, he overheard an FBI agent say that a "firefight" was under way at the back of the Mount Carmel compound, Brannon said. …."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/11/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "…..A federal judge has closed the March 19 re-enactment of the conditions of the Waco siege, stating that the press has no First Amendment right to access to such pretrial scientific tests. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. rejected attempts by the Post-Dispatch, New York Times, Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press to obtain access to the test at Fort Hood, Texas……..The news organizations maintained that closing the test interfered with their First Amendment right to gather news and undermined the credibility of Danforth's investigation by "shrouding" it in secrecy. They also pointed out that the test was being conducted as part of the wrongful death suit filed by the Branch Davidians against the government and that neither of those parties objected to the presence of a press pool. Judge Smith said he was denying the media request for "legal and practical" reasons. The practical reasons were security and safety. He said the viewing area for the test is small and that military should not be "responsible for assuring the safety of more civilians than necessary." The parties to the lawsuit, Danforth's staff and members of Congress will be allowed to attend. The judge likened the re-enactment to other pretrial tests that are closed to the press and public, such as autopsies, DNA tests and lie detectors. He also likened the test to a "crime scene" and said denying the press access would reduce the "likelihood of any type of spurious test results." ……"

San Antonio Express-News 3/8/00 Dick Reavis "……A Texas state trooper who stood guard as the flames were subsiding April 19, 1993, at Mount Carmel, told lawyers Wednesday that he saw a cargo van enter the property and leave carrying a body bag, that a rental truck spirited debris away from the scene and that he heard FBI agents discussing a gunfight. Sgt. David Keys, a 17-year veteran of the Texas Department of Public Safety, provided details of his observations in a Waco deposition for attorneys in a wrongful death suit that Davidian survivors have filed against the federal government. Keys told the lawyers that, at about 4 p.m. on April 19, some two hours before Texas Rangers took custody of Mount Carmel from FBI agents, he was told by Texas DPS personnel he should allow a white mini-cargo van to enter Mount Carmel "to pick up a body," plaintiff's attorney James Brannon reported. ….."

San Antonio Express-News 3/8/00 Dick Reavis "……Keys also said that when the van left the site, he looked inside and saw a body bag with a shape that could have been that of a corpse. "The van that Keys saw could only have been kept secret, at that level, by the military," Brannon declared following the testimony. "If somebody was killed, they could just say that he was killed in a training accident. It's a mystery who it was and we're waiting for somebody in the government to tell us." The van, Brannon said, never has been mentioned in hearings and inquiries into Mount Carmel. ….."

San Antonio Express-News 3/8/00 Dick Reavis "…"Keys also says that he also saw something as big as a door being loaded into a U-Haul truck. One of the doors from Mount Carmel has been missing since the day of the fire - the door that might prove that during the Feb. 28 raid, the ATF fired first," Brannon said. Testimony in the 1994 San Antonio trial of 11 Branch Davidians established that one of Mount Carmel's twin front doors was missing; the other was entered into evidence in the trial. The missing door, defense lawyers insisted, would show agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had fired at unseen targets during the raid….."

San Antonio Express-News 3/8/00 Dick Reavis "…According to Brannon, Keys also testified that earlier on April 19, 1993, while Keys was at the DPS Waco commando center, he overhead an FBI agent who said that a "firefight" was under way at the back of the Mount Carmel compound. …….. Keys, who has not testified in the Waco matter before, told Brannon and government attorneys that he observed the van and the rental truck between 3 and 5 p.m., more than an hour before Rangers took custody of the scene….."

Freeper yaya123 3/9/00 "…..Is this Dick Reavis the same as author: "The Ashes of Waco : An Investigation by Dick J. Reavis "About the Author DICK J. REAVIS was a 1990 Nieman Fellow in Journalism. He has been a Senior Editor of Texas Monthly, a reporter for the Dallas Observer, and a Business Correspondent for the San Antonio Light, and has written for numerous other publications. He is also the author of several books, including Conversations with Moctezuma and Fodor's Texas. He lives in Dallas. " Editorial Reviews Amazon.com Book Description …….This is the story the daily press didn't give us, the definitive book about what happened at Mt. Carmel, near Waco, Texas, examined from both sides-the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the FBI on one hand, and David Koresh and his followers on the other. Dick J. Reavis points out that the government had little reason to investigate Koresh and even less to raid the compound at Mt. Carmel. The government lied to the public about most of what happened - about who fired the first shots, about drug allegations, about child abuse. The FBI was duplicitous and negligent in gassing Mt. Cannel - and that alone could have started the fire that killed seventy-six people…….Drawing on interviews with survivors of Koresh's movement (which dates back to 1935, long before Koresh was born), on published accounts, on trial transcripts, on esoteric religious tracts and audiotapes that tell us who Koresh was and why people followed him, and most of all on secret documents that the government has not released to the public yet, Reavis has uncovered the real story from beginning to end, including the trial that followed. It is a story about the very American, nineteenth-century roots of Koresh's theology, and it includes previously unpublished biographical details. Reavis quotes from Koresh himself at great length to create an extraordinary portrait of a movement, an assault, and an avoidable tragedy." …."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/10/00 Terry Ganey And William H . Freivogel "…..When Mike Caddell agreed to represent survivors of the government siege on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, few thought he had much of a chance to win his suit. But the Houston lawyer has managed to punch holes in the goverment's defense as the case approaches trial. His motive? Finding the truth, he says……. he was a big campaign contributor to President Bill Clinton. And didn't the Clinton administration supervise the siege that left about 80 Branch Davidians dead? Wasn't it Clinton's Justice Department that blocked attempts to get information about Waco? If there were doubters -- and Caddell says there were -- they have been silenced by the fact that he has taken the Branch Davidians' wrongful death case further than any of his colleagues thought possible when it was filed six years ago. Last July 1, he cleared a big obstacle when U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr. agreed to let some parts of the case proceed………"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/10/00 Terry Ganey And William H . Freivogel "…..In December, Texas Lawyer magazine named Caddell as the lawyer with the most impact in Texas last year. The magazine said Caddell's persistence in the Branch Davidian case had done what a criminal trial and congressional hearings had not: punched a hole in the government's defense of its actions at Waco. Caddell stands about 5 feet 8 inches in his black boots. His brown hair is trimmed just above the collar. Boyish, but not cowboyish, he's passionate when he talks about his clients, who these days are the Branch Davidians. "People take him at his word, and they don't do that with a lot of lawyers in Texas," said one observer of the Texas legal scene. ……."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/10/00 Terry Ganey And William H . Freivogel "…..Caddell got the wrongful death civil case with the help of Richard DeGuerin, Koresh's lawyer. When Caddell picked up the civil case, 11 of the sect's survivors faced murder and conspiracy charges in a federal criminal case. Seven were convicted of lesser charges ranging from voluntary manslaughter to weapons violations. Representing the Davidians against the government was not popular in Texas. When the case against the government was filed in 1994, the public's perception of what happened at Waco reflected the government's explanations. "The general public believed the Davidians were nothing but a bunch of religious nuts and child molesters who needed killing," DeGuerin said. "It wasn't easy to find a lawyer . . . "

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/10/00 Terry Ganey And William H . Freivogel "…..Caddell thinks he will recover money for his clients but acknowledges that "there will be significant liability allocated to the Branch Davidian leadership for what happened at Mount Carmel. "Not everything you do can be about money," he says. "We take cases we believe in." The suit alleges that government wrongdoing and recklessness contributed to the loss of lives at Waco. Caddell said a guiding principle he has tried to follow since getting the case has been to put to rest as many conspiracy theories as possible. He said he suspected the Branch Davidians may have started the fire, "but the government could be culpable in precipitating or accelerating the fire or failing to take steps to stop the fire or impeding the escape from the fire." He said he first found it hard to believe that government agents fired guns but was convinced by flashes on the infrared tape recorded on the last day of the siege. "At the end of the day we are going to convince Judge Smith of that," Caddell predicted……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/10/00 Terry Ganey And William H . Freivogel "….."This case, by its nature, has drawn a lot of people who we might characterize as being on the fringe," Caddell said. "I wanted Danforth to know that here was someone who had some credibility. I didn't want him to come in and think this is someone who is a conspiracy theorist." Caddell says credibility is a lawyer's most valuable asset. He believes the government's credibility has slipped with Judge Smith and the public due to shifts in its positions………Caddell has a photo of himself with Clinton, who is wearing a University of Virginia T-shirt Caddell had given him. On the back of the shirt is a statement by the school's founder, Thomas Jefferson: "For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it will lead nor to any error so long as reason is left free to combat it." Records show that since Clinton first ran for president in 1991, Caddell has contributed more than $150,000 to his campaigns or to the Democratic National Committee, a source for soft money for all Democratic candidates. In 1997, the National Center for Responsive Politics ranked Caddell's law firm at 106 among the nation's top 400 contributors to Democrats. Caddell has been a guest for coffee at the White House. ….."

Dallas Morning News 3/9/00 Lee Hancock "…..Former FBI hostage rescue team commander Dick Rogers said in a recent deposition that he probably would've brought in armored firefighting equipment to the Branch Davidian siege if he'd known it existed, a court pleading stated Wednesday. ……. The deposition excerpts in Wednesday's court pleading focused on Mr. Rogers' recollections about deciding not to respond to any fire at the Davidian compound. The filing included none of his testimony about whether his agents fired guns on April 19. Under court rules, the deposition transcript will remain under court seal until early next month……. Ms. Reno told Congress after the siege that she directed FBI officials to have adequate emergency equipment lined up before the April 19 assault. A plaintiff's pleading filed last week noted that a deputy assistant FBI director said in a recent deposition that he understood that the attorney general's order included fire equipment. ...... In Wednesday's filing, Mr. Caddell stated that Mr. Rogers confirmed that he and Mr. Jamar decided "there would be no plan to fight a fire should one develop." But the former hostage rescue team commander said "he would have acted 'differently' if he had understood" that Ms. Reno's order included making adequate provision for fire equipment. Mr. Rogers said inquiries were made about armored firefighting equipment, but he was told "there was no such thing." The pleading stated that Mr. Rogers said he " 'probably would have had it brought out' if he'd known it had existed." …….. "

Dallas Morning News 3/9/00 Lee Hancock "…..The Branch Davidians' Wednesday pleading also argued that another FBI agent's recent deposition supported the sect's contention that the government's actions could have sparked some of the fires. Plaintiff's attorneys said that a hostage rescue team member testified last week that his armored vehicle and another Bradley fighting vehicle were each stocked with 10 pyrotechnic military gas rounds that day. Agents in the vehicles repeatedly fired tear gas canisters at the compound during the final assault…….. But Wednesday's motion by the sect's lawyers noted that the hostage rescue team member testified that he heard a colleague tell an FBI lawyer earlier this year that he had fired three rounds into the kitchen of the compound just before the building caught fire. The HRT member testified that his colleague also told the lawyer with the FBI's Congressional Affairs Office that he saw puffs of white smoke rise from that same area about 30 seconds after he fired. Military gas rounds used by the FBI burn for about 20 to 30 seconds after being fired to expel tear gas in a cloud of white smoke. ……"

Dallas Morning News 3/9/00 Lee Hancock "…..Also Wednesday, Mr. Caddell asked U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to fine the Justice Department $50,000 for violating his Jan. 15 deadline for handing over all government documents in the wrongful-death lawsuit. That motion noted that 80 percent of the 163,500 pages of records that have been turned over by the government did not come until after the court's discovery deadlines, and some have continued to arrive as late as March 3. ......"

Dallas News 3/6/00 Lee Hancock "…..Retired FBI Agent Peter Smerick, whose psychological profiles were termed the best predictors of the Waco tragedy by experts and negotiators involved in the siege, told FBI interviewers that he believed "the FBI misled the attorney general by giving her 'a slanted view of the operation' in Waco." A 1995 report obtained by The Dallas Morning News says that Mr. Smerick blamed FBI headquarters for convincing the attorney general that using tear gas was the only way to end the standoff peacefully. …… He said that he and one of the FBI's top negotiators had by then "concluded that the best strategy would have been to convert the Branch Davidian compound into a prison and simply announce to [sect leader David] Koresh that he was in the custody of the United States. This idea was not endorsed, however." "Smerick speculated that FBI headquarters viewed this option as one which would have caused them to 'lose face' and therefore was unacceptable," the report said…….The 15-page FBI report of Mr. Smerick's interview, written by the FBI general counsel's office, is labeled "attorney-client privileged and confidential." It has never before been made public, and lawyers representing the Branch Davidians in a federal wrongful-death lawsuit say they have never seen the document despite repeated requests for such information. ….. "

Dallas News 3/6/00 Lee Hancock "…..The report states that Mr. Smerick based his allegation that Ms. Reno was misled on the fact that his five Waco profiling memos were not in the "briefing book" that FBI leaders gave her when they began lobbying her on April 12 to approve using tear gas. Those memos warned that using force against the Branch Davidians would intensify a "bunker mentality" in which "they would rather die than surrender." Mr. Smerick's memos also warned that the sect considered its home "sacred ground" and would "fight back to the death" if the authorities tried to go in. "The bottom line is that we can always resort to tactical pressure, but it should be the absolute last option we should consider," one memo said. Two of the most experienced negotiators in Waco, including the current head of FBI negotiations and crisis management, said in recent depositions that they agreed with Mr. Smerick's assessments and recommendations in Waco. Both testified that they shared his belief that punitive FBI tactics and impatience killed negotiations and kept many Branch Davidians from leaving before the final day. ….."

Dallas News 3/6/00 Lee Hancock "…..Mr. Smerick's memos were so adamant about the danger of using force that they drew intense criticism from FBI leaders in Waco and Washington who favored tactical options, FBI records show. An administrative notebook kept by the hostage rescue team in Waco belittled his profiling of Mr. Koresh. One unsigned note in the notebook outlined Mr. Smerick's recommendations for ensuring "safety of children who are victims," and "facilitat[ing] peaceful surrender." It concluded: "psychological profile of a . . . [expletive] by jerks." …….. On March 9, Mr. Smerick told FBI interviewers, he was called by his boss in Washington and told that his future memos must go to Washington before being read by commanders in Waco. …… Although no one plainly stated that he would be censored, Mr. Smerick said in 1995, he felt unmistakable pressure to change his advice. He added in the confidential interview that he believed that "the traditionally independent process of FBI criminal analysis . . . was compromised at Waco." ……"

Dallas News 3/6/00 Lee Hancock "…..Mr. Smerick told interviewers that he quit writing after submitting an "acquiescent" final memo that omitted previous cautions against pushing the sect and incorporated suggestions from his Washington boss for tactical pressure……… Ms. Reno initially balked at the tear-gas plan. On April 16, she asked senior FBI and Justice officials to prepare an annotated report explaining the situation in Waco and the need for a tactical resolution. FBI headquarters immediately sent a detailed request to Texas seeking "specific documentation to support our position" that tear gas was the only option. The request outlined how the information would be used to argue against waiting out the sect. The request also stated the FBI's plan for addressing questions about negotiations in the report to the attorney general: "The universal assessment of all involved - including FBI and outside consultants: that negotiation would not work," the internal memo says. …….. The resulting report, presented to Ms. Reno on the evening of April 17, does not mention Mr. Smerick's behavioral memos. The report said nothing about repeated complaints from him and top negotiators that their efforts to coax sect members out were working until negotiations were derailed by intimidating FBI tactics. The report also said nothing about their warnings that using tanks or other force against the Branch Davidians would cause violence and death. Instead, the final report to Ms. Reno offered a terse assessment of the Waco negotiations: "Since negotiations began on Feb. 28, 1993, despite 51 days of efforts, the negotiators have concluded that they have not been able to successfully negotiate a single item with Koresh." ……"

Dallas News 3/6/00 Lee Hancock "…..After seeing the briefing book presented to the attorney general, the report on Mr. Smerick's 1995 FBI interview said, "Smerick speculated that the preparers selectively incorporated memoranda and evidence from the case which selectively supported the tactical step of tear-gas insertion." "He feels compelled to present the foregoing information for the Bureau's consideration and deliberation in an attempt to prevent similar outcomes in future hostage situations," the report said. "Smerick explained that if he is called to testify at any official public hearings regarding this matter, he will present the facts in a fashion as favorable to the FBI as possible." Two months after his confidential FBI interview, Mr. Smerick was a witness in congressional Waco hearings. He discussed his memos briefly but offered none of the intense criticisms that he voiced in his FBI interview……."

Dallas News 3/6/00 Lee Hancock "…..Mr. Smerick and some top negotiators did offer highly critical statements to Justice interviewers after the siege, but most details of those complaints were omitted from the review, internal Justice memos show. Internal FBI records show that reports from other interviews conducted by the FBI for the 1993 review, including earlier interviews with Mr. Smerick, were edited to remove critical or controversial statements that might reflect negatively on the FBI's efforts in Waco. In his 1995 FBI interview, Mr. Smerick voiced concerns about the objectivity and accuracy of the Justice review. He complained that he had been shut out of presentations to a panel of outside experts that the Justice Department asked to help with the review in the summer of 1993. Mr. Smerick said he was excluded from initial meetings with the panel and talked with them only because he barged in uninvited to a final meeting. "He walked into the meeting room unannounced and requested to speak to the panel . . . and gave them copies of the memoranda he had authored," the 1995 FBI report said. Mr. Smerick added that the agents there were so displeased "that they would not speak to him afterwards." ……"

Dallas News 3/6/00 Lee Hancock "…..The panel of experts recommended that select FBI regional leaders receive intensive training in crisis management, including behavioral-science training. The recommendation prompted a new FBI crisis-training program. But Mr. Smerick told FBI lawyers in 1995 that he and other Waco behavioral experts and negotiators were excluded from classes detailing what happened in the Branch Davidian standoff. Instead, he noted in his 1995 interview, only the two FBI commanders who led the operation in Waco - both vocal advocates of aggressive tactics against the sect - were asked to brief the FBI classes. "Smerick explained that he finds this very troubling because these [leaders] should have been advised as to what actually happened at Waco from a behavioral-science perspective," the report on the interview said. "Smerick concluded the interview by noting that he has always been loyal to the FBI and will continue to be loyal. He advised that he is providing the foregoing information for in-house edification, not to publicly criticize the FBI." ......"

CBSNEWS.com 3/6/00 "….. The FBI gained Attorney General Janet Reno's approval to use tear gas at the Branch Davidian siege by providing misleading or incomplete data, according to The Dallas Morning News. …….. Peter Smerick, a retired agent whose psychological profiles were termed the best predictors of the 1993 Branch Davidians' deaths by negotiators involved in the 51-day siege, told agency interviewers that he believed "the FBI misled the attorney general by giving her 'a slanted view of the operation' in Waco." Smerick, in the 1995 report obtained by the newspaper, blamed FBI headquarters for convincing the attorney general that using tear gas was the only means to peacefully end the standoff....... Lawyers representing the Branch Davidians in a federal wrongful death lawsuit said they have not seen the 15-page FBI report, written by the agency's general counsel's office, and labeled "attorney-client privileged and confidential." Five profiling memos, warning that using force against the sect would intensify a "bunker mentality" in which "they would rather die than surrender," were not in the briefing book that FBI leaders gave Reno when they started lobbying her on April 12, 1993 to approve using tear gas. Seven days later, Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and about 80 of his followers died as the compound burned……"

Dallas Morning News 3/5/00 Lee Hancock "….. Crime-scene records, videos and photographs from the Branch Davidian siege call into question the FBI's account of where, when and how many pyrotechnic tear gas rounds were fired by its hostage rescue team at the end of the 1993 standoff, investigators say. The Texas Rangers completed a lengthy final report last month on efforts to identify questioned evidence from the standoff and locate a pyrotechnic tear gas projectile that disappeared in 1993 after it was photographed by a Department of Public Safety photographer. The photographer's field notes show the projectile was "located about 200 yards northwest of the [compound water] tower," the Rangers report states. That means the device probably was fired from behind the building, and not from the area where FBI officials have previously said that only two such devices were launched that day, said investigators involved in the ongoing inquiries. ….."

Dallas Morning News 3/5/00 Lee Hancock "….. Based on the accounts from some FBI agents involved in the Waco operation and commercial television footage of the April 19 tear gas assault, investigators say they are also questioning whether hostage rescue team members may have fired pyrotechnic gas rounds on April 19, 1993, at a time far later than previously acknowledged. One investigator also says the appearance of distinctive white smoke characteristic of M-651 pyrotechnic tear gas grenades on video shot by a Waco television station about 12:09 p.m. suggests that one of the rounds might have been fired as the sect's compound began burning. "With all that we are seeing, it seems quite probable that the HRT fired more pyrotechnic rounds than they've ever fessed up to," said the investigator. "You have to remember: They were running out of tear gas that day." …..Congressional committees and the office of Waco special counsel John C. Danforth are looking into the matter with the Rangers' help……"

Dallas Morning News 3/5/00 Lee Hancock "….. M-651 grenades burn a 20- to 30-second pyrotechnic charge to release a cloud of CS tear gas. The devices emit a distinctive white smoke while burning and are described in U.S. military manuals as being capable of sparking fires. …….. Texas Rangers began their own inquiry early last summer. They were brought in to help investigate the Waco case just after it began and were asked by the Justice Department to retain custody of all key physical evidence after a 1994 criminal trial. After years of denying all public requests for access to that evidence, federal authorities told the Rangers in 1998 that it could be viewed by an independent filmmaker. That filmmaker, Mike McNulty of Fort Collins, Colo., told Rangers after being shown the evidence that one key item was missing: a spent gray projectile with a shiny brass top and a red stripe. The item had been photographed by a DPS photographer, but it was never turned in or entered into the Rangers' computerized evidence logs. The Rangers launched an investigation to learn what the projectile in the picture might be and what happened to it. They also began trying to identify a 40-mm casing that was found in their collection of Waco evidence. They were nearing a conclusion last August that the photo showed a spent M-651 pyrotechnic round and that the casing was also from a M-651 grenade when the former FBI official publicly admitted that several of the devices had been fired. The Rangers searched through tons of stored evidence in Waco late last fall but never found the missing round. "It's the only item that any one can think of that was photographed and not entered into evidence," one investigator said. "You can't help but think that somebody pocketed it." ….."

Dallas Morning News 3/5/00 Lee Hancock "….. But the Rangers were able to determine more about where the missing projectile was photographed after a federal judge in Waco told the FBI last September that all Waco negatives and accompanying field notes from DPS photographers must be returned to Texas. The bureau had previously responded to DPS requests by sending a partial set of prints of the DPS crime scene photographs to Austin, officials in Texas said. After gaining access to their DPS field notes, the Rangers' February report states, their photographer determined that he photographed the projectile on April 30, 1993, in an area in front of the compound. Investigators say that location suggests that the device was fired from the back side of the compound toward the building. They say they have doubts about the FBI's claims that M-651s were shot only twice at the underground bunker and were aimed away from the compound because the spent M-651 photographed by DPS was found well behind where bureau officials said their agent fired. ……."

Dallas Morning News 3/5/00 Lee Hancock "….. By that time, FBI agents in the Bradleys had fired almost all of the 400-round supply of non-flammable ferret rounds brought to Waco for the assault, records show. Notes found last fall at the hostage rescue team's headquarters in Quantico, Va., state that each of the Bradleys used by the FBI in Waco was stocked with M-651 rounds. Notes from a prosecutor's interviews with hostage rescue team agents in the fall of 1993 stated that one agent stationed behind the compound saw "white smoke" coming from the compound kitchen just after noon, and it appeared less than 30 seconds after another agent fired three rounds of gas into the kitchen. The interview notes indicate that the agent who fired those three rounds was the same team member who fired several M-651 rounds at the underground bunker. Video footage recorded by Waco television station KWTX at about 12:09 p.m., just after the compound fire began, shows wisps of white smoke moving low to the ground from the side to the front of the compound. That smoke is similar to the white plumes that appeared in an area where FBI agents fired pyrotechnic tear gas grenades at that area earlier in the day. A CBS television crew recorded video footage of the agents opening a Bradley hatch to fire that M-651 and the appearance of billowing white smoke where that device landed. One investigator said the appearance of similar white smoke after noon raises concerns because it is strikingly different from the black smoke rising from the burning building. He said it is also being looked at closely because it appeared well before the fire became hot and big enough to spread to the ground surrounding the building. ......"

Dallas Morning News 3/5/00 Lee Hancock "….. The discovery of a melted mass of bluish plastic among the evidence inventoried last November by the Rangers and investigators from Mr. Danforth's office fuels additional uncertainty about how the FBI deployed tear gas on April 19, an investigator said. The plastic is about the size and weight of one of the non-pyrotechnic ferret rounds used by the FBI. Those rounds have blue tips on milky white bodies, and the blob of plastic is an identical shade of blue, the investigator said. It was recovered from the bunker deep within the compound where many Branch Davidian women and children went for shelter from the gas attack and later died. If the plastic came from a ferret round, the investigator said, the device either had to be fired at relatively close range into the bunker or carried in by a Branch Davidian. The investigator called the second prospect unlikely because the ferret round would have been coated by the same CS powder that it had expelled on impact, and picking up anything contaminated with that powder would have would caused intense skin irritation. "It needs to be analyzed to see if the plastic matches the plastic used in manufacture of ferret rounds," the investigator said. The February report by the Texas Rangers noted that the one roll of DPS crime scene film that was not returned last fall by the FBI was a roll taken inside the bunker. "With the magnitude of what was pulled out of there, you'd expect maybe to see something like a bullet might turn up missing. But a big projectile? That's unusual," another investigator in Texas said. "A roll of film? That's weird. Remember that was taken where all the bodies were, inside the bunker. Who knows what it means, but having it come up missing? It doesn't make sense." …."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/5/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "……No government agents are visible in the approximately 200 aerial photographs that the FBI shot of the April 19, 1993, siege of the Branch Davidian complex near Waco, Texas, according to a Post-Dispatch review of the photos. That finding lends support to the government position that none of its agents fired at the complex. The photos show no one standing in the places where the Branch Davidians claim that agents opened fire. The Branch Davidians base their gunfire claim on about 100 flashes visible on a separate, infrared surveillance tape that recorded the same area. But the photos do not answer the question definitively….. The still photos were shot by an FBI photographer in one aircraft, while the infrared tape was shot from a second FBI aircraft. ……"

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/5/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "……The photos are attracting quite a bit of attention among all parties. Caddell said he plans to file a memo in court this week challenging their value as evidence. He said he had found a five- or six-minute gap between photos around 11:30 a.m. and another 10-minute gap from 11:45 a.m. to 11.55 a.m. That means that there are no photos for some key periods when flashes appear on the infrared tape. Agents could have been firing at the complex during those intervals and still not show up in the 200 FBI photos, Caddell said. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has hired a lab to compare the still photos to the infrared tape to look for matches to prove that no one was present to cause the flash, one source said. ….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/5/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "……The still photos do not have a time signature, but the infrared tape does. A technician can estimate the time of a still photo by comparing the appearance of the complex in a photo to the appearance on the infrared tape. This comparison is easiest in the key minutes before the fire, when a converted tank was knocking down the complex's gym. Technicians can time the photo by matching the damage to the gym in the photo to the damage visible on the infrared tape. The batch of still photos came to light in January when the Post-Dispatch published one of them. That photo had been timed as having been shot either one second before or 35 seconds after a burst of flashes that appeared on the infrared film at 11:24 a.m. For that reason, it appeared to show that the flashes did not come from gunfire. Caddell says he has carefully timed that photo and that his analysis of the damage to the gym indicates it was shot more than five minutes later. Justice Department sources say, however, that they have performed their own tests and that there is no question about the 11:24 time. ….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/5/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "……The government argues that the still photos and the infrared tapes are consistent on one important point -- just as there are no agents in the still photos, there are no shapes of bodies visible on the infrared tape. The government notes that people are visible in other parts of the 1993 infrared tapes and should show up near the flashes if there are agents firing weapons. But the Branch Davidians say the agents may have been wearing camouflage clothing that prevented their being detected. ……Caddell, the lawyer for the Branch Davidians, questions the authenticity of the still photos. He says records indicate that the original negatives of the photos may have been lost. He says that the negatives he has seen are made on the kind of paper that is used to make negatives from photos. The Justice Department denies Caddell's claim. It says that the original negatives are in the custody of the federal court in Waco, where the wrongful death trial will begin in May. ….."

Fox News 3/2/00 AP "….. Ten days before the deadly inferno at the Branch Davidian compound, the FBI told prosecutors it had no plans to battle any blazes, the Dallas Morning News reported Thursday…. In a two-page FBI summary of an April 9, 1993, briefing, Assistant U.S. Attorney LeRoy Jahn asked FBI leaders in Waco "if there was a fire truck available in case the Davidians attempted to torch the compound." A second document, described as a telephone report filed at the FBI's Washington headquarters that evening, said "there would be no plan to fight a fire should one develop in the Davidian compound," according to the News. ……."

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… The Department of Defense has been asked to declassify thousands of secret military documents in anticipation of testimony by Attorney General Janet Reno, and possibly even President Clinton -- in a lawsuit on behalf of three children killed in the 1993 Waco Branch Davidian fire…….. The classified documents in question are already in the custody of Judge Walter Smith of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division. Last year the judge ordered all federal agencies to give him all documents related to the Waco incident. But since thousands of pages of the military documents are marked "classified," he cannot make them available to the lawyers involved in this and other cases related to the Waco tragedy…….. Attorney James H. Brannon sent a letter to Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and asked for declassification of the documents according to Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton on April 17, 1995. ……Brannon has not asked Smith to declassify the documents by court order because he must first ask the military to do it. He intends to ask for a court order if Cohen fails to grant his request…….."

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… Brannon has already taken sworn testimony from dozens of FBI agents and three Special Forces Delta Force soldiers who participated in the government raid at Waco. Brannon said they have an "epidemic of amnesia" and don't remember anything. Additional depositions will continue until the end of March. Reno is scheduled to testify March 28, despite the fact that Brannon wanted to question her sooner. Brannon said his depositions and investigation of unclassified documents have thus far determined that FBI agents in charge deviated from the plan approved by Reno for the final assault on Mt. Carmel……"

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… "They used 48 hours worth of gas in about three hours," Brannon said. He wants to question Reno about what happened and what went wrong. "They didn't have any difficulty saying we're going to try it this way for 48 hours. All of them knew they were going to be squirting it on little children for 48 hours. They had a gas expert, and he said 'oh, it's not going to hurt them.' But that was on the theory that it wouldn't give them (the children) permanent damage if they did it over 48 hours. He didn't say anything about what would happen if a few hours after they start they shoot every bit of gas in there -- 48 hours worth in three hours. As far as we know, he didn't express any opinions that that kind of dosage would be inconsequential as far as children were concerned," explained Brannon. "But all that comes down to: Is it okay to torture them for three hours? Is it okay to torture them for 48 hours? I don't think it's okay to torture them for one minute," said Brannon. …."

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… "We'll ask Janet Reno for all of her contacts with the White House, with the president, and what he said, and what he did, and what he signed -- all that stuff. We'll see what we get from it. What came from the White House and why is it secret? What does it have to do with the military?" explained Brannon of his plans. When Smith asked the White House for all Waco-related documents, he was told they were covered under executive privilege. Brannon has not ruled out challenging the executive privilege claim, and may attempt to depose Clinton. ……"

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… Brannon said there are many questions about what has been classified in the documents, but he particularly wants to know about weapons used in the assault. "So, what have they classified? Especially when we hear that the FBI has taken a clear position that they didn't shoot any guns there. And, not only that, at least one of the weapons we think was fired there is strictly a military weapon. The FBI doesn't have one. So if it was fired there we presume it was fired by military people," he said.
The letter gives a number of reasons for the need to declassify the military documents, including:
* Admitted involvement of at least 10 active-duty military personnel during the 51-day siege, and three who admit to being present the day of the fire.
* Sources who have informed Brannon that military personnel were observed with the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team during the assault.
* The congressional investigation discovered that military personnel admitted involvement with the armored vehicles used in the raid.
* A military source told Brannon that Delta Force soldiers were "pulling triggers."
* A CIA employee reported that a high-level briefing with Reno detailed plans for military involvement a month before the raid.
* The Texas Rangers conducted an investigation and told Brannon there is evidence that there were more Special Forces soldiers present at Waco than the government admits to. The Texas Rangers also believe those soldiers were involved in the assault.
* Government documents indicate there were three Delta Force soldiers in forward locations at Waco. The three Delta Force soldiers who gave testimony to Brannon claimed they were in different locations, and they firmly stated they were the only Delta Force soldiers present. ….."

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… Brannon also points out in his letter to Cohen that the FBI and Department of Defense have not been as specific in their answers as they should be. When asked about shots fired at the Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993, the FBI responded: "No FBI agent shot, and nobody under FBI supervision/direction/control did either." The Department of Defense responded to the same question in a letter, saying, "No DoD person shot, and nobody under DoD supervision/direction/control did either, based on currently available information." Brannon pointed out to Cohen that both answers left the question open to other possibilities, raising the question about what information is not currently available...."

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… "The number of documents dealing with the 10 admitted military personnel amounted to no more than maybe a hundred pages. The 5,000 + pages the government has CLASSIFIED certainly don't deal with these 10 soldiers. What other soldiers and activities are hidden behind that wall of secrecy?" he wrote…….. "

WorldNetDaily.com 2/26/00 David Bresnahan "…… WorldNetDaily is in receipt of a letter from the United States Special Operations Command in response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking military documents regarding Waco. The letter explained why the military has classified some of those documents: "Portions of the documents were found to contain information concerning military plans, weapons, or operations; and vulnerabilities or capabilities or systems, installations, projects, or plans relating to the national security, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security." ….."

Associated Press 2/29/00 "……Documents obtained by a Dallas newspaper show the Federal Bureau of Investigation was concerned about its on-scene commander at the 1993 Waco siege, which turned into a fiery disaster in which dozens died. The Dallas Morning News obtained documents that show senior FBI officials at first were skeptical of the insistence by Richard Rogers, the hostage rescue-team commander, that tear gas was the only safe way to end the siege. A March, 1993, memo from the FBI's most experienced tactical expert said Mr. Rogers had prompted similar concerns in the deadly 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. In that incident, an FBI sniper, under the command of Mr. Rogers, killed the wife of white supremacist Randy Weaver after Mr. Rogers relaxed bureau rules of engagement and pushed for an all-out tank and tear-gas assault on the Weavers' cabin. ……"We've had a subpoena out there for all relevant documents -- all documents -- since Sept. 7, 1999," said Mark Corallo, spokesman for the House Government Reform Committee. "Is the Department of Justice withholding only embarrassing documents from us? It makes you wonder." Mr. Coulson did not comment yesterday, while Mr. Rogers and Jeffrey Jamar, the FBI's special agent in charge of the Waco operation, have declined interview requests. ……"

The Dallas Morning News 3/2/00 Lee Hancok "….. Hours after a federal prosecutor cautioned the FBI about the need for firetrucks at the Branch Davidian compound, the bureau's Waco commanders sent a message to Washington saying they wouldn't even try to fight any blaze that broke out. FBI records show that the two exchanges occurred on April 9, 1993, as FBI leaders were finalizing plans to assault the sect's compound with tanks and tear gas....... "If the fire had been extinguished in its early stages, there probably would have been little, if any, loss of life," Mr. Kennedy's [Davidian expert] report stated. A document filed with the Branch Davidians' Wednesday motion, a two-page FBI summary of an April 9 briefing, indicated that Assistant U.S. Attorney LeRoy Jahn asked FBI leaders in Waco "if there was a firetruck available in case the Davidians attempted to torch the compound." A second document, described in the sect's motion as a phone report filed at FBI headquarters at 7:30 that evening, reported that Waco FBI leaders were sending Washington their plan for emergency medical treatment during the proposed tear gas assault. But that report added, "per . . . Rogers, there would be no plan to fight a fire should one develop in the Davidian compound." ……"

The Dallas Morning News 3/2/00 Lee Hancok "…..The one-page document detailing his April 9 report to FBI headquarters was filed under court seal. Justice Department lawyers turned that document over to the Branch Davidians' lawyers on condition that it be kept confidential and not released to the public, Wednesday's court pleading indicated. ……… The Davidians' pleadings and expert reports released Wednesday contend: The failure to obtain adequate fire fighting equipment before launching a tear gas assault violated a specific directive from the attorney general to spare no expense or effort in ensuring "an adequate emergency response." A senior FBI official recently acknowledged that Ms. Reno asked the FBI to assure that it could address fire threats at the compound. That official, retired FBI agent Danny O. Coulson, said the availability of armored fire-fighting equipnment was investigated, but it was never obtained. …… Mr. Coulson, who helped supervise the Waco siege from FBI headquarters, said the decision to send tanks into the building, which experts on both sides said contributed to the rapid spread of the fire, was inconsistent with the plan approved by Ms. Reno. ...... "

The Dallas Morning News 3/2/00 Lee Hancok "….. Mr. Kennedy's report concluded that the government's investigation, which ruled Davidians set the compound fire, was "fatally flawed." He noted it failed to follow nationalstandards, overlooked the government's possible role in the blaze and hinged on evidence "that has never been used in such fire investigations before or since." That evidence, an infrared videotape shot by an FBI airplane above the compound on April 19, does not prove "with any certainty the origin of the fire." ......"

The Dallas Morning News 3/2/00 Lee Hancok "….. Federal prosecutor's notes stated that one agent reported firing "three rounds into kitchen & at same time less than 30 sec later he saw white smoke." That agent fired military pyrotechnic tear gas rounds at a bunker near the compound in the first hours of the gas assault. Ms. Reno banned the use of any devices capable of sparking fires that day. Mr. Kennedy's report disputed conclusions of government investigators that the propellant used by FBI tanks to spray in gas was nonflammable and incapable of contributing to the fire. Mr. Kennedy said the propellant, methylene chloride, is highly flammable in vapor or mist form. He added, "there are many documented cases of fires and burn injuries fueled by methylene chloride vapors." He noted that propellant vapors "could significantly contribute fuel to the rapidly propagating flash fires reported by surviving Branch Davidians" ..."

The Dallas Morning News 3/2/00 Lee Hancok "…..A former secret service forensic recording specialist hired by the sect to analyse FBI audio and videotapes said he had found broad evidence of tampering and erasures in crucial government recordings. The expert, Steve Cain, stated that tapes of the surveillance recordings from April 19 that Justice lawyers described as originals to the Waco federal court all appeared to be copies. He said those April 19 recordings, which included what prosecutors said was the sect's fire preparations, included instances were two tapes labeled as simultaneous recordings contained noticably different "speech content." Those and other anomalies led Mr. Cain to conclude that the tapes' "reliability, authenticity and originality are in serious question and indicate that portions of these recordings have been tampered with." ……. Mr. Cain said the government's April 19 infrared recordings appear to have been altered, and the videos from the six hours before the fire contained evidence "that they have been probably edited and possibly tampered with." That evidence includes the erasure of the audio track from the infrared tape shot in the crucial hour before the fire, he said. …… The government's video tape from that period contains electronic signals suggesting the erasure all of the discussions between personnel in the plane that carried the camera and cockpit broadcasts of radio traffic between FBI agents on the ground, Mr. Cain's report stated. Although government lawyers told Judge Smith that tape was an original, Mr. Cain wrote, it appears to be a copy, "and therefore does not constitute reliable evidence." ….."

3/3/00 Judith Vinson "…..They have no families now, some no homes, and most are unemployable due to age or disabilities. When asked how they might be helped, they said they only hoped one day to have a little church in which to worship. It seemed a reasonable request considering this was America....... So far, the total from all sources has been $76,859.00. - All spent on materials. Heroic volunteers who have given their Sundays for the last twenty-four weeks have donated the labor. One American hitch hiked all the way from West Virginia to donate a week of labor. Two weeks ago, the donations stopped when the church was only 80 percent complete. The volunteers were hard pressed to finish by the dedication and memorial service planned for April 19. A call this week from donors both in Utah and in Florida informed them that their donations were no longer being accepted by Bank of America as the account was an "illegal" account…… They have now been informed that to have an account they must: Form a corporation and furnish a corporate resolution. Apply to the IRS for a 501 c 3 designation for a non profit corporation (a designation that historically is either, not granted, or requires a year or more to acquire.) Remove any reference on the web page to Bank of America by March 15, 2000 as the bank used by Rebuildthechurch.com None of the above is required by law for anyone wishing to do business with anyone in this country. ….."

3/3/00 Judith Vinson "…..When the church was started in September, there appeared a middle-aged couple with Idaho license plates….. They came every day for nine weeks getting in everyone's way as they took pictures of volunteers and car license plates for the "wealthy donor." He needed "more information" they said. When the Ku Klux Klan came to Waco, these two invited them to the site. They insisted the KKK wanted to "help." The volunteers made a hasty trip to the courthouse where the Klan was speaking to inform them they weren't welcome. Apparently it fell on deaf ears. After dark that night, three carloads of men came to the church site chanting, "burn, Baby, burn" as they threw matches from the car windows. When accused by a large group of volunteers of being informants for the FBI, the couple from Idaho admitted it. They were asked to vacate the property. The "wife" of the couple was using a knife at the time on wallboard in the museum. She pointed it at talk show host, Alex Jones as she left, saying he was, "going to die." ….."

3/3/00 Judith Vinson "…..Almost every Sunday volunteers have someone arrested. First it was a raving man, who appeared "insane?" and who was behaving in a threatening manner. He was gone for awhile, but is back as of this week. Somehow he learned the email addresses of many of the volunteers and spent a number of days crashing their email with hundreds of ranting posts. Next, there was a crazed woman who removed all her clothes, then ran naked all over the property while smashing granite monuments with a sledge hammer. A security guard managed to keep her away from the church windows. The nude woman was followed the following week by the "snake people." They are the people who worship God by handling poisonous snakes. They brought a five-foot alligator along too, for good measure. A highly regarded professional who is a high profile donor to the church was accused repeatedly on talk radio of being a pedophile which required money spent for a slander suit. A constant barrage of vile and almost hysterical comments about David Koresh goes on daily on talk radio from anonymous callers although he has been dead for seven years. ….."

7/9/99 From www.anteon.com/html/news.htm "…..Anteon Corporation has been awarded a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) by the General Services Administration's Office of Information Security to provide critical infrastructure protection services and products to all federal government agencies. The "Safeguard Program" BPA has an estimated ceiling of $250 million over a four-year period. This BPA will assist the federal government in addressing the requirements of Presidential Decision Directive 63 (PDD 63) issued on May 22, 1998…..The Anteon team will provide services and products in the following areas: critical infrastructure asset identification; vulnerability and threat assessment; readiness and contingency planning; physical infrastructure protection; cyber security and information assurance; and emergency preparedness training, exercises, and simulation. Anteon Corporation, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is a technology and engineering services company supporting the federal government and commercial sectors for the past 23 years. Anteon has more than 4,000 employees in 70 offices and more than 150 client sites worldwide….."

2/8/99 "……Anteon Corporation's Vector Data Systems (VDS) is a member of a team headed by Space Imaging which was recently awarded a NIMA Omnibus Geospatial Information/Imagery Intelligence Services contract. The awarded contract covers two out of three functional areas of the Omnibus contract: Mapping and Charting; and Imagery Intelligence and Photogrammetry. Of these, VDS will be providing Imagery Intelligence and Photogrammetric services. The value of the contract is estimated at an unguaranteed maximum value of $20 million to $600 million over a five-year period. ......"

Internet 2/19/00 Ed Wolfe "….. According to the St. Louis Dispatch, John Danforth recommended to Judge Smith that a "British" company called Vector Data Systems should be the one to conduct the test and to interpret the results. VDS is reported to have former Royal Air Force pilots in it's employ, to be experts at interpreting infrared images, and most significantly, to be an "independent" expert that both the government and the Davidian lawyers can count on for impartial analysis. This is where something stinks in St. Louis……. Vector Data Systems is not a British company, and as far as this writer can determine, never was. Although it may have RAF pilots in it's employ, that would probably be due to the fact that VDS has branches in the United Kingdom, Australia and Korea in addition to it's headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The company was purchased in 1997 as one of the first in a string of information technology acquisitions by the Anteon Corporation. Anteon Corporation, head-quartered in Fairfax, VA is not a British company either. Although it's possible that Anteon will be using it's British subsidiary of Vector Data Systems to conduct the test and interpret it's results, it is misleading to simply state that the independent expert is "a British company." ......"

Internet 2/19/00 Ed Wolfe "….. According to Jack DeVault, author of "The Waco Whitewash," Judge Smith not only did away with the Voire Dire (jury selection by opposing attorneys) but he illegally sent a questionnaire to 300 potential jurors to weed out any that might be favorable to the defendants. The Judge told potential jurors that answering the questionnaire was not voluntary according to federal law. And yet Title 28 of the U.S. Code, Section 1869 indicates that it was the judge who was in violation of federal law. Some of the questions Judge Smith asked the potential jurors were:
27. What are your leisure time activities, interests or hobbies?
28. What is your religious affiliation or preference? (a) How often to you attend church, temple or other service? (b) How important would you say religion is in your life?
46. Have you or your spouse ever owned any type of firearm? If yes, for what purpose do you own a firearm?
47. Have you ever handled a firearm? If yes, when? For what purpose?
49. Have you ever attended a gun show? If yes, how many times?
50. Have you ever belonged to the National Rifle Association or any other organization that is concerned with protecting the right to own weapons?
51. Do you believe that persons besides law enforcement officers should be permitted to own firearms?
75. Do you belong to any organization that advocates jury nullification or advocates that members of the jury ignore the law given to you by the Judge?
These questions make sense when you consider that the entire reason for the BATF's visit to Mt. Carmel was because it was suspected that David Koresh failed to pay a tax on some of his firearms. Of the 300 people sent questionnaires, 269 of them sent back responses. From those, Judge Smith hand-picked 84 to be the pool from which the attorneys could now select the jury and alternates. ….."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/2/00 William Freivogel and Terry Ganey "…… John C. Danforth's investigation of Waco appears to be focusing on Richard Rogers, the former head of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team. That is the conclusion that some former FBI commanders at Waco have reached based on the questions that Danforth's investigators asked them during recent interviews. Other sources knowledgeable about the special counsel's investigation also believe Danforth's focus is on Rogers. ...... Over the last several months, Danforth's investigators have questioned the top FBI commanders at Waco, including Jeffrey Jamar, Bob Ricks and Richard Schwein. All answered hours of questions voluntarily and without lawyers. They were not put under oath or read their Miranda rights and they were told that no grand jury is currently involved in the Danforth investigation. Danforth's investigators wanted to know if Rogers had bullied Jamar, the special agent who was in charge at Waco. In particular, investigators wanted to know if Rogers urged Jamar to agree to aggressive tactics, including the destruction of the gym of the complex in the hour leading up to the climactic fire. Some agents responded that no one could bully Jamar. But they added one caveat: Once the tactical operation of inserting tear gas into the complex began on April 19, Rogers had complete control as head of the Hostage Rescue Team. All that Jamar could have done would have been to call off the operation......."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/2/00 William Freivogel and Terry Ganey "…… Other FBI agents have generally supported Rogers and Jamar. Several say privately that Coulson never thought anyone ran the Hostage Rescue Team as well as he had. In one recently released memo from March 23, 1993 - three weeks before the assault - Coulson criticized a plan submitted by Jamar for tear-gassing the complex. Coulson wrote that "a lot of pressure is coming from Rogers." The memo recalled Rogers' role in 1992 at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where an FBI sniper killed the wife of Randy Weaver. "We had similar problems in Idaho with him," Coulson wrote, "and he argued and convinced the (special agents in charge) that Weaver would not come out. That proved to be wrong." In 1995 testimony to Congress about the Ruby Ridge incident, Coulson testified that FBI officials had not approved the key language of the rules of engagement at Ruby Ridge - that agents "can and should" fire. Rogers added the words "and should" to the orders. Coulson said he had rejected Rogers' plan to use an armored vehicle to knock into Weaver's cabin. In a deposition last month, Coulson said the decision by Rogers and Jamar to knock into the Branch Davidians' gym with a converted tank during the last hour of the siege was a "deviation" from the plan he helped to compose……."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/2/00 William Freivogel and Terry Ganey "…… Initial drafts of the tear-gassing plan said tanks would "create entrances/escape routes in the structure . . . ." But those parts of the plan were deleted. The final plan called for an incremental approach and only provided for tearing down the complex if the Branch Davidians did not surrender within 48 hours. …….. Coulson testified that Rogers and Jamar had not asked for permission to knock into the gym. And he said that knocking down the gym appeared to be "inconsistent" with the FBI announcement that was being broadcast over the loudspeaker at Waco that no assault was under way. ……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/2/00 William Freivogel and Terry Ganey "…… The Branch Davidians also cited Coulson's testimony in a legal filing on Thursday that blamed Rogers and Jamar for not having fire equipment standing by. The fire burned more than 30 minutes before fire fighting began. The Justice Department's 1993 report on Waco said Attorney General Janet Reno had not asked for fire trucks to be standing by because she was worried about an explosion, not a fire. But Michael Caddell, lawyer for the Branch Davidians, said Coulson testified that Reno had asked for all kinds of emergency vehicles. According to the record of an April 9, 1993, telephone call Jamar and Rogers made to FBI headquarters, the two decided, "There would be no plan to fight a fire should one develop in the Davidian compound." Jamar explained later that he would not have allowed fire vehicles near the complex any sooner than he did for fear of subjecting the fire fighters to Branch Davidian gunshots. But Caddell says the FBI could have obtained armored fire equipment. ......:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/4/00 Terry Ganey And William H. Freivogel "…..The agent, Richard Rogers, also said he had not deviated from a plan approved by Attorney General Janet Reno when he ordered tank-driving FBI agents to ram deep into the complex during a tear gas attack.. ……. Informed sources have described Rogers as a key focus of John C. Danforth's investigation of Waco. …… Witnesses to the deposition quoted Rogers as saying that an operations plan cannot cover every contingency and that people in the field have to be able to react to conditions. The plan Reno approved called for a gradual insertion of tear gas into Mount Carmel over a two-day period. Converted tanks equipped with gas pumping booms were to punch holes into the structure. If no one surrendered, then the tanks were to begin dismantling the building. According to depositions of some tank-driving FBI agents, Rogers ordered that tanks penetrate the building less than six hours after the gas attack began. In an after-action report two days later, Rogers said that was to create openings for people to exit……. In his deposition Friday, Rogers said using tanks to penetrate to insert gas was part of the operations plan. He said he had authority to issue orders that a converted tank penetrate the structure to reach the base of a tower to clear a path for another tank to insert gas there. In the process, one of the tanks destroyed the gymnasium, which was located on the back side of the complex. Rogers, a former U.S. Army tank officer, commanded the operation from an Abrams tank about 240 yards in front of the structure. He said he could not see the gym……."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/4/00 Terry Ganey And William H. Freivogel "…..During Friday's deposition, Mike Caddell, lead attorney for the Branch Davidians, asked Rogers if he had pushed the special agent in charge at Waco, Jeff Jamar, into more aggressive tactics. Rogers replied that he didn't talk anybody into anything at Ruby Ridge or at Waco. Asked about a firefighting plan, Rogers said someone had checked with the Defense Department about the availability of armored firefighting equipment and that there was none.......Jim Brannon, one of the lawyers for the Branch Davidians, contended that Rogers' testimony showed there had been no "sincere effort" to come up with a firefighting plan. "They didn't even think about putting out a fire," said Brannon, who represents the estates of three deceased children of the sect's leader, David Koresh, who also died. ……. "

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/4/00 Terry Ganey And William H. Freivogel "…..Brannon also disputed Rogers' claim that FBI agents were not demolishing the gym. He pointed out that FBI documents proposing to give medals to the hostage rescue team participants said they were being decorated for, among other things, demolishing the gym. Brannon said although the medals were not awarded, another FBI agent who was deposed on Thursday said that most of the FBI agents were given cash awards for their work at Waco. ….."

AP 3/3/00 Susan Parrott "……The special counsel investigating the 1993 Waco siege should not be allowed to "shroud in secrecy" a court-ordered re-enactment of aspects of the deadly standoff, several news organizations said in a federal court filing Friday. "Conducting the field test in secrecy will only increase the public's skepticism about whether all the facts surrounding the Branch Davidian raid have been completely and accurately disclosed," The Associated Press, Dallas Morning News, The New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said in their motion. The Waco Tribune-Herald also is seeking public access. The media organizations are asking the judge presiding over the Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit against the government to open to the public a field test that is designed to answer a key question: Whether federal agents directed gunfire at the compound on April 19, 1993. …."

Waco Tribune-Herald 2/29/00 TOMMY WITHERSPOON and MARK ENGLAND "…..Houston attorney Mike Caddell asked U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco Monday to dismiss two prominent Branch Davidians from the group's wrongful-death lawsuit against the government. Caddell, lead plaintiffs' attorney, filed a motion stating that Kathryn Schroeder and Rita Riddle do not wish to pursue the lawsuit. Also asking out were three of Schroeder's children: Scott and Christyn Mabb and Bryan Michael Schroeder, her son by Michael Schroeder, who died in the raid on Mount Carmel. He was shot by ATF agents while trying to get back to his family inside the residence. "He (Smith) has ruled that unless you have suffered significant physical injury, you have no claim for simply being there," Caddell said. "I think the other thing is that these are people who do not want to undergo the burden of some of the pretrial discovery that they would have to go through: depositions and making appearances at the trial."……."

St. Pete Times 2/28/00 Susan Aschoff "…. After seven years, Sandy Connizzo says she can finally talk without crying -- almost -- about her son Michael and how he died. Last week she was heartened to learn his autopsy file in Texas remains open. She does not want it closed until her questions about his death are answered.......,, In the seven years since Michael Schroeder died in the standoff between a religious commune and the U.S. government in Waco, Texas, the two women who loved Michael most have tried to let him go. His mother, from her home in Zephyrhills, badgers the government with questions about what happened. She hopes answers will bring her peace. His widow, in Tampa, presses forward with a family life. She believes she can outrun the past. Seven years ago today, a 29-year-old son and husband was fatally shot by law enforcement agents as he made his way across the fields toward the complex of the Branch Davidians. He was at his job at a nearby auto body shop when he heard there was trouble. Almost 100 agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had arrived at the commune with a search warrant for illegal firearms, their weapons drawn. It is unclear who fired first. In the ensuing gun battle, four ATF agents and six Davidians, including Schroeder, died....... Michael was dead, the officers said. He was shot outside Mount Carmel during the raid. His body was left for four days in the gulley where it fell. Why did you leave him there? his mother asked. He was not a high priority, she said they replied. Overwhelmed with grief, she did as a judge suggested and did not view the decomposed body of her son. The ashes were shipped to Florida four months later. "I didn't get a chance to say goodbye," she says...."

CBSNEWS.com 2/28/00 "…..A memo written during the weeks-long standoff by the Branch Davidian cult in 1993 details dissent within the FBI over whether to use tear gas to end the ordeal, The Dallas Morning News reported Monday. …….. Danny O. Coulson, then deputy assistant FBI director, wrote that he feared bureau officials in Waco were lobbying to use tear gas against the Davidians because they were frustrated, tired and under pressure from the agency's hostage rescue team commander, Richard Rogers. "Bottom line, I suggest that it is not time to ask the (attorney general) or the president for permission to assault the compound with gas," he wrote. "Progress is still being made." ...... Rogers was the agency's on-scene commander in Waco and also had a key role in the deadly 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. In Ruby Ridge, an FBI sniper under Rogers' command killed the wife of white supremacist Randy Weaver after Rogers relaxed bureau rules of engagement and pushed for an all-out tank and tear-gas assault on the Weavers' cabin. In Waco, Coulson wrote, "a lot of pressure (to use tear gas) is coming from Rogers." "We had similar problems in Idaho with him, and he argued and convinced the SACs, (the local FBI special agents in charge), that Weaver would not come out. That proved to be wrong. I believe he is a significant part of the problem here." ……. "

PBS.ORG 2/28/00 "…..On Sunday, February 28, 1993 the BATF started something they could not finish. Needing a photo op "victory" to help bolster continued budgetary support from the US Congress, BATF agents arrived at the front door of a little-known Christian group called the Branch Davidians. The Branch Davidians lived and worshipped on a small ranch, outside of Waco, Texas. Before the end of the day, the entire nation would know of the the Branch Davidians. The military-style tactics and actions of the BATF set into motion a chain of events, detailed in PBS Frontline's Waco Timeline, that would lead to the fiery death of over seventy, INNOCENT men, women and children. To this day, officials at the Department of Justice, Department of the Treasury, BATF and FBI admit no wrongdoing. Not one federal official or employee has been brought forward to face criminal charges related to the Waco matter. …."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/13/00 Terry Ganey "….. The Branch Davidians' main lawyer is dropping the claim that FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi fired at the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco siege. Forensic experts concluded that 35 shell casings found at Horiuchi's sniper post did not come from his rifle. Instead, the casings came from weapons used by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) during the initial gunfight with the Branch Davidians on Feb. 28, 1993 - 51 days before Horiuchi was alleged to have fired. …….. He said the action "in no way undermines or alters our strong belief that government agents...directed gunfire at the back of Mt. Carmel…….. Horiuchi's role at Waco was scrutinized because he had fired the shot that killed the wife of Randy Weaver during the Ruby Ridge, Idaho standoff in 1992. That scrutiny intensified with the discovery of an after-action report by FBI agent Charles Riley, who was quoted as saying he heard gunshots from Horiuchi's Sierra One sniper position at Waco. Riley later explained that the report had been wrong - that he had heard Horiuchi say the Branch Davidians were firing. Seven other FBI agents swore Horiuchi had not fired. ……."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3/26/00 Terry Ganey "…… A Justice Department official said Friday that he did not believe Danforth's investigators had questioned Reno so far about her role………. Mike Caddell, the lead lawyer for the survivors, and Jim Brannon, who represents the estates of three deceased children of sect leader David Koresh, will question Reno about how much authority she gave her FBI commanders at the scene. ……… Caddell said last week that Jamar and Rogers were frustrated because the Davidians were not surrendering. He said they accelerated Reno's plan, ordering the tanks to destroy the complex. "I will be stunned if the attorney general says they had the implied authority to do what they did," Caddell said…….. Tuesday's deposition will focus on various eviction plans proposed by the FBI and how they were refined up until the final plan. Early versions were more aggressive than what Reno approved. According to motions filed by Caddell, Reno never approved a plan for tanks to crush into the building, only to use the booms to punch holes for tear gas to be inserted. Of particular interest to the plaintiffs' lawyers will be what Reno meant when she told Congress that she wanted the FBI to have "additional resources" on hand to ensure that there was "an adequate emergency response." …….. Reno will also be asked what consideration was given to the potential effects of tear gas on children before the decision was made to go ahead with the eviction plan. And she will be questioned about why she denied for years that fire-causing tear gas rounds were used in the assault, only to change her position last summer………Judge Walter Smith Jr. has limited the deposition to two hours in response to a motion from Justice Department lawyers who said there were heavy demands on Reno's time and that two hours would be adequate. ......"

Capital Hill Blue & AP 3/24/00 Michelle Mittelstadt "……A federal judge on Friday granted the Justice Department's request to limit the duration of questioning that Attorney General Janet Reno will face next week from lawyers for Branch Davidians who are suing the government over the 1993 Waco siege. In a brief order, U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco said the Justice Department's request, filed a day earlier, ``has merit and should be granted.'' …….. The judge, who is presiding over the Davidians' wrongful-death civil suit, accepted the government's bid to limit Reno's deposition Tuesday in Washington to two hours. ………. The plaintiffs' lead counsel, Michael Caddell, agreed to the time limitation. But a second Davidian lawyer, Jim Brannon, rejected the request, describing it as ``wholly unreasonable.'' ``You just don't tell a lawyer that he cannot cross-examine a witness,'' Brannon said Thursday. ``Not if you're seeking justice.'' ………. "

drudge 3/23/00 "……… The Justice Department wants U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to limit attorneys for Branch Davidian survivors to two hours of questioning of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno next Tuesday. …….. Reno is set to be deposed in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the government -- but both sides are fighting over the ground rules. "There is good cause for limiting the attorney general's deposition to two hours because the national interest requires that she be protected from any undue burden on her ability to perform her governmental duties," a Justice argued in court papers filed on Thursday. "Cabinet officers and agency heads have greater duties and time constraints than other witnesses and therefore are not normally subject to deposition." ………

COX circuits report that Reno has agreed to be deposed "despite the heavy demands on her position."
The attitude marks a dramatic shift from Reno's position on the day of the Waco climax.
"I made the decision," the recently confirmed Reno declared at a press conference April 19, 1993, the day 86 people, including 24 children, died in a raging fire at the Branch Davidian compound. "I'm accountable," Miss Reno insisted. "The buck stops with me."
Reno also assured a congressman during sworn testimony that she was prepared to answer all questions about Waco.
Rep. CONYERS: I have more questions of you than I'll ever get time to put before...
Ms. RENO: I am prepared for as long as you would like to question me, sir. And I will come to your office.
Rep. CONYERS: We'll ask the chairman to give me some more time.
Ms. RENO: I will come to your office and be prepared to answer any question at any time that you may ever have about anything that I have ever done. ……"

The Washington Post 3/14/00 Michelle Mittelstadt "……The Branch Davidian plaintiffs who are suing the government over the 1993 Waco siege are asking a federal judge to dismiss their case against an FBI sharpshooter who is the lone named defendant in their wrongful-death lawsuit. There is "no credible evidence" that FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi or his sniper team fired any shots at the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Texas on April 19, 1993, the plaintiffs' lead counsel said Monday. A forensic analysis of spent shell casings found at the sniper outpost occupied by Horiuchi's team indicate the bullets were "most likely" fired by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms during the initial Feb. 28 gun battle that sparked the 51-day siege, lawyer Michael Caddell said. "Our investigation has determined that, while the FBI was clearly sloppy in gathering evidence following the ATF raid on February 28, there is no credible evidence that Horiuchi or other members of his sniper team fired at Mount Carmel on April 19, 1993," Caddell said. ….."

St Lois Post Dispatch 3/24/00 Terry Ganey "…….The test so aggressively sought by Branch Davidian plaintiffs to prove government wrongdoing at Waco may have produced a boost for the government's claim that no FBI agents fired guns at the Davidians' complex………One independent observer of the test who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Thursday that it appeared that the test results may help the government. A lawyer who represents some of the Branch Davidian survivors reviewed the test results Wednesday. He said it was clear to him that people showed up firing weapons during the infrared test. ……… Brannon said that the test result did not close the door on the Davidians' claim. He pointed out that technology existed in 1993 for FBI agents to be dressed in clothing that could mask the body heat detected by infrared cameras. He said there were cloaks available then that could be quickly slipped over a person, masking 99 percent of the person's heat and thus making them invisible to infrared detection. Those types of garments were not included in the test. …….. "There are times when you know there are eight shooters on that tape and you can't find any of them and there are times when you can see seven of them," Caddell said. "What you will see when you look at the tapes, the bodies are warm and visible early in the morning. They become less visible as the ground heats up." There was nearly a 20-degree difference between the temperature during the test (69 degrees) and on April 19, 1993 (85 degrees). Bradford said the difference in temperature would not have made a difference in the results. ….."

Dallas Morning News 3/25/00 Lee Hancock "….Only five days after all the hoopla at Fort Hood, lawyers on both sides in the Davidian case quietly acknowledged Friday that their experts can't tell what the court-ordered test shows without better copies of the test data. They filed a rare joint motion Friday asking U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith of Waco to give both sides access to the actual recordings from Fort Hood because the digitally computerized copies of the test data they were given last Sunday are too poor for valid scientific analysis. That is a notable shift from Monday, when lawyers for the government and the sect each announced that the test data conclusively backed their opposing sides in the wrongful-death lawsuit arising from the 1993 Waco siege. ………… Mr. Caddell added Friday that he and lawyers for the government have "had candid conversations" since the test and have voiced shared concerns about the quality of what they got from Sunday's test. "We wouldn't have a joint motion to get with the original tapes if either side was completely happy with what we received. If either side thought that they could make their case with what they had, they wouldn't be asking for the original data," he said. Friday's motion included a lengthy statement by an FBI recording expert explaining why the computer technology used to make copies of the test recordings took out "significant" amounts of information. ………"

Dallas Morning News 3/25/00 Lee Hancock "….A British-based infrared firm appointed by Judge Smith to oversee the test took the analog videotapes recorded by two airborne infrared cameras and transferred their images to computer hard drives for both sides in the case. To make the transfer, the experts used a computer format known as MPEG-2, a format that compresses video images into relatively small digital computer files. The process is commonly used to transfer full-length movies onto DVD disks and to send video images over the Internet. "Based on my experience, I believe that a significant loss of data occurs in the transfer of data . . . and that this loss would preclude meaningful forensic analysis," wrote the FBI video specialist, Ronald L. Evans. "For scientific and forensic applications, any type of compression should always be avoided due to its effect on picture quality." …….. Mr. Caddell said computer experts advising his legal team have estimated that "a minimum of 15 to 20 percent of the data was lost and maybe more," when it was compressed from videotape to computer files. "That could be very significant. You're talking about data that's not easily seen to begin with," he said. "The flashes on the April 19 FLIR tape are not easy to see. This is not information that is readily apparent or obvious to the naked eye. When you degrade that image 15 to 20 percent, it becomes very difficult." ……"

Dallas Morning News 3/25/00 Lee Hancock "….He and others involved in the case have said they fear that the court's scientific expert, British-based Vector Data Systems Ltd., may be using similar computerized copies of the data to interpret the test. Judge Smith ordered the firm to submit a full report to the court within 30 days. ……… With better copies of the data, Mr. Caddell said he believes that he and government lawyers can agree on what the Fort Hood recording contains. "At the end of the day, there will not be a disagreement about what is visible and what is not on the tape," he said. "There will be a disagreement on how to interpret it." ……… "

AP 3/24/00 Michelle Mittelstadt "……A federal judge on Friday granted the Justice Department's request to limit the duration of questioning that Attorney General Janet Reno will face next week from lawyers for Branch Davidians who are suing the government over the 1993 Waco siege. In a brief order, U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco said the Justice Department's request, filed a day earlier, ``has merit and should be granted.'' ………. In seeking the time limit, the Justice Department noted the ``heavy demands'' of Reno's job and said two hours would provide ``ample opportunity'' for questioning. The plaintiffs' lead counsel, Michael Caddell, agreed to the time limitation. But a second Davidian lawyer, Jim Brannon, rejected the request, describing it as ``wholly unreasonable.'' ``You just don't tell a lawyer that he cannot cross-examine a witness,'' Brannon said Thursday. ``Not if you're seeking justice.''….."

Tribune-Herald reprinted by World Net Daily News 3/20/00 Tommy Witherspoon "….. Representatives from law enforcement agencies around the state will be in Waco Monday for the funeral of longtime McLennan County Sheriff Jack Harwell. ……….. Harwell, sheriff since 1973, died Thursday morning at his residence in Robinson from an apparent heart attack. He was 71. ………. The service for Harwell will be at 1 p.m. Monday at First Baptist Church of Waco, which has seating capacity for 6,000 people, Simons said. Harwell served in the Navy in 1944, so military and law enforcement honor guards will participate in the service. A sheriff's department honor guard will stand watch over Harwell's body at Connally-Compton Funeral Home, 4400 W. Waco Drive, during hours of operation and during family visitation from 1 to 3 p.m. today. ......"

Star Telegram 3/20/00 Sherri Chunn "…….. Most of the weapons fired, with the exception of large-caliber weapons, didn't generate light flashes, Bradford said. Caddell, whose analysis was based on his own viewing, not his experts', said flashes were detected from at least four types of weapons. "If we didn't do anything else yesterday, we demonstrated you can sure see gunfire on the (infrared)," he said. Caddell complained about the quality of the test tape and the conditions under which it was made, saying "What we got was virtually unusable, very herky jerky. The quality is not what we had hoped for." ………. "

CBSNEWS.COM 3/20/00 "……."It clearly demonstrates that there was government gunfire at the back of Mount Carmel April 19, 1993," said Branch Davidian attorney Michael Caddell. …….. But the FBI disagrees, saying sunlight reflecting off debris recorded during the test more closely resembles the light flare on the original tape.......... "

The Dallas Morning News 3/21/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "……. But each conceded that it may be weeks or longer before their experts complete detailed analyses of the data obtained Sunday at a closed Fort Hood firing range. ………The federal judge in the case, Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco, weighed in with an order Monday reminding each side not to show results from the test or make copies of the test data available to anyone who is not a lawyer or an expert in the case. Even congressional investigators who were allowed to watch the three-hour test were excluded when copies of test data were distributed late Sunday to Mr. Caddell, the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the office of Waco special counsel John C. Danforth. …… "The tapes are not part of the public domain," the judge wrote in a two-page order. "At an appropriate time, and after all the designated experts have had an adequate opportunity to examine the tapes, the information will be released to the public." ……. Both sides conceded that the judge's order appeared aimed at allowing a careful evaluation by their experts and by the court's own scientists before the test results become part of an already intense public debate over the government's actions in Waco. ….."

The Dallas Morning News 3/21/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "……. "We are very pleased," Mr. Bradford said. "We believe that it confirms our position and hopefully . . . will put an end to this claim that the FBI was shooting behind the compound that day." What the test did show, he said, was that flashes could be produced on video from infrared cameras like those used at Waco by sunlight reflecting off ground debris such as aluminum, glass and other reflective materials. Mr. Caddell disputed that, arguing that he saw no such flashes from debris in his initial examination of the recordings. He told reporters that he believed flashes that did appear were caused by at least four different types of weapons, including short-barreled CAR-15 assault rifles used by the FBI's hostage rescue team. ......"

San Antonio Express News 3/19/00 Dick Reavis "…….Shortly before a barrage of weapons fire choreographed to resemble the siege at Mount Carmel sounded on an Army firing range here Sunday, a Houston lawyer outlined his theory of the Branch Davidian case: that the FBI engaged in "a small conspiracy" to make sure no one lived through the ordeal. "What happened at Waco was the result not of a big conspiracy, but a small conspiracy," Mike Caddell told reporters. "A small group took matters into their own hands." ......... On March 28 in Washington, Caddell will take testimony from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno about whether she believes the destruction of Mount Carmel's gymnasium, and the entry of tanks into the building at other points, were part of her plan for the April 19, 1993, assault. ……. Caddell said he believes U.S. military personnel, including members of the shadowy Delta Force, did not exchange shots with Davidians. Having taken statements from three soldiers who were on assignment at Mount Carmel that day, he said, "I don't see much evidence of Delta Force involvement." ….."

New York Times 3/21/00 Jim Yardley "……The two sides in the Branch Davidian wrongful-death civil lawsuit offered starkly different conclusions today after hurriedly reviewing infrared videos taken of a unique court-ordered simulation conducted this weekend at Fort Hood in Central Texas. Perhaps not surprisingly, both sides claimed victory. …….. On Sunday, Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Federal District Court in Waco, who is presiding over the case, unexpectedly blocked lawyers from releasing the videos to the public. A private British company that conducted the exercise for Mr. Danforth will issue a report to the court within 30 days. Eager to influence public opinion, both sides in the civil case rushed out conflicting interpretations today. "It clearly supports the plaintiffs case," said Michael Caddell, the lead plaintiffs lawyer in the lawsuit, which claims that reckless action by federal agents caused the deaths of the Branch Davidians. He held an 11 a.m. news conference in Houston to release his preliminary finding on the videos…….. Hours earlier, however, government lawyers had been so eager to land the first public relations blow that they held a sparsely attended news conference at 2 a.m. inside a hotel near Fort Hood. "We were encouraged by what we saw and think it supports our position," said United States Attorney Mike Bradford, a lead lawyer in the case, speaking in a telephone interview early this afternoon. ……."

New York Times 3/21/00 Jim Yardley "…First, both sides agreed that the gunfire demonstration had created flashes. Mr. Caddell said there were flashes from four of the eight weapons, while Mr. Bradford said he had noticed flashes from only two of the larger weapons. Mr. Caddell said he did not yet know if the gunfire flashes from the simulation matched the flashes detected in the original April 19 tape. Neither of his two experts had examined the new videos. He said the mere presence of gunfire flashes bolstered his case because it discredited any suggestion that the tapes did not detect gunfire……"

New York Times 3/21/00 Jim Yardley "…Mr. Bradford and Mr. Caddell disagreed on whether the debris had also elicited flashes on the video. Mr. Caddell said he did not detect any flashes, though he conceded a more thorough review might show some. Mr. Bradford said F.B.I. experts detected flashes from the debris field, a finding he believes bolsters his argument that no gunfire erupted. ......"

New York Times 3/21/00 Jim Yardley "…Finally, Mr. Bradford noted that the simulation videos clearly showed images of the eight participants in the exercise, unlike the April 19 video, in which it was more difficult to detect people. Mr. Bradford argued that had F.B.I. agents been firing on the compound, they would have been clearly visible during the key moments in the original infrared tape. Mr. Caddell, however, noted the eight participants often were not visible in the videos. In some cases, he said, seven participants were visible and one was not. He said the visibility, or lack of it, depended on the ground temperature where a person was standing. ……"

newsmax.com 3/21/00 "……. Having viewed the films taken by aircraft circling the test site, the attorney for the survivors of the dead Davidians said the tapes clearly show gunfire, while the government's lawyer said it was just plain old sunlight bouncing off the glass. According to U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford, the test results "confirm our position and will put an end to the claim that the FBI was firing at the compound." ….. "It clearly demonstrates that there was government gunfire," Caddell told reporters in Houston after studying data from the test. ……… Here, according to the Dallas Morning News, is what the two sides claim were the real results of the tests:
GOVERNMENT: Two large weapons - a tripod-mounted M-60 machine gun and a Mark 19 automatic grenade launcher - produced flashes detected by FBI and British infrared test cameras. FBI agents had no Mark 19 at Waco, and their M-60 was never fired, officials say. Other weapons - including a CAR-15 assault rifle, .380-caliber sniper rifle, 9 mm pistol and 9 mm machine guns - produced no muzzle flashes caught on the test's infrared tape.
THE BRANCH DAVIDIANS: Both test cameras recorded flashes not only from the M-60 and Mark 19, but also from the CAR-15, which FBI agents say they had in Waco. Test cameras also recorded explosions of "flash-bang" distraction devices, which looked similar to flashes recorded by the FBI on April 19. The FBI has denied using flash-bangs that day even though used flash-bang cannisters were later found in the debris.

GOVERNMENT: The eight people maneuvering and shooting on the test field are clearly visible on recordings by both infrared test cameras. People sometimes fade in and out of view on the British test video.
THE BRANCH DAVIDIANS: People vanish from view - sometimes all eight, sometimes one or two - on recordings made by the British test camera.

GOVERNMENT: Flashes, or "glints," appear on test recordings made by both the FBI and British infrared cameras trained on a field of debris, including aluminum, glass, mirrors and siding.
THE BRANCH DAVIDIANS: Flashes appear from the debris field only on the recording made by the FBI test camera, not the British camera. …."

NewsMax.com 3/22/00 Stephan Archer "…… The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in the Waco case on April 24, NewsMax.com has learned. Nine survivors of the Branch Davidian compound fire who were convicted of carrying machine guns in a federal crime of violence will be petitioning their case before the high court. The Supreme Court only hears a fraction of cases brought before it, and the supporters of the Davidians consider the Court's interest a moral victory……… In the Supreme Court appeal, the nine petitioners will argue that the original charge and impending verdict against them should be dropped for technical reasons. The survivors have claimed that the charge they carried firearms during a federal crime - did not specify the type of firearm. Sentencing for such crimes is based on the type of weapon used by the accused. Lawyers for the Davidians will argue that the San Antonio jury had come to its verdict without knowing the exact kind of firearm used by the Davidians during the raid. This distinction may seem like a minor point, but in the eyes of the law, it's the difference between a five-year sentence and a 30-year sentence. …….. "They were convicted of carrying a firearm in a federal crime of violence, which is supposed to be a five-year sentence," said Stephen P. Halbrook, the constitutional lawyer representing each of the petitioners. "That was all that they were charged with and that's all the jury found." The United States Code says, in part, that a five-year sentence is to be imposed for carrying a "firearm" during and in relation to a federal crime of violence, and 30 years if the firearm is a "machinegun," a "destructive device," or if the accused is "equipped with a firearm silencer or muffler." "At sentencing, district Judge [Walter S. Smith, Jr.] decided he would apply another law - which is part of the same law, actually - which says if you use a machine gun or certain other types of weapons, you get a 30-year sentence," explained Halbrook. "He said this is something [he] can determine in sentencing; it's not something [the defendants] have to be charged with." ……."

NewsMax.com 3/22/00 Stephan Archer "…… So what evidence did Smith have that the Davidians carried machine guns during the raid? According to Halbrook, there were certain witnesses who thought they heard automatic fire. However, the BATF had submachine guns with two-shot bursts that the witnesses may have heard. Semi-automatic weapons, which can sound like automatic weapons when fired rapidly, were also used during the raid. Even other Davidians, now dead, could have fired machineguns. about Smith's charge the Davidians used machineguns. In bringing the case before the Supreme Court, Halbrook said he'd appeal to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution......."

NewsMax.com 3/22/00 Stephan Archer "…… Before the Feb. 28 raid, the BATF had come to suspect that David Koresh, the Davidians' leader, had violated Chapter 53 of the Internal Revenue Code, which requires that certain firearms be registered and taxed. After refusing an invitation from Koresh to discuss his firearm purchases and obtaining a search warrant, 75 BATF agents stormed the Mount Carmel premises armed with pistols, shotguns, and submachine guns and air support by helicopters. Some 115 men, women and children resided in the building….."

Wichita Eagle, New Haven Register 3/22/00 "…… A new report by the Texas Rangers says crime-scene records, videos and photographs appear to contradict the FBI's account of when, where and how many pyrotechnic tear-gas rounds were fired by the rescue team in the standoff. Yes, the same tear-gas rounds that the FBI originally denied using at all. Meanwhile, a newly discovered confidential document indicates that vital psychological profiles of Branch Davidian leaders - profiles that warned against an attack because "they would rather die than surrender" - were withheld from the attorney general by FBI officials to gain her support for the tear-gas assault. And, it was revealed that though armored firefighting equipment was available, the federal commanders on the scene chose not to procure it…."

William Cooper 3/22/00 VNS [unverified] "……. A US Attorney spokesman for the Justice Department blatantly lied during a press conference Monday when he said the Waco FLIR tests conducted over the weekend support the governments position that the flashes seen are "glints," or "reflections," of light off of debri around the Davidian Church. ……. Here is the kicker. While night vision scopes will "see" light, FLIR or Forward Looking Infra Red cameras cannot and do not ever "see" or "capture" any light from any source or reflection whatsoever. FLIR can only see or pickup the infrared or heat portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. You see, the government has been lying all along in hopes of convincing the ignorant amongst us, and yes that includes judges and Branch Davidian attorneys, that the gunfire is really flashes of light captured on the video tapes... an impossibility where FLIR is concerned. ..."

Freeper MouthOfSouth 3/22/00 "….Here is what Craig Roberts has to say to Drudge Report on this: From: Craig Roberts ......... FLIR only "sees" the infrared/heat light spectrum in shades of gray. It does NOT see reflections of broken glass, headlights on cars, flashlights etc. I used FLIR for three years in our police helicopters, and I am a factory trained FLIR technician. I can tell you now, and in any court in the land, that there is no such thing as FLIR seeing reflected light! .........I told Hardy and the other Waco investigators this in a ten page report I wrote for the NRA back when the FLIR tape became available and I was one of the first one's to see it. The biggest point in the FLIR tape is not the gunfire, it's the fact that an CEV or Bradley busted in to the gym area and stayed there for some time before pulling back, long before the other "tanks" showed up out front to begin breaking holes into the structure. Then the CEV went back into the gym and stayed for a couple of minutes, and when it came out, fires began to break out inside the building. It appears to me that this vehicle took a team in and dropped them off, then went back to pick them up. This is what should have been explored, but no one ever took that information and did anything with it. ….."

Dallas Morning News 3/14/00 Lee Hancock "….Lawyers for the Branch Davidians moved Monday to dismiss their wrongful-death lawsuit against an FBI sniper, after findings by firearms experts that shell casings found in a house near the sect's Waco compound were not fired from FBI guns. The motion, filed in U.S. District Court in Waco, comes five months after the sect's lead lawyer conceded that there was scant evidence to support the allegation that FBI Agent Lon Horiuchi fired at the compound on the final day of the 1993 standoff. ......Plaintiffs' attorney Michael Caddell of Houston said Monday that he decided to ask U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to dismiss the case against Agent Horiuchi after a private firearms expert hired to help develop the sect's lawsuit concluded that a dozen .308-caliber shell casings found at the Waco house probably were fired by federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms guns. …… A similar conclusion was reached late last month by a Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratory expert hired by lawyers for Agent Horiuchi, Mr. Caddell's motion stated. ……"

The Dallas Morning News 3/15/00 Lee Hancock "……. Waco special counsel John C. Danforth's investigation of government actions against the Branch Davidians will cost nearly $10.8 million by the end of 2000, according to budget figures released Tuesday in Washington. A 23-page budget submitted in early December by Mr. Danforth's office offers a rare glimpse at the secretive inquiry begun last fall, including the prediction that Mr. Danforth's investigators expect to question 1,000 people "with personal knowledge of events relative to the Waco matter." The job also entails reviewing and creating a massive computer database from about 1.5 million pages of government Waco records at a cost of about $1.2 million, the document states. Investigators are also combing through tons of previously unexamined evidence in Waco and obtaining forensic studies and other expert help to authenticate other government evidence from the 1993 siege. ......Although based in St. Louis, where Mr. Danforth returned to private law practice after retiring from the U.S. Senate, the special counsel's staff includes three inspectors in Waco and a small legal staff in Washington. ...... Mr. Danforth said at the time of his appointment that he intended to "answer the dark questions" lingering more than six years after the 51-day siege. He then imposed strict secrecy on his investigation, warning his 68 staffers that they would be fired if they were linked to media leaks.......His budget, filed with the Justice Department last December and released Tuesday by Justice officials, reveals an even broader outline. .........The document stated that Mr. Danforth's 16-lawyer staff and 32 full- and part-time U.S. postal inspectors are conducting interviews, examining evidence and tracing back through more than six years of court proceedings, congressional hearings and other government inquiries. Mr. Danforth and six of his top lawyers are each being paid $118,400 a year, the equivalent of a U.S. attorney's salary.......The budget document states that Mr. Danforth's inquiry will resolve "whether any government employee or agent . . . made false or misleading statements, allowed other to make such statements, or withheld evidence or information" about what happened April 19, 1993. ……Also under scrutiny is whether any government agent "used any incindiary or pyrotechnic devices at the compound on that date, started or contributed to the spread of the fire at the compound . . . or engaged in gunfire on that date," the document states. …… Mr. Danforth's staffers are also empowered to examine whether military personnel were used illegally April 19, and the document also noted that Mr. Danforth had authority "to prosecute federal crimes arising from his investigation or the obstruction thereof." ……… Mr. Danforth's budget report states that at least seven outside forensic experts or other scientific consultants would be retained to assist his inquiry "at a cost of $100,000 per expert." ……….."

Associated Press 3/15/00 Michelle Mittelstadt "……Contending that the government has withheld, destroyed or tampered with important evidence related to the federal siege of a Waco, Texas, compound in 1993, lawyers for Branch Davidians who have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit are asking a federal judge for help. In a 31-page motion being filed in federal court in Waco, the Davidians' lead counsel asked U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to schedule a hearing to review the complaint or to sanction the government. "A disturbing pattern has emerged," the motion by Davidian lawyer Michael Caddell said. "Much of the key evidence relating to the events of April 19, 1993, has been 'lost,' altered or tampered with." ......"

In his motion, Caddell complained of "suspicious gaps" in evidence and said the government had failed to meet the judge's September 1999 order to produce original audio and video tapes, photographic negatives and other evidence.

Associated Press 3/15/00 Michelle Mittelstadt "……"The pattern of the photographs produced by the FBI suggests only one thing: the FBI has turned over only those photographs to the court (and the press) that the FBI wants the court and the public to see," Caddell charged.
The plaintiffs accuse the government of other wrongdoing, including:
-Never returning a roll of film confiscated from the Texas Rangers showing bodies and weaponry found inside the decimated concrete bunker. "The absence of these photographs makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to determine if any of these persons were shot outside of that room and moved into it prior to or after the fire," the motion said.
-Representing as originals audio recordings made from listening devices planted inside the compound during the 51-day siege. An analysis commissioned by the plaintiffs suggests the tapes are copies. The tapes - which the government has relied on for proof that the Davidians spread fuel and started the fire - also bear signs of being recorded with multiple recorders, the plaintiffs' tape expert concluded….."

Terry Ganey and William Freivogel Of the Post-Dispatch 3/13/00 "……In a motion filed in federal court, the lawyers said the tainted evidence included FBI photos that show no agents shooting at the Branch Davidian complex. The lawyers said some of the pictures came from film negatives that had been copied from other photos, raising the possibility they had been tampered with. They said almost all of the 36 exposures of one roll of original negatives taken during a crucial period of the government's siege were "lost" and that only duplicates were available for analysis in federal court. They also said rolls of film appeared to be missing and there were time gaps between pictures during periods in which other evidence suggests gunfire was coming from government positions. …… The Branch Davidians' motion also said other pieces of evidence appeared to have been doctored. They said surveillance audio tapes had been erased and parts of an infrared video tape had been recorded over. …….. The FBI and the Justice Department have used one photo to rebut claims that agents on the ground fired on the back side of the complex. It was taken at approximately 11:24 a.m. and shows no one on the ground while at about the same time there are flashes near the same location on the infrared video. Caddell's motion said that the "supposed" 11:24 photo was in the set that included duplicates, not original negatives. The motion also said that in addition to the duplicates, there was one strip of five original negatives from Roll No. 1. The "original" strip includes the photograph taken at 11:24. "Coincidentally(?), this supposed original fragment happens to contain the supposed 11:24 photograph touted by the FBI to reporters," the motion said. "Of course the coincidence is too much. All of the negative strips from Roll 1 are 'lost,' except for the one that seems to help the FBI?" …."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/19/00 William Freivogel and Terry Ganey "……Gary Waldman, author of a book on optics and infrared technology, doubts the test will prove anything. "I am always amazed and amused by the many people with little or no scientific training who express absolute certainty on matters of scientific inquiry," said Waldman, a senior staff engineer at System & Electronics Inc. "In science it is hard to rule out something as impossible, which leads me to conclude that the test will find that it was possible that it was either gunfire or sunlight." …….. Waldman questioned the design of the test. He said the debris that will be placed at the site will be lying flat on the ground, which will be less likely to reflect sunlight than reflective surfaces tumbling through the air. For sunlight to reflect off flat surfaces, the angle has to be just right to show up as glint. By contrast, shiny particles blowing through the air tumble through many different angles. That makes it more likely that airborne debris will reflect the sunlight around noontime, Waldman said. ……"

Dallas Morning News 3/19/00 Lee Hancock & David Jackson "…… Experts supervising the operation for a federal court in Waco and special counsel John C. Danforth could order a postponement if it rains within eight hours of the scheduled start, temperatures dip below 65 or skies turn too cloudy. Sunday's forecast called for partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-60s. …….. The issue has drawn so much attention that investigators from both houses of Congress traveled to Texas to observe. The Texas Rangers also are sending an investigator, and U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith, the Waco federal judge presiding over the wrongful-death suit, also is expected to attend. ……. A dozen FBI officials were dispatched to Killeen over the weekend from the FBI's headquarters in Washington. They included the bureau's deputy director for congressional and public affairs, its chief legal counsel and a former member of the FBI's hostage-rescue team who was in Waco during the 1993 standoff. …….. The founding commander of the hostage-rescue team testified in a recent deposition that the team obtained some infrared-resistant clothing when it was made available to U.S. forces during Desert Storm. But he said he found that clothing to be largely ineffective in masking body heat from infrared cameras. ……. The government's lawyers said late last week that they would release at least some test data after the lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians announced that he planned an immediate release of the entire set of infrared and video recordings made at Fort Hood……"

The Post-Dispatch 3/18/00 William Freivogel "…..The flashes in 1993, as interpreted by experts, are the only indication that FBI agents shot at the rear of the complex. About a dozen agents and their commanders - in depositions, public statements and appearances before Congress -have consistently denied that anybody fired. If the test records flashes that are similar in intensity, duration and frequency to those on the April 19 tape, it could mean that government agents fired their guns and then lied about it, two key issues Danforth's investigators are exploring. A match-up of the flashes could lead Danforth to re-question, this time under oath, the agents who have denied firing guns or seeing others firing. ……."

Waco Tribune Herald 3/18/00 Mark England "……A Bradley fighting vehicle and a combat engineering vehicle will rumble over the test site. Armed men in camouflage will roam about. Debris such as hub caps, broken glass and insulation will be strewn on the ground. And two aircraft with Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) video cameras will fly overhead. What may or may not be different - weapons will be fired In two hours or so videotapes will be ready for comparison with the FLIR videos from April 19, 1993. ……. "The reality is that at the end of the day we're going to have a test tape that will have to be compared to the FLIR tapes of the 19th," Bradford said. "To some extent, it will be a subjective comparison by both sides' experts, so it's subject to the potential for continued debate and dispute. Because several different issues are going to be covered, the results may be clear on some and in dispute on others." …….. The test Sunday stems from Caddell's breathtaking challenge: restage the final day. The loser of the contest pays all expenses. ……. Besides Smith and Danforth, there will be eight members of Congress (or congressional staff) present, and representatives from the FBI, Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and the Office of Special Counsel. Eight slots are set aside for the plaintiffs. If no rain has fallen in the last eight hours and the temperature doesn't drop below 65 degrees or soar above 85 degrees, the recreation will start at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. ……. "If we get flashes from guns and we don't get flashes from trash, then what else can the flashes be but gunfire?" Caddell said. "I'm not saying we won't get flashes from the space tent, but it won't be the precise repetitive flashes seen on April 19th. The only thing that can duplicate that is gunfire." ….."

Associated Press 3/17/00 "……The re-creation could challenge the government's unequivocal assertion that federal agents fired no shots at the Branch Davidian compound in the final hours of the 51-day siege…….. Infrared experts hired by the plaintiffs, as well as one retained by a House committee, contend the flashes represent gunfire from government positions and a smattering of return fire from the Davidians. FBI officials are adamant that the Davidians died by their own hands, and have suggested that the flashes came from sunlight glinting off pools of water, metal or other debris on the ground. ……. "

Arkansas ChronicleTom Winters and A.J. Hardcastle Freeper Leper Messiah "……… [snip]"The sequence of exposure of the pictures is tracked by 'frame numbers' that appear on the edge of the film. Even after the negatives are cut into strips and placed in plastic sleeves, you can always tell which order they were shot in by looking at the frame number just beneath the actual image," said the Navy analyst. "Those frame numbers are put on the film by the manufacturer, not the camera." …….. It is this "image sequence" that creates the most problems for the Justice Department. When you take the pictures, in the sequence that the government claims they are on the roll and compare it to the testimony, and, to other pictures on the same roll, the Alice-in-Wonderland world of the government defense to a murder case becomes shockingly apparent.

……..According to the negatives, the sun had risen an hour early, just in time for prison guard Freeman to take his first picture of the cell. His camera, a Minolta with a built-in flash, failed to flash on the first shot in the cell. And through the vertical slit window at the back of the cell, you can see daylight, trees and grass. "Another picture after that one shows a clearly illuminated outdoor scene," said the expert. "Somehow, the sun set again. Additional pictures, but with higher frame numbers, show total darkness outside the very same window. There's just no way the sun was going up and down. It's the pictures that are all wrong."

…….Pressed for an explanation as to how such images could be faked, the image expert explained. He described the process whereby a computer with two "peripherals," a negative scanner and a film output printer were used to fabricate a roll of film that appears to be "original," but really isn't. "What someone obviously has done is this: they had the two rolls of film all along. And I would guess that there is surely something on one or both of those rolls they don't want anyone to see. So, they simply used a common computer tool, a 'negative scanner,' to import the negative images into a graphics program.

……..Government lawyers also produced the faked negatives for copying onto CD-ROM's. The analyst said that there are tell-tale "artifacts" on the digital imagery that further confirms the negatives are "second generation," but would not offer specific details on the methodology used to identify the fake photos. Arkansas Chronicle was able to obtain a set of the CD-ROMs and have them analyzed at the same time as the prints were analyzed.

………The analyst said that the most damning piece of evidence is that one of the pictures released earlier by government lawyers somehow does not appear on the "roll" that the FBI produced. "It's sort of an obscure shot. But the point is, the picture is not on the roll of their negatives, and without question, it was indeed shot between two frames that I can absolutely identify on the roll they released." Other evidence suggests, he said, that the roll they produced was in fact shot from two different cameras with "two different lens systems."

……."Since the case record would indicate that the FBI had custody of these negatives for several years," said the imagery expert, "that's where I would be looking in terms of identifying who manipulated this imagery. It took really expensive equipment to produce these fakes and not a lot of people have it." Contacted again shortly before press time, the expert would neither confirm nor deny that he is one of two imagery experts now examining video tape of aerial FBI infrared photography from Waco for a U.S. Congressional committee headed by Rep. Dan Burton.

…….According to court records in the Trentadue case, the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General has indeed been investigating Bureau of Prisons and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents for complicity in criminal misconduct in the Trentadue case. It was in the process of having the pictures and CD-ROM's examined that a chilling allegation surfaced about the capabilities of the FBI's lab, especially its ability to alter physical evidence such as photographs, video and audio tape. A person recently employed as an FBI lab technician, in the process of approaching a public interest group called "Judicial Watch," claims to be able to prove that the alleged audio tapes of Branch Davidians talking about setting fires in the Waco compound are as fake as the Trentadue pictures.

……..Judicial Watch does in fact represent several federal "whistleblowers" including former agents of various agencies in high-profile cases involving alleged governmental corruption. The non-profit organization, headed by Larry Klayman, has filed a series of high-profile suits against government officials claiming miscounduct, fraud, waste and abuse of office. When shown the Trentadue pictures, the former FBI worker claimed to personally know the persons responsible for faking the negatives. Arkansas Chronicle was able to confirm that one of the persons named does indeed work in the section of the FBI lab responsible for processing photographic evidence.

…….The former lab worker could not produce any documentation of claims of falsifying evidence and when pressed for details on the Waco case said, "I hope to be able to file a lawsuit that involves a lot of misconduct in the lab and I don't want to say anything at this time that might jeopardize that." The former technician expressed great fear of the FBI saying, "When you mess with them, they mess back." "The FBI can compete with the best of Hollywood special effects shops," said the former lab worker. "I wouldn't really believe anything controversial that they produce." The former worker claims to have walked in on one session in "an editing bay," where "forward looking infrared (FLIR) imagery" was being edited. "I recognized the scene as Waco." Interestingly, the interviews with the former worker occurred months prior to public information surfacing about the existence of the now controversial video tapes found in FBI possession. "The particular suite they were in has extensive special effects and electronic editing capability," said the source. "While I cannot honestly say I saw them alter evidence, I can tell you that I was present on more than one occasion where both audio and video tapes from Waco were being 'played' in editing suites where the only logical reason for anybody being there was to alter or edit original footage. If you just wanted to play the stuff there are a lot better places to do it than an editing suite." Burton's committee has already learned that some of the Waco video tapes are in fact missing part of the audio tracks where critical conversations between agents are thought to have been recorded……."

AP 3/20/00 Sherri Chunn "…….The government presented its side at a news conference early today, contending that initial analysis of the evidence helps show FBI sharpshooters did not open fire on sect members. "We have now completed a preliminary review of the materials that were provided to us today from the test at Fort Hood and while this was a preliminary examination - we will obviously be doing a much more detailed examination of the results - but we are very pleased with the results we have seen so far," said U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford, one of the government's lead lawyers in ongoing Branch Davidian litigation. ………. But Branch Davidian plaintiffs suing the government for wrongful death have insisted Sunday's field test will confirm their experts' analysis: that rapid-fire bursts of light appearing on the FBI's 1993 aerial infrared surveillance footage represent gunfire from government positions into the Davidians' retreat. ……… Flashes - as well as people - were visible in all tapes reviewed Sunday, said Bradford. "Of those items that we think are especially significant are the fact that the debris field in these tapes clearly reflects flashes," he said, adding that test footage would be reviewed in greater detail for several weeks. ….."

Dallas Morning News 3/19/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "…… U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford, one of the lead lawyers on the government's Waco trial team, said after the test that government officials were confident it would disprove "baseless allegations with no foundation that the FBI was out at the back of that compound shooting." But Mike Caddell of Houston, lead lawyer in the Branch Davidians' wrongful death lawsuit, voiced equal certainty that the results would show gunfire muzzle blasts similar to repeated flashes recorded by the FBI in 1993 with an airborne forward-looking-infrared (FLIR) camera. "We're likely to get flashes today that will look like the flashes from the April 19 FLIR that will be generated by gunfire," he said……"

Dallas Morning News 3/19/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "…… In arguing against the idea of government gunfire, FBI officials point out that no gunmen are visible anywhere near the repeated flashes on the April 19 infrared video. In contrast, they predicted that shooters would clearly be visible in the tapes of the test conducted Sunday. But Mr. Caddell said gunmen would be more likely to show up in Sunday's test because Sunday's weather was between 15 and 20 degrees colder than in 1993. Temperatures reached 85 in Waco on April 19 in the final hour before the compound burned. "If there's a match between the gunfire on April 19 and gunfire at Fort Hood, people are going to overcome questions about seeing bodies," he said. "I think the bodies are a secondary issue." …… He noted that an FBI still camera in another bureau plane captured a photo of agents standing outside their tanks several hundred feet away from the rear of the compound on April 19. In a motion last week in federal court, Mr. Caddell stated that his comparison of FBI still and infrared photos pegged that image as having been taken at 11:35 a.m. Mr. Caddell said those elongated dark shapes of men on the ground look remarkably similar to shapes that appeared in a courtyard at the rear of the compound at 11:43 a.m. on the infrared video. The April 19 video shows repeated white flashes emanating just after 11:43 a.m. from the same area of the courtyard where the dark shapes appeared on the still picture, Mr. Caddell. ……"

Dallas Morning News 3/19/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "…… The test got under way about 11 a.m, after temperatures rose to 59 degrees. By the time it ended at 2 p.m., the temperature was about 69……..In addition to the gunshots, the cameras took footage of men maneuvering in different types of camouflage gear. At issue is how the heat-sensing camera's ability to detect body heat from humans might be diminished by different kinds of camouflage clothing or body armor. ...... Armored vehicles matching those used by the FBI in Waco were filmed driving over fields of aluminum, glass and other debris, and the cameras also shot footage of pools of standing water and a family-sized dome tent specially rigged with reflective aluminum coated "space" blankets. …… Government officials requested that the aluminum-covered tent be included in the test to guarantee that at least some flashes on the test recordings would be generated from sunlight reflections. ….."

TERRY GANEY Of the Post-Dispatch 3/20/00 "…… In another development Sunday, the lawyers said that Vector will provide an analysis of the results to Judge Smith for use in the trial of the wrongful death suit that the Branch Davidians have filed against the federal government. Before Sunday, the plan had called for Vector to give its analysis to Danforth's office only and after the trial. That left open the possibility that Danforth's independent investigation report later this year could have had a different finding on the gunfire issue than the civil trial scheduled to start May 15. With Sunday's development, that is less likely now since both Danforth's inquiry and Judge Smith's court will be operating with the same information……."

TERRY GANEY Of the Post-Dispatch 3/20/00 "…… Sunday's temperature got up to 69 degrees as opposed to 85 at Waco on April 19, 1993. The test plan required that Sunday's temperature be between 65 and 85 degrees. Caddell said cooler ground temperatures would increase the likelihood that bodies are observed on the test tape. Because infrared measures the differences between heat radiation of objects, warm bodies would be more readily visible on colder ground. The government has said that because no agents' bodies can be seen near the flashes on the 1993 tape, no agents were there to fire………"

TERRY GANEY Of the Post-Dispatch 3/20/00 "……..Caddell said for the first time Sunday that in addition to the infrared flashes, an FBI surveillance photograph by a still camera points to the presence of FBI shooters behind the complex. He said two specks that show up on a picture taken behind the complex about 11:43 a.m. on the last day of the siege are two FBI gunmen. The specks, "elongated dark blobs" as Caddell calls them, are near a piece of debris that appears to be part of the collapsed side of the building. The site is in a courtyard close to the complex. ……..He said the specks were discovered on an enlargement of one of 155 FBI surveillance photos that had been turned over to the court. They were not noticed earlier, Caddell said, because all the plaintiffs had to work with were "poor quality" 3-by-5-inch photographs the FBI had supplied earlier....... Caddell said the specks do not appear in the same location in earlier photographs, as if the "shooters" moved to the position. Flashes on the original infrared tape that the Branch Davidians say are gunfire show up in the courtyard area at 11:48 a.m. "They are trying to take out people shooting in the tower," Caddell said. The wooden church complex included a four-story tower in the center of the structure. Caddell also said the pair may have been going after Davidian leader David Koresh, or trying to eliminate the .50-caliber rifle that was part of the sect's arsenal. ……."

Dallas Morning News 3/20/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "…….A federal judge unexpectedly banned both sides in the Branch Davidian case from releasing footage from a Sunday field test aimed at determining whether government agents fired at the sect's compound at the end of the 1993 siege.. ...... While video from Sunday's test will not be made public immediately, both sides promised to discuss their initial assessments of test data by Monday morning. The supervisors of the test, British infrared experts chosen by Waco special counsel John C. Danforth and the federal court in Waco, released the raw data to both sides late Sunday after certifying the data's accuracy…..In addition to blocking release of the film, Judge Smith surprised both sides with the announcement that the British experts overseeing Sunday's operation, Vector Data Systems Ltd., would give the court their own written analysis of the test within 30 days. Mr. Bradford and Mr. Caddell said they believe the judge decided to seal the test data to give Vector Data time to prepare a formal report before the Fort Hood footage becomes public. Both attorneys acknowledged that the court's request for a full report could mean that Vector Data scientists will be deposed before the trial. That could mean the court will have to extend depositions and possibly delay the May 15 trial. ......"

Dallas Morning News 3/20/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "…….While Mr. Caddell predicted that evaluating the data would be relatively "easy," he reminded reporters that it would address only a portion of the allegations leveled against the government. Also at issue, he said, is whether the FBI's commanders exceeded their authority in ordering tanks to begin driving deep into the building and demolishing its rear on April 19. Mr. Caddell said he also expects to be able to prove government negligence in the FBI's decision not to try to fight a fire if one broke out at the compound. He said he also believes that he can convince a federal judge that the government's agents and tanks contributed to the fire in which Mr. Koresh and more than 80 followers died. "David Koresh bears part of that responsibility," Mr. Caddell said. "And what our lawsuit is about, I think, is that the government needs to accept its share of responsibility as well." ......"

Dallas Morning News 3/20/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "…….In arguing against the idea of government gunfire, FBI officials point out that no gunmen are visible anywhere near the repeated flashes on the April 19 infrared video. In contrast, they predicted that shooters would clearly be visible in the tapes of the test conducted Sunday. But Mr. Caddell said gunmen would be more likely to show up in Sunday's test because Sunday's weather was between 15 and 20 degrees colder than in 1993. Temperatures reached 85 in Waco on April 19 in the final hour before the compound burned. "If there's a match between the gunfire on April 19 and gunfire at Fort Hood, people are going to overcome questions about seeing bodies," he said. "I think the bodies are a secondary issue." ......"

Dallas Morning News 3/20/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "…….He said that an FBI still camera in another bureau plane captured a photo of agents standing outside their tanks several hundred feet away from the rear of the compound on April 19. In a motion last week in federal court, Mr. Caddell stated that his comparison of FBI still and infrared photos pegged that image as having been taken at 11:35 a.m. Mr. Caddell said those elongated dark shapes of men on the ground look remarkably similar to shapes that appeared in a courtyard at the rear of the compound at 11:43 a.m. on the infrared video. The April 19 video shows repeated white flashes emanating just after 11:43 a.m. from the same area of the courtyard where the dark shapes appeared on the still picture, Mr. Caddell. "We're really focusing on this because of their effort to prove their argument by saying you can't see bodies on the April 19 tape," Mr. Caddell said. "There are times when you can see bodies. . . . The bodies are hard to find. They clearly are taking cover. But if you look, you can see bodies." Asked about the 11:43 a.m. photograph, FBI officials repeated their long-held position that no agents left the protection of their armored vehicles anywhere near the compound until after it caught fire. ......A federal investigator involved in re-examining the incident said the shapes could also conceivably be the shadowy figures of Branch Davidians......."

"Waco: A New Revelation" Reviewed by Gavin Phillips "……..The official version of events was rammed down our throats day in and day out by the mainstream media. Buzzwords were repeated ad-nauseum; Cult, Pedophile, Compound, Religions that Kill, Mass Suicide, Jonestown, Sociopath. We were being conditioned by the government via the jingoistic mainstream media into a Pavlovian response to any mention of "The Wacko in Waco," that was of course that he was the heir apparent to Charlie Manson. It is a lie, as is virtually everything else the government has told us about the events at Waco. It is a prerequisite to justifying genocide to demonize the group targeted for extinction. The Nazi's did it to the Jews. Our government did it to the Branch Davidians in 1993..…..

………Dr. Philip Arnold says,"...If you don't believe me, look at the video tape, I know you have that tape, he (Koresh) says, I saw you making it across the road." Investigator (Attorney) David Hardy says,"...According to the agency there were three or four video cameras pointed at the front door that could tell you everything that happened to the front door of that building that day. They claim they can't find a single one of them. Every one of those video tapes vanished."

………..The question everybody asks is, why didn't they just come out? Some woman and children did leave the building. Others chose to stay in their home, they did not trust a government who had just murdered six of their friends and had trampled on their Constitutional Rights. As Rita Riddle said; "...They were assuring us that we would be cared for in a professional manner. Then you turn around and you've got people that are flipping you the finger...they're dropping their draws and baring their butts and these are the type of people that you're supposed to go out to." An FBI negotiator later informs Branch Davidian Steve Schnieder that it would not be wise to leave the building. FBI Negotiator "...The tactical people have changed the situation and for security reasons and for safety reasons no one is now authorized to come out of there for any reason. And what they're telling me is, that if anybody does, they are going to be dealt with in such a fashion that the people will have to, retreat back to the compound." It is therefore of little surprise that the Davidians decided to stay in their home. …….

……….Using frame by frame analysis Dr. Allard finds that some of the flashes are occurring at a fraction of a second, in some cases a 30th of a second. He says "...They open up with automatic gunfire...There is absolutely nothing in nature that can cause thermal flashes to occur in a 30th of a second..." We also see someone firing into the dining room area. Dr. Allard says, "...I stopped counting after about 62 individual shots." Earlier in the documentary we saw new color video footage of unmistakable machine gun fire (three bursts) from a helicopter sent to intercept somebody exiting one of the buildings in the middle of the complex. We then see men firing into the only undamaged exit from the burning building, after-which about fifteen bullet ridden bodies are discovered. As Dr. Edward Allard states, "...We have men firing automatic weapons and they're firing into the burning building...Like some sort of a cowboy movie they're retreating down the building and firing as they're retreating. I cannot remember something more sickening that I had to do to witness this." The FBI says that the Davidians either shot themselves or each other. …….

………FBI Special Agent in Charge at Waco, Jeff Jamar stated: "....Asked a question is, are we getting help from the Delta team and we're not." This statement is disingenuous at best. Even the government now admits that one or two Delta men were there. The government says they were just there as "observers" (What, they never spoke to the FBI at all?) and didn't take any direct action. Gene Cullen. Senior Case Officer Special Operations Group, CIA, says; "....Originally I was told that there was just going to be one or two Delta personnel there as observers, but during the briefing it was mentioned that there was over ten Delta operators at Waco Texas, and they were not there merely as observers, but would be participating in any type of operational or tactical effort against the Branch Davidians." …….Steven Barry. Sgt 1st Class US Army Special Forces (Ret) says; "...I did talk to some combat applications group guys and they did confirm that yes, portions of the B squadron were there, pulling triggers." ......"

"Waco: A New Revelation" Reviewed by Gavin Phillips "……..……….Frederic Whitehurst "...Following the gassing, the mothers of the children take them to an enclosed concrete vault which the FBI called "the bunker." The FBI gasses the bunker for two hours." …..

……..We now have credible testimony that elite government assassins were illegally deployed at Waco. Even more disturbing, and also new to this documentary, is the very strong evidence that a high explosive "shape charge" was purposely placed on the concrete room where many children and woman were staying. During the documentary you see the percussion of an explosion and then a dramatic fireball, which was most likely due to a rupturing propane gas bottle. We are then shown a photograph and still video footage of an approximate three foot round hole on the top of the concrete cinder block, the last sanctuary of the woman and babies. Explosive experts say this is the result of a shaped charge placed there by government agents. Steven Barry states; "...The, the blast hole at the top of the roof, you can plainly see the rebar is bent in. The damage to the stainless steel refrigerator, which appears to have been under the blast hole is consistent with a shape charge." Colonel Jack Frost Ordnance Engineer USAF Retired, states; "...Having examined still photographs and video tapes of the bunker it was apparent to me that this was caused by a shape charge. But what bothers me is who would have the audacity to use such a charge." Some have said that the hole was made by the small gas tank, but you see the explosion before the fireball of the propane gas ignition. The cinder block was bulldozed and the concrete buried. Some six years later it was dug up in order to test the concrete around the hole to ascertain what caused it. "Surprisingly," the concrete around the hole was "missing." ……..

Killeen Daily Herald 3/20/00 Tracy Goodwin "……Lawyers came under fire by a radio talk show host and a Branch Davidian member over the validity of the Sunday re-enactment on Fort Hood of the April 19, 1993, fire at the religious sect's Mount Carmel compound near Waco. U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford and Branch Davidian lawyer Mike Caddell defended the reasons and the accuracy of the test, which simulated the day the Branch Davidian complex burned to the ground. Both lawyers believe Sunday's re-enactment will put to rest any doubt about what happened that day. Results from the test were not known at press time. Former radio talk show host Alex Jones said the way Caddell is handling the case proves he is always on the government's side and neglects what actually happened. "Quite frankly it is beginning to look a lot like Nazi Germany now," Jones said. "Time and time again information (against the government's case) has been brought to their attention and time and time again, it has always turned out to be true." Branch Davidian survivor Clive Doyle said he wants to make sure the truth gets out to the people and he also questioned the re-enactment……."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/20/00 Terry Ganey "……A Justice Department lawyer said today that he was very pleased with the results of Sunday's scientific infrared test because it showed debris causes flashes like those seen on a video of the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidians' compex near Waco, Texas. Mike Bradford, the U.S. attorney from Beaumont, Texas, said a preliminary analysis of the tapes backed up the government's position that FBI agents did not fire guns at the complex the final hour of the FBI's siege. ……. "This may very well explain the flashes," Bradford said. "We are very pleased with the results. We believe it confirms our position and will put an end to the claim that the FBI was firing at the compound." ……..And Bradford pointed out that in addition to the muzzle blasts, individuals can be seen on the test tape. In the 1993 tape there are no bodies seen near the flashes. ……"

St. Louis Post Dispatch 3/20/00 Terry Ganey "……Caddell said for the first time Sunday that in addition to the infrared flashes, an FBI surveillance photograph by a still camera points to the presence of FBI shooters behind the complex. He said two specks that show up on a picture taken behind the complex about 11:43 a.m. on the last day of the siege are two FBI gunmen. The specks, "elongated dark blobs" as Caddell calls them, are near a piece of debris that appears to be part of the collapsed side of the building. The site is in a courtyard close to the complex. He said the specks were discovered on an enlargement of one of 155 FBI surveillance photos that had been turned over to the court. They were not noticed earlier, Caddell said, because all the plaintiffs had to work with were "poor quality" 3-by-5-inch photographs the FBI had supplied earlier. Caddell said the specks do not appear in the same location in earlier photographs, as if the "shooters" moved to the position. Flashes on the original infrared tape that the Branch Davidians say are gunfire show up in the courtyard area at 11:48 a.m. "They are trying to take out people shooting in the tower," Caddell said. The wooden church complex included a four-story tower in the center of the structure. Caddell also said the pair may have been going after Davidian leader David Koresh, or trying to eliminate the .50-caliber rifle that was part of the sect's arsenal……."

The Dallas Morning News 3/16/00 Lee Hancock "…… Lawyers for the Branch Davidians told a federal judge Wednesday that key government photos and audio and video recordings from the last day of the 1993 Waco siege have been "lost, altered or tampered with." In a motion, the lead attorney for the sect asked U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith to force the government to explain the "disturbing pattern." The attorney also asked the judge to impose punishment over the mishandling of critical evidence from April 19, 1993, the day that the sect's compound burned. ......... Michael Caddell, lead attorney for the sect, said Wednesday that careful review of what the government has turned over reveals a pattern that "gets to be beyond coincidence or sloppiness. It is clear that there is a calculated plan on the part of people within the FBI to withhold evidence or to present only that evidence that is favorable." ......... Mr. Caddell argued Wednesday that the government has continued to defy the court's order, and he asked for a full contempt hearing and "appropriate sanctions for the government's willful or neglectful destruction or alteration of original evidence." "If the court is to fulfill its goal of assuring the American public that the original critical evidence . . . has not been lost, tampered with or altered, it must take immediate steps," Mr. Caddell's 31-page motion argued. ......"

POST Dispatch NET 3/16/00 Terry Ganey, William Freivogel "…… The government has "lost, altered or tampered with" key evidence to understanding what happened at Waco, lawyers for the Branch Davidian survivors said Wednesday. In a motion filed in federal court, the lawyers said the tainted evidence included FBI photos that show no agents shooting at the Branch Davidian complex. The lawyers said some of the pictures came from film negatives that had been copied from other photos, raising the possibility they had been tampered with. …….. J. Michael Bradford, the U.S. Attorney in Beaumont, Texas, said the Justice Department had no immediate comment. "I will have to look into it," he said, "It sounds as if it is a complicated accusation that will require that we obtain some records and documents. I'm not in a position to comment until we can check on all of it." …….. The seven rolls have been cut into strips. One of those rolls includes duplicates rather than original negatives, except for a five-frame strip of that roll, the motion said. It is "Roll No. 1" that covers the critical period of time when an infrared video camera on a separate FBI surveillance plane recorded some flashes…….The resolution of prints made from anything other than original negatives would not be as clear, the motion said. ……"

POST Dispatch NET 3/16/00 Terry Ganey, William Freivogel "…… During the period leading up to the fire, Caddell said there were four major time gaps of about five, eight, 11 and eight minutes during which no photos were taken. The gaps are suspicious, Caddell said, because the photographer had said he took pictures at the rate of two or three per minute. The gaps occur when agents were inserting gas into the complex and ramming it with tanks. At the same time, dozens of flashes appear on the infrared video tape. The fact that no photos were made of this activity "raises the likelihood that there are several rolls of film missing from the evidence turned over by the government to the court," Caddell said. ……"

Dallas Morning News 3/17/00 AP "……Sheriff Jack Harwell, whose 40 years with McLennan County included mediating negotiations between David Koresh and FBI agents during the 1993 Branch Davidian siege, died Thursday of an apparent heart attack in his Robinson home. He was 71. Sheriff Harwell, whose tenure as a sheriff was the third-longest in the state, was nine months from retirement. He became sheriff in 1973 after the death of Sheriff C.C. Maxey. The flags at the McLennan Courthouse were at half-staff Thursday, and Sheriff Harwell's deputies placed black tape over their badges. Co-workers described him as a man who always had the time to listen. …….The sheriff was thrust into the forefront during the 1993 Branch Davidian siege, serving as a mediator between Mr. Koresh, whom he had known for years, and FBI negotiators. During that time, he fended off criticism that his department did too little to investigate child-abuse allegations against Mr. Koresh. ……"

The Dallas Morning News 3/16/00 Lee Hancock "…… DAVIDIAN ALLEGATIONS Here are some of the allegations by attorneys for the Branch Davidians and their survivors, who say evidence provided by federal agencies from the Waco standoff is flawed, suspect or missing:

1. Infrared recordings made from an FBI aircraft on April 19, 1993 …….. The FBI has changed its account of how much videotaping was done, telling a federal court in 1998 that tapes were recorded only after 10:41 a.m. that day. Last fall, FBI officials acknowledged that tapes had been found from as early as 5:51 a.m..…. The sect's recording expert found that infrared tapes labeled originals by the government contain what appear to be lengthy erasures of key audio tracks and other anomalies.

2. The FBI's still photographs taken from another aircraft on April 19, 1993 ......,Most original negatives are missing from a 36-frame roll of film taken in the hour before the Davidian building burned. Two images from duplicate negatives sent to the court, labeled frames 31 and 36, contain the same image. Prints sent to the sect's lawyers contain a different image for frame 36......., A photographer who took the pictures testified that he shot about 10 rolls of film that day but that only seven were turned over to the federal court…… The rolls that were submitted contain suspicious, lengthy gaps among the photos taken in the crucial last 30 minutes before the compound caught fire.

3. Audio recordings made from FBI surveillance devices inside the Branch Davidians' building ……. One key tape from the period just before the compound fire contains electronic "start" signatures that suggests it was made by as many as three different tape recorders....... All of the tapes presented as originals contain signals usually caused by high-speed dubbing devices.......... Although a government expert said he examined each of those tapes last fall and placed his initials on their original labels and the evidence bags that held them, none of the tapes submitted to the court contain the experts' initials.

4. A pyrotechnic gas grenade missing from the Texas Rangers' evidence lockers ……The Department of Public Safety photographer who took the picture of the device made field notes indicating that it was found in front of the compound, not at its side. The FBI has said that its agents fired the device away from the sect's building.

5. Police "flash-bang" distraction devices misidentified and mislabeled by the FBI laboratory …… The Rangers' report on its evidence inquiry said seven of the devices, which emit a loud noise and flash, were found inside or just outside the burned compound. Six of the devices were identified by the FBI laboratory to be metal tubing, silencers or spent smoke grenades….."

The Dallas Morning News 3/16/00 Lee Hancock "…… DAVIDIAN ALLEGATIONS Here are some of the allegations by attorneys for the Branch Davidians and their survivors, who say evidence provided by federal agencies from the Waco standoff is flawed, suspect or missing: ……6. Missing DPS crime-scene film ….* The Rangers said they've found that one roll of crime-scene photos turned over to the FBI in 1993 is missing. The discovery was made after negatives from the photos were returned to the DPS last fall. The roll of film includes photos taken of the cinderblock room, or "bunker," where bodies of most of the Branch Davidian women and children were found after the siege. ......"

The New York Times 3/18/00 Jim Yardley Ross Milloy "….. Early this Sunday, a select group of government officials and private lawyers will meet at nearby Fort Hood, the nation's largest military base....... The exercise is intended to address one of the unresolved mysteries of the Branch Davidian standoff, an episode widely regarded as one of the most troubling in American law-enforcement history. On that final day, an infrared aerial surveillance video by the Federal Bureau of Investigation captured unexplained "flashes" near the compound just before the fire erupted. …….. "If we are right, and if we prove there is gunfire, the implications go far beyond the whole issue of just whether the Davidians were killed or not," said Michael Caddell, the lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians…… Once completed, the new footage will be compared to the FLIR video account of the fire. Mr. Caddell believes that the staged gunfire will produce flashes similar to those recorded on the original video and confirm his contention that agents fired into the compound…… Mr. Caddell, however, said he planned to release copies of the video as soon as Monday so that the public can draw its own conclusions. "The reality is that people are going to make up their own minds on this," Mr. Caddell said. …."

The New York Times 3/18/00 Jim Yardley Ross Milloy "….. " Since the fall, Mr. Danforth's 68-person staff has sifted through piles of evidence and examined weapons and bullet casings used by federal agents during the standoff and fire. In January, Mr. Danforth moved to perform toxicology test on the tissue and bones of those who died to determine if they were affected by the tear gas pumped into the compound….. "It shows the court takes the case very seriously and is looking for every opportunity to let the parties get to the truth," said Bill Johnston, a former assistant United States attorney, who was intimately involved in the Branch Davidian case before he resigned earlier this year to enter private practice. ………Danny Coulson, the deputy assistant director of the F.B.I. at the time of the standoff, acknowledged that the field test could further inflame speculation by conspiracy theorists and others critical of the government. Mr. Coulson himself disputes allegations that F.B.I. agents fired weapons. But he said the test was essential if the F.B.I. wanted to finally expunge any public doubts about the agency's role….."

ABCNEWS.COM 3/17/00 Beverley Lumpkin "…….The people participating in the test will be dressed in the same kind of clothing as on April 19 because at various times the plaintiffs have claimed that agents wore clothes that didn't show up on FLIR, to counter government arguments that the FLIR flashes couldn't represent gunfire because no human figures are shown firing any weapons at the time of the flashes…….. Bradford noted that the April '93 FLIR shows flashes without people. "Our position is, if there were people firing, you would see them." He said the test could help if it shows, as he believes it will, that when people are present they do show up on FLIR. Bradford said, "we may not have an absolute answer" as to what the flashes are, but they know it's not gunfire. One weapon that the judge ordered to be included in the test is an MK19, which ABCNEWS' Jack McWethy describes as a rapid-fire grenade launcher, or a grenade machine gun, that cannot be shoulder-fired but has to be mounted. Bradford says it requires a crew to operate and was not in the arsenal of the FBI or its Hostage Rescue Team. However, one of the plaintiffs' experts, Edward Allard, believes the flashes on the FLIR came from an MK19. Bradford thinks it's possible that the MK19 will in fact produce a flash on the FLIR - which some Justice and FBI folk fear will really muddle the results. But Bradford points out that it's likely the weapon itself would show up because it heats up as it fires, and the FLIR shows warm objects. Bradford believes most weapons' muzzle blasts are too short to show up on the FLIR, as it captures images one frame at a time, but the MK19 with its longer muzzle blast may well show up. So, ironically, it's possible the plaintiffs may claim after the test that it was Delta Force firing weapons at Waco!….."

The Dallas Morning News 3/29/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "……The disclosure was made as lawyers for the sect questioned U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno under oath Tuesday about whether the FBI commanders exceeded their authority in their handling of the final tank-and-tear-gas assault on the sect's embattled home near Waco. Lead Davidian lawyer Michael Caddell of Houston said after the two-hour deposition that he believed that Ms. Reno was "less than candid" in answering questions about whether the FBI commanders had decided without authorization to begin demolishing the compound. He told reporters that Ms. Reno said she believed that the massive damage inflicted by government tanks to the back side of the sect's building was not a planned demolition. Instead, she testified, the destruction was only collateral damage caused by the FBI's efforts to get tear gas into the building. "The problem is that she's testified before Congress and has said there that there wasn't demolition," Mr. Caddell said. "We finally got her to admit that demolition of the building absent some emergency would have required communication to the FBI's leadership, and that wasn't done." ….."

The Dallas Morning News 3/29/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "……The office of special counsel John C. Danforth has called an FBI tear gas expert involved in the Branch Davidian siege to testify before a federal grand jury in St. Louis, according to federal officials and lawyers involved in a civil case arising from the 1993 standoff. ….……In a previous round of depositions on Monday, Mr. Caddell and another lawyer for the sect said, a Quantico, Va.-based FBI technician responsible for maintaining the bureau's supplies of tear gas and other chemical agents acknowledged that he was questioned for more than an hour on March 21 before a federal grand jury. ……… But other federal officials familiar with ongoing Davidian inquiries said they believe that the FBI technician is the first bureau employee to be summoned to a grand jury since Mr. Danforth began his inquiry last fall…….. It remains unclear whether the federal grand jury that heard the technician's testimony is a regularly scheduled panel or was specially called to consider evidence of possible criminal violations arising from the Davidian inquiry. Federal prosecutors frequently use grand jury subpoenas to compel testimony from reluctant or evasive witnesses. Officials in Washington said they believed the technician was asked to testify before the federal grand jury after refusing to speak with Mr. Danforth's investigators unless compelled by subpoena. One federal official said the technician demanded a subpoena after being subjected to two days of intense grilling by congressional investigators re-examining the Waco incident. ……James Brannon of Houston, one of several lawyers representing families of sect members in the wrongful death lawsuit, said the technician refused to divulge details about his grand jury appearance during his Monday deposition. Mr. Brannon said the technician did acknowledge, however, that he appeared before the grand jury one day after he was questioned for more than six hours by Mr. Danforth's investigators………..

The Dallas Morning News 3/29/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "……A recent report by the Texas Rangers also has suggested that one spent pyrotechnic gas grenade was fired from an area that FBI agents previously denied such devices were used. That spent device was photographed by a Texas Department of Public Safety photographer just after the siege ended but then disappeared. ………. The testimony of the FBI technician may not fully resolve such questions. He indicated that he was aware that pyrotechnic tear-gas grenades were brought to the siege, but he was not involved in their deployment or use, said a federal official familiar with his account. He has said that he was assigned solely to stock and resupply tanks used to spray nonpyrotechnic tear gas into the compound on April 19, a federal official said.

The Dallas Morning News 3/29/00 Lee Hancock David Jackson "……Mr. Caddell and Mr. Brannon said that Ms. Reno acknowledged in her Tuesday deposition that the plan she approved for gassing the compound did not authorize the use of such pyrotechnic tear gas or "flash-bang" distraction devices. A number of spent flash-bang devices, which explode and can cause fires, were found in the wreckage of the sect's home, but government officials have insisted that none were fired on April 19. FBI agents fired flash-bang grenades earlier in the standoff, and agents from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms used at least one in the botched raid that began the 1993 standoff. ……….. Mr. Caddell said Ms. Reno testified Tuesday that she was never told that the FBI's Waco commanders did not plan to try to fight a fire if one broke out during their tear-gas operation. ………..He said the attorney general also acknowledged that she was never told about a Florida company's offer to provide Czech-made, remotely controlled armored fire-fighting equipment for use in Waco. Mr. Caddell said the former U.S. distributor of the Czech equipment said he was repeatedly rebuffed when he tried to offer FBI officials free use of the equipment during the 1993 siege……"

Public Action, Inc. 3/20/00 Carol Valentine "…….As you know, the US wants the American public to come to "closure" on the Waco Holocaust. And what better way to do this than to show that surviving Davidian Clive Doyle and the other Davidians have come to closure? ……. With volunteer labor and donated materials, Clive and the patriots -- let's call them "the happy campers" -- are building a new Davidian church on the old killing fields while the murderers continue to run our country……… The subject of the video is a November 28, 1999, demonstration by a single man against "the cover up church" outside the gates of the Mt. Carmel Center.
The protester had the foresight to ask a colleague to videotape the demonstration. This video, called "X: A True Revelation," is now available to the public. When you get your copy, you will see that:
* Clive Doyle objects to free speech on the cover-up church and threatens to call the McLennan County Sheriff's Department to remove the protester,
* Clive Doyle challenges the protester to a fist fight,
* The Sheriff's department sends A HELICOPTER and three squad cars to arrest the protester, who is unarmed! It's all there on the video!
* The protester is arrested while demonstrating on public land outside the Mt. Carmel Center, * During the confrontation, one of Clive's happy campers boasts that he helped soak the American flag in the blood of the world.
We know that the video addresses an issue of substance because the incident it documents resulted in these remarkable incidents:
* On March 12, when the protester was again outside the Mt. Carmel Center, he received a death threat from a Clive Doyle supporter who cocked a 9 mm semi-automatic at him.
* The sheriff's department refused to take a report of the assault, telling the man that "you were warned to stay away" from the Mt. Carmel Center.
"If something happens [that is, if the murder threat is actualized], we'll go from there with it," the Sheriff's department said.
* The sheriff's department threatened the protester with arrest if he ever returns to the area *outside* the Mt. Carmel Center to protest, saying that demonstrations outside the Mt. Carmel Center are "against the law" because the sheriff's department says so.
"X: A True Revelation" has been produced by the protestor, a man who calls himself Andrew X98......."

CBS Market Watch 3/28/00 Michelle Mittelstadt ".......An FBI sharpshooter who is the only named defendant in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the federal government by relatives of Branch Davidians killed in the 1993 Waco siege should not be dismissed from the case, one set of Davidians said in a court filing Monday. Most of the plaintiffs, who are represented by lead counsel Michael Caddell, moved earlier this month to dismiss their case against Lon Horiuchi, saying there was "no credible" evidence he fired shots at the Davidians. .......... But another group of Davidians, represented by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, said in a filing Monday in federal court in Waco, Texas, that it would be "premature" to dismiss Horiuchi, who gained notoriety in 1992 when he killed the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver during a standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. "The facts are not fully known and are being developed," the motion says, noting the government's conduct at Waco remains under "intense investigation." "It may well turn out that government agents fired at Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993, and engaged in other serious misconduct, including coverup and spoliation of evidence," the Clark-represented group contends, offering no evidence to back up their charges. ......."

Reuters 3/28/00 "......Lawyers representing family members of the Branch Davidians accused U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno of being less than candid during a portion of her deposition on Tuesday about the 1993 siege in Waco, but the Justice Department swiftly denied the accusation....... ``I really think the only issue where we felt she was less than candid was on the demolition issue,'' Caddell said, referring to whether there were orders from any level of the government to demolish the compound....... ``She is convinced that what was happening was incidental to the tear gas insertion process but I think it's clear that she never gave approval for demolition, if in fact that's what happened,'' said Caddell, who has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the government. ....."

Newsday.com 3/28/00 Michelle Mittelstadt AP ".....Attorney General Janet Reno testified Tuesday that she never gave approval for tanks to demolish the Branch Davidians' compound near Waco, Texas -- and does not believe the FBI intentionally did so -- say lawyers for the sect who deposed her for their wrongful-death lawsuit against the government. But the Davidians' lead counsel, emerging from the rare deposition of an attorney general, said Reno was less than forthcoming in discussing whether the FBI intended to dismantle the complex during its tear-gassing operation -- an interpretation rejected by Reno's aides. ''The only issue where we felt that she was less than candid was on the demolition,'' Houston lawyer Michael Caddell said outside the Justice Department. ''The problem that she's got is she testified to Congress in 1995 that the damage done to the building was the result of tear-gas insertion. And I think it's very difficult for her to back off of that testimony.'' ......."

Newsday.com 3/28/00 Michelle Mittelstadt AP ".....Although congressional hearings that year on Waco were overwhelmingly supportive of Reno, her decision to use tear gas was sharply questioned during hearings in 1995, the first year the Republicans controlled Congress. And then the issue faded largely from view until last August, when the government was forced to acknowledge that the FBI had used potentially incendiary tear gas canisters despite Reno's orders to the contrary. Reno acknowledged Tuesday that the operations plan she approved did not authorize the use of pyrotechnic tear gas, flash-bang devices inside the Davidians' Mount Carmel retreat, or building demolition, Caddell said. ''She also testified she was never told ... that there would be no plan to fight a fire at Mount Carmel should one develop,'' he said. ...."

Newsday.com 3/28/00 Michelle Mittelstadt AP ".....Bradford declined to discuss Reno's testimony, saying the federal district judge presiding over the case ordered depositions sealed for 30 days. ''The judge has expressed a fairly strong preference that we not get into a public debate over depositions, so I do not want to go point-by-point through the deposition,'' he said. Caddell said he will release both Reno's deposition and a videotape of the proceeding in 30 days. The attorney said he does not hold Reno responsible for any negligence at Waco. ......"

Waco Tribune-Herald 3/28/00 Tommy Witherspoon "......The judge in the Branch Davidian lawsuit against the government on Tuesday dismissed a controversial FBI sharpshooter as the lone individual defendant remaining in the wrongful-death case. Granting a motion from the majority of plaintiffs, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco threw Lon Horiuchi out of the case........ On Monday, another group of Davidians represented by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark asked Smith in a motion to keep Horiuchi in the case. Government attorneys on Tuesday asked Smith to exclude from the trial, which is set to begin May 15, expert witnesses designated by Clark and his clients, alleging that Clark's plaintiffs were dismissed from the suit in Smith's July order. "... because [Clark's] plaintiffs' actions have been dismissed, they are in the same position as if their suits had never been filed and, therefore, they do not have the right to participate in this action," the government motion alleges. ...."

St Louis Post-Dispatch 4/17/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "…..The government acknowledged in a court filing Monday that it is missing 30 original negatives from the first of at least seven rolls of film shot by an FBI photographer who circled 1,000 feet above the complex in a Cessna surveillance aircraft. The government, however, does have prints of the missing negatives and the original contact sheet of the negatives.. ….."

St Louis Post-Dispatch 4/17/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "…..One strip of original negatives from that first roll of film has been turned over to the federal court that is hearing the Branch Davidians' wrongful death suit against the government. That strip contains a key photograph that appears to have been taken at 11:24 a.m., within seconds of flashes on the video. That photograph shows no agents in the vicinity of the flashes………. The department said that the strip of original negatives with the photo from 11:24 a.m. was separated from the missing original negatives when Congress requested it as part of its 1995 investigation of Waco. ………. A document analyst with the Special Photo Unit of the FBI, identified only as "ALS," found that the negatives were missing around April 1997. The FBI then made a duplicate set of the negatives from photographs and marked them with the notation "originals lost." ……"

Public Action, Inc. 4/17/00 Carol A. Valentine "…….April 17, 2000--Thanks to the American Civil Liberties Union, a Waco man will be protected by the McLennan County Sheriff's Department on April 19 when he demonstrates outside the Mt. Carmel Center in Waco. Up until today, the sheriff's department had been threatening to arrest the man……… Andrew will direct the public's attention to what he calls "the cover-up church," a new chapel presently being built on the Mt. Carmel property. For more information on the "cover-up church," see: http://www.public-action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum/burial/doc/x98_rev.html ….."

BBC 4/15/00 "………Janet Reno: Harvard graduate who struggled to the top Janet Reno, the first woman US attorney-general, began her tenure in the spotlight over the siege of the Branch-Davidian cult at Waco in Texas. Now, as she nears the end of her period in office, the case of Elian Gonzalez has thrown her into the headlines again. She has been quoted as saying that she remembers every day of her life the disaster at Waco, when more than 80 people died as federal agents stormed the cult's headquarters. "I made the decision. I'm accountable. The buck stops with me," she said at the time, silencing some of her critics with her characteristic bluntness. ……"

BBC 4/15/00 "………The Elian case is also close to her heart because the drama is taking place in Miami, where she grew up and served as a prosecutor. "It is a community I was born in, raised in. It is a community I love. And when it's hurting, it hurts me," she said. As in the Waco instance, however, her handling of the case has been questioned, following her continued failure to get the family to hand over the child……."

James Cavanaugh, ATF Special Agent: Nobody was going to get us out. The McLennan County Sheriffs office, who always did a good job, in this case, could not get us out of this. We couldn't call 91 1; I mean we couldn't call anybody. …..

Bill McCollum, US Congress, Florida (R): Well it just seems interesting to me that they didn't even have telephones or communications to get that 911 communication back and forth, that Wayne Martin had from inside the compound for 20 minutes to try and stop the shooting. But at the same time they had fax machines, telephones and computers and were ready for whatever PR (public relations) they had that that was a mighty strange operation to say the least, it's certainly a fatal flaw, not to pun a word……."

The Knox News Sentinel 4/14/00 Frank Cagle "…..News accounts have noted that using members of the U.S. military against American civilians is prohibited by law without the express permission of the president of the United States. Even though the Delta Force members were there in an advisory capacity, a technical violation of the law may have occurred. This is a matter of concern because throughout our history we have kept the military under civilian control, and the times that military forces have been deployed against our citizens are extremely rare and have generally been regarded as black marks against our civilian leaders……. But is there a larger truth here that is being ignored? If federal law enforcement officers launch an attack against civilians and:

* They are wearing black uniforms, combat boots and flak jackets;
* They are carrying M-16 rifles and M-60 machine guns;
* They are being transported in helicopter gun ships;
* They are operating tanks and armored personnel carriers;
* They are firing tear gas canisters;
* They employ snipers;
* They are being directed by a command and control center;
* They have been trained by Delta Force officers and use military tactics and, indeed, have Delta Force advisers on the ground during the operation;

Then in what sense are these federal officers not an army? ……Under the conventions of journalism, reporters parrot government language. It is not permissible for journalists to call FBI forces an army because the government does not call its forces an army. ………… . "

Dallas Morning News 4/6/00 Lee Hancock "……. Armed with new testimony from Attorney General Janet Reno defending the FBI's actions at the end of the Branch Davidian siege, Justice Department lawyers again asked a federal judge Wednesday to dismiss most of the sect's lawsuit against the government. …… "There was a recognition that the people who were on the scene could see what was happening where we could not see what was happening in Washington, that they should be in operational control," Ms. Reno testified. "Any time you effect an arrest. . . . and try to ensure the safety of everyone, there are going to be variables, and the on-scene commanders would be responsible for dealing with those variables as they developed." Under federal law, the government's motion argued, officials given such discretion cannot be challenged or held liable in civil litigation "even where such discretion has been abused." The motion added that even "negligent or wrongful acts" are protected, as well as any failure to consider alternatives - even those that lawyers for the sect have argued might have saved lives. "Thus, even if the on-scene commanders were negligent or abused their discretion by deciding not to have armored firetrucks - or any other specific equipment - available, those decisions would fall within the exception," the government's motion argued. The motion contended that the same legal protections would extend to the FBI commanders' decisions about how to use tanks on April 19, including their orders sending tanks deep into the sect's building. ……."

Dallas Morning News 4/6/00 Lee Hancock "……. Mr. Caddell said Wednesday that he will file a motion next week outlining testimony from FBI officials that he contends will support his claims that sending tanks into the building violated the approved gas plan. ……… "There is a clear conflict with their testimony," Mr. Caddell said. "Are these four ex-FBI directors and assistant directors telling the truth or is Janet Reno, who's still trying to cover up and still trying to put a bigger spin on the biggest disaster of her tenure? Is Janet Reno being honest and truthful and straightforward? No. She's being evasive." ……"

Washington Post 4/6/00 David Vise "……. Attorney General Janet Reno acknowledged in a videotaped deposition last week that FBI agents operating near Waco, Tex., lacked authority to use potentially flammable tear gas devices or to demolish the Branch Davidian compound that went up in flames in April 1993, leaving 75 people dead. .......... Now, in her first sworn civil testimony as attorney general, Reno has indicated that the armored vehicles equipped with battering rams at Waco were attempting to puncture holes in the Davidian compound, rather than trying to destroy it. But she also made clear she was not consulted on independent actions taken by FBI agents that eventually led to the destruction of the compound's gymnasium and other portions of the building……..Reno also acknowledged that no emergency conditions existed that would have permitted demolition of the building or the use of flammable devices at the discretion of FBI agents without her approval or that of senior FBI officials in Washington......."

Washington Post 4/6/00 David Vise "……. Caddell said yesterday that he showed Reno documents she had never seen before showing that FBI agents were attempting to destroy the back side of the Davidian compound. He said that Reno, who went to deliver a speech in Baltimore while the raid was taking place, was ill-informed about what occurred and failed to conduct an exhaustive investigation in the aftermath. "She went before Congress and she defended the actions that took place on the back of the building without having done an adequate investigation," Caddell said. "She is now in a 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' position."......"

Associated Press via Yahoo 4/5/00 Michelle Mittelstadt "…….The Justice Department is asking the judge presiding over the Branch Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit to throw out most of the plaintiffs' claims, among them that the government bears responsibility for the fire that incinerated the sect's retreat. ……. The government is asking U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to throw out three major aspects of the civil lawsuit - that federal agents erred in not bringing in armored firefighting equipment; that they wrongly held back firefighters as the compound burned; and that the use of tanks to push into the compound deviated from the operations plan approved by Attorney General Janet Reno. ......... The plaintiffs' lead counsel, Michael Caddell, said the Justice Department is overreaching in its interpretation that all of the decision-making that occurred during the siege falls within the commanders' discretionary authority. ``There were decisions made at the highest levels of the FBI leadership which were either violated or not followed ... by the on-scene commanders,'' Caddell said. ……… The transcript suggests the deposition, marked by frequent objections by Reno's lawyers, was testy at times. Clearly exasperated after asking Reno the same question several times, Caddell told her: ``You grew up in America, correct? You have used the English language all your life?'' Replied Reno: ``If you will just ask it to me again, maybe I can try to answer it.'' ….. The trial on the lawsuit is to begin June 19. ……"

The Dallas Morning News 08/27/99 Lee Hancock "......A former CIA officer said Thursday that he learned from Delta Force commandos that members of the secret Army unit were "present, up front and close" in helping the FBI in the final tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound……. The former officer, Gene Cullen, told The Dallas Morning News that he heard the detailed accounts of the military's active involvement from "three or four" anti-terrorist Delta commandos as he worked with them on an overseas assignment in 1993……."Whether it's the macho-bravo-type talk of guys in the field, I don't know," he said, declining to identify the individuals involved. "I have no reason to suspect that they lied. And it didn't just come from one of them. There were three or four guys that confirmed that, who were from Delta."……In the months after the Waco tragedy, Mr. Cullen said, he heard from associates in Delta Force that the secret unit's involvement there amounted to far more than observation or tactical discussions….."

The Dallas Morning News 08/27/99 Lee Hancock "......While he was deployed overseas on an assignment, Mr. Cullen said, Delta operators told him that the unit "had 10 operators down there, that they were involved in the advanced forward stages of [the FBI's April 19] operations." …."When they explained to me the depth to which they were involved down in Waco, I was quite surprised. They said basically they were out there in the vehicles, the Bradley [fighting vehicles], the CEV [tanks]," he said. "They were active." …… The chairman of the Texas Department of Public Safety told The News on Thursday that evidence in the hands of Texas law enforcement personnel may support the account given to Mr. Cullen. ……I'm advised there is some evidence that may corroborate" the allegation that Delta Force participated in the assault, said James B. Francis Jr., the DPS official. …….......Mr. Francis said evidence in the hands of Texas law enforcement suggests that more than three Delta Force members were at the compound on April 19 and involved in the assault…….."I have been advised that there are some police officers who have developed some evidence that needs looking into with regard to what the role of Delta Force was at the Branch Davidian compound," he said, declining to elaborate….."

The Dallas Morning News 08/27/99 Lee Hancock "......"I think it's a subject that the FBI director and the attorney general need to look into," Mr. Francis said. "The $64 question is whether they were advisory or operational, and I think some of the evidence is problematical." ……....... Mr. Cullen, who said he worked as a CIA case officer from the 1980s to 1995, said Special Forces experts watched events near Waco with interest immediately after four federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents died trying to serve search warrants at the Branch Davidian compound……..At the time, he said, he was a supervisor in the CIA's special operations group and had frequent contact with members of Delta Force, Navy Seals and civilian tactical experts such as the FBI's hostage rescue team………Before joining the CIA, he said, he worked as a deputy U.S. marshal, so he was particularly interested in exploring the problems faced by civilian law enforcement near Waco. …….A CIA spokesman on Thursday refused to confirm or deny whether Mr. Cullen ever worked for the agency, in accordance with policy. The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that he worked for that agency in the early 1980s. Mr. Cullen said he left the CIA to take over his family's construction firm……"

The Dallas Morning News 08/27/99 Lee Hancock "......Since he resigned, Mr. Cullen has appeared on the PBS documentary program Frontline to discuss his involvement in the Special Forces' operations in Somalia, a deployment that ended in tragedy when U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters were downed and Special Forces soldiers died in a Mogadishu gunbattle…….. Immediately after the Branch Davidian standoff began, Mr. Cullen said, he learned from associates within the CIA and Special Forces that the FBI had called in Delta Force personnel "as observers." ……. "The bureau was very concerned. They weren't quite sure what David Koresh had inside that building anyway," Mr. Cullen said. "They were leaning on Delta. If there was something that blew up in their faces, they were interested in having Delta on the scene to respond and be fully equipped, operational and ready to go on a moment's notice." ……… In mid-March 1993, Mr. Cullen said, officials with his group called a meeting of about 20 special operations experts, including FBI and Delta personnel, to discuss Waco because it represented a useful case study on how tactical experts might respond to hostage situations. …….."

The Dallas Morning News 08/27/99 Lee Hancock "......He said he proposed using chemical agents to render the Branch Davidians unconscious so the compound could be taken without violence. ……"If you pump tear gas into the building, everybody's going to get their gas masks," he said. "You're giving them time to prepare for something." ……. FBI officials have testified before Congress that some form of anesthetic gas was briefly discussed but was ruled out near Waco because of the potential threat to children and weak adults. …… Mr. Cullen said that he attended no other formal meetings on Waco but that he later learned in conversations with special operations colleagues that authorities had ruled out any operation that involved sending personnel into the compound. …… "It was more 'contain 'em. We're going to get em out.' There wasn't any type of talk about trying any type of rescue," he said….."

The Dallas Morning News 08/27/99 Lee Hancock "......Documents released under the federal Freedom of Information Act to a Tucson, Ariz., lawyer indicate that the military's Special Forces Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida was heavily involved in helping the FBI in Waco. Military personnel provided technical and equipment support, the defense records indicate. …….The command oversees Delta Force, Navy Seals and other units…….A May 1993 Special Forces memo stressed that the military in Waco played only "a supporting role." It was written by an officer who helped the FBI persuade the attorney general to approve the tear-gas assault………The officer, whose name was blacked out, stated that the discussions with Ms. Reno before the assault did not include any mention of "the use of the military." ……The memo stated that Special Forces observers who stayed in Waco through April 19 understood the legal restrictions on their activities......"….."

St Louis Post 3/29/00 Terry Ganey "....The office of Special Counsel John Danforth called an FBI expert to testify before a grand jury in St. Louis last week after the man said he wanted to be subpoenaed before answering any more questions about Waco, federal officials said Wednesday. ......The expert was Monty Jett, who supervised the reloading of canisters that were used to insert tear gas into the Branch Davidian complex during the government's attempt to roust the Davidians on April 19, 1993. Jett, who works at FBI offices in Quantico, Va., was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Danforth's office refused to comment. .....Federal sources said Jett was the first FBI agent involved with Waco to be brought before a grand jury. In the past, agents have appeared voluntarily to answer questions posed by Danforth's investigators and lawyers at the special counsel's offices at 200 North Broadway. ...."

St Louis Post 3/29/00 Terry Ganey "....Jett was questioned before the grand jury for slightly more than an hour on March 21, sources said. The day before, he was questioned by Danforth's staff from about 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. ………. FBI agents who have been questioned at Danforth's offices before have described exhausting, daylong sessions. Some agents have also complained about answering questions without the benefit of legal advice. By appearing before a grand jury, Jett would be entitled to legal representation from the government, one official said. Congressional investigators questioned Jett for two days earlier this month. He was also deposed on Monday by lawyers who represent some of the surviving relatives of Branch Davidians who died during the government's siege. The survivors have filed a wrongful death suit against the government. During the last day of the government's siege, Jett played a supporting role in the plan to use tear gas to force the Davidians out of their complex. He supervised the recharging of the gas canisters mounted on converted tanks. Compressed gas was delivered through the tanks' booms that punched holes in the walls of the sect's complex. ……"

3/31/2000 Dallas Morning News Lee Hancock "….. The federal wrongful-death case arising from the Branch Davidian siege will be delayed until mid-June to allow more time to study results from a field test aimed at determining whether government agents fired at the end of the 1993 incident, sources said Thursday. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith also indicated that he will hold a hearing in April to determine whether the government should be fined for what the sect's lawyers allege is a pattern of mishandling or withholding critical evidence from the incident, sources close to the case said. ………. "

3/31/2000 Dallas Morning News Lee Hancock "….. But both sides have said that they believe the firm [Vector] may be experiencing difficulties similar to those that their infrared experts have faced in analyzing digitally computerized copies of the test data………. Officials said they expected to obtain better, videotaped copies of the original test recordings within the next few days from the U.S. District Court in Waco, where they were transferred after the Fort Hood experiment. ……… But lawyers for the sect have argued that key evidence that the government has used to bolster their account of what happened in Waco can't be trusted. They have complained in a series of increasingly caustic motions that the government has consistently ignored court discovery deadlines and has then sent them copies of key photos and audio and video recordings that have been altered or tampered with……."

3/31/2000 Dallas Morning News Lee Hancock "….. The judge's decision to hold a hearing in April means that government officials involved in the siege will be called to answer those allegations as well as charges that key photographs and other evidence are missing. "It should be noted that the tapes and photographs at issue have been made [available] to various individuals and entities during the course of the . . . [1994 Davidian] criminal trial, congressional hearings and investigations in 1993, 1995, 1999 and the OSC [office of special counsel] investigation. It may be impossible, ultimately, to locate all originals or confirm whether the available tapes are in fact originals" Justice Department lawyer Marie Hagen wrote in a March 24 motion……….But Michael Caddell, lead lawyer for the sect, has said that the volume of missing or altered evidence from April 19 is too great to be coincidental. He has argued that what he and his investigators and experts have already identified as missing or altered from the final day of the standoff suggests a calculated effort to sanitize anything that might reflect badly on the government or the FBI…….."

AccessWaco 3/31/00 Tom Witherspoon "….. The judge in the Branch Davidian lawsuit against the government on Tuesday dismissed a controversial FBI sharpshooter as the lone individual defendant remaining in the wrongful-death case. Granting a motion from the majority of plaintiffs, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco threw Lon Horiuchi out of the case. Lead plaintiff attorney Mike Caddell of Houston earlier this month asked the judge to dismiss Horiuchi, saying there was no "credible evidence" that he fired shots from his sniper's post at the Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993. Government officials have denied that any federal agent fired into David Koresh's Mount Carmel compound on the final day of the 51-day standoff with government agents. ….."

Express-News 4/2/00 Dick Reavis "…… The 30-page report by Chicago fire expert Patrick Kennedy attempts to find an answer to the question, "Who or what started the fatal fire at Mount Carmel?" Kennedy, head of the world's oldest fire-investigation firm, studied the evidence for plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit who claim government actions led to the wrongful deaths of some 76 people in the blaze……..Kennedy's report notes that since there are few uncontested facts about the Mount Carmel fire, conclusions about it have been drawn from theory. Three theories have driven speculation about the fire's origin and development: Davidian suicide, government malfeasance and government negligence. In reviewing the prevailing theories, Kennedy argues for negligence as a promoter of the fire - but he says nobody today can be sure how the blaze started. ………… If Kennedy's reasoning is accepted by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr. of Waco, who will try the pending wrongful death suit, the result could be a finding that liability for the blaze cannot be determined - and that the fire's cause officially is a mystery......."

Express-News 4/2/00 Dick Reavis "…… On the afternoon of April 19, 1993, when Mount Carmel burst into flames, FBI spokesman Bob Ricks exclaimed, "Oh, my God! They're killing themselves!" - and the theory of Davidian suicide was born. It blossomed overnight. The next day, President Clinton told a news conference that "some religious fanatics murdered themselves." ……….. During the trial, two fire experts, William Cass of the Los Angeles Fire Department and James Quintiere, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Maryland, testified for the prosecution. Cass and Quintiere were members of separate investigative teams, both of which came to the conclusion that three fires started nearly simultaneously inside Mount Carmel. Fires with multiple origins ordinarily are associated with arson; therefore, the two experts said, the fire at Mount Carmel was suspect. ……"

Express-News 4/2/00 Dick Reavis "……After the trial, the theory of Davidian suicide became official doctrine. ......In 1997, an unusual documentary, "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," made its debut at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. Among its startling claims was that pyrotechnic, or fire-producing, distraction devices had been used at Mount Carmel……. The movie reproduced a still photograph, taken in an FBI crime lab, of a flash-bang that had been found outside Mount Carmel. Either that projectile, or one like it, was found near the corner of the building where, according to Cass and Quintiere, the first of the three nearly simultaneous fires had broken out. Texas Rangers found a second such grenade, the movie reported, in Mount Carmel's dining room area, site of the second locale of the three-point fire theory. ….."

Express-News 4/2/00 Dick Reavis "…… In his sequel, "Waco: A New Revelation," released as a home video last fall, filmmaker Mike McNulty raised new charges. In an evidence locker maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety, he said he found the remains of six flash-bang grenades - four from inside the building, three of those from locations consistent with the multiple-points theory of the fire's origination. All of these devices had been mistakenly labeled as handgun silencers or gun parts in an inventory of detritus that Texas Rangers had compiled at the scene. ……….. In the wake of "New Revelation," the Government Accounting Office released a long-delayed report revealing the Defense Department had provided the FBI operation at Waco with pyrotechnic, incendiary and high-explosive rounds, all of them suitable for the 40mm grenade launchers agents used to fire nonpyrotechnic ammunition. Late last month, the Texas Rangers reported that in a new search of their holdings, they had turned up yet another pyrotechnic device, and congressional investigators began looking into the possibility that even more were used during the siege. ….."

Express-News 4/2/00 Dick Reavis "……On July 1, Smith ruled the suit could go to trial, and that the court would hear evidence regarding the fire's origin. Smith noted in his order that "there is insufficient evidence at this point for the court to determine, as a matter of law, how the fire was started."…….. To provide a full account of any fire, investigators must establish the presence of three elements: a combustible material, an atmosphere that permits burning, and a source of ignition. ……… The heart of the report is its dissection of the influence that tear gas might have had on the fire. Mount Carmel burst into flames at the end of an operation to saturate it with tear gas, and it burned to the ground in about 20 minutes. Kennedy suspects the gas. ...... The Cass and Quintiere reports, he asserts, "did not comply with the widely accepted standard practices of fire investigation" or "contain adequate information or detail." ……… Two of those survivors, Kennedy reports, saw fireballs inside the building - fireballs that could account for the rapid spread of the blaze as reasonably as the three-point thesis does. ….."

Express-News 4/2/00 Dick Reavis "……Nor does Kennedy rule out pyrotechnic or incendiary devices. "Flash-bang assault devices, M651 tear gas grenades, and 40 mm M583 White Star Parachute rounds were recovered among the fire scene debris," his report says. "These devices were not identified at the scene by the government's fire experts, nor discussed in the government fire report. Not even knowing of the presence of these potential ignition sources precludes their reasonable elimination by the government's fire experts." Because FLIR equipment measures only surface temperature variations, the three hot spots that are keys to the Cass-Quintiere thesis, he argues, are spots on Mount Carmel's roof, not signs of origin. "What we do know about the FLIR images," Kennedy says, "is that they do not show what is happening inside the building." ………"

Express-News 4/2/00 Dick Reavis "……Perhaps most important of all his points, Kennedy notes that the fire at Mount Carmel could not and cannot be revisited. During its waning minutes, FBI drivers used combat engineering vehicles to push debris into the fire. About a month afterward, state authorities leveled Mount Carmel's terrain. "The government's destruction of the fire scene and evidence by the premature bulldozing of the scene ... hampered" all serious investigative attempts, Kennedy says. Given the Gordian knot of theory and the absence of hard facts, the Chicago expert concludes "neither I, nor any fire expert, applying fire investigation industry standards, can determine whether Davidian or government actions actually started the fire." The Kennedy report issues a finding of "unknowability." ........."

Freeper jedediah smith 4/19/00 http://www.spokane.net/stories/1999/Aug/28/S628282.asp: Army experts advised Reno on Waco Jeff Nesmith/Cox News Service ".......... Army terrorist experts, including the commander of the top secret "Delta Force," attended the 1993 meeting at which Attorney General Janet Reno approved use of tear gas against members of the Branch Davidian group near Waco, Texas. It is the first indication that the Delta Force, whose presence at the fatal raid was disclosed this week, was involved in planning the operation. ........ Documents released to Cox Newspapers on Friday by the FBI indicate that Col. William G. Boykin, then commander of the Delta Force, and Brig. Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, then the assistant division commander of the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, were the previously unidentified officers who told Reno use of "CS gas," a potent form of tear gas, would make the compound "untenable." ........

......... Although it has been previously reported that military officers were were at a meeting at which Reno was advised to approve the use of CS gas at Waco, the names of Boykin and Schoomaker were deleted from an Army memorandum describing the meeting. Both men were among the original captains of the Delta Force when it was established by the late Army Col. Charlie Beckwith and both participated in the failed mission to rescue U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980. ........ The document, which was written on May 13, nearly a month after the fiery end of the Waco standoff, was a synopsis of an April 14 meeting involving Reno, then-FBI Director William Sessions, then-Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, two Army officers, an "unknown scientist (expert on CS)" from the Army and several FBI agents. .......

......... "In summary, we assessed that if the objective of the FBI was to make the building uninhabitable, then CS would accomplish that," the memorandum's author -- whose name was also blacked out -- stated. "We stated that it was our belief that if enough CS was inserted, eventually the inhabitants would not be able to remain inside." "Finally, the plan which was executed at Waco was an FBI plan, which neither (name deleted) nor I helped prepare," the memorandum writer said. "At the same time, I did believe that they had a reasonable chance of accomplishing their objective of forcing the occupants out of the building. Their approach was substantially different than anything that I have encountered. They were not assaulting the compound and they were not there to rescue anyone." ......."

Freeper jedediah smith 4/19/00 ".....He was promoted from Colonel to Brigadier General on September 26, 1995 (from http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep1995/m092695_m211-95.html). ....... As of June 1999, he was a Major General in command of the U.S. Special Forces (from http://www.cumberlink.com/localnews/1999/06/local.news.6.15.html). ....."

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco "......The government knows who leaked word of the deadly assault on the Branch Davidian compound, but seven years later, no one's talking........... The blame game started just after the last body bag was zipped up. Four agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and six Branch Davidians were dead........ The ATF certainly didn't want the blame for the February clash -- what should have been a normal execution of a search warrant. So it quickly found a scapegoat. The raid would have gone smoothly, the ATF insisted, if only a journalist hadn't alerted the Davidians that the raid was imminent. Cameraman Jim Peeler of Waco's KWTX-TV had run into David Jones, a Davidian and U.S. Mail carrier, on a rural road near Mount Carmel shortly before the raid. When Jones learned the cameraman was looking for the Davidian residence, Jones raced back to alert Koresh. The bloody clash ensued. Those facts are clear. But one question has never been publicly answered: How did the TV cameraman and other journalists on the scene know the raid was going to happen? The Texas Rangers and the ATF have known the answer for more than a year, and it is disturbing: Media and law-enforcement officials say journalists were tipped off by Cal Luedke, a long-time member of McClennan County Sheriff's Office, who was assigned to support the ATF's raid-preparation team........"

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco "........Luedke vehemently denies the charge. But Dan Mulloney, a former cameraman at KWTX has told Salon News and the News of Texas that he learned about the raid from Tommy Witherspoon, a reporter for the Waco Tribune-Herald. "Tommy told me he got it from Cal Luedke," said Mulloney. "Tommy told me it was Cal. No doubt about it." Witherspoon, however, insists he never provided that information to Mulloney.......Although Witherspoon refuses to corroborate Mulloney's claim, state and federal law enforcement officials involved in the investigation say they have evidence that Luedke was the source of the leaks. Those same sources say that Luedke, the former head of the McLennan County Roadrunner Drug Task Force, has even confessed that he provided details on the raid to the media, and that his confession was forwarded to the Department of Justice for possible action........"

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco "..........A source close to the investigation says Luedke confessed to federal authorities that he leaked information about the raid, and the transcript and details of his confession were forwarded to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's office in Washington. But Reno has apparently refused to do anything with the information on Luedke. By not resolving the Luedke matter, Reno has let suspicions linger about two federal marshals, Mike and Parnell McNamara, who were wrongly accused of informing journalists in advance of the raid. .......Why the ATF chose to proceed with the raid, after the warning by Rodriguez, has never been adequately explained........"

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco "........For his part, Luedke continues to insist he had nothing to do with the leak. Confronted outside his home last month by a producer for the News of Texas, he refused to discuss the matter....... When asked if he had lied about his role in tipping the media in his deposition, Luedke replied, "No, I sure didn't." Luedke also denied that agents from the ATF and Texas Rangers ever interviewed him about his role in tipping the media about the raid on Mount Carmel. Despite Luedke's assertions, sources confirm that he was interviewed by both the Texas Rangers and the ATF about the leak. Sources close to the Texas Rangers say the inquiry into the leaks, led by Ranger David M. Maxwell, determined that Luedke was indeed the leaker. The failure to punish or even publicly identify Luedke angers law officers at the state and federal level, who believe that someone should be held liable for the fiasco at Mount Carmel. Indeed, although nine Davidians were sent to prison -- five of them for 40 years -- not a single law enforcement officer has ever faced criminal charges for the events at Waco that ended seven years ago Wednesday. ......."

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco "........The Department of Justice's refusal to use the evidence provided by Maxwell has increased the amount of bad blood between the Texas Rangers and the feds........... Representatives of the Davidians say the failure to prosecute or produce records on the Luedke investigation confirms their belief that the government is still hiding information......... Jim Peeler and Dan Mulloney didn't die at Mount Carmel. Nor were they physically injured. But the event has, in many ways, ruined them. It was clear early on that Koresh learned about the raid because Peeler happened to run into David Jones about an hour before the ATF drove onto Mount Carmel property. But Peeler, Mulloney and the other members of the media say they were simply doing their jobs, that they had no idea a gun battle would break out or that their presence helped alert Koresh. Nevertheless, they provided the ATF with a perfect scapegoat: Everyone loves to hate the media. The lawsuits over the botched ATF raid started before the fire at Mount Carmel did. Early that April, an ATF agent filed a suit that was quickly joined by dozens of other ATF staffers against KWTX, the Waco Tribune-Herald and a Waco ambulance company, claiming that their employees were responsible for tipping off the Davidians about the ATF raid. ........"

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco ".....In his first public statements since the end of the civil trial, Peeler said that Jones appeared to be on reconnaissance when they stopped their cars for a brief chat on Old Mexia Road, a few miles west of the Mount Carmel compound. Jones had been doing counterintelligence on the ATF for several weeks, according to findings of the 1993 Treasury Department report. He had repeatedly asked to go inside the undercover house that ATF agents were renting near Mount Carmel, only to be refused by the agents. On another occasion, Jones refused entry to an ATF agent posing as a UPS delivery man who asked to use the bathroom inside the Davidian compound. Jones pointed him to the outhouse.......... During their brief conversation, Peeler told Jones that he was looking for Mount Carmel, and they briefly discussed the series of articles on Koresh that had been running in the Waco Tribune-Herald. While they were talking, both men heard the three National Guard helicopters that were warming their engines at Texas State Technical College, a few miles to the west. The weather that morning was rainy and overcast, factors that helped carry the whine of the massive engines on the two OH-58 Kiowas and one UH-60 Blackhawk to the spot where Peeler and Jones were talking. "He heard helicopters," said Peeler. "I heard helicopters." According to Peeler, the Davidian asked him "Are there helicopters out here? Something's gonna happen out here today. There's too much traffic on the road." Shortly afterward, Jones left Peeler, saying he was heading home to "watch TV and see what will transpire." Jones sped back to the compound and alerted Koresh. He died in the fire that consumed Mount Carmel 51 days later. ......."

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco "........By blaming the media for the ATF's botched operation, federal authorities deflected much of the criticism that should have been directed at them. The government conveniently overlooked all of the other clues being provided to Koresh. Earlier that morning, ATF agents were assembling right next to busy Interstate 35, wearing their marked uniforms and toting automatic weapons. Additionally, helicopter flight logs from that morning show that engines began turning more than an hour before the assault. Choppers are rare in that area and their noise that morning could have easily been heard at the compound. There was also a question about the route taken by the cattle trailers. They passed a building known as "the Mag Bag," where Davidian men hung out working on cars. Ten minutes from the compound by automobile, a simple phone call as the agents rode past would have given Koresh sufficient time to find his guns......."

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco ".........And even assuming that Peeler's contact with Jones was the only way Koresh could have heard about the impending raid -- an assumption that now seems wrong -- scant effort has been put into learning how Peeler and other members of the media knew to be at the compound that morning.. ........ Cal Luedke liked publicity. Just four days before the ATF raid on Mount Carmel, Luedke had taken Mulloney and McLemore on a drug raid in McGregor, a small town 20 miles southwest of Waco. According to Mulloney, Luedke, as head of the county's drug task force, often invited reporters to tag along on drug busts. ......... His involvement in the county's anti-drug efforts was probably the reason Luedke was asked to support the ATF's raid on Mount Carmel. He and other members of the McClennan County Sheriff's Office were supposed to serve a search warrant on the Mag Bag........... Luedke, now 68, has spent almost all of his adult life in law enforcement. He began wearing a badge in the late 1950s when he spent four years working as a trooper for the Texas Department of Public Safety......... He retired from the sheriff's office last November. By all accounts, Luedke had a good career with the McClennan County Sheriff's Office. According to personnel records provided by the county judge, Luedke had no disciplinary infractions during his years of public service. ........... In a sworn deposition given by Luedke on Oct. 8, 1996, in the ATF agents' lawsuit against the Waco Tribune-Herald and KWTX, the deputy vehemently denied having any information about the raid on Mount Carmel before it happened. When asked if he had tipped Witherspoon about the raid on the compound, Luedke responded with a terse, "No sir." He was then asked if he had been interviewed by the Texas Rangers. The answer was the same, "No sir." ......."

Salon 4/19/00 Robert Bryce, Jim Moore Joe Ellis http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/19/waco "......... Johnson confirmed that an investigation into the leak was conducted shortly after the standoff with the Davidians ended, but he refused to say whether the probe focused on Luedke. Finding the source of the leak was "the point of the inquiry," said Johnston. But he added that federal rules are such that news of the investigation "never got in the public arena." Although Johnston insists that he is limited in what he can say about the matter of the media leak, it's clear that he wants to see the truth brought into the open. "It's a story that I encourage you to do what ever you can on," he said. .......... What most disturbs Johnston in the government's silence about the source of the leak is that suspicion has been cast on Parnell McNamara and his brother, Mike, both of whom work for the U.S. Marshall's Service in Waco. The two brothers, who are among the most famous lawmen in the Lone Star State, "had absolutely nothing to do with causing anything bad to happen in the Davidian raid," said Johnston. ........... Despite the evidence amassed against Luedke, federal officials are still refusing to answer any questions about the investigation. A spokesman for former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, who was asked by Reno to head the new Waco probe, refused to comment on the Luedke matter. .......... The Texas Rangers have also declined requests to publicly discuss Luedke or the issues around the leak. Calls to David Maxwell, the Texas Ranger who interviewed Luedke, were referred to his commander in Austin. Mike Cox, a spokesman for the DPS, which oversees the Rangers, also refused to comment for the record. ........."

AP/AOL 4/19/00 ".......For six years, those who came to mourn the lives lost in the fiery end to the Branch Davidian siege saw only slabs of concrete and the rusted carcass of a motorcycle. This year, the organizers of a new Branch Davidian church built near the site hope it will serve as a more appropriate reminder of the tragedy that took place near Waco on April 19, 1993. ``The whole point is just to say that, 'Hey, we think that what happened here was wrong,''' said Alex Jones, a radio talk-show host who organized the $92,000 construction effort. A dedication service was scheduled today in Mount Carmel, 10 miles west of Waco. Survivors and supporters were expected to attend. ........"

Radio Interview - Alex Jones Show 4/19/00 An Interview with Gordon Novel, Investigator for Ramsey Clark, Waco Branch Davidian Attorney. ...Alex Jones Radio Show, 5.085/6.890 Shortwave, 4/18/00 (Re-aired) .....

GN: Well, they set up a test, where the protocol for the test was to bar everybody but the so-called FLIR experts. Well, our original FLIR expert was Edward Allard and (Michael) Caddell comes in and hires him to do some more work on the thing. As a result, none of us are allowed to inspect or look at, or to observe it being made - all the normal things you would do with evidence -

AJ: Hold on, we know Allard's good. Why he's overlooking the test. He was there wasn't he?

GN: He had a stroke.

AJ: He couldn't make it.....

AJ:... Now back to Caddell, on the Caddell situation.... I've got the documents, Gordon, you sent me an incredible brief and I really do appreciate it. By the way, I did get your fax with the other addendum.

GN: About the attacks he is waging on me now.....

AJ: Yes, incredible, where he is saying that you are threatening his life... which he has been using for a while, what to get you out of evidence rooms?

GN: Yea, yea, yea. I mean that's his whole objective is to keep me away from the evidence so that he can cover it up.

AJ: Again, we are talking to Gordon Novel, chief Davidian investigator, also for the former attorney general Ramsey Clark, who has uncovered 90% of what has come out in the media, just as of late..... Ah, Gordon, I've got the documents right here. Ah, tell the people about Caddell and Bill Clinton.

GN: Well, about 1990, Caddell gave Clinton, remember this, he gave Clinton when he was running for Governor, for his fourth term in Arkansas, a quarter of a million dollars and he is sitting over here, this is before Clinton has declared himself a candidate for president, and he gives him a quarter of a million dollars to run for governor of the state that he doesn't even live in. They're not many people who will do that unless they are part of the inner team that are planning the capturing of the White House.

AJ: So, he wanted to be a friend of Bill, knowing that he was probably going to be in the White House. He had to be an inner circle person to know that.

GN: Yea, and he bet essentially a quarter of a million dollars that whoever the Republican candidate was, he'd win. And, at that time, the candidate was George Bush. So, he's obviously demonstrated where he's coming from and he's been continuing to contribute. He pleaded from the inception of the case that the Davidians committed suicide and up until '97, when we really were pouring in the evidence, and the Feds were trying to put me in jail for doing it, which is always the program, he still pleaded suicide. It wasn't until we overwhelmed them. The FLIR tape probably was the single most conclusive piece of evidence in the case and at that point, he was forced by his clients to adopt the evidence because he couldn't keep his clients if he continued to plead suicide when the evidence was circulating in all directions. McNulty's film, Waco, The Rules of Engagement, had some out, so he had to do that.

AJ: Now Gordon, long before that film came out, you were talking about how you sat down with the CIA, the former director and others, and they showed you this tape, - where they had this tape that turned the muzzle flashes into red ....

GN: Well, they colorized the whole thing. I don't know how they did it, but they had - I haven't seen that done except by Carlo Gigliotti, and he did it in red, when I saw it. The difference, when Colby did it, I don't know from who or where he got it. But he colorized the gunshots in one color, I believe they were in red. And he had the fire green and the explosions blue. ..........

GN: The false reality is the whole system - it's rather corrupt. Every action that has gone down in the Davidian case has been sustained by the circuit in New Orleans, but now we are going to have, I believe, April 24th, somewhere in there, there is going to be a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court on trying to get these guys sentences reduced. At that point, because of all the discovery that has come about, principally because of people like you and Lee Hancock and Mike McNulty, myself and others, all of that evidence is out. They concealed it from the trial and these guys haven't done anything about it. I mean the attorneys that represented them have yet to do anything with it - and a tremendous amount of hidden material which is normally the kind of stuff under the Brady and Jenks rulings for discovery was concealed. We now know all the stuff but these guys are still in jail. The helicopters fired first. You can prove that. I'm going to be challenging the judge, Danforth and Caddell and Burton to recreate the vault explosion, the flyover, which we can now prove that the helicopters fired first killing a woman breast-feeding her baby, shot her through the top of the head. Shot two other guys in the top of the head and the bullets were rifle bullets. And there's no one in front of the building with rifles. So, there's no way on earth that bullets can enter the top of your head and come out the bottom of your butt, unless somebody has shot you from the air.

You can count the gunshots from the first helicopter coming over which is before the shooting starts at the front of the building, approximately 30 or 40 seconds. They were doing Apocalypse Now, like the movie, where the helicopters storm the place and everybody gets down and then the troops invade. .........

AJ: That was all proven by the water tanks and holes coming through, the lawyers that went inside - that's why they had to burn it down.

GN: The judge won't let that in yet.... The judge has effectively ruled that the Davidians fired first, even though the missing door would prove it. And that the door is missing is no accident. Everybody knows it is no accident. The lawyers saw it. All the bullet holes are ingoing, are incoming from the Feds. The Feds went and made a movie so you could see the bullets coming outside. The writer has since said he wishes he had never touched the NBC movie of the week, called Ambush at Waco. ............

AJ: Yea, he was out at Waco two years ago, say his name again?

GN: Philip Pentingroth (sp?)

AJ: Yea, Philip Pentingroth. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I saw his speech and like a fool, I didn't videotape it. Say Gordon, do you know of any videotapes of him apologizing?

GN: I can't even find him. I've been trying to find him. We wanted to talk about doing a feature film and having him write it because he had such a conscience scene and that he had such a knowledge of it. But we haven't been able to find him. That's been the problem. I don't know where he is. ......,,,

GN: A buddy of mine, who I had know for a very long time, Danny Grahm, a retired general. He was chief aide to General Westmoreland in Vietnam. He was the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency and he then became the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. And right before Reagan was elected, he wrote a book called High Frontiers, which became known as Star Wars, which is an ongoing program to put up a missile shield around the country. He called me up, and by the way, Danny is deceased, but his Adjutant General Richardson is not, so this is not a story that somebody might call a shaggy dog tale. He called me up and said some friends of mine, and at that time I suspected the Defense Intelligence Agency, and it may have been. But we now know the Defense Investigative Services were investigating the Ft. Hood thing before the raid (at Waco) and wanted to know why the Delta Force people were training ATF storm troopers - or their combined southern swat teams to go in there and, essentially, storm a church on a Sunday morning. He said we want to confirm that and that there is going to be a raid on February 28, 1993.

So, I called up Michael Hall who was the retired special agent in charge of ATF here in New Orleans, who retired in 1985. He called me back, I told him the whole story and said that Danny needs to know it. He was on the same board of directors that Danny was, which was Force One, my security company. He calls me back. He was a very patriotic guy, one of the few honest federal policemen that I have known - I can count them on one hand. That's the horror of what our problem is today: they are criminals that run our government. He called me back and said my son-in-law, Greg Fields is going to be in the second helicopter. They are going to use three military helicopters to divert the Davidians. And I said, it sounds like if you are going to use military helicopters, it sounds like they are planning to shoot them. He said, "Oh no, they probably won't do that." I said, Michael, I think you are being naive. I said this guy Clinton will do anything. He knew that, I might add. Clinton was in office at that time, he had been in office only about a month. He verified that they were training these guys to storm this church, as part of a dynamic entry. A better way to put it is full frontal military assult. So, I gave it back to Danny and he said, "I wish you would keep a close eye on it." And I did that.

So, when they actually did the raid - I mean I was flabbergasted and I knew about it. At that point I became extremely interested in it. We started watching it. I'm ashamed that I didn't come over there and get Ramsey Clark to go in there earlier. I think that may have changed the program or changed it a bit. On the other hand, they might have burned Ramsey up in there. I mean Ramsey is the kind of guy who would have gone in there and stayed in there until they worked out some type of legal arrangement as to what was going to happen. Ramsey might have been able to change history. I certainly felt bad about it. On April 20th, I was there and I can remember walking into the hotel over there and the Davidians were sitting around the hotel. And they said, well the good guys finally showed up. I said, the only problem is we are about 82 bodies too late........"

St. Louis Dispatch 4/19/00 Terry Ganey & William H. Freivogel "........"Seven years after Waco, the Branch Davidians seem no closer to proving deliberate government wrongdoing than they were on April 19, 1993, when the 51-day siege ended in a fiery climax. ........... The test, designed to determine whether FBI agents fired at the sect's complex, may end up helping the government's defense. Although the test tapes are still sealed by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr., those who have seen them -- including a new, clearer version -- say they show images of people not present in the original tapes and flashes from debris. Those findings tend to discount the possibility of government gunfire. Where does that leave the 7-month-old special investigation by former Sen. Danforth? Nothing has emerged publicly to show there was illegal military involvement at Waco. The evidence still suggests the Branch Davidians started the fire. And if there was a broad cover-up at the FBI or Justice Department, it has yet to be disclosed in depositions that have become public. In other words, the answer to the four "dark questions" of government wrongdoing that Danforth identified at the beginning of his probe seems to be: "No." ......."

St. Louis Dispatch 4/19/00 Terry Ganey & William H. Freivogel "........About five hours into the gas attack, the converted tanks began penetrating the front and rear of the complex. It appears they are demolishing the building, with the collapse of the gymnasium in the back. Caddell has pointed out that when agents were later cited for commendations, the description said they were involved in "the systematic dismantling of the gymnasium." But Jamar and Rogers have said they weren't trying to tear down the gym, only to penetrate the structure to insert gas near the kitchen area where people had taken refuge. Reno agreed. She said the tanks were trying to make the gas more effective and to create openings for people to escape. "If they were concerned just with tearing down the building, they would have started on the outside rather than going in and exposing themselves to considerable danger," Reno said. The destruction of the building is important to Caddell's case because he argues that it could have kept people from escaping. While the tanks plowed into the complex, FBI agent Byron Sage announced over a loud speaker that "this is not an assault" and "we are not coming in." ........ "Someone in the building could be reasonably be afraid to come out because they were being lied to," Caddell said. ........The firefighting plan, or the lack of it, is another key issue of Caddell's case. "The failure to have firefighting equipment is probably the claim that is most easily linked to the loss of life," Caddell said. About two-thirds of the fatalities at Waco were caused by the fire, and the rest were from gunshots. ......."

St. Louis Dispatch 4/19/00 Terry Ganey & William H. Freivogel "........Danforth's investigation had been conducted in secret. However, federal officials disclosed that an FBI agent in charge of refilling the tear gas canisters was called before a federal grand jury in St. Louis March 21. Compressed CS gas was delivered through the tanks' booms, which punched holes in the walls of the sect's complex. CS gas is a riot control agent that irritates the skin and causes tearing, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath. The gas was propelled by carbon dioxide and suspended in methylene chloride, the same component used in paint remover. A House committee investigation of Waco in 1995 raised the possibility that a high dose of methylene chloride may have affected the Davidians who had sought refuge in the concrete room used as a food storage locker. Federal authorities refer to the room as "the bunker." The largest number of bodies - 31 women, children and babies - were found in the 14-by-14-foot room. It had only one door and no other means of ventilation. The committee concluded that a high concentration of methylene chloride on people in the room could have produced "anesthetic effects" and "impaired the Davidians' ability to escape." "It is possible that the levels of methylene chloride in the bunker were such that the chemical impaired the Davidians' ability to escape the room," the report said. ............ No one knows for sure how much gas was pumped into the room. But Erik R. Larsen, an expert hired by one of the Branch Davidians' lawyers, believes the dose in the bunker was sufficient to kill children and to put women into a coma. Larsen, who lives in Midland, Mich., retired as a senior research chemist for Dow Chemical Co. in 1986. "They got anywhere from one quart to one gallon," Larsen said. "A gallon could have killed everyone. ......."

St. Louis Dispatch 4/19/00 Terry Ganey & William H. Freivogel "........"On Jan. 28, Judge Smith granted a request made by Danforth's office for tissue and bone samples of the human remains from the victims. Samples from someone exposed to methylene chloride will show the presence of cyanide. About 40 of the bodies show the presence of cyanide. However, investigators say hundreds of burning substances - from plastics to substances found in furniture in the complex - could have created cyanide found in the bodies. For example, cyanide was found in the body of a Branch Davidian who was killed during the initial Feb. 28 government raid. The person was a smoker, which could explain the cyanide in his body. "There's no way to look at the autopsy findings to show that's what killed them," Larsen says. .......Judge Smith issued an opinion last July 1 that seemed to rule out the opportunity for raising tear gas as an issue in the Branch Davidians' lawsuit. Still, some lawyers would like to get it in the trial. ........."

4/18/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "...........The government's 41-page response countered that those allegations relied on incomplete, illogical or scientifically invalid analyses by the plaintiffs' hired experts and lawyers. ............ Lawyers for the sect have alleged that most of the original negatives are missing from one roll of film shot from that FBI airplane. They also have said many more than seven rolls were shot on the last day......The government's motion noted that the missing negatives had previously been acknowledged when they were turned over to the federal court in Waco. .......Government lawyers also dismissed the claims that "suspicious gaps" exist between the still photos taken in the final hours of the standoff. The motion said such charges are "inherently suspect because three of the four alleged 'suspicious gaps' occur within rolls of film as opposed to between rolls of film." ......The government said an FBI recording expert found no evidence to support claims by the sect's experts that infrared video recordings made that day from another FBI airplane were altered, partially erased or tampered with. ......"

4/18/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "...........The government's motion argued that the findings of a sect expert cannot be relied upon because he has acknowledged that they were based on only a partial analysis of the infrared tapes. The FBI's recording expert also determined that all of the FBI recordings turned over to the court from surveillance devices inside the compound April 19 are original recordings. The government's motion disputed the sect experts' assessment that electronic signals on those tapes and other evidence suggested that they were not originals and had somehow been altered. A missing roll of film shot by a Texas Department of Public Safety photographer has recently been located in the trove of Branch Davidian evidence held by the U.S. district clerk in Waco. Lawyers for the sect had complained that the missing roll of film could have provided key information and turned up missing only after being taken into custody in 1993 by the FBI. ...... The government said that "flash-bang" grenades found in the burned ruins were not from the FBI at the end of the siege but rather came from an earlier federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms botched raid that began the Branch Davidian standoff. Lawyers for the sect had alleged that the devices were mislabeled as "silencers" by the FBI laboratory and could have sparked the fire that consumed the compound. ......."

American Partisan 11/8/99 Diane Alden "……. "Yet James Wood, a professor of religion at Baylor University and resident of Waco since 1955, said that before February he hadn't heard of them referred to as a "cult." The librarian at the Waco Tribune-Herald confirmed that until their seven-part series on the Branch Davidians -- the first installment of which began one day before the initial assault on February 28, 1993 -- the Tribune-Herald referred to them as a "religious group," not a "cult". Child protective services had looked into allegations of abuse and found none. One by one the rest of the reasons given for the final governmental assault on the Mt. Carmel compound evaporated like fog in early morning…….."

Associated Press 4/23/00 "……Vector Data Systems, the British firm that conducted the March 19 simulation at an Army base in Texas, submitted its report earlier this month to U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr., who is presiding over the Branch Davidian lawsuit, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Saturday, citing unidentified informed sources. Vector found that flashes produced by sunlight reflecting off debris lasted considerably longer than flashes produced by gunfire, the newspaper said.......Vector was hired to conduct the test by special counsel John C. Danforth, who was appointed by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to oversee an independent investigation into the standoff and fire. The appointment of Danforth, a former senator from Missouri, followed revelations that the FBI, contradicting a position it had taken for six years, admitted using potentially incendiary devices on the last day of the standoff. ….."

Orange County Register 4/25/00 "……Several skeptical Supreme Court justices grilled a federal prosecutor Monday on whether a Waco judge improperly extended the sentences of four men convicted of killing four lawmen during a 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Texas. The justices appeared more sympathetic toward a defense lawyer who argued that U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco was wrong to apply a Firearms law to beef up the killers' prison terms. Smith tacked 30 years onto the Davidians' 10-year sentences after concluding that the four men had used automatic weapons to slay four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and firearms agents at the sect's compound near Waco. ……. In June 1994, Renos Avraam, Brad Branch, Jaime Castillo and Kevin Whitecliff were convicted of voluntary manslaughter and firearms possession in the shooting deaths of agents Conway LeBleu, Todd McKeehan, Robert Williams and Steven Willis. Prosecutors had asked the jury to consider charges of murder and conspiracy against the Davidians. The panel was not asked to decide what kind of weapons were used, and some jurors later said they were troubled when Smith added the firearms sentences. ….."

Dallas Morning News 4/20/00 Lee Hancock "…….. It was equal parts religious service and anti-government rally as Branch Davidians and their supporters gathered Wednesday to dedicate their new church on the ruins of the one destroyed in a bloody 1993 siege. Almost 300 people crowded into the tan frame building for a day of angry speeches, tearful reminiscences and homespun ceremony. It was seven years to the day after more than 80 Davidians died amid a fire that consumed the sect's home and ended their 51-day standoff with federal authorities. ……… The service was led by Alex Jones, an iconoclastic Austin talk-radio host who began rallying volunteers last year to rebuild on the site known to the Branch Davidians as Mount Carmel. Mr. Jones and others said the resulting 32-week project attracted more than 1,200 volunteers from across the country. They said they ranged from regular caravans of weekend workers from across Central Texas to a roofer who walked much of the way from West Virginia to offer a week of his time. They added that donors from 43 states, Canada and Australia donated more than $93,000 in cash and building supplies. ……."

AP 4/22/00 "……Federal agents did not fire at Branch Davidians in the 1993 siege that ended in a deadly blaze at the group's compound in Waco, Texas, according to a preliminary report from last month's simulation of the confrontation. Vector Data Systems, the British firm that conducted the simulation, provided the written report to U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. earlier this month. …….. Vector found that flashes produced by sunlight reflecting off debris were considerably longer in duration than flashes produced by gunfire, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today, citing informed sources. …….. Vector also reported that the infrared cameras in aircraft above the Fort Hood simulation site picked up flashes from six of the nine weapons tested. But wherever flashes were visible from weapons, the shooters also were visible, the sources said. Flashes on the 1993 Waco tape do not show shooters. ……"

Ian Goddard 4/24/00 "……..A Dallas Morning News report [1] gives us some numbers to work with from the official FLIR (forward-looking infrared) camera study being conducted by defense-contractor-owned Vector Data Research. The Morning News states that flashes on the test FLIR from the six guns tested lasted up to one fiftieth of a second (1/50 = .02 seconds), while reflections off debris lasted up to 19 times longer (.02 * 19 = .38 seconds)………… Dr. Edward Allard recorded the duration of flashes on the 1993 Waco FLIR to be as short as one thirtieth of a second (1/30 = .03 seconds). [2] Here then are the reported durations of flashes from these sources:
(A) TEST-GUNS .02 sec
(B) WACO FLIR .03 sec
(C) REFLECTIONS .38 sec

Of the three, A and B are most similar. While the duration of B is only 1.5 times longer than that of A, the duration of C is 19 times longer than A. Logic therefore clearly indicates that the reported durationof flashes on the 1993 Waco FLIR is significantly more similar to the flashes on the test FLIR from test-guns than from reflections off debris. ………… AND THEN there's the matter of the rate at which series of flashes appear on the 1993 Waco FLIR. While a reflective surface would reflect only one beam of radiation that a moving camera would pass through only once, resulting inthe occurrence of only one flash, flashes on the 1993 Waco FLIR coming from one spot occur at a rate of 7 to 10 times per second, exactly matching the cyclic rate of a machine gun. [3]………. It staggers my imagination that none of the professional journalists assigned to cover this case have bothered to study the FLIR or to even simply watch the documentary, Waco: A New Revelation, that put Waco back in the news, in which case they'd know that shooters ARE sometimes visible and thus that what they're writing is false……."

Associated Press 4/24/00 Sherri Chunn "…….The federal judge presiding over the Branch Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit denied the Justice Department's request to throw out most of the plaintiffs' claims Monday. The government had asked U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to reject three of the five major aspects in the civil lawsuit --
1)that federal agents erred in not bringing in armored firefighting equipment;
2) that they wrongly held back firefighters as the compound burned;
3) and that using tanks to push into the compound deviated from the operations plan the attorney general approved.
Smith's order, released at the close of a pre-trial hearing dealing with alleged evidence tampering, said: ''The court has determined that too many material fact issues are presented to justify dismissal or summary judgment as to the claims remaining in the lawsuit.'' Michael Caddell, lead counsel for the Branch Davidian plaintiffs, said: ''This means we will go (to) trial on every issue, including gunfire.'' ……."

Freeper Cvengr 4/25/00 "……JTF-6 is frequently associated with Joint Task Force-6, which in the media is frequently associated with Fort Bliss and counterdrug operations. A joint task force which was also consulted in the Waco seige by the BATF/FBI for training and equipment support. Issues regarding military support of civil authorities are heavily interpretted in their daily activity by the Army. And apparantly even within the Army, not all the decisions made, especially with Waco support are agreed to by all. This group is very real…..MJ-12 is associated with the Majestic-12 or MAJIC-12, which I've seen in various websites associated with William Cooper, author, and Dulce underground bases, topic. Some UFO conspiracy theorists support a series of documents from the 40's and 50's which link a group of 12 persons at the lead of US government and academia/intelligence which formed an eyes-only elite secret forum to handle the Roswell UFO crash and other evidence bordering on UFOs, aliens, the occult, and the paranormal, which was labeled as too sensitive to be released to the public……." Follow-up by Trident/Delta "…… Thank you for the dissertation on MJ-12, I was scanning the thread to see if anyone rebutted the implications from that idiot trying to tie MJTF-6 to MJ-12. THAT, is a case of discreditation in progress. If YankeeJohnCmpsr or whatever it is can successfully get FR yammering about MJ-12 vice the REAL MJTF-6 (as reported in the lamestream media) then any form of credability on FR is hopelessly compromised. ......"

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "…. Federal court-hired experts believe that flashes on an infrared videotape made at the end of the Branch Davidian siege were not from gunfire, a federal judge told both sides in a wrongful death lawsuit Monday. ……… U.S. District Judge Walter Smith cautioned that the oral report he received last week from Vector Data Systems of Great Britain is not the final word on the gunfire issue. …….."Word from the court that independent analysis confirmed that the flashes are not gunfire is welcome news. Years of being accused of shooting at the compound placed a heavy burden on the FBI people that were there that day," said John Collingwood, the FBI's chief spokesman. "Hopefully this is the beginning of lifting that burden. . . . We are grateful to the court for this announcement today," Mr. Collingwood said. ……… "You get good news. You get bad news," said Michael Caddell of Houston. "It's still one of only five issues in our case, and the gunfire issue is still going to trial." The judge also issued an order Monday denying a bid by government lawyers to dismiss almost every other issue in the wrongful death case. The three-page order, setting the final size and scope of a trial set to begin in mid-June, also reinstated all but a few plaintiffs who had been dismissed from the lawsuit last year. …….. But the judge's order rejected the plaintiffs' request to reinstate as defendants the two FBI agents who led the federal government's efforts during the siege - former Agent Jeffrey Jamar and former hostage rescue team commander Richard Rodgers. That decision precludes the sect's bid to have its case heard by a jury. Federal law requires a bench trial for the sole remaining defendant - the U.S. government. ……"

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "……..Much of the daylong hearing Monday involved plaintiffs' charges that the government has misplaced, mishandled or altered key evidence from the 1993 siege…….But Judge Smith said he was told last Monday by Vector's chief analyst, Nick Evans, that none of the 57 "thermal events" that the firm identified on the April 19 video came from government or Branch Davidian gunfire. ……Instead, Judge Smith said, the experts concluded that 43 of those flashes came from sunlight reflecting off ground debris, nine from human activity on the ground, and five from falling debris....... Judge Smith said the firm's final report, due May 8, will detail how each of those findings is "backed by corroborating evidence." In at least one instance, Judge Smith said, the firm tracked one "glint" previously alleged to be from Branch Davidian gunfire to broken window glass knocked onto a roof of the compound in a botched federal raid that began the 51-day standoff. "That's the extent to which they're trying or have tried to identify what appears on that 1993 tape," the judge said. Vector also reported that the first person visible on the April 19 video was a Branch Davidian who emerged on a rooftop as the compound burned. In its Fort Hood test infrared video, gunmen were always visible. ......"

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "......"That is evidence from an expert," he told lawyers for both sides. "The expert's opinion may be controverted, and you have the right to do that." …….. One lawyer representing families of Branch Davidians said he and other government critics are trying to raise funds to mount their own, private field test to do just that. James Brannon of Houston said he was skeptical about the British experts even before Judge Smith announced their conclusions because they are owned by an American-based defense firm contracting extensively with the U.S. government. …….. Mr. Caddell accused the government of "a pattern of gamesmanship" in its failure to meet court deadlines for turning over requested documents and refusal to respond to some repeated requests for information. Noting that the nine lawyers for the government went to Monday's hearing, he said, "I think somebody could be delegated to respond." Marie Hagen, one of the government's lead lawyers in the case, told Judge Smith that she and other Justice Department attorneys had tried to fully comply with court orders and plaintiffs' request. In one instance, she told Judge Smith, handwritten notes from former FBI Director William Sessions that were not turned over until he was deposed late last month "were overlooked" even though they had been in the FBI's files. ......,:

Dallas Morning News 4/24/00 Lee Hancock "……… Mr. Caddell also called both an FBI pilot and his own recording expert to try to show that the infrared video recorded in the hour just before the compound fire had been tampered with. Mr. Caddell has argued that audio recordings on that videotape could prove crucial because it was made in the last 90 minutes before the compound burned. In that period, FBI tanks demolished a large area of the rear of the compound and drove deep into the front of the building. The pilot testified Monday that he had thought that videotape included an audio track recording cockpit conversations and ground radio traffic being monitored by the FBI's Nightstalker infrared aircraft. He acknowledged that he called the FBI special counsel's office last fall to suggest that the audio track might have been inadvertently erased when the videotapes were copied by the FBI laboratory. ...... An FBI infrared camera operator who happened to be in that office that day took the call and wrote a note to the bureau's lawyers that the pilot had "said the original [tapes] had had audio on them, but when copies were made . . . the audio portion was removed." ……….. Mr. Caddell's recording expert testified later that he had found "probable evidence" that the audio track on that infrared video recording was deliberately removed. A government expert, former FBI agent Bruce Koenig, disputed that. He said his study of both the infrared videos and key audio tapes recorded from FBI bugs inside the compound showed that every recording being challenged by the plaintiffs were originals. ……"

4/23/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "…….. Preliminary results from a test designed to determine the source of flashes on an infrared video at the end of the Branch Davidian siege near Waco strongly suggest they were caused by sunlight and heat from FBI tanks reflecting off debris - and not government gunfire, an investigator said. A preliminary report submitted this month by court-appointed British experts did show that flashes were clearly visible on a test infrared video recording from weapons ranging from assault rifles to shotguns, other sources said. But the test video also recorded distinct flashes from tank exhaust and sunlight reflecting off ground debris, and gunmen firing each of the weapons were always visible on the test video, according to sources who have reviewed the report by Vector Data Research. Flashes from gunfire on the test video were also far shorter in duration, lasting at most one-fiftieth of a second while those from debris lasted up to 19 times as long, the sources said. ……. The British infrared firm was hired by the court last year to supervise the March 19 field test after being recommended by the office of Waco special counsel John C. Danforth. Judge Smith also asked the firm to prepare an independent report on the results for the court. ………… Mr. Caddell said conditions in the Fort Hood, Texas, test such as the angle of the FLIR camera and its distance from the targets on the ground could still pose significant questions for whichever side loses when the British experts offer their final conclusions. ..."

4/23/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "…….. If they report no gunfire flashes on the April 19 video, he said, he would have problems accepting that "if there's a significant difference in [flash] time that would be attributed to distance or angle of the camera. "If their conclusion is it can't be gunfire because we don't see people like on April 19, I'd have a problem," he said, noting that people would have been more visible on the test tape because the day was 20 degrees cooler in temperature and the gunmen in the test were not trying to hide. "If they can show me flashes on the British FLIR that are from debris, that are identical to flashes on the April 19 FLIR, and they can then show me on the April 19 FLIR that [what appears to some viewers to be moving people] is in fact debris and not a person - I'm not crazy," he said. "I am not unreasonable. I could be convinced of it. But I'd have to see it." ….."

4/23/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "……..Vector's preliminary written report analyzing the recording from the field test also indicated that heavy tanks like those used by the FBI in its April 19 tear gas assault did cause some flashes to appear on a FLIR video, sources said. Heat from the exhaust bay of the combat engineering vehicles used by the FBI in Waco did throw enough heat onto debris strewn on the ground at Fort Hood to create visible flashes on the test recording, sources said the report by Vector indicated. Flashes from the debris varied in shape, size and intensity on the field test recording. Its size, and sometimes its shape, was similar to the actual object that was reflecting sunlight or heat, sources said the report indicated. The length of the debris flashes varied but was always longer than gun flashes. The gunshots caused flashes of uniform brightness and consistently small, linear shape and also left a shadow that was visible two to three feet above the ground when the images were viewed in "stereo," the report indicated. ….."

4/23/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "……..Six weapons fired at Fort Hood did produce muzzle blasts, disproving the FBI's long-held theory that its camera was incapable of detecting and recording gunfire. Weapons that produced flashes included CAR-15 assault rifles - a type of gun commonly carried by the FBI's hostage rescue team; M-60 machine guns - which were also present in Waco; M-79 grenade launchers - like those used to fire tear gas at the compound; shotguns, "flash-bang" distraction grenades; and a Mark-19 automatic grenade launcher, the preliminary report indicated. ……"

4/23/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "…….. But the test also supports the government's long-held theory that flashes on April 19 couldn't have been gunfire because no gunmen were visible. Government officials have argued that the first person to appear on that videotape is a Branch Davidian survivor who appeared on the compound roof during the fire. The Vector preliminary report indicated that gunmen at Fort Hood were always visible, although they sometimes appeared less clearly, sources said. ….."

4/23/2000 Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News "……..Even before the British firm conducted last month's field test at a closed Fort Hood firing range, some government critics began to say that Vector could not be unbiased in its supervision and analysis because the firm is owned by an American defense conglomerate. Other subsidiaries of the conglomerate, Anteon Inc., have extensive contracts with U.S. agencies including the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, the FBI and the Justice Department. …….. At least part of the British firm's preliminary report to the court appeared aimed at addressing those critics. Sources said the report's first section included the statement that the British firm did most of its work for the British defense ministry. The report also noted that the firm was operated and controlled by British nationals and had never previously done work under direct contract with the U.S. government. ......"

Dallas News 5/8/00 AP "……A McLennan County jury has decided that neither the surviving followers of David Koresh nor the widow of another former Branch Davidian leader are legitimate trustees of the Branch Davidian church. Jurors returned the verdict after about 2 1/2 hours of deliberations regarding the dispute over who should control the 77 acres east of Waco known as Mount Carmel. The plaintiffs, including Clive Doyle, who survived the Branch Davidians' standoff with the federal government, brought the lawsuit in hopes of winning control of the land on which Mr. Koresh and about 80 of his followers died in 1993. Amo Bishop Roden, the widow of former Branch Davidian leader George Roden, also sought to manage the property. …….. No one disputed that the Branch Davidian church actually owns the land. But they tried to convince jurors that their connections with the church should allow them to control the land. After the verdict was announced late last week, the parties vowed to press on. …….."

Freeper 300winmag "…… The biggest problem with the sunlight reflection theory is that it requires that the laws of physics be suspended. When you see the FLIR tape, the flashes are STATIONARY when viewed from the moving airplane. The other problem is the Waco tapes look so much like other unrelated scenes of gunfire caught by FLIR. FLIR does capture images of gunfire, since the flash is hot and incandescent. That's what FLIR does best. ………. In the course of the trial, the federal government swore that FLIR could never record gunfire. These tests were to validate that limited (and bogus) claim, and nothing else. It's still up to the jury to determine what is happening on the Waco tapes. …….. The government was caught in a lie, again, when saying that the flashes could never possibly be gunfire. So now they're backpedalling, and saying that gunfire somewhere else can be imaged, but not in this case. ………These tests (the results of which will be forever kept secret) showed that the government lied about even a bit of well-known physical law. So the government comes out with a report based on those tests that proclaims them innocent of the bigger question. That does not compute, but is par for the course. ……"

Freeper Ol’Dan Tucker to Leper Messiah (FLIR Vector Report "……I checked your link to the full report and it appears that the report is missing a few important sections related to their methodology:

Additionally, we utilised a SUN Ultra 2 workstation mounting DIEPS software and CrystalEyes stereo viewing equipment to view individual frames in stereo, together with an Apple Mac workstation with miniCAD 7 software to generate 3D drawings and support out mensuration.

Report generation and desktop publishing was achieved using a suite of PCs using Microsoft Paintshop Pro and Adobe software. The accompanying interactive CD-ROM supporting illustrations were generated using General Dynamics Digital Video Analyser. & ……….[note: the next sections, 2.7.1 through 2.7.3, describe use of a CD-ROM of video and still photos sent along with the report to the court and to the parties in the pending federal wrongful death case] ………..Sections 2.7.1 through 2.7.3 are missing. Without these, it's impossible to determine exactly what parameters were used to create the digital video. This relates to the earlier reports of the digital video (MPEG-2) being unusable due to the excessive amount compression that was applied. …… So much for peer review. ….."

Freeper Bommer 5/16/00 "……. Vector Data Systems is not a British company, and as far as this writer can determine, never was. Although it may have RAF pilots in it's employ, that would probably be due to the fact that VDS has branches in the United Kingdom, Australia and Korea in addition to it's headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The company was purchased in 1997 as one of the first in a string of information technology acquisitions by the Anteon Corporation. ………. Anteon Corporation, head-quartered in Fairfax, VA is not a British company either. Although it's possible that Anteon will be using it's British subsidiary of Vector Data Systems to conduct the test and interpret it's results, it is misleading to simply state that the independent expert is "a British company." ………. Even more interesting is the fact that Danforth who is supposed to be seeking the truth, picked an unusual company to serve as the "impartial" arbiter of the test results. The Anteon Corporation is a very high tech, multi-million dollar company that gets a large share of it's profits from federal government contracts. …….. And we're not talking about the British government either. Just last month Anteon signed a 2.2 million dollar deal with the General Services Administration to provide program management analyses and assessments for the United States submarine force. …….In December of last year, Anteon scored another $10 mil from the government till in a deal with the Veterans Health Administration. Two months before that, Anteon signed a 7.8 million dollar contract with the U.S. Coast Guard. September was another lucrative month resulting in a $43 million dollar contract with the U.S. Navy. Finally, topping the list is a $250 million dollar Blanket Purchase Agreement with the GSA to provide the federal government with critical infrastructure service as ordered in Presidential Decision Directive #63, penned by Bill Clinton on May 28, 1998. ………. "...strengthening of the nation's defenses against emerging unconventional threats to critical infrastructures, the physical and cyber-based systems essential to the functioning of the United States economy and the government. These include essential government services, information and communications, banking and finance, energy, transportation, water supply, public health, law enforcement, and emergency services." Anteon, the parent company of Vector Data Systems, will provide services and products in the following areas: critical infrastructure asset identification; vulnerability and threat assessment; readiness and contingency planning; physical infrastructure protection; cyber security and information assurance; and emergency preparedness training, exercises, and simulation. ……."

Freeper Ol’Dan Tucker "…….The govt controlled every aspect of the recreation just as they had complete control of the original FLIR. With the state of the art today in video and audio technology, it's impossible to say what was originally a part of the FLIR and was was added or subtracted after the fact. Same for the photographic, videographic and audiophonic evidence. This is why Linda Thompson and Carol Valentine came to distrust the FBI SWAT Home Video that they'd anonymously received. That's also why I don't trust the FLIR. ……… All of this orginally came from the FBI; the group in charge of the operation that ultimately killed these people. ……. Imagine how airtight the govt's alibi would be had they collapsed the roof of the pantry as they'd planned. Their cover story would have been nearly seamless. But because they missed and only punched a hole, this points out the lies told in the autopsy reports about the people who were supposedly crushed and suffocated by the falling roof. Because this story is such an obvious lie, this makes us take a closer look at the other victims and that's when we discover all of the anomalies that can ultimately prove the govt's crimes in a court of law. The FLIR is and will be forever open to interpretation and debate, but the forensic evidence of the bodies is conclusive beyond a reasonable doubt……"

Freeper Ol’ Dan Tuckr to Leper Messiah "….We know that at the first available opportunity the government said the Davidians started the fire, the roof collapsed killing those in the "bunker", they "murdered" themselves. What if Peerwani lied about the wounds ? Could the cooking off of ammo have caused the wounds ?Could the force of the explosion which caused the hole in the vault have caused the trauma to the bodies inside ?

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 5/11/00 Terry Ganey and William H. Freivogel "……The report, by Vector Data Systems Inc., confirms the findings of a preliminary report by the firm announced last month by U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. Vector is the independent British firm hired by Special Counsel John C. Danforth to determine if flashes on the 1993 tape were from government gunfire. ……. In the final report, Vector identified 57 flashes on the 1993 tape. It concluded, "We were unable to identify any gunfire, either from Government forces or from Davidians." …….. Vector was able to identify the likely cause of each of the flashes by comparing the tape of the 1993 incident to infrared tapes of a simulation that Vector conducted on March 19 at Fort Hood, Texas………Vector's final report also concluded that no people are visible on the 1993 tape in the period before the fire broke out at 12:07 p.m. The Branch Davidians had claimed that government agents are visible in some frames of the tape………In addition, the report concluded that the fire broke out in two different places almost simulataneously. ......"

The Associated Press 5/10/00 "…… The report also states that no one was seen prior to the breakout of two fires that consumed the compound on April 19, 1993. At least 80 people died during the inferno. "This analysis vindicates those FBI people long accused of shooting into the compound," said Deputy FBI Director Thomas Pickard. "The FBI's long-standing and steadfast position that no shots were fired has now been strongly and independently corroborated." But an attorney for Branch Davidian survivors and relatives, Jim Brannon, said he believes Vector's analysis is "fatally flawed." "Vector was either incompetent or they willfully sabotaged the test," he said. ……… A spokeswoman for Danforth said he would have no comment on Vector's report. ……"

CNN 5/10/00 "……An independent of study of aerial infrared tapes taken by the FBI on the final day of the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, seven years ago found no evidence that FBI agents shot at the compound…….. A British company, Vector Data Systems, analyzed the video shot on April 19, 1993 and compared it to footage from a reenactment conducted in March. The analysis was paid for by Special Counsel John Danforth, appointed by the Justice Department to provide an independent investigation of the government actions in the Waco case…… Vector's 65-page report said the 57 instances of flashes on the original tape were caused by reflections of light and atmospheric conditions. ….The findings support the FBI's position that its agents did not fire shots at the burning compound……."

Reuters 5/11/00 James Vicini "……U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said on Thursday she has been questioned by the special counsel investigating the disastrous 1993 raid at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. A spokesman for Reno said the questioning by former Sen. John Danforth, who is investigating whether federal agents caused any deaths in the assault or covered up evidence, took place on May 3 and lasted nearly six hours. ……."

Reuters 5/11/00 James Vicini "……When she appointed Danforth, Reno said she would be a witness in the investigation. Danforth at the time said he would have the authority to question Reno. Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said the questioning by Danforth took place at Reno's office. He said Reno was not questioned under oath. He said Danforth was accompanied by three other aides, but Danforth asked virtually all of the questions. He said Reno had only one aide, who took notes, present. ……. Marlin said Danforth has made requests to interview other Justice Department officials, but he declined to give details. He said the Justice Department also has provided Danforth with documents......."

Dallas Morning News 5/11/00 Lee Hancock "……Flashes recorded on an FBI infrared video at the end of the Branch Davidian siege came not from government or Davidian gunfire, but from sunlight reflecting off glass, metal and water, and the movement of tanks and windblown debris, court-appointed infrared experts state. ...... The detailed, 65-page final report by Vector Data Research was released Wednesday to both sides in a federal wrongful death lawsuit arising from the 1993 standoff…….. The report indicated that Vector's analysts employed frame-by-frame analysis and computer imagery enhancement programs as well as detailed comparisons of known thermal signatures of gunfire and sunlight-generated flashes to identify the causes of 57 separate flashes on the infrared recording made by the FBI at Waco on April 19, 1993. ...... Vector's four-month inquiry also employed detailed comparative studies of still photos and other imagery taken by both the FBI and outsiders on April 19 to support the conclusion that none of the flashes came from gunfire, the report stated. ……"

Dallas Morning News 5/11/00 Lee Hancock "……One federal official predicted that Vector's report "should drive a stake through the heart of the nuttier theories surrounding this case. This report shows that we might have shot our reputations, but we damn sure didn't shoot any Davidians." But the lead plaintiff's lawyer in the wrongful death suit said the report appears flawed and contradictory……… "I can pick the thing apart in 30 minutes," said Mike Caddell, a Houston lawyer representing the families of sect members who died in the April 19 fire. "It is impressive in its presentation. They clearly spent a lot of time on it. But having said that, there are some clear disconnects in what they've done - obvious instances in their own report where their conclusions are not supported by their own data, their own analysis." ...... In some instances, Mr. Caddell said, the Vector report lists only about half of the flashes that appear within rapid sequence on the infrared. And throughout the report, the experts fail to detail the maximum duration of known gunfire recorded in the infrared test, he said. ……. One infrared expert spotted several "clear" instances of people being visible, and those are not addressed in the Vector report, he said. …….Mr. Caddell and other lawyers for the plaintiffs will grill two of Vector's analysts in two days of depositions scheduled for later this month and will question a third in early June. He said a major area of inquiry will be his concern that Vector "had already made their minds up" about the cause of the infrared flashes before they supervised a court-ordered infrared field test at Fort Hood in mid-March. ……."

Dallas Morning News 5/11/00 Lee Hancock "…… Judge Smith told both sides last month during a pretrial hearing that he would not consider Vector's report "conclusive evidence," adding that their opinion "may be controverted, and you have the right to do that." …….While Mr. Caddell's infrared experts reported 36 instances that they believed were government or Davidian gunfire or the detonation of government "flash-bang" distraction grenades, Vector analysts identified an additional 20 "thermal events" on the April 19 infrared tape. …….. None of the flashes alleged by experts for the sect to be government gunfire or other government-generated explosions matched the six "essential criteria" for thermal signatures of gunfire on forward-looking-infrared or FLIR video recordings, the report stated. Of those 18 alleged instances of gunfire, only one had both the required size and tone, the report stated. Five others approached the required size or tone, but none had the shape, duration, shadow or other associated features of gunfire, the report stated. ……."

Dallas Morning News 5/11/00 Lee Hancock "……In some instances where flashes appeared in close proximity to the combat engineering vehicles, Vector analysts concluded that they were caused either by sunlight reflecting off debris that had collected on the vehicles or from their engine heat reflecting off ground debris. Vector analysts also dismissed allegations by some infrared analysts that a hatch could be seen opening on one of the government tanks at 12:08, just before a prolonged series of flashes. They found, however, that the tank had just pulled away from the rear of the building and was covered in debris that was "blowing in the wind (to) ... give the appearance of a hatch opening." The report added that a still photo of the same tank showed the "debris still in place over the forward deck" of the vehicle! ……"

The Associated Press 5/17/00 "……. The FBI may have mishandled some key evidence related to the deadly 1993 Waco siege, but lawyers for the sect failed to prove the government intentionally altered or destroyed any items, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Smith ... said there is "no basis" for him to order the government "to turn over any additional evidence or to impose sanctions ..." …….. During a daylong hearing last month, Smith heard testimony from a pilot and photographer who were at the site on April 19, 1993, as well as audio experts for both sides. …….. Among other things, plaintiffs contended that some of the Forward Looking Infrared, or FLIR, footage bore signs of the audio having been erased. Caddell said on one tape, someone can be heard asking for the audio to be turned off. But Smith, in his order, said: "The evidence does not support erasure, but rather indicates that the audio was never turned on." ……"

Talk Magazine 11/99 Gerald Posner "…….The normally voluble Rookstool Falls silent and turns about, trying to get his bearings. The landscape has changed since the first time he arrived at this juncture on a chilly spring day six years back. At last he finds what he is looking for: "It was right here where I first saw the top of a 1ittle sneaker popping out through an enormous pile of ammunition. That's when I knew we had found the bodies of the women and children." …… The memories now come thick and fast. "They were huddled in a far corner. . .with blankets over the children, and the mothers lying on top to protect them." He recalls digging through the rubble to find a woman and child whose hands had been fused together by the blaze. Rookstool helped out as the two were cut apart. "When I lifted the child in my arms, her head came off. Then when I lifted the mother, her intestines broke out and spilled over me."……"

Talk Magazine 11/99 Gerald Posner "……..Rookstool's feelings about what happened at Waco have been problematic for the FBI. In 1993 he was asked to deliver a lecture on his experiences with the Evidence Response Team at the bureau's training academy in Quantico, Virginia. There he startled the class by announcing his belief that not all of the nearly 80 Branch Davidians who died on April 19, 1993, had committed suicide, as the bureau maintains. (Shortly thereafter, Rookstool says, his supervisor received a memo from on high warning that because the bureau might face litigation over its handling of Waco, all personnel were to refrain from further comment on the subject.) ......In 1997 Rookstool repeated his assertion in Waco: The Rules of Engagement, an award-winning documentary.. ........, "[The press has] all been talking to `high officials' for six years, and look what it got us - lies and a cover-up," Rookstool says. ….."

Talk Magazine 11/99 Gerald Posner "…….Rookstool was not at the scene on the day the FBI discussed firing pyrotechnic tear-gas grenades into the compound. But drawing on his four years of training as an FBI radio operator, he offers a provocative theory: "Standard operating procedure would mean that that request was broadcast over a primary radio channel that could have been heard by up to 50 people at Waco and the command center in Washington," Rook stool says. If the audience was indeed that large, it is all the more remarkable that the use of pyrotechnics remained secret as long as it did - and would expand the pool of people who may face scrutiny from the new special counsel probing the events at Waco, former senator John Danforth. ……"

Talk Magazine 11/99 Gerald Posner "……. Following the siege, Rookstool joined the Evidence Response Team and donned his camera. "We weren't even allowed to go to the site for one week because the place was still so hot and unstable after the fire," he remembers. ….. Rookstool saw his share of horrors. ….."

Talk Magazine 11/99 Gerald Posner "…….FBI spokesman Miller declined comment on Rookstool's charges. But shortly after I fax a list of questions about Rookstool to FBI to headquarters in Washington, I receive a call from his former supervisor - Oliver "Buck" Revell, who retired in 1994 as special agent in charge of the FBI's Dallas field office. Revell calls Rookstool "brilliant but eccentric, and says, "Farris often insinuates himself into situations where he has no reason to be there. He overplayed his role and has grandiose ideas about his own importance. Anything Rookstool says about Waco is either second or thirdhand, or a total fabrication. If he did insert himself into Waco, he had no official role, and it was without my permission." .…..Rookstool says he is flabbergasted by Revell's comments. He sends me a written statement, dated January 5, 1995, filed in disciplinary proceeding on Rookstool's conduct. In the statement, Revell defends Rookstool, arguing that his conduct, while errant, did not constitute a firing offense. ……..His statement reveals further that Revell did, indeed, assign Rookstool to Waco. "When I received a request that the Dallas Division supply an Evidence Response Team to aid in the Waco matter, I authorized dispatch of the team headed by SSA William Eubanks. Mr. Rookstool was a part of the team," Revell wrote. Rookstool also showed me photos of himself with the Hostage Negotiating Team. …….."

UPI 5/18/00 "…..A federal judge has refused to impose sanctions against the FBI for its handling of records and other evidence from the 1993 Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas……. "Although there may be some indication of mishandling and/or mislabeling by the FBI, there is nothing to indicate that this was the result of anything more than mere negligence," the judge wrote………. "Although the court is persuaded that the government failed to act with due diligence in providing discovery, any harm to the plaintiffs has been ameliorated by the continuation of the trial date," he said. The trial, originally set to begin this week, is now scheduled to open June 19 in Waco…………"

newsmax.com 5/18/00 "…… A federal judge has ruled government agents did not intentionally mishandle evidence of the Waco tragedy in which at least 80 Branch Davidian cultists died. …….. The wrongful-death lawsuit over which Judge Smith is presiding alleges that an infrared videotape recorded from an FBI airplane during the final assault captured repeated thermal images of government gunfire. ……. The judge's order rejected another plaintiffs' claim, that audio tracks from a video tape made shortly before the fire had been erased, saying, "the evidence ... indicates that the audio was never turned on." He also dismissed an argument that the government had withheld or tampered with still photographs from an FBI airplane during the siege. The judge noted the photographer testified gaps between his pictures may have been when he changed film, the aircraft banked away from the scene or the pilot took breaks from holding open a window to give the camera a better view…….. U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford of Beaumont said the challenged tapes also captured voices of Davidians planning and setting the fires. He said the judge's order now "opens the way for this evidence to come into trial, which is very, very damaging to the plaintiffs." ……"

The Dallas Morning News 5/27/00 Lee Hanock "…….The wrongful-death case blaming the government for the tragic end of the Branch Davidian siege will be decided by a jury in Waco and not a federal judge alone, both sides in the case were told Friday. "Having considered the importance of the issues involved in this case, the court has decided that a jury should be empaneled to issue a verdict regarding the issues remaining to be tried," U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. wrote in a two-page order issued late Friday afternoon. The unexpected decision comes only weeks before the June 19 start date of the trial and a month after he dismissed the portions of the case for which federal law normally allows a jury trial. ... …"The real change is this: We will no longer go into this case worrying that the benefit of the doubt will always be given to the federal officials," said James Brannon, a Houston attorney representing relatives of several children of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh. "I'm extremely pleased that we will now have the case judged by a group of fair, impartial and unbiased jurors, ordinary citizens like those who heard the evidence in the criminal trial and said afterwards that they thought the wrong people had been on trial there. Now we have the right people on trial.'' ......:

The Dallas Morning News 5/27/00 Lee Hanock "…….Mr. Brannon and some others had previously been openly skeptical about the judge's impartiality because of his handling of the 1994 criminal trial arising from the standoff. Mr. Caddell went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in a failed bid to have the judge removed from the civil case because of potential bias. Judge Smith sentenced eight Davidians to up to 40 years in prison after a jury in San Antonio found them guilty of weapons violations and manslaughter for the deaths of four federal agents killed in the shootout that began the 51-day siege. The judge also harshly criticized the sect's actions, writing in his sentencing order that the Davidians had started the standoff by ambushing federal agents and ending it "by a combination of suicide and murder inflicted by Davidian on Davidian." The U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal of the sentences last month and is expected to issue a ruling later this summer.

The Dallas Morning News 5/27/00 Lee Hanock "…….The judge has indicated in prior rulings in the civil case that his views have shifted on some key issues arising from the standoff. In one key ruling last year, he wrote that who started the initial shootout was "hotly disputed." …….And in an interview last fall with The Dallas Morning News, the judge said that the central issues of the civil case are different than those in the earlier criminal trial….."

The Dallas Morning News 5/27/00 Lee Hanock "…….[Caddell] He noted that the judge issued an order Wednesday rejecting a government bid to introduce all testimony from the 1994 criminal trial as evidence in the wrongful-death case. That order came the same day that the judge rejected a government bid to file counterclaims against the estates of Branch Davidian leaders as well as some surviving adult sect members who recently dropped their lawsuits against the government. Mr. Caddell said he thought the decisions were indications that the judge intends to limit the government's efforts to make the upcoming civil case a new trial of the Branch Davidians. …."

Freeper secretagent 5/28/00 http://www.rolandresearch.com/SRGv1/B00-Retract2.htm "………"This winter we were able to make our yearly motor-home trip to the Arizona desert. When we left, sun reflections were a dead issue as the cause of flashes on the FBI's 1993 FLIR tape. The FBI had retracted its sun reflection flash explanation and the 1997 press release that made the claim had "gone missing" in DoJ's electronic and paper records. Official spokesman were using terms like "unexplained electrical anomalies" to describe the flashes. Government people around the edge of the problem occasionally referenced "glint" but FBI and DoJ management personnel did not. When we got back to civilization, we found the Ft. Hood FLIR re-creation being used to support the FBI's position on gunshots. Relative to my analysis, news coverage indicated that the Waco court's IR experts (Vector Data Systems) believe most of the 1993 flash signatures were caused by sun reflections; I was surprised. It is difficult to determine the specifics of Vector's conclusions from available news reports; their promised 8 May report should provide details. I want to make it clear that I stand by my Sun Reflection Geometry Report conclusions - most of the 1993 flash signatures are not sun reflections; it is impossible. Sun reflections may generate flash signatures but not like those on the 1993 tape. If Vector's 8 May report mirrors press accounts, my work and theirs are not compatible; one of us is wrong…….. If the court releases the Vector report, I will review it. I want to have a preliminary assessment available and distributed in paper form before the trial. My review will also be posted on this web site. As stated many times, if I am proven wrong I will so indicate at flank speed and 120 decibels. I am hopeful Vector will produce a comprehensive scientific report with sufficient detail so readers can understand their reasoning and verify conclusions. To date, contending FLIR experts have not done this. What is observed is one group of experts presenting an opinion and similar experts on the other side doing the same; that may be good pre-trial public relations but opinion isn't science."......"

Waco Tribune Herald 5/22/00 Mark England "...... Mike Caddell's commute to work takes all of a couple of minutes, if the signal light is working. ..... A portrait of President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore hugs on a wall outside his office. Caddell has been invited to the White House almost a dozen times in the '90s because of his status as a major donor to the Democratic Party. In 1996, for example, Caddell gave $111,000 to the Clinton-Gore ticket. ....... He sees no conflict in suing the administration of a president he helped elect. "Contrary to the popular belief of some people, I've never seen a shred of evidence that Bill Clinton had any significant involvement in what happened at Mount Carmel," Caddell said. "Everything we've seen clearly shows the decision-making centered in the FBI leadership and, ultimately, with Janet Reno. I don't have a problem going after Reno. I think history will show that she's one of the worst attorney generals the United States ever had." ......."

Waco Tribune Herald 5/22/00 Mark England "...... Lyons said he's had to defend Caddell to many of his friends, who are uncomfortable with Caddell's slick image. One is Davidian Clive Doyle. Doyle, earnest in a ready-made suit, confronted Caddell, cool in a bomber jacket and shades, after the Mount Carmel re-creation in March. Doyle accused Caddell of selling out the Davidians by agreeing to the re-creation and by stating the Davidians must share part of the blame for what happened at Mount Carmel. ....... "

Waco Tribune Herald 5/22/00 Mark England "...... His love of challenges has been tested. Judge Smith recently denied Caddell's request for sanctions against the government, and a company retained by the court stated it believes the flashes in the infrared tape taken at Mount Carmel are not gunfire. Plaintiffs argue that government gunfire kept many Davidians from fleeing their burning building. Caddell shrugged off the turn of events. "I like where we are," Caddell said. "The two issues I felt most strongly about that day I watched the fire, the failure to have firefighting equipment available and knocking the building down, we have better evidence than I could have hoped for. We have a smoking-gun document where (Jeffrey) Jamar and (Dick) Rogers said there would be no plan to fight a fire. That's inconceivable. We've also got the medal commendations (for tank drivers) submitted by Jamar and Rogers. It says in mid-morning the tank drivers were instructed to begin the systematic demolition of the building." ......:

The Associated Press 5/23/00 "......Online auction house eBay halted bidding on a rifle purportedly taken from the former Branch Davidian compound and offered as a "sobering" piece of history. The assault rifle was described as a broken and melted AR-15 converted to fully automatic fire and allegedly salvaged seven years ago, the Waco Herald-Tribune reported today. Its asking price was $2,000. The seller wrote that the rifle was taken from the rubble of the compound several days after the April 19, 1993, fire that ended a 51-day siege. More than 80 sect members, including leader David Koresh, died. ....."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 5/31/00 Terry Ganey "…….Branch Davidian leader David Koresh talked about the possibility of suicide a month before the final siege of the sect's complex that led to his death along with about 80 of his followers, according to government surveillance tapes. ……. "My work is finished," Koresh said. "I don't need to hang around here. I've already been shot, understand? I've been rejected. . . . All I need to do is cover it, cock the pistol back, have my thumb on the trigger and my mind on the Psalms." …..Koresh's remarks are among the passages that two amateur experts on Waco have referred to when interviewed recently by investigators for Special Counsel John Danforth. …….."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 5/31/00 Terry Ganey "…….Koresh and his followers began talking about the possibility of a fire destroying the complex two days before a tear gas assault by tank-driving FBI agents. ….Two weeks after a botched Feb. 28 raid by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Koresh talked about seeing an agent get shot in the head and said, "He shouldn't have been standing in my door." ……. Two who have heard the tapes are Mark Swett of Portland, Maine, and J. Phillip Arnold of Houston. An FBI negotiator at Waco has confirmed the accuracy of the passages they've cited to Danforth…….. Swett and Arnold say the tapes show that the Davidians were deeply grounded in their religious beliefs, that no one was being held against his will and that there is no evidence on the tapes of physical or sexual abuse of children. …."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 5/31/00 Terry Ganey "……. On April 17, after FBI tanks began removing parked vehicles from around the complex, the Davidians talked about plans that Arnold interprets as fulfilling a catastrophic version of the prophetic end of the siege. He said that before April 17, sect members believed there would be a peaceful end to the confrontation. They believed Koresh would be able to write his interpretation of the Seven Seals in the biblical Book of Revelation while the FBI waited. Arnold said he believes that after the interpretation was completed, they would all leave the complex peacefully. When the tanks began removing the cars, it was a signal in the Davidians' minds that the siege would end in a fiery climax, Arnold said. In one conversation, Schneider was heard to say, "They could bring the fire trucks, but they couldn't even get near us." Koresh replied, "That's all right," and made a sound imitating gunfire. …."

St. Louis Post Dispatch 5/31/00 Terry Ganey "…….The listening devices picked up Koresh talking about it on March 15. He said he saw a man standing in a corner get shot in the head. "All of a sudden, puff (makes a sound like a gunshot and laughs) his head blew up," Koresh said. The conversation continued and Koresh said he was sure the man had died. "He shouldn't have been standing in my door," Koresh said. ……. The conversations show that on March 15, Koresh asked about the whereabouts of a box of flares. "I want to find out where our parachute flares are," Koresh said. ……."I'm not saying there was anything sinister about it," Swett said. "I just want people to know there were flares in there." ……"

Freeper Ada Coddinton 5/29/00 According to David Hardy: "…. :Yes, their last expert remains to be deposed. Unfortunately, for the report to hold any water, he's going to have to contradict the two other men who wrote, and signed, it. And come up with a reason why they have a few minor problems in it. Such as misplacement of decimal points, on the timing. And stating as minima things which should be maxima. Little things like that.

He might also explain how they came to be hired for this work, when they had never before been hired to analyze FLIR. Yep. This was their first contract for analysis. Their work is to create workstations for recon analysis, and train people in those, not to analyze tapes themselves. Wonderful. The Office of Special Counsel has a complex and controversial tape to analyze, they have the world to choose from, and they pick a 17-man British company that has never analyzed a tape before.

And, while they're at it, VDS will be explaining why one of their officials was telling the judge that he could prove that the flashes were reflections, at a point when VDS had not even *begun* their analysis of the 1993 FLIR tapes.

And explaining why they assured everyone that they had no ties to the suspects, when they are 80% owned by Anteon, which appoints a majority of their directors, and ... which does over 60% of its business with the US government, and has sales reps appointed for a couple of agencies named U.S. Dep't of Justice, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Not to mention explaining a few things they did to "cook the books," and a few offers and inducements they got on the side. ……"

UPI 6/5/00 San Antonio "….Sarah Bain says five of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh's key lieutenants have finally gotten justice, more than seven years after the bloody standoff and fire at their compound near Waco. "I think it's absolutely wonderful that the Supreme Court has overturned those sentences," Bain said Monday……. Bain was presiding juror of the federal jury that acquitted 11 Branch Davidians on murder and conspiracy charges in a five-week trial in San Antonio, convicting them only on lesser charges……..There was no evidence presented at the trial that any of the five, Brad Branch, Jaime Castillo, Kevin Whitecliff, Graeme Craddick, and Renos Avraam, used machine guns against U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agents during the Feb. 28, 1993 raid that sparked a 51-day standoff……. "Those of us who were involved in the trial and then reappeared on the day of sentencing were absolutely amazed that the judge was basing his sentence on things that the jury was not even asked to consider," she said…….."

UPI 6/5/00 San Antonio "…. "They will not be remanded for sentencing and a federal judge will have to remove that 30-year sentence," Steven "Rocket" Rosen, the Houston defense lawyer who represented Brad Branch, said following the ruling. "It seems that after seven years, we've finally won the war."……."Following our deliberations, we (the jury members) felt based on the decisions that we had made, that none of the defendants would get more than a slap on the wrist," Bain said. "When I heard Judge Smith add on three decades, I wanted to cry."……"

Washington Times "……The U.S. Supreme Court has undone a great injustice to surviving members of the Branch Davidians, a religious group that has already suffered enough at the hands of the federal government. Convicted on firearms charges in connection with a government assault on their property in Waco, Texas — an assault that need not and should not have taken place — the Davidians wound up facing lengthy sentences on charges of using machine guns, something the jury in the case had never found....... Arguing the case before the Supreme Court, however, the federal government tried to blur the distinction between machine guns and other kinds of weapons. Wrote Justice Stephen Breyer for the high court: "The Government argues that, conceptually speaking, one can refer to the use of a machine gun as simply a 'method' of committing the underlying 'firearms offense.' . . . But the difference between carrying, say, a pistol and carrying a machine gun (or, to mention another factor in the same statutory sentence, a 'destructive device,' i.e., a bomb) is great, both in degree and kind. And, more importantly, that difference concerns the nature of the element lying closest to the heart of the crime at issue. It is not surprising that numerous gun crimes make substantive distinctions between weapons such as pistols and machine guns."……. "

Washington Post 6/6/00 Associated Press "…….The unanimous decision, written by Justice Stephen G. Breyer, makes it more difficult for courts to find that lawbreakers deserve extra time behind bars because they used or carried machine guns during their crimes.. ….."

World Net Daily 6/5/00 Richard Carelli "…..The Supreme Court today set aside the lengthy prison sentences given to five Branch Davidians who survived a 1993 siege at the sect's Waco, Texas, compound. The court ruled that a federal judge misused an anti-gun law to increase their punishment. The unanimous decision makes it harder for courts to find lawbreakers deserve extra time behind bars because they used or carried machine guns during their crimes. …….. Federal appeals courts had split on whether determining use of a machine gun is an element of the offense a jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt, or merely a sentencing factor a judge gets to determine by a preponderance of the evidence. The nation's highest court said use of a firearm must be determined by the jury. ……. A federal jury acquitted the five Davidians of murder and conspiracy-to-murder charges but convicted them of voluntary manslaughter. Each was sentenced to 10 years in prison for that conviction. The jury also found them guilty of using firearms. The presiding judge tacked on 30-year sentences for four of them and a 10-year sentence for the fifth after finding that each had used a machine gun. Renos Avraam, Brad Eugene Branch, Jaime Castillo and Kevin Whitecliff drew the 30-year sentences; Graeme Craddock the 10-year term. Craddock also was sentenced to a consecutive 10 years for using a hand grenade. …….. The jury never had been asked to determine what types of firearms the five had used. The judge made that determination during sentencing. ….."

The Associated Press 6/5/00 "….U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. will not have to follow the verdict of the jury he recently announced will be seated to hear the wrongful- death lawsuit filed by Branch Davidians and their families against the government. The jury, by statute, is an advisory panel....... Both sides in the lawsuit expected Smith to hear the case. When FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi was dismissed from the lawsuit in March, only the federal government remained as a defendant. Federal law doesn't provide for a jury in civil cases not involving individuals....... "The judge has the discretion of impaneling an advisory jury, and he can treat the findings of the advisory jury as though they were the findings of a jury in a case where there was a right to a jury trial," said Bill Underwood, the Leon Jaworski professor of practice and procedure at Baylor University School of Law…… Having a jury -- even an advisory one -- changes the courtroom dynamics, said Dick DeGuerin, the Houston attorney who represented Koresh during the siege…….." Freeper aristeides adds "…..Actually -- except in the case of a jury acquittal in a criminal trial -- a judge is always empowered to overturn a jury verdict as being manifestly against the law. However, this sort of judgment is subject to particular scrutiny by appellate courts, and so judges are most reluctant to deliver this kind of judgment -- it is always too easy for them to be reversed, something most judges do their utmost to avoid happening. Trial judges' performance is measured by the rate at which they are reversed on appeal. But, in this case, I would think Judge Smith would be particularly reluctant to overturn a jury verdict favorable to the Davidians. Just think of how that would look. ......"

Waco Tribune-Herald 6/1/00 Mark England "……. Justice of the Peace David Pareya of West said he still plans to hold an inquest into the 1993 death of Branch Davidian Michael Schroeder, but it won't be until after the upcoming wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the government by surviving group members. Schroeder, a Davidian, was shot and killed trying to enter Mount Carmel several hours after a deadly shoot-out between the Davidians and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "There is going to be a lot going on at the trial that will be of interest to me," Pareya said. "I'm interested in what Danforth does as well. I prefer to wait and see what actions they might take and the information disseminated before holding an inquest." …….The inquest would lead to an official ruling on the manner of Schroeder's death, Pareya said. ….Pareya declined to comment on whether he would test the cap that Schroeder was wearing when he was shot and killed. ...... Schroeder, Woodrow Kendrick and Norman Allison were at a repair shop called the Mag Bag owned by the Davidians when the ATF raided Mount Carmel on the morning of Feb. 28, 1993. Later that day, all three men tried to sneak into the compound. Schroeder allegedly fired shots at patrolling ATF agents and was killed when they returned fire. The ATF agents who shot Schroeder maintain they identified themselves before firing. They claim Schroeder shot first. …….. An autopsy showed Schroeder was hit by at least seven gunshots. Two gunshots were to the head, including the right ear. The autopsy found no evidence of powder tattooing or soot deposition, which would point to a shooting at close range. No tests were conducted on a watch cap worn by Schroeder, however. …… "They hid the hat Mike was wearing when he was shot," Schroeder's mother, Sandra Connizzo, wrote the Tribune-Herald in an e-mail. "Thanks to Mike McNulty there is hope because he saw it in the evidence locker. That hat was photographed on Mike when he was on the ground and counted in his list of possessions. Then, at the medical examiner's office, it was no longer part of the effects. ……."

Cornell Law Website 6/5/00 United States Supreme Court No. 99-658 JAIME CASTILLO, et al., PETITIONERS v. UNITED STATES……..In this case we once again decide whether words in a federal criminal statute create offense elements (determined by a jury) or sentencing factors (determined by a judge). See Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227 (1999); Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998). The statute in question, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (1988 ed., Supp. V), prohibits the use or carrying of a "firearm" in relation to a crime of violence, and increases the penalty dramatically when the weapon used or carried is, for example, a "machinegun." We conclude that the statute uses the word "machinegun" (and similar words) to state an element of a separate offense....... The case before us arises out of an indictment alleging that, among other things, petitioners conspired to murder federal officers. At the time of petitioners' trial, the criminal statute at issue (reprinted in its entirety in the Appendix, infra) read in relevant part: "(c)(1) Whoever, during and in relation to any crime of violence . . . , uses or carries a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence . . . , be sentenced to imprisonment for five years, and if the firearm is a short barreled rifle [or a] short-barreled shotgun to imprisonment for ten years, and if the firearm is a machinegun, or a destructive device, or is equipped with a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, to imprisonment for thirty years." 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) (1988 ed., Supp. V)…… A jury determined that petitioners had violated this section by, in the words of the trial judge's instruction, "knowingly us[ing] or carr[ying] a firearm during and in relation to" the commission of a crime of violence. App. 29. At sentencing, the judge found that the "firearms" at issue included certain machineguns (many equipped with silencers) and handgrenades that the defendants actually or constructively had possessed. United States v. Branch, Crim. No. W-93-CR-046 (WD Tex., June 21, 1994), reprinted in App. to Pet. for Cert. 119a, 124a-125a. The judge then imposed the statute's mandatory 30-year prison sentence. Id., at 134a. ……. "

AP 6/5/00 Richard Carelli "…..The Supreme Court today set aside the lengthy prison sentences given to five Branch Davidians who survived a 1993 siege at the sect's Waco, Texas, compound. The court ruled that a federal judge misused an anti-gun law to increase their punishment. The unanimous decision makes it harder for courts to find lawbreakers deserve extra time behind bars because they used or carried machine guns during their crimes. …….. A federal law subjects anyone who used or carried a "firearm" during a violent or drug-related crime to five years in prison. The term jumps to 30 years for anyone who used or carried a "machine gun" during that same crime. …….The presiding judge tacked on 30-year sentences for four of them and a 10-year sentence for the fifth after finding that each had used a machine gun. Renos Avraam, Brad Eugene Branch, Jaime Castillo and Kevin Whitecliff drew the 30-year sentences; Graeme Craddock the 10-year term. Craddock also was sentenced to a consecutive 10 years for using a hand grenade. ……. The jury never had been asked to determine what types of firearms the five had used. The judge made that determination during sentencing. ......:

The Dallas Morning News 6/6/00 AP "…… Ms. Bain, a retired schoolteacher, remains outspoken on the legal plight of the convicted Davidians. She traveled to Washington to observe the Supreme Court arguments on their behalf this spring…….. "I really was just very upset by the sentences," Ms. Bain said in a telephone interview. She explained that the jurors, who had acquitted the Davidians of the more serious murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges, expected the convicted defendants to receive relatively light sentences. …… "That had been nothing that the jury had been asked to decide," she said. "Apparently the judge was using a guilt by association. ... The defendants were never specifically tied to the use of illegal weapons." ……The case is expected to be returned to Judge Smith's court. Mr. Halbrook predicts the five Davidians will be resentenced to five-year terms for the firearms charges on top of their initial 10-year sentences. ......"I keep waiting for those that did the provoking - in other words, the government - to have to face similar charges," she said. ......"

Internet, E-mail 6/8/00 Ian Goddard – Freeper truth4all remarks "……. I have been very suspicious about Ian Goddard since he cowardly backed down from his position vis-a-vis TWA 800 about 18 months ago when interviewed by the mainstream media. He then resumed his position as if nothing had happened. Now he is telling us that the Waco FLIR footage are solar reflections when that scenario has been discounted by several experts. Edward Allard, Carlos Ghiglotti, a solar reflection report mentioned in "Waco: A New Revelation" and my own eyes……… Goddard mentions the Vetor Data report which is worthless because they are not an independent company having close ties to the US government. ……." http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a392480c744aa.htm

Freeper truth4all remarks http://toogoodreports.com/spotlight/050900.htm "I talked to him after the (British firm's) recreation, and his assessment was that it was pure junk -- the aircraft wasn't even at the right altitude, they didn't have the right procedures to verify that the sensor was functioning comparable to the one of April 19 (1993). (He said) the best thing that could be done with any resulting tape -- and this is before the results were known -- was to drop it in the waste can. ... End quote.

Freeper Ol’ Dan Tucker "……There's other evidence that no shots were fired into the back of the building. There are internal inconsistancies with the FLIR story.

Lastly, the wall of the concrete pantry facing the alleged shooters shows no scars or pockmarks that would be left behind as a result of bullets striking it. This last point is important because the concrete pantry was between the shooters and the victims and as such would have been in the line of fire, so it should exhibit at least some damage caused by gunfire. Instead there is none. ….."

newsday.com 6/16/00 AP "…..Accusations that government gunfire contributed to deaths at the end of the fiery Branch Davidian siege will probably not be allowed in members' wrongful death lawsuit, the judge said. The Davidians' lawyers have until next Friday to offer ''any additional evidence'' to support their claim that repeated flashes on an FBI infrared videotape recorded in 1993 came from government gunfire, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. ruled this week. Otherwise, he will issue a ''summary judgment'' barring that the argument that agents fired guns. ......... Smith, citing the May report of a court-appointed expert that the flashes came only from sunlight and heat reflections, wrote this week that ''the court is persuaded that the issue ... may best be resolved through summary judgment.'' ……. The chief analyst for the British company appointed by the court to study the issue, David Oxlee of Vector Data Systems, has been ill and unavailable to come to the United States to testify. …..''We offered to go to London and take Mr. Oxlee's deposition so we could present this issue to the jury,'' plaintiffs' attorney Michael Caddell said. ''I find this order surprising and very strange, to suggest that this issue could be decided on before we ever get to question him.'' …… Smith also ruled this week that just one example of each type of weapon owned by the Branch Davidians can be introduced during the trial. The government may show photos of other weapons recovered from the compound, the judge ruled. ......"

The Dallas Morning News 6/13/00 Lee Hancock "…..The thorniest question in the upcoming Branch Davidian wrongful death trial - whether government agents fired at the sect at the end of a deadly 1993 siege - will be decided not by a jury but by a federal judge alone, following a Monday court ruling. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. announced that he was separating that issue from the trial scheduled to begin on June 19 because the chief expert from a British firm appointed by the court to help resolve it is ill and unavailable to testify until late summer. …….. Federal trials involving government agencies are typically decided by judges alone, but Judge Smith said he was calling an "advisory jury" because of the unusually high level of national public interest in the case. He later rejected a secret government bid, filed several weeks ago under court seal, to reconsider the decision to bring a jury into the case. …….. The judge told both sides on Monday that he "probably" would limit the jury's role to deciding whether government negligence contributed to deaths or injuries of sect members. That would leave the judge alone to decide how much damages - if any - the government would have to pay. …….. Judge Smith said a pool of 50 potential jurors would be summoned next Monday morning to the federal courthouse to fill out a two-page questionaire. Both sides predicted that a jury of six and one alternate will begin hearing evidence by mid-week. ……..Because of publicity and controversy surrounding the incident, Judge Smith said he is considering keeping secret the identities of the seven jurors chosen for the civil wrongful death trial….

The Dallas Morning News 6/13/00 Lee Hancock "…..The removal of the government gunfire issue leaves four other questions for the Waco civil jury:

* Did federal ATF agents fire indiscriminately or use other excessive force when a gunbattle broke out on Feb. 28, 1993, as they tried to raid the compound and arrest Davidian leader David Koresh for alleged weapons violations?
* Was the FBI negligent 51 days later when they had no plan to fight any fires that might break out when they began using tanks to ram the sect's rickety wooden building and inject tear gas?
* Did the agents' actions during the April 19, 1993, tear gas assault contribute to the start or spread of a fire that consumed the compound with Mr. Koresh and more than 80 followers inside?
* Finally, did the FBI violate Washington-approved operations plans that day by initiating premature demolition of the building? ……."

The Dallas Morning News 6/13/00 Lee Hancock "…..Mr. Caddell predicted Monday that other aspects of the plaintiff's presentation to a jury will not be "impeded that much" by the removal of the gunfire issue. "You've got tanks knocking the building down. You've got them firing more than 400 tear gas rounds in," he said. "A jury can conclude that these people were not unreasonable in concluding that the safest place to be was inside Mt. Carmel." …….. "

The Dallas Morning News 6/13/00 Lee Hancock "…..Responding to a challenge by Mr. Caddell, government lawyers conceded that they would not try to show jurors autopsy photos of four ATF agents killed during the initial Feb. 28 shootout with the sect. They then asked the court to prevent Mr. Caddell from introducing similar photos of Davidians killed in the standoff. Even after Mr. Caddell said he had no plans to introduce photos of burned sect members, Mr. Bradford told the judge that the government objected to the introduction of photos of Davidian children taken before the April 19 fire. "I anticipate what they're going to do is introduce all these pictures of 5-year-old children." …….."

The Dallas Morning News 6/13/00 Lee Hancock "…..Judge Smith left unresolved a bid by the plaintiffs to keep the government from bringing the sect1s large arsenal of weapons into the courtroom. More than 200 weapons, including more than 40 illegally converted machine guns were recovered from the compound wreckage after the fire. ……..Mr. Caddell argued that the plaintiffs had already agreed to accept the government's claims about the number of guns found inside the burned compound, adding that allowing the guns or even pictures of them into the courtroom would only inflame and prejudice jurors. But Mr. Bradford argued that jurors needed to see photos and some examples of the sect's weaponry to understand the FBI's decision not to bring fire trucks in on April 19 until after the building was completely engulfed. "We think that's vitally important," Mr. Bradford said. "They're going to have to be evaluating not only the credibility of the FBI's decision. ... They're also going to have to be deciding who initiated the gunfight on Feb. 28. ….."

The Dallas Morning News 6/16/00 Lee Hanock "……A federal judge in Waco has told both sides in the Branch Davidian wrongful-death case that he is considering throwing out the sect's allegations that government gunfire contributed to the massive loss of life at the end of the 1993 siege. ……Citing the May report of a court-appointed expert that the flashes came only from sunlight and heat reflections, Judge Smith wrote that "the court is persuaded that the issue ... may best be resolved through summary judgment." The order came on the heels of the judge's Monday announcement that the April 19 gunfire issue would be severed from the jury trial of the wrongful-death case set to begin next week in Waco. ...... But lawyers for the plaintiffs complained that the ruling unfairly burdens them on the eve of trial and comes before they are allowed to fully question the court's experts. They have argued that the findings were flawed, noting that two Vector Data Systems analysts who have been deposed have contradicted many aspects of the firm's report and that one admitted that neither was qualified to evaluate whether infrared recordings captured gunfire. ...... But on Tuesday, he issued a three-page order citing three recent U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals opinions that federal judges can unilaterally decide to reconsider such a decision. Citing one of those opinions, he gave lawyers for the plaintiffs until next Friday to offer "any additional evidence ... of whether the [infrared] tapes of April 19 reflect gunfire on the part of the FBI." ...... "It's wholly unreasonable to expect lawyers who are picking a jury and putting on evidence to be writing briefs or coming up with new evidence on this matter, especially when the accuracy of the Vector Data report has not been sworn to by anyone," Mr. Brannon said. "We'll have to do the best we can, but the court seems determined to keep the issue of government gunfire from the public and an unbiased jury." ...... "I also have to say that I see the hand of Waco special counsel John Danforth in this, as he selected Vector Data Systems and drew up the plans for their junk science demonstration," Mr. Brannon said. "His so-called investigation has lost any credibility to this lawyer and appears to be a continuation of previous non-investigations of Waco." …… "

NewsMax.com 6/13/00 Stephan Archer "……A little-noticed Supreme Court decision last week has major implications for the Waco case. Reversing a district court ruling, the unanimous decision declared it unconstitutional for a judge to include new evidence during sentencing. ……. Although a minor point in the minds of most, what firearm was used during the crime is no small point in the eyes of the court. All defendants faced a five-year prison sentence for carrying a "firearm" but a 30-year sentence for carrying a machine gun. ……Even though many who had died in the fire were likely guilty of firing upon BATF agents, the nine survivors got the brunt of the government's anger, according to Stephen P. Halbrook, attorney for the nine Davidians. "The government's attitude was 'well, you people are alive. We'll make you wish you weren't alive, and we'll try to imprison you the rest of your lives,' " said Halbrook. …….. According to Halbrook, the Fifth Amendment says a defendant must be notified ahead of time for due process of the charges against him. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a jury trial. ……. Speaking for the Supreme Court, Justice Breyer, in his opinion, upheld the Constitution, stating that allowing the judge to decide on evidence after the jury has made its verdict "might unnecessarily produce a conflict between the judge and the jury." "This is the whole reason for the right to jury trial," said Halbrook, "so that the members of the community can participate in the system and can acquit you if it's a prosecution that might be politically inspired." ……"

Washington Post 6/14/00 Dan Balz "…..Scratch former Missouri senator John Danforth from George W. Bush's vice presidential list. Danforth told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he called Bush and former defense secretary Richard B. Cheney, who is heading the search committee, last week and asked that he not be considered. "We didn't want politics to totally define who we were," Danforth told the newspaper in an article published yesterday. "The last six years have been the best years of our lives." Danforth retired from the Senate in 1994 after serving three terms……"

Mark England 6/13/00 Waco Tribune-Herald "…..A motion filed by Marie Hagen, co-counsel for the government, argued that the testimony of the contested experts would not "assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue." Houston attorney Mike Caddell on Friday downplayed the importance of the pretrial hearing. …….. "The government is not trying to strike the testimony of our expert witnesses," said Caddell, lead plaintiffs attorney. "They're trying to exclude portions of their testimony. Big difference. They've got all the same problems with their witnesses. I don't view it as a big deal. Lawyers always wrangle on what goes before the jury. At the end of the day, we'll have more than enough evidence to put before the jury." ……."

Mark England 6/13/00 Waco Tribune-Herald "….. One person whose testimony the government is asking to strike is R.L. Hooper, who is supposed to testify regarding the amount that would be required to rebuild Mount Carmel. In his May 26 order setting today's pretrial hearing, Smith noted last month's verdict in a Waco state court on the ownership of Mount Carmel. A jury in the 74th State District Court decided that neither the surviving followers of the late David Koresh nor the widow of the late George Roden, who lost a power struggle to Koresh in the â€(tm)80s, were the legitimate trustees of the Branch Davidian church. …..Smith ordered the plaintiffs to be prepared today to prove why the Branch Davidian church should not be dismissed as a party to the lawsuit. …… Caddell said the issue isn't significant. "Frankly, sticks and bricks don't amount to much," he said. "I'm more interested in the innocent women and children who died at Mount Carmel." ….."

THE RESISTER - SFC Steven M. Barry, USA (Ret.) "…..The emerging "strategic partnership" between the U.S. and Red China escalated significantly on July 17th when it was revealed that members of the elite U.S. Special Forces would train soldiers from Red China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). This development, which received little coverage in the mainstream media, offers a dramatic illustration of the extent to which the U.S. military has been re-tasked from the defense of our constitutional republic to the construction of a world socialist order under elite control…….. General Peter Schoomaker, commanding general of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), has expressed his desire to "build training links" to his Communist Chinese counterparts as part of SOCOM's "worldwide outreach" of U.S. special operations forces to what the Joint Chiefs refer to as "peer competitors." At a July 26th defense writers breakfast at McDill Air Force Base, Schoomaker enthused, "This is something that would be desirable. You need to engage, so you develop rapport and understanding and dialogue." Schoomaker did not explain why the U.S. Special Forces should "develop rapport and understanding [and] dialogue" with the military instrument of the Chinese Communist Party, which continues to define the U.S. as "the enemy." It is important to note that Schoomaker does not make such decisions unilaterally. In fact, he admitted that "this kind of thing" was already in the planning stages through Admiral Joseph Prueher, the commander in chief for the Pacific Command, and Brigadier General Norton Schwartz, commander in chief of Special Operations Command for the Pacific Command. ………. If Beijing's commissars decide to take a recalcitrant Taiwan by force, American weapons technology transfers to the Communist Chinese won't be enough, since equipment can't take and hold ground. For that you need infantry and good infantry. And training good infantry is a specialty of the U.S. Army Special Forces. The bottom line is that the Insiders fully intend to see Taiwan absorbed into Communist China and the U.S. military is being conscripted to help accomplish this detestable objective….."

June 8, 2000 - Ramsey Clark and other lawers representing the Branch Davidians in their wrongful death law suits against the U.S. Government, filed a motion to postpone the trial until September 5, 2000. Grounds for the delay is requested due to the governments continual refusal to release pertinant discovery data concerning several critical areas: Over 8,000 photographs of the crime scene at Mt. Carmel; the evidence collected from the so-called FLIR re-enactment conducted at Ft. Hood; the untimely deaths of two of the worlds most respected FLIR experts and one other near deaths door; plus many other procedural problems. ….."

Waco Tribune-Herald 6/9/00 Marc England "…… Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by surviving Branch Davidians against the government disagree on whether the trial should start in Waco on June 19, according to a motion filed Thursday. Mike Caddell, lead plaintiffs' attorney, asked Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. to reject a request by former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark for a continuance. Clark represents many longtime Davidians such as Clive Doyle. In his motion, Caddell noted that Smith had already rejected a motion by the government asking for a continuance. That motion was filed under seal, according to Caddell's motion. Both Clark and the government want to delay the trial until after Sept. 5, according to Caddell's motion. He wrote that both had dragged their feet in communicating with him on a recent pre-trial filing, "occasioned to a significant degree by their time spent seeking to delay or alter the trial of this case." U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford of the Eastern District of Texas told the Tribune-Herald that he couldn't comment on the government's request for a continuance because it was done under seal. ….Thursday, the government filed a motion asking to bar portions of testimony from expert witnesses for the plaintiffs. Marie Hagen, co-counsel for the government, asked Smith to disqualify part of the testimony expected from five expert witnesses: Dr. Paul Radelat, a pathologist; Dr. Joseph Burton, also a pathologist; Frank Johnson, a mechanical engineer; George Uhlig, whose specialty was not spelled out in the motion; and Patrick Kennedy, the plaintiffs' fire expert. Hagen wrote that Radelat, Burton, Johnson and Uhlig were being asked to testify on areas outside their expertise. ….. "

Heads Up #185 6/11/00 Doug Fiedor "…… Everyone knows that the Branch Davidians of Waco were attacked by the BATF. We can also correctly say that it was a premeditated, vicious attack that was designed to be violent, because the BATF platoon was first trained by the Army for weeks specifically to kill people and break things. Furthermore, we know that the BATF actually wanted a shoot-out with the Branch Davidians because, when they were earlier invited to visit and look around like normal people, they declined -- opting instead for a bloody sneak-attack style confrontation. We also note with interest that the BATF brought along armed military helicopters, fully automatic assault weapons and lots and lots of grenades. Who can forget the war-suited agents liberally tossing live grenades and shooting into a dwelling full of mothers and little children? All this, incidentally, only because two or three of the Branch Davidians were "suspected" of not purchasing a $200 tax stamp for a couple rifles. Anything the government said after that was part of the cover-up, not the original excuse for the siege. ……."

Freeper roughrider "……. I can't find my earlier posts of this, so I have to type it in right from the book, BUSHWACKED BY BUSH MASTERS by Ronald Davison: ……… "It was just hours after the World Trade Center bombing that then Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement (overseer of ATF) Michael D. Langan was made aware of the proposed raid by a memorandum prepared just MINUTES after the World Trade Center bombing by Christopher Cuyler, ATF's liasion to the Treasury Department.

"Red flags must have appeared before Langan's eyes. He responded by calling a conference that included John P. Simpson, Acting Assistant Secretary for Enforcement, Stanley Morris, former Director of the U.S. Marshal's Service (now working in the Office of Enforcement), and Ronald K. Noble, Clinton's designee as Secretary for Law Enforcement in the Treasury Department. (Source: Treasury Department Report on Waco, pages 177, 178).

"They ALL agreed the raid required excessive force to execute the warrant, precautions to protect both ATF agents and Davidians were absent, and chances of achieving the mission's goal without a shoot-out were slim. Therefore, Simpson called ATF Director Higgins and directed that the raid be called off. (Treasury Report, page 179).

"Less than an hour later (if you believe the Treasury Department Report on Waco) Higgins called Simpson back and in a three-way conversation that included Noble, got them to revoke their order that had, just minutes before, concluded the raid plan was fraught with potential catastrophies that, less than 44 hours later, evolved from potential to ACTUAL CATASTROPHIES, including the deaths of both agents and Davidians."……."

TBO.com 6/11/00 Sherri Chunn "…….On June 19, the two sides will confront each other again - this time in a courtroom. The government is the defendant in a $675 million wrongful death lawsuit, which consolidates nine civil cases filed in 1994 by Branch Davidian family members and survivors. Legal maneuvers by both sides contributed to the delay in bringing the case to trial. …….. The plaintiffs' lead attorney, Michael Caddell of Houston, said the lawsuit is not about money. "It's about acknowledgment of shared responsibility and a commitment that this will never happen again," said Caddell. ……. The lawsuit alleges that FBI agents fired at Davidians during the final moments of the siege, and that the gunfire was captured on infrared aerial surveillance tape made by the FBI. "We can't prove that any specific individual was killed by government gunfire on April 19," said Caddell. "The significance is simply that people would've been afraid to come out of the building." The defense maintains there was no government gunfire. ……."

TBO.com 6/11/00 Sherri Chunn "…….The plaintiffs also accuse government agents of using excessive force during the original Feb. 28 raid on the compound by agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who were trying to serve search and arrest warrants for suspected firearms violations. Bradford said the agents were ambushed and were firing back in self-defense. In 1994 five Davidians were convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the agents' deaths. ……… Caddell acknowledges that Davidians fired at ATF agents, but says it's irrelevant who fired first. "The ATF never had the right to fire willy-nilly into a building filled with noncombatants," he said. …….."

TBO.com 6/11/00 Sherri Chunn "…….Attorneys for the Branch Davidians contend that the government could have been responsible for at least two of three fires that started on April 19. Bradford said the government has "very strong and convincing" evidence that sect members started the fires. However, the government has acknowledged that some tear gas canisters were potentially incendiary. The lawsuit also alleges that the government was criminally negligent by ignoring orders to have firefighting equipment on the scene. Bradford says firefighters were not allowed near the compound because they were in danger from potentially explosive munitions stored by the Davidians. ......"

TBO.com 6/11/00 Sherri Chunn "…….A report last month by Vector Data Systems, the court's infrared expert, said the flashes were sunlight reflecting off debris, not government gunfire. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say the test violated protocol agreed upon by both sides and that the court-appointed expert is less than neutral. Vector is owned by Anteon Corp., which has done work for U.S. intelligence agencies, the defense department and the FBI. Bradford said Vector's analysis was a "truly independent evaluation and a very thorough evaluation" of the infrared tapes. ….."

dallasnews.com: Texas/Southwest 6/6/00 "…… In a unanimous decision, the nine justices said U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco should have left it to the jury to determine whether the five sect members used machine guns rather than regular firearms during a deadly gunbattle with government agents outside Waco in 1993. …….. Judge Smith's machine-gun determination, later affirmed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was reversed Monday. "To ask a jury, rather than a judge, to decide whether a defendant used or carried a machine gun would rarely complicate a trial or risk unfairness," Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote for the court. ......"We are happy for our clients," said Waco lawyer Richard G. Ferguson, who represents Mr. Branch. "They didn't deserve 40-year sentences. To know the evidence against them, it was just ridiculous. And I think justice is what has happened." Echoed John F. Carroll of San Antonio, who represents Mr. Avraam: "Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly, like they did in this case, but they turn." ......The five sect members, who have been incarcerated since 1993, could find themselves freed as early as 2006 based on time off for good behavior, their lawyers said, predicting that the men would be resentenced to lesser terms in the next few months. They were convicted in 1994. ......"

Washington Post 6/9/00 Paul Duggan "…..Seven years after the FBI's siege of the Branch Davidian compound near here ended in fire and death, the city of Waco is fed up with the awful images its name evokes. …. The disaster is an ugly memory they'd like to forget. ...... But of course they can't. And now this central Texas city is wearily braced for a courtroom replay of the nightmare. The federal government is scheduled to go on trial here June 19 as the defendant in a wrongful-death civil case brought by scores of plaintiffs, most of them relatives of Branch Davidians who perished in the April 19, 1993, conflagration….."

Washington Post 6/9/00 Paul Duggan "…..Michael A. Caddell, the lawyer for the biggest group of plaintiffs in the case, has annoyed many conspiracy theorists who accuse the FBI of deliberately carrying out a slaughter. Caddell, who rejects those allegations, said he will argue in the trial that FBI commanders at Mount Carmel made errors in judgment for which the government should be held liable. "They made bad decisions," Caddell said in an interview. "That doesn't mean they had ill motives or they were part of some huge conspiracy. They got frustrated and angry at the refusal of the Branch Davidians to come out, and they began to feel pressure to make something happen."......"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/17/00 Terry Ganey "….Last fall, when John Danforth's investigators popped the lids off five-gallon containers that held "junk evidence" from the government's siege at Waco, Texas, they encountered a terrible smell. As the investigators picked through the six-year-old debris, mostly rounds of ammunition that had burst during Mount Carmel's deadly fire, they found patches of human hair, clothing and other watersoaked rubble amid brass shell casings collected after the 51-day siege ended. ….. "

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/17/00 Terry Ganey "….Mike Caddell, the Davidians' lead attorney, believes the trial is "about forcing the government to accept its share of responsibility for the tragedy at Mount Carmel, for the deaths of those children and the deaths of innocent people." ……. Mike Bradford, the U.S. attorney helping defend the government, said the Davidians' claims have slowly evaporated. Davidians began by accusing the government of intentionally trying to hurt people but now are accusing the government only of making mistakes, he said. …… The government is hoping that the trial and its jury verdict will provide further vindication and help sway the results of the inquiries by Danforth and Congress. …."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/17/00 Terry Ganey "….The Davidians' lawyers will focus attention on the child victims. Many claims made by relatives of adults who died have been withdrawn. Twenty of those who died were under the age of 16. Many of their bodies were found in a 14-by-14-foot concrete room inside the Davidians' wooden complex. ……… The room, where food -- and later guns and ammunition -- were stored, became a refuge for about 34 women, children and babies. After the siege ended, their bodies were found amid hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition that had burst from the heat. During a five-day cleanup, a bulldozer scooped up the spent cartridges and poured them into the containers that investigators looked into last fall. ……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/17/00 Terry Ganey "….Government lawyers will point to the Davidians' dead leader, David Koresh, as the major cause of the tragedy. Among the evidence it will present is the fact that the religious community kept an arsenal of more than 264 rifles, pistols and shotguns, 48 of which had been illegally modified to fire fully automatic. …… Bradford said Waco's events were caused by Koresh, "who considered himself as a messiah who had prepared his followers for a violent confrontation with the government that he believed was going to lead to the end of the world." ........."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/17/00 Terry Ganey "….And should the jury's recommendation go against the Davidians, it would help bury conspiracy theories deeper than would a ruling from a lone federal judge. ….."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/17/00 Terry Ganey "….Perhaps Caddell's most compelling witness will be Misty Dawn Ferguson, who was 17 years old when she escaped the burning complex by leaping from a second-story window. Her hands are withered from burns. "She is a child who never fired a gun, never did an illegal act," Caddell said. "She was afraid to come out during the siege. She saw the agents destroy the church's property. She saw the agents mooning the Davidians. That's not a way to create trust." ……..Caddell said Ferguson would testify that on the final day of the siege, there was no plan to commit suicide or to set the building on fire. He said that as tanks poured tear gas into the complex and agents fired "ferret" tear gas rounds into it, Ferguson was in an upstairs bedroom waiting with others. …….. "They were terrified," he said. "They felt the building shudder every time it was hit by the tanks." Caddell said the damage the tanks did to the building prevented Ferguson from using stairs to get out quickly when the fire started. "She had to turn around and walk through a wall of fire to get out," Caddell said. Caddell will attempt to show that the government's gassing attack could have started the fire. The government will argue that the Davidians started the fire. ……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/17/00 Terry Ganey "…. Two ATF commanders were fired for lying about details regarding the initial raid, though they were later reinstated in other jobs. After-action reports by FBI agents acknowledge that FBI commanders undermined their negotiators during the standoff that followed. ….."

U.S. News & World Report 6/26/00 Mike Tharp "…..There's no question the FBI has a lot of explaining to do. There have been a series of troubling revelations since federal Judge Walter Smith ruled last summer that the 1994 civil suit could go to trial. ……Observers on all sides hope the trial will finally unravel the mysteries. "I've prayed that the truth will come out," says Jean Holub, the grandmother of Davidian leader David Koresh, who died in the fire. "The Bible says, 'The truth shall make you free,' and that's what I believe. But it might take a long time." It already has. ……"

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......The FBI's deputy tactical commander conceded Friday that the Washington-approved plan for ending the Branch Davidian siege didn't call for sending tanks in to begin demolishing the sect's embattled compound until it had been tear-gassed for 48 hours. ....... Lawyers for the sect allege that the two FBI officials went beyond their authority and beyond the scope of a Washington-approved gassing plan when they decided to send tanks into the building about four hours after the gas assault began. ....... "

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......Lawyers for the sect have charged that FBI agents possibly fired some tear gas canisters into the compound kitchen that were capable of sparking fires. During sometimes-caustic examinations of several FBI agents, lead lawyer Michael Caddell suggested Friday that the team assigned to the back side of the building may have fired a pyrotechnic gas round just before a fire was spotted in that area. ...... "

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......"We did not need to use them. We did not have the desire to use them, and we did not fire military rounds that day. We did not fire military rounds that day," testified Thomas G. Rowan, an FBI hostage rescue team member who fired gas rounds from a Bradley fighting vehicle. ....... But Mr. Rowan and two other agents did acknowledge that they quickly ran through their supply of non-pyrotechnic gas grenades on April 19, firing 400 at the building between 6 a.m. and noon. Steve McGavin, former deputy hostage rescue team commander, also confirmed that the FBI had to seek new supplies at mid-morning on April 19. He said some that arrived from local and state police were pyrotechnic. But he maintained that none of those gas projectiles were sent into the field for use against the compound. ........."

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......Mr. McGavin, Mr. Rowan and a third agent who testified Friday admitted that some of their descriptions of what they saw and did on April 19 conflict with their testimony in earlier depositions. ......Mr. Rowan conceded that he had asked to change his deposition only a few days before going to court to testify. He acknowledged that he now wanted to say that his Bradley probably did have military gas rounds on board because other Bradleys at Waco had some of the grenades. Other agents assigned to the vehicle have said it carried none of the rounds, but some FBI records from 1993 suggest otherwise. ......"

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......Michael Sackett, a second FBI agent called to testify Friday, initially told jurors that he "wasn't entirely sure" but believed the tank he saw smashing down the compound gym on April 19 had been sent in to insert gas. Jurors were then read a potion of his earlier deposition in which he had said he believed the tank was going into the gym "to take down parts of the building." ......"

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......On Thursday, former FBI official Danny Coulson testified that on-scene commanders did not follow the original tear gas plan and their actions in sending tanks into the rear of the compound appeared to be a deviation. Government lawyers and FBI commanders Jamar and Rogers have long insisted that what happened at the gym was not a "demolition" effort but a bid to get gas deeper into the compound. Mr. Caddell has questioned that, noting that the tank sent into the gym wasn't equipped to spray gas and that an internal memo descredits actions as a dismantling or demolition mission. ........"

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......Late Friday, he read FBI award recommendation to jurors. He also recited excerpts from a report in which a Miami-based FBI SWAT commander said after the siege that "everything went according to plan except for the timetable that was set for the demolition of the building. ...The actual dismantling took place sooner than 48 hours." ......... "

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......Mr. Caddell spent most of Friday afternoon playing videotaped excerpts of statements by the FBI's senior leaders during the Waco siege and the March deposition of Ms. Reno. The excerpts focused on Ms. Reno's statements that she expected adequate emergency equipment to be on hand before the assault and the FBI leaders' understanding that her directive included fire fighting equipment. Former FBI Director William Sessions said he wasn't told there was no plan to fight a fire, and other senior FBI officials said they didn't recall anyone advising Ms. Reno of that decision. Among documents introduced Friday was a phone message taken at the FBI's headquarters command center on April 7 announcing that Mr. Jamar and Mr. Rogers had decided not to try to fight a fire if one broke out during the gas operation. ......The FBI leaders said they weren't aware that the Washington, D.C,. fire department had two armored firetrucks in 1993 or that a California firm had offered free use of Czech-made, remote-controlled armored firefighting vehicles if the FBI arranged to have them flown to Waco. ......"

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "...... At the close of Friday's proceedings, the government trial team again asked U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith to dismiss the sect's assertions about tank demolition and failure to have fire equipment on hand. They have argued that those actions amounted to judgment calls and are thus protected by broad federal laws barring most lawsuits against federal agencies and employees. ...... Judge Smith had denied several similar motions in the month's leading up to trial, but he appeared close to dismissing those claims when he arrived in court Thursday morning. He relented after a private chambers conference in which plaintiffs' lawyers showed him notes of a 1993 interview in which the attorney general recalled the FBI telling her "to butt out" after she OK'd their gas assault........ In Friday's pleading, government lawyers argued that Ms. Reno was only expressing her understanding that she would not be directing the operation once it began, and they argued that even negligent or ill-informed decision-making by the attorney general was protected by federal law. ........

Lee Hancock 6/24/00 The Dallas Morning News "......Judge Smith appeared to grow impatient with the slow pace of proceedings Friday, announcing a 40-hour limit for each side to present their cases. He also granted a government request to exclude testimony of a structural engineer who was ready to describe the damage inflicted on the compound by FBI tanks. .........Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, attorney for many of the Davidians who survived the siege, said he fears the judge's new time limits on the trial will cripple his ability to present a case. He noted that Mr. Caddell has already taken about 24 hours of the plaintiff's time allotment and has said he has at least several more days of testimony and evidence. ......."If he sticks to it, it will be impossible to put on a fair trial," Mr. Clark said, noting that he wants to present testimony of seven or eight Davidians and several experts in subjects ranging from religion to the effects of the FBI's tear gas. "I'm hoping that he'll relent. ...You're supposed to have a right to your day in court."......"

Associated Press Writer 6/24/00 Matt Slagle "......Other FBI agents, including Joseph Servel and Michael Sackett, have said a fire erupted in the kitchen soon after they saw a tank insert tear gas into the room. ``We saw smoke within seconds. We saw flames and then the smoke started getting really thick,'' Servel, a tank commander, testified Thursday. Sackett said he saw flames in that area about 15 minutes after seeing the smoke........ "

Associated Press 6/20/00 ".....The first witness in the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Branch Davidian survivors and family members testified today that she was unaware of any plans by sect members to ambush federal agents as they tried to serve a search warrant Feb. 28, 1993. ...... Rita Riddle, who was in the compound during the raid but left before the ensuing 51-day siege, said she did not know that federal agents would be arriving or armed when they pulled up in front of the Mt. Carmel compound. ...... Michael Caddell, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, decried the loss of children who were in the compound when fire engulfed the compound. The children "never owned a gun, never fired a gun, never hurt anyone,'' Caddell repeatedly told jurors while showing photos from video of some of the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 17. ...... In other testimony, Jaunessa Wendel, who was 8 on the day of the raid, said the compound where she and her family once lived was "like a big apartment, a community center.'' ....... She told jurors that her mother, Jaydean Wendel, was fixing her hair in their room when gunfire shattered the window, spraying glass into her brothers' crib. ...... Wendel was struck by gunfire and killed. ....."

LewRockwell.com 6/24/00 ".......The mainstream press is trying to ignore it, but the government's role in the fire at Waco seven years ago is finally on trial, thanks to the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the victims' families. At last, the possibility for establishing wrongdoing now presents itself. There is no chance, however, for true justice. The men, women, and children gassed and burned at government hands cannot be brought back to life. There will be no jail terms for those responsible. At best, the families may get some monetary compensation. And perhaps we will see an end to the blaming of the victims and the jailing of those who managed to survive. ..."

LewRockwell.com 6/24/00 ".......Waco will be remembered forever because it sums up key features of the political culture of the 1990s: the untrammeled power of the presidency, the complicity of the media in covering up federal crimes, the bias against religion among the power elite, and the disregard of individual rights that is habitual in our time. How ironic, how telling, that all these developments have taken place under the cloak of "liberalism," a word that once referred to the attempt to circumscribe the power of the state. ...... For some strange reason, and it's never been entirely clear why, the government hated those people. After the massacre, one hoped that even liberals would have sensed the injustice. Surely the old lefties in the White House would recall their past as crusaders against federal militarization, their shock at Kent State, their sympathies with marginalized groups, and rise up to denounce this federal oppression. Surely there would be shock and outrage, even within the executive department. Resignations would follow. Clinton would be discredited, and those responsible for this outrage would be brought to justice. It was not to be so. Over the next few weeks, the media cooperated with the Clinton administration in an amazing coverup of what was plainly evident. Far from investigating the fire and the lies of the White House, the media cabal demonized the Branch Davidians and smeared anyone - the "lunatic fringe" - sympathetic with their plight. ......"

LewRockwell.com 6/24/00 "....... The meaning of the event had a further significance. It was the largest display in the post-war period of what has become of American liberalism: not a movement dedicated to protecting the liberties of minorities or the rights of citizens, but to defending every manner of coercion at the hands of the Leviathan state. .....This same fanatical ideology denied that the Soviets had committed crimes against humanity in the Ukraine and the Gulag. After all, these crimes were committed in the name of progress, which to the leftist mind means collectivization and the eradication of bourgeois prejudices.....In 1993, these American liberals, who had just finished cheering on the destruction of Iraq and would later whoop it up as bombs fell on Serbia, were willing to defend the use of military weapons against American citizens who were minding their own business. For liberals, it was enough that Janet Reno had decided to move against those people. That alone was proof they deserved it. Liberalism, which embraced statism in the Progressive Era, the planned economy in the 30s, and outright redistributionism in the 1960s, has become nothing more than state worship. ......"

Johnathan Turley 6/24/00 ".......First, there is the question of the reasonableness of the level of force used by government agents in their initial raid on Feb. 28, 1993, and in the final assault. The government could have simply waited and arrested sect leader David Koresh away from the compound. Koresh was suspected in weapons charges and could have been separated from his followers. Instead, the government chose to conduct a full military operation against a religious group with known fears and paranoia about government persecution. Likewise, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno would later order tanks to assault the building rather than simply wait for Davidians to run out of food or patience (by the time of the raid, dozens of members had trickled out voluntarily). Reno ordered the assault before family members, who were pleading to speak with relatives in the buildings, even were given a chance to persuade additional members to come out. ...."

Johnathan Turley 6/24/00 "......Second, in ordering the assault, the government conspicuously omitted any contingency to deal with a fire. This omission appears clearly negligent, given the fact that the government's view was that the building contained dozens of doomful religious zealots with an arsenal of weapons and explosives. Obviously, there was a risk of armed resistance and explosions in a building containing almost two dozen children. Yet the government said it was taken by surprise by the fire in an armed assault. It seems likely that, after the death of four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents, there was little focus on the various possible threats to the Davidians beyond the effect of the tear gas pumped into the building. ........ This is particularly disturbing given the massive fires that previously exploded in raids on such groups as MOVE, a cult, in Philadelphia. In the 1985 MOVE case, the police tried to break through the roof with a small incendiary device. The resulting fire killed 11 people (including five children) and destroyed 61 nearby houses. MOVE already was a case study for agents in planning raids when the government assaulted Koresh's Mount Carmel compound in Waco. ......."

Johnathan Turley 6/24/00 "......The message is clear: The public should judge the government's actions in light of the nature of the group. This is nothing new in our country. It is doubtful that Reno would have ordered those tanks to roll on Mount Carmel had it been a Catholic church or a synagogue. ...... The trial finally will compel the government to explain its actions at Waco. Some explanations are likely to be different in this forum. For example, Reno at first defended her order to launch an assault on the compound by repeatedly stating that she had evidence that "babies were being beaten." There was in fact no such evidence and, to the contrary, the Texas authorities who previously had interviewed the members and visited the compound to investigate such allegations had found no evidence of abuse. Reno also stated that she could no longer leave all those children in a building without water and electricity. Yet it was Reno who cut off the water and electricity and Reno who could have restored it. Reno's repeated statements of concern for the children, however, are difficult to square with her approval of the use of tear gas on the children and the deployment of a psychological warfare unit. Under Reno's siege orders, the government continually blared frightening sounds at the compound while keeping the buildings bathed in blinding spotlights. These children were forced to listen to the sounds of dying rabbits, dental drills and other disturbing noises until the final and deadly assault on Mount Carmel. ......"

FOX News 6/23/00 AP "...... On the final day of the Branch Davidian standoff, federal agents had the discretion to do what needed to be done to remove sect members from the compound, Attorney General Janet Reno said in a videotaped deposition played for jurors Friday. "But the discretion would have to be exercised within the limits of the plan," Reno said of the FBI commanders at the Mount Carmel site near Waco. The Reno-approved plan called for FBI agents to use tank booms - the actual barrels of the tracked vehicles - to gradually insert tear gas in the building. The plan permitted systematic destruction of the compound only 48 hours after a determination that the tear-gassing plan had failed. ........ Plaintiff's attorney Michael Caddell contends that federal agents violated the approved plan when they prematurely began tearing down a part of the building know as the gymnasium while agents in tanks launched tear gas into the compound. ........."

FOX News 6/23/00 AP "...... "The plan of operation was to utilize chemical agents placed within the compound to bring the people out," Steve McGavin, an FBI supervisory agent who helped draft a proposal to remove the Davidians, told jurors. He said an FBI contingency plan called for gassing the entire compound if agents' safety were ever compromised. ....... McGavin also said firefighting equipment was not on the "inner perimeter." "There was no plan to bring in firefighting equipment until we could secure the building and secure the safety of firefighters." Caddell later showed videotaped testimony of four former high-ranking FBI officials who said they believed Reno's instructions for on-site emergency crews included firefighting equipment. The testimony came from former FBI director Williams Sessions, former deputy director Floyd Clarke, retired deputy assistant FBI director Danny Coulson and former FBI Assistant Director Larry Potts. ......."

FOX News 6/23/00 AP "...... In earlier testimony Friday, several tank-riding FBI agents testified they saw smoke wafting from the thin wooden walls of the complex shortly after canisters of tear gas were fired into the Davidian complex. ...... Agent Tom Rowan testified he fired as many as 80 so-called "ferret rounds" - plastic canisters containing tear gas - into the complex to force Davidians from the complex. Experts say ferret rounds are not considered incendiary devices. ....... "

Lee Hanock Brenda Rodgriquez 06/20/2000 Dalals Morning News ".....The jury was chosen during the opening day of the trial Monday, and their identities were kept anonymous. ....... Lead plaintiffs' lawyer Michael Caddell of Houston complained Monday that government lawyers had repeatedly ignored court discovery deadlines, ambushing lawyers for the plaintiffs as recently as last weekend with previously undisclosed documents and government witnesses that should have been turned over months ago. .....Judge Walter S. Smith said, "The government has been extremely less than diligent." ...... But he refused Mr. Caddell's bid to keep out detailed transcripts of Branch Davidian conversations intercepted by FBI listening devices during the siege. ......"

Lee Hanock Brenda Rodgriquez 06/20/2000 Dalals Morning News ".....The transcripts, prepared by a government expert, suggest that sect members laughed about shooting federal agents and seeing one get his head blown off. They also suggest that sect members tried to talk an intruder out of leaving by telling him no one left without approval from sect leader David Koresh and also joked two days before the compound burned that firetrucks couldn't get near any fire on their property. ....... "

Lee Hanock Brenda Rodgriquez 06/20/2000 Dalals Morning News ".....In a morning of last-minute skirmishes over the amount and scope of evidence to be allowed in the case, the judge also ruled that the plaintiffs may introduce internal FBI documents that could prove damaging to the government's defense. ...... Those included a proposal bearing initials of the FBI's two Waco commanders that recommended medals for hostage rescue team members who had helped dismantle the sect's rural compound April 19, 1993. ......Mr. Caddell called that document "a smoking gun" that could determine the outcome of the case. ......

Lee Hanock Brenda Rodgriquez 06/20/2000 Dalals Morning News ".....Lawyers for the government repeatedly told Judge Smith that broad federal protections from lawsuits against government agencies and employees prohibited the court from admitting the medals document - and even the FBI's drafts of its operations plan for the gas assault. ......... The federal tort claims act includes a blanket protection - the discretionary-function exemption - that prohibits private legal challenges to most decisions and policies of federal employees and agencies. ........ Citing that exemption, Judge Smith has thrown out parts of the plaintiffs' case revolving around the government's decision to gas the compound, its decision to use tanks to spray gas in and efforts to negotiate a surrender before the April 19 assault. ...."

Lee Hanock Brenda Rodgriquez 06/20/2000 Dalals Morning News ".....Mr. Caddell "claims that he's not offering this evidence to challenge the FBI's conduct. ... But that's precisely why he's offering it," said Marie Louise Hagen, a Justice Department lawyer who is one of the government's lead defenders. "He's offering evidence that is very prejudicial." In one of the negotiation documents, an FBI behavioral expert warned Mr. Jamar a week after the siege began that attacking the building with tanks would lead to the deaths of children and intense criticism of the FBI. In another, one of the lead FBI negotiators at Waco - an agent who now heads the bureau's crisis-management unit - said after the siege that any negotiator could have predicted the deadly outcome of sending tanks into the compound. ........ But Mr. Caddell countered that the documents would help a jury understand the mindsets of Branch Davidians on April 19 and why they did not trust the FBI. .......He added that the documents would show the motivation of the two Waco FBI commanders as well as the warning given Mr. Jamar of the tragedy that might result from sending in tanks. ...... "The FBI has said for seven years, 'Nothing we could've done would've made a difference,'" Mr. Caddell said. "That's not true. Their own people say we would have ... gotten more people out." Judge Smith delayed a ruling on the matter but is expected to decide before the start of opening arguments. ......"

Dallas News 6/23/00 AP "......A tank-riding grenadier with the FBI testified Friday that he launched as many as 80 canisters of tear gas into the Branch Davidian complex but could not recall shooting any potentially flammable devices on the final day of the Waco siege. ...... Tom Rowan said so-called "ferret rounds'' - plastic canisters containing tear gas - were launched from tanks into the complex on April 19, 1993, in an attempt to force Davidian leader David Koresh and his followers from their wooden complex. ....."I don't recall if we had military rounds ... or not,'' Rowan said. "I don't believe I've ever fired a military round.'' ....Several FBI agents, including Joseph Servel and Michael Sackett, have said a fire erupted in the kitchen less than 30 seconds after they saw a tank insert tear gas into the room. "We were in the ... (tank) and I was observing the area of the kitchen or dining room," Rowan testified. "Some smoke was coming from in between the clapboards from what was designated as the kitchen area.'' On Thursday, Servel, a tank commander, said other FBI agents also noticed smoke coming from the structure. "We saw smoke within seconds. We saw flames and then the smoke started getting really thick,'' Servel said. ......"

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......FBI tactical commander Richard Rogers told investigators soon after the 1993 Branch Davidian siege that negotiators could have coaxed sect members from their barricaded compound if given enough time, according to documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News. .......... "I have never commented to any investigators concerning negotiations because I don't view it as having a lot to do with [the] outcome at Waco," Mr. Rogers, former head of the FBI's Hostage Rescue team, told Justice Department interviewers in a confidential September 1993 interview. "I think given enough time, any negotiator could get them out if [there was] no suicide, but what is enough time?" ....... Attorney General Janet Reno told the same investigators preparing the Justice Department's 1993 review of the Waco tragedy that senior FBI leaders told her to "butt out" after she agreed to let them tear-gas the compound. ........ The records of those interviews had never been made public, and Mr. Rogers' statement represents his first known acknowledgment that more Branch Davidians might have eventually been talked into surrendering. ..... "

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......Congressional investigators were only told early this year that the documents existed, despite exhaustive requests for internal government records from the 1993 tragedy. Government lawyers also did not disclose the records to attorneys for the Branch Davidians until this month - less than two weeks before the start of the trial in their wrongful-death lawsuit against the federal government. ......"

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......Lawyers for the sect say they are particularly angry that they were not told that the detailed statements by Ms. Reno and Mr. Rogers existed before they questioned the two officials in separate March depositions. The lawyers noted that the documents came to them not only on the eve of trial but also more than three months after the court's deadline for producing documents in the case. .......... Michael Caddell, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he will introduce the records to jurors Friday. He said he believes that the account of Ms. Reno's 1993 interview statements will damage her recent deposition testimony, which he also plans to present Friday. Ms. Reno said in her March 23 deposition that she believed Mr. Rogers and the FBI's Waco supervisors acted properly on April 19, 1993. .......... "The contents are amazing. ... There are direct contradictions to the FBI's version of events that they have been spouting for seven years," Mr. Caddell said. "These interviews were conducted in August and September of 1993 - seven years ago. It's inexcusable that we didn't have them." ...... He added that the 1993 statements show that FBI leaders, not Ms. Reno, were making the key decisions on the final day of the siege........"Janet Reno has nothing to do with what actually happened on April 19," he said. "The truth is, she was out of the loop." ....."

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News "......."There wasn't any effort to hold those back," U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford said. He said the Justice Department did not obtain them until late February, after congressional investigators learned from Philadelphia lawyer Edward S. Dennis, who supervised the 1993 Justice Review, that he had some internal memos from his Waco inquiry in his private files. He added that Justice officials in Washington did not submit them to the Waco trial team until April 20, and the government's lawyers then had to review them before turning them over to lawyers for the sect. ......"

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......The documents included Ms. Reno's statement that the FBI had been fair and forthcoming in trying to persuade her to use tear gas in April 1993 but told her in plain terms that they would be in charge once she approved. "They told me I should butt out after giving okay. Can't call back. Not law enforcement official. Not on scene," stated hand-written notes of her interview with FBI agents and lawyers asked by the Justice Department to oversee their 1993 Waco review. "Didn't find FBI to be know it all, we know bests. Felt they kept an open mind," she later added. "[The] only thing was: [they said that] when we get in, we're in charge of tactics." ...... The attorney general also told investigators that she would not have approved the gas plan if she detected even a 40 percent chance that it might lead to Davidian suicides. "If they had told me there was a very high - 40% - chance of mass suicide, [I] wouldn't have done it. If food supply would run out in three months or if we could cut off water, would wait. Went though [the] variables. Better to let him abuse children if there was high chance he'd take them all with him. I was told [the] outside limit was one year to wait them out." ......."

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......But many of the FBI's top negotiators and behavioral experts had warned their superiors repeatedly that the Davidians might engage the FBI to force a mass "suicide by cop" if they kept ratcheting up pressure. They also complained that Mr. Rogers' aggressive tactics in Waco killed negotiations and kept many Davidians from leaving. The top negotiators also warned weeks before the gas assault that tear gas alone might lead to panic and violence in the compound and that moving tanks close to the building guaranteed it. ......... In his September 1993 interview, Mr. Rogers admitted that tactical actions during the 51-day siege drove Davidians closer to their leader, David Koresh, just as negotiators were trying to persuade them to break away and leave their compound. ........ "Being nice to him was playing right into his hands," Mr. Rogers said. "He was buying time, keeping his lifestyle [and the] media circus. "When we started depriving them, [we were] really driving people closer to him because of their devotion to him. Deprivation was a lifestyle to them." ......"

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......Another FBI record turned over to lawyers for the Davidians in mid-May shows that their most seasoned tactical expert was adamantly opposed to assaulting the compound with tear gas. The memo is undated and unsigned but bears the handwriting of former FBI deputy assistant director Danny O. Coulson, founder of the FBI's hostage rescue team. Mr. Coulson's Feb. 22 deposition testimony was played during Thursday's court proceedings. .......... His internal FBI memo, retained in bureau records after his 1997 retirement, was in response to a proposal from Waco to use tear gas, a request sent to FBI headquarters in late March. ....... Despite insistence from Mr. Rogers and overall FBI Waco commander Jeffrey Jamar that negotiations were futile, Mr. Coulson noted in his memo that negotiators believed the sect would "ultimately" come out. ....... The critique also contended that the plan proposed by Waco commanders - gassing all of the compound simultaneously - sounded too much like "a quick fix." The revised gas assault plan approved several weeks later by Ms. Reno called for a gradual insertion of gas, but FBI commanders immediately began gassing the entire building after sect members began firing on the first tank sent to spray it in. ......"

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......The memo also ridiculed the Waco commanders' arguments that spraying gas would confuse Davidians and prompt women to rush out of the building with their children. Noting that the Waco FBI officials also predicted an immediate barrage of Davidian gunfire in response to any gas, Mr. Coulson added, "How would the others act to save their children if a massive gunfight began? Surely they would not go outside to save their children in the middle of a gunfight." "I am pretty disappointed with this approach. Everything is moving toward a gas attack ... I have stated that I believe it is unwise. We have more to negotiate," Mr. Coulson wrote. ........"

Lee Hancock 6/23/00 The Dallas Morning News ".......In her September 1993 interview, Ms. Reno recalled that the first reports of Davidian gunshots "reminded me I couldn't control the situation." Asked if she had authority to stop the plan, notes from that interview indicated, Ms. Reno responded: "I think I could have stopped it at any point if there was danger." ........She noted that she worried about high winds that day that seemed to be blowing gas out of the compound. She said she also told the FBI to send the Davidians a cellular phone when the FBI's tanks cut their phone line early in the gas assault. No phone was sent in. ......"

The Post-Dispatch 6/23/00 Terry Ganey ".......An FBI agent who fired tear gas at the Branch Davidian complex in 1993 testified Friday that his armored vehicle was probably equipped with fire-causing military tear gas rounds. But the agent, Tom Rowan, said he was sure that the only rounds he fired were plastic "ferret" rounds which would not start a fire. Rowan's testimony was brought by the Davidians' lawyers during the trial of sect's wrongful death lawsuit against the government. It was designed to show that tear gas fired by the agents could have contributed to the start of the fire that destroyed the complex. ......... During a tank and tear gas operation to roust the Davidians, Rowan fired gas rounds from a grenade launcher through a six-inch-wide port from inside an armored vehicle. Rowan testified that he fired between 70 and 80 rounds during a six-hour operation. Under questioning from Davidians' lead lawyer Mike Caddell, Rowan admitted that his story containing details about what happened during that period had changed twice since then. In an interview the day after the siege ended, Rowan told an FBI investigator that he fired rounds at all the windows at the back of the Davidians' complex. During Friday's testimony, he said he did not fire at a row of windows at the rear of the gymnasium. During a deposition in January, Rowan said he could not recall whether his tank had military rounds or not. On Wednesday he changed his deposition to say that since other FBI tanks were equipped with them, his probably did, too. FBI agents were ordered to put tear gas into windows from which the Davidians were firing guns at the FBI tanks. Although Attorney General Janet Reno prohibited the use of the military rounds, the FBI fired one or two early on the last day of the siege. Caddell attempted to show through his questioning that agents may have wanted to use the heavier military rounds to penetrate the walls of the complex. The "ferret" rounds deploy liquid tear gas. The metal military rounds emit the gas by means of an explosion. But Rowan said he has never fired any military rounds, at Waco or anywhere else. ......"

Waco93.com? Glenn Weeks 6/23/00 "……..For instance, 0n Friday, March 20,1986 an arson fire occurred at the Jamaican Davidian headquarters located in Mountaindale, New York. This fire was deemed to be 'arson' by New York police. The suspected arsonist, who had openly visited this headquarters site the day immediately preceeding this arson fire, was traced by phone call records to a location in Silver Springs, Maryland. This location was in immediate adjacent proximity to the headquarters of a large organization that had been in active opposition to the New York Davidians. The New York Davidians understood that they were being targeted by this organization…… The connection with Waco is that official representatives of this same organization are on record as contacting the ATF regarding Koresh's organization in Waco and providing negative information to the ATF which was motivationally inflammatory. …….In addition, this organization had many bureaucratic government ties to Washington, including those in the Department of Justice. …….Top leaders of this large organization ($15+ billion net worth) were known to be bitterly opposed to Branch Davidian tenets and had been in intense conflict with the Davidian heritage for many years. ….. In fact, in 1986 a ministerial representative of the New York Davidian organization had indicated that the Waco group was concerned about a similar attack as had occurred in New York. The Waco Branch Davidians believed this large oganization was involved in the New York arson fire. The Branch Davidians in Waco, even then (1986), began to arm themselves because they feared a similar attack on their compound. (With good reason it is now evident.) …….Yet to date the media refuses to deal with all these issues or even explore them. …..At a minimum, involvement of this large Maryland organjzation in the Waco episode should be addressed before any final conclusions are drawn about Waco. No final conclusions about Waco can be made until such issues are fully elucidated. ….."

Dallas Morning News 06/23/2000 Lee Hancock Brenda Rodriguez "……FBI commanders went beyond a Washington-approved plan for tear-gassing the Branch Davidian compound when they ordered tanks to drive deep into the building on April 19, 1993, at Mount Carmel, a former senior FBI official testified Thursday. "I don't recall that the plan contemplated this activity," former FBI deputy assistant director Danny O. Coulson testified when shown photographs of damage wreaked by FBI tanks. "You could use the term deviation. You could use the term inconsistent with what I understood the plan to be." ……… A fire erupted within an hour after an FBI tank began smashing into the compound's rear gymnasium……… After emerging from the judge's chambers, Mr. Caddell spent much of the morning showing jurors three early drafts of the FBI's gas plan. In those documents, bureau officials proposed issuing a surrender ultimatum when they began injecting tear gas and then sending tanks to begin demolishing the building if all Davidians did not give up within an hour. But the final plan presented to and ultimately approved by Ms. Reno repeatedly mandated gassing for 48 hours before using a specially outfitted tank to rip down the outer walls of the building. …….. Despite the removal of that provision from the final plan, Mr. Rogers later told interviewers that it was always contemplated as part of the FBI's Waco operation. "We asked him why on April 19 the holes were opened up in the compound," interviewers preparing the 1993 Justice Review of FBI actions in Waco wrote in September 1993. "He said this was something they had intended to do all along." In the segment of testimony presented from Mr. Coulson's deposition, the former official recounted watching the Waco gas operation at FBI headquarters with another senior official. When a tank smashed deep into the front side of the building, he said, his stunned colleague blurted, "Holy [expletive]!" "I said 'I hope that's a bad camera angle,'" he recalled responding. "My first reaction was that the tank could be disabled and trapped inside the building, and I was surprised to see it exit." In another deposition excerpt, former assistant FBI director Larry Potts was shown a memo prepared with the initials of Mr. Jamar and Mr. Rogers after the incident in which they described some of their agents being assigned to begin "systematic demolition" of the gymnasium. "I believe that an intentional dismantling of the building at that stage would've required an exigent circumstance [or emergency]," Mr. Potts said, adding that he never heard of Mr. Jamar or Mr. Rogers seeking permission to take such action. Asked if he were aware of any emergency on April 19 that would've required early demolition, he said, "I'm not aware of any." ……"

Dallas Morning News 06/23/2000 Lee Hancock Brenda Rodriguez "……The lone witness to testify Thursday, an FBI agent who fired tear gas rounds into the back of the compound on April 19, sparred repeatedly with Mr. Caddell over whether the actions of FBI tanks in the rear of the compound amounted to demolishing or even dismantling the sect's building. …... Reminded that a 1993 report of his FBI interview after the siege indicated he had described what he saw as a dismantling operation, he said, "I could've used the word dismantle, the word penetrate. I could've said a lot of things." Mr. Servel said that the other agents assigned with him in a Bradley fighting vehicle fired only nonburning "ferret" tear gas rounds into the building. He said his armored vehicle didn't even carry any pyrotechnic tear-gas rounds. Internal FBI documents and statements from other FBI agents indicate that the armored vehicles sent to the rear of the compound were outfitted with some of the pyrotechnic gas, which is capable of sparking fires and were expressly banned by Ms. Reno in the gas operation. …….. Mr. Servel acknowledged that the heavier pyrotechnic gas rounds could penetrate wood and other building materials better than the ferrets he fired on April 19. He acknowledged that his team had difficulty penetrating the compound's kitchen area with his non-burning ferret rounds because its windows were covered with plywood. …."

Dallas Morning News 06/23/2000 Lee Hancock Brenda Rodriguez "……Plaintiffs' lawyers ended the day by airing part of an FBI briefing on April 7, 1993, given to FBI agents assigned to help carry out the final tear gas assault. In the video, the head of a bureau SWAT team told other agents that FBI leaders in Washington had decided against trying to use tanks to bash holes into the compound. "It would be conceived by the Davidians, the people inside as an act of aggression, an attack ...and they will retaliate, so headquarters rejected that," the agent said in the briefing. ……"

Houston Chronicle 6/20/00 Jim Henderson "……Following the botched raid on the Branch Davidian compound, federal agents admitted to police they fired blindly into windows without knowing what they were shooting at, a federal jury heard Tuesday. ……….. Michael Caddell, lead attorney for the more than 100 Davidians and families suing the federal government over the raid, read the statements from more than two dozen Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents to the jury. It took Caddell nearly an hour to get through the statements, which painted a picture of agents shooting at shadows and fluttering curtains after they were repelled with gunfire from arresting Davidian leader David Koresh on Feb. 28, 1993. ……. "A whole lot of shooting was going on in violation of instructions given to the agents," said Jim Brannon of Houston, another attorney for the plaintiffs. "You don't just shoot generally. You shoot at specific targets." Indiscriminate gunfire is one of four key elements to the case, Caddell told the jury. ……. Plaintiffs presented Smith and the six-person jury with the statements ATF agents gave to Texas Rangers following the assault on Mount Carmel. Many of the agents said they fired into the building even though they never saw anyone through the windows. "I didn't see anyone shooting at our people," said sniper Paul J. Smith's statement. Smith said after he realized AFT agents had not entered the compound, "I just started shooting at those windows. I put 30 or 40 rounds in there." "At no time did I see any occupant, other than shadows moving," agent Mark Murray told the Rangers. ...... To demonstrate the consequences of the gunfire, Caddell put 16-year-old Jauness Wendel on the stand. She was eight in 1993 and was in her room at Mount Carmel with her mother and three siblings when the shooting started. No one in the room was armed, she said. Her mother was killed by the gunfire that shattered the windows and spewed glass into the crib where her one-year-old brother was sleeping. "I am not here to defend David Koresh," Caddell said, "but the Davidians did not ambush the ATF." ………. "

dallasnews.com 6/21/00 Lee Hancock "……"I'd like to introduce you to some of my clients," Houston lawyer Michael Caddell told an advisory jury of six people and the one alternate as they silently watched images of smiling, waving children. Pausing to display photos of 15 children between the ages of 2 and 17 who died in the incident, he added with each picture that the child "never owned a gun. Never broke the law. Never hurt anyone." …….. U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford of Beaumont countered that Branch Davidians were an "armed encampment" that ambushed agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms looking for illegal weapons. ......... "The responsibility for those tragic events should not be placed upon the shoulders of the brave men and women of the ATF and the FBI," Mr. Bradford said. ……. "The responsibility for what happened at Mount Carmel is on David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. They caused this dangerous situation to occur, and they brought it to a tragic end." ......:

dallasnews.com 6/21/00 Lee Hancock "…… The day's testimony focused on the initial Feb. 28 gunfight as the witnesses offered vivid descriptions of the terror and chaos at their rural McLennan County home after heavily armed ATF agents pulled up in cattle trailers to serve arrest and search warrants. They disputed government lawyers' statements that the sect was "armed to the teeth." Instead, survivors described Mount Carmel as a happy place where children romped and adults learned the Bible from Mr. Koresh. "There were people from all over the world: different personalities, different families, different interests, different likes and dislikes. …….. We were all there for one purpose, and that was the Bible studies," said Rita Riddle, an Asheville, N.C., resident who lived off and on for two years at Mount Carmel before the raid and lost her brother Jimmy in the final fire. "David was my teacher." She and other sect members disputed government lawyers' arguments that Mr. Koresh taught them how to use guns, displayed weapons as part of his religious teachings and indoctrinated members for war and mass suicide. …….. But they conceded that Mr. Koresh took other men's wives as his own and fathered many of the young children who died in the fire. ……"

dallasnews.com 6/21/00 Lee Hancock "……""Kids were screaming, crying. It was a mess," said London resident Natalie Nobrega, adding that she later returned to her bedroom and found her bedcovers riddled with bullet holes. "If I had been sleeping, I think I would not be here today. ... If I had stayed in bed, like I wanted to." ……… Government lawyers immediately challenged both Ms. Wendel and Ms. Riddle, pointing out that Ms. Wendel and another adult survivor had told authorities that they each had seen Ms. Riddle carrying or shooting a gun on Feb. 28. ……. Ms. Riddle denied having a gun and insisted that the first shots she heard came from outside. Ms. Nobrega echoed that, telling the court despite government objections that the first "ticking noises" of exploding bullets came from too far away to have originated from inside the building. ……. Ms. Wendel testified that she was confused and fearful that she and her siblings "might be split up" when she told a Texas Ranger a week after the initial shootout that she had seen her parents and Ms. Riddle with guns. …… She insisted Tuesday that what she told the Ranger was wrong. "I know I was very scared at the time," she said as the taped 30-minute interview with the Ranger was played for the jury. "I was just trying to give him what he wanted." ….."

Fort Worth Star Telegram 6/19/00 Jennifer Autry "……Smith alone will issue a verdict, although he will seek the advice of six jurors in a trial that he predicted will last three to four weeks. Although millions of dollars are at stake, attorneys for both the Branch Davidians and the government say they simply want all the facts revealed. "This case is not about money. It is about truth," said James Brannon, a Houston attorney representing the Davidian estates …….. The events of April 19 are etched in the American psyche, and a vocal group sees them as symbolic of a vicious and dishonest government. Timothy McVeigh, who is on federal Death Row after being convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, said he was avenging the Branch Davidian deaths two years earlier. …….. Despite promises from both sides to provide answers, however, the controversy over what happened near Waco likely will not end soon. Stuart Wright, a sociologist and assistant dean of graduate studies at Lamar University in Beaumont, has written extensively about the Branch Davidians. "Waco has such legendary proportions in some segments of the culture that it will never go away, regardless of the verdict." ......"

Fort Worth Star Telegram 6/19/00 Jennifer Autry "……Michael Caddell, the lead plaintiffs attorney, said he believes that the jury will find some of his clients' stories heartbreaking. He offers, for example, Misty Ferguson, who was 17 in 1993. Caddell describes Ferguson's involvement this way: ….During the standoff, she watched men with guns make obscene gestures toward her home and armored vehicles patrol the path nearby. She listened as the FBI blared music by Nancy Sinatra, who warned that one day her boots "would walk all over you." Then, on April 19, Ferguson sat pensive in an upstairs room as tear gas grenades shook the walls. When fire broke out, she tried to escape, only to find the floor ripped out by a tank. She turned back into the fire and fell. Her burned hands were eventually amputated. ...... The plaintiffs' case, Caddell said is "about the innocent people who got caught up in bad acts by Koresh and bad decisions by the FBI that led to a disaster." ……."

Fort Worth Star Telegram 6/19/00 Jennifer Autry "……For the government, it is a chance for vindication from conspiracy theorists that they say have been callous about the deaths of four federal agents, contemptuous of their efforts to end the standoff peacefully and dismissive of their attempts to enter the burning building to save lives. Byron Sage, a retired FBI agent who was the lead negotiator at Mount Carmel, said he will forever regret the loss of life. "Nine people came out that day. Not one of those people took the time to bring a child out," he said. "I will never understand that." ………"

Fort Worth Star Telegram 6/19/00 Jennifer Autry "……Most Davidians died of smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning, although 18 had gunshot wounds consistent with suicide and a few suffocated or died from blunt trauma, according to autopsy reports, many of which were prepared by Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani. …….."

Fort Worth Star Telegram 6/19/00 Jennifer Autry "……"Saying, `We don't have any plans to fight a fire,' means you were condemning them to death if a fire starts," Brannon said. But government attorneys said that Rogers' statement has been misrepresented. FBI agents had been in contact with local fire departments, they say, but could not solve the problem of getting them in without exposing them to the Davidians' firepower. …….. Although much of the testimony will focus on April 19, the jury will also consider the ATF's actions on Feb. 28. The ATF had invited the media to document the operation, called "Showtime." Defenders of the Davidians assert that the ATF wanted to make a strong impression just weeks before federal budget hearings. ………When the firefight broke out, the agents fired indiscriminately, shooting through walls and windows, the Branch Davidian attorneys say. But the government says the Davidians pinned down their agents in an ambush. ……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/24/00 Terry Ganey "……Attorney General Janet Reno said the FBI told her to "butt out" of Waco operations once she gave approval to a tank-and-tear-gas operation to force Branch Davidians out of their complex on April 19, 1993. In notes of an interview with Reno, conducted four months after the siege ended, Reno said that since she was not on the scene, operational control of Waco events rested with FBI commanders. "They told me I should butt out after giving OK," the interview notes said. "Can't call back." …..The interview was conducted by a lawyer hired by the Justice Department to look into the siege at Waco. Over government objections, the Branch Davidians' lawyers introduced a brief segment of the notes Friday during the trial of the sect's wrongful death suit against the government. …."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/24/00 Terry Ganey "……"If they were concerned about just tearing down the building, they would have commenced from the outside," Reno said. The interview notes said Reno considered the idea of building a prison around the complex. She decided against it because she was told the Branch Davidians had long-range weapons, including a .50-caliber rifle, that would have required too large a perimeter. …….Near the end of a 51-day siege, Reno was told the Branch Davidians were equipped to hold out for as long as a year. …….. "

AP 6/21/00 Suzanne Gamboa "…….The panic and terror within the walls of the Branch Davidian complex was relived Wednesday as the audiotaped drama of the first moments of the government's 1993 raid was played in the cult's multimillion-dollar wrongful death trial. ……"There are 75 men around us and they are shooting at us at Mount Carmel!" sect member Wayne Martin screamed in the telephone. "Tell them there are children and women in here and to call it off!" …… The pops of gunfire could be heard in the background as sheriff's officials on the phone scrambled to calm Martin while simultaneously trying to reach federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents at the scene. …….The exchange was captured on 911 tapes by the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, whom Martin called when shooting started on Feb. 28, 1993. ….."

AP 6/21/00 Suzanne Gamboa "……."I have a right to defend myself! They started shooting first!" Martin yelled in a speakerphone to Sheriff's Lt. Larry Lynch. …….. "Tell them to hold their fire, leave the property and we'll talk!" ……. More of the exchange was heard when government attorneys countered with tape segments of their own. The excerpts included recordings of Lynch trying to persuade Martin to maintain the cease fire so injured agents could be retrieved and to arrange help for injured people inside the compound. ……. The injured agents were removed, but the Davidians rejected medical help. ……"We don't want anything from your country," Martin said on one tape. "That's what our wounded are telling us. They don't want your help." ……Martin and four of his children ultimately died in the fire. ….."

foxnews.com 6/21/00 Sherri Chunn "…….A judge hearing the $675 million wrongful death case against the government over the deadly 1993 Waco siege has excluded testimony from three FBI negotiators who said tanks should not have been used to end the standoff. Plaintiffs' attorneys, who considered the evidence important to their case, said the ruling by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith would force them to adjust their case. "We will have to shift gears and bring other witnesses," said attorney James Brannon after the trial opened Tuesday. ……."

foxnews.com 6/21/00 Sherri Chunn "…….In his ruling, Smith agreed with government lawyers who say the negotiators' testimony and communications fell under a privilege that shields the federal government from liability even if its agents' actions prove negligent. It is designed to give federal officials the ability to act without fear of a lawsuit. ……U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford, defending the government, said the agents were making difficult decisions in a tense situation. "How negotiations are discussed shouldn't be second-guessed by the court system," he said. …….It was unclear whether plaintiffs' attorneys can use a March 1993 memo warning that the FBI would face trouble if tanks were used at the compound and children died. ……. The memo by FBI profiler Peter Smerick to on-scene commander Jeffery Jamar has been described by Brannon as his best evidence from the government. ……."

Esther M. Bauer 6/21/00 Special to The Washington Post "……The tear-gas assault and fire on April 19 occurred after on-scene commanders became "frustrated and ordered the dismantling of the building" in a substantial deviation from a plan that called for a "two-day process . . . to convince the occupants to leave," Caddell said………. As the trial began today, a witness who lived in the compound as a child disputed her taped 1993 interview with a Texas Ranger, in which she said her mother shot at federal agents during the initial raid. The interview was conducted within days of the raid……… Caddell told the six jurors that the FBI fired incendiary tear gas canisters that started at least two of the three fires that engulfed the compound, but acknowledged that sect members set the third fire……. FBI agents fired weapons to prevent the Branch Davidians from escaping and negligently excluded firefighting measures from the overall assault plan, Caddell contended…….. U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford, the lead defense attorney, said blame for the loss of life, though "a tragedy that is terrible for all of us" lies at the feet of the Branch Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, who, he contended, led the sect into a suicide pact………No residents were hurt when tanks punched holes in the compound's buildings to pour in tear gas and flush out the Branch Davidians because that was done in largely vacant areas of the structures, Bradford told jurors……"

CBSNEWS 6/20/00 AP "…… Many of the survivors and relatives were in the courtroom as the names of the dead were read into the record Tuesday. …….. Cadell has said that the four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents killed in the raid were "victims of the same bad tactics, bad management and bad decision-making that ultimately resulted in the deaths of so many Davidians." ……. Another focus of the trial is expected to be whether using tanks to push into the compound deviated from a plan approved by Attorney General Janet Reno. …….. ….."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/20/00 Terry Ganey "……The videotaped faces of 15 smiling children greeted the jurors Tuesday during the opening arguments of the Branch Davidians' wrongful death trial against the government. …… Mike Caddell, the sects' survivors lead lawyer, used video of the children who later became fatal victims of the Waco tragedy as an emotional opening to his claim that the government didn't do enough to protect them during its final siege on April 19, 1993. ……. After he introduced each one of the bright-eyed children who had been videotaped before they lost their lives from fire and gunshots, Caddell put their still photographs on a board for the jury to see. He said each "never owned a gun, never fired a gun, never broke the law, never hurt anyone." ……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6/20/00 Terry Ganey "……Bradford said the Davidians' Mt. Carmel complex eight miles outside of Waco was "an armed encampment." He said Koresh had convinced his followers that he was a modern day prophet who predicted the world would end in a violent confrontation with the government. He said some male followers had allowed Koresh to father children with their wives and that those children were among the 80 people who died during the siege. ……"

AP 6/20/00 Sherri Chunn "……Seven years ago, during the long government standoff with the Branch Davidians, an FBI criminal profiler warned the on-scene commander about using force to end the siege. If the FBI took "physical action" to end the confrontation and children died, Peter Smerick said in his March 7, 1993 memorandum to Jeffery Jamar, agents would be blamed even if they were not responsible. ……Jamar ordered the use of tanks to fire tear gas into the compound on April 19, 1993, to force out the Branch Davidians. A fire broke out six hours into the operation, destroying the compound and killing about 80 people. ……"That's the best evidence we have from the government, period," plaintiffs' lawyer Jim Brannon said on the eve of Tuesday's opening statements. ……. Government lawyers say the memo falls under the "discretionary function" privilege, which shields the federal government - even if its agents' actions proved negligent - from liability in its decisions. The law is designed to give federal officials the ability to act without the fear of being sued. ……"

Brenda Rodriguez 6/19/00 The Dallas Morning News "……. "Ninety percent of the people could care less," said Mr. Middleton, who lives nearby. "They are indifferent. There's people in Waco that know less about this than people out-of-state." At a downtown Waco finance office, Kimberly Everett is one of many who say they wish it would all go away. Sometimes callers to her office make comments about Waco. ……. Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who briefly represented sect leader David Koresh and met with him during the siege to try to persuade him to surrender, said he is "bothered a lot" that jurors will be drawn from the Waco area. ……."It really shouldn't be tried there," he said. "The people of Waco and that area are subjected wherever they go to ridicule, humiliation. When you say the word 'Waco,' it means government overreaching. It means religious nuts. It means the terrible things that happened. I think the community is under tremendous pressure to redeem themselves by blaming the Davidians." ….."

Brenda Rodriguez 6/19/00 The Dallas Morning News "……. "We had the whole circus out at the compound. Then we had the civil cases brought by the families of the agents who died in the first raid," said Baylor University law professor Bill Underwood, who was one of the lawyers representing the families in that litigation. "Then we've had the endless series of property disputes among the remaining Davidians. We've had the criminal prosecutions. And now this." ……… "The property, rightly or wrongly, belongs to the Davidian church. A Waco jury said we're not going to give it to anybody," he said. "The only thing that you can analyze out of that was that the jurors were anti-anything that seems to be in favor of Branch Davidians because of the ridicule that the Davidian incident has brought upon the whole community and the city." ..."

JIM YARDLEY 6/18/00 Houston "……For years, the Branch Davidian wrongful-death lawsuit seemed unlikely to amount to anything more than paper. The case file is about as thick as 25 metropolitan phone books, a tower of motions and countermotions once regarded as a monument to futility by those who doubted that the case would ever reach trial. But six years after the lawsuit was filed, the trial is scheduled to open on Monday in Federal District Court in Waco, Tex. Once criticized as a bundle of anti-government conspiracies, the lawsuit is now being taken very seriously...... He has limited the jury's role to deciding whether the government was negligent. He said he would determine damages if necessary…… "The tragedy that happened at Waco was brought about by David Koresh, who considered himself to be a messiah who was predicting the end of the world would come about in a violent conflict with the government," Mr. Bradford, the United States Attorney in Beaumont, Tex., said in an interview last week. …….. The jury trial is expected to last four to six weeks, and the hearing on gunfire could begin in August…….. Mr. Danforth's investigation is not expected to conclude until after the civil trial. Mr. Bradford hopes the lawsuit will end the Branch Davidian controversy. ……"

TBO.com 6/20/00 Sherri Chunn AP "…..Punctuating his statements with video of the children killed at the Branch Davidian compound, an attorney opened his case Tuesday in a wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government. Beginning with 2-year-old Hollywood Sylvia, plaintiffs' attorney Michael Caddell read a list of children ages 2 to 17 who were killed or injured during the government's 51-day siege of the Mount Carmel compound outside Waco. "The evidence will show she never owned a gun," Caddell said of Hollywood. "Never fired a gun. Never broke the law. Never hurt anyone. Hollywood died on April 19, 1993, when she was 2." ……… Among the survivors scheduled to testify is Jaunessa Wendel, who was 8 when government agents first raided the compound where she lived with her family. Another, Natalie Nobrega, was 10 at the time. Both girls were injured and lost parents during the siege. ……."

TBO.com 6/20/00 Sherri Chunn AP "…..Among the evidence the government wanted the judge to keep out was a March 7, 1993, memorandum from FBI criminal profiler Peter Smerick to on-scene commander Jeffery Jamar. The document warned Jamar that if the FBI took "a physical action" to end the standoff and children died, FBI agents would be blamed even if they were not responsible. ….."

WorldNetDaily 6/20/00 David Limbaugh "……On Monday, June 19, 2000, a civil trial began to determine the government's culpability for the Waco massacre in 1993. …….. At least, that's how the media are portraying this wrongful death lawsuit against the government brought by survivors of the Branch Davidians who died in the 1993 raid on the Waco compound. But the truth is that we don't need a trial to establish the government's culpability. It has already been established through the investigations conducted following the event. …….. In seeking to escape liability, the government will no doubt try to portray the incident and the resulting 80 deaths as entirely the fault of cult leader David Koresh. And without question Koresh is partly to blame. But a significant degree of fault also lies with the government, which could have averted this tragedy and spared the lives of these mostly innocent people, including 19 children. Even a jury verdict in favor of the government will not alter that fact. ……."

WorldNetDaily 6/20/00 David Limbaugh "……There have been some seemingly outrageous claims regarding the Waco incident. But the problem is that with this administration you just never know, because deceit is the taproot of so many of its activities. One glaring example is that Janet Reno defiantly denied for six years that the FBI used incendiary devices at the siege. Only Waco wackos would conjure up such a fanciful idea. Right? Wrong…"

WorldNetDaily 6/20/00 David Limbaugh "……Who should we believe? The Clinton administration or the congressional subcommittees? ……The subcommittees did not present a one-sided picture. In fact, they concluded that "the ultimate responsibility for the deaths of the Davidians and law enforcement agents lies with Koresh." But they also said that the ATF's reckless decision to proceed with the raid "more than any other factor, led to the deaths of the four ATF agents killed on February 28." And they found that "although physical and sexual abuse of children occurred, the final assault (on April 19) put the children at the greatest risk." …….That's the understatement of the last century. A government does not protect children by engaging in activities that ultimately led to their deaths. We can figure that much out ourselves, no matter what the jury determines……."

CBSNEWS 6/20/00 "……By the time jurors render a verdict in the trial beginning Monday in Waco, Texas, the tragedy that unfolded near there seven years ago will be one of the most investigated events in American history. ……."People died. And they died the most agonizing, horrible death that anybody could possibly endure: burning alive," said Patrick Caddell, attorney for the Branch Davidians. ...... For example, the suit alleges that FBI agents fired at the Davidians during the final moments of the siege. Yet ballistics tests show "no FBI weapons were fired at any time in the siege." And the Davidians acknowledge they have "no proof anyone was killed by government gunfire." ……… David Thibodeau, a Davidian who was inside the compound when the 51-day standoff came to an end, said Monday on CBS News' The Early Show, "There's a lot of information that the American public hasn't had. I'm grateful the trial is here and a jury will be able to hear all the information." ......"

The Village Voice 6/20/00 James Ridgeway "…….With the Justice Department insisting that government agents didn't fire into the compound, the key to unraveling what occurred may depend on an independent interpretation of the film, which was shot by a hovering government chopper. Central to this endeavor was Carlos Ghigliotti, a videotape analyst for the House Government Reform Committee who was discovered dead in his office in Laurel, Maryland, on April 28 [see Mondo Washington, June 13]. The coroner ruled that Ghigliotti died of natural causes, but friends and family say he was in good health and they are mystified at his sudden death just as the Waco investigation was coming to a head. ………. Now McNulty is raising more questions about a "curious string of coincidences" involving illnesses of important witnesses who, he says, all asked questions about the infrared film and all got sick in late March. Fred Ziegler, an infrared video expert, came down with a serious case of lead poisoning and was rushed to the hospital. About the same time, Dr. Edward B. Allard, the main infrared expert, suffered a stroke that nearly killed him. And finally Mac Cox, a solar geologist who claimed the flashes on the videos were not reflections of sunlight, was hospitalized with a serious renal infection. ……Says McNulty: "It's really strange that just these few men involved with this one narrow issue were stricken." ……"

The Dallas Morning News 6/22/00 Lee Hancock Brenda Rodriguez "…..FBI commanders went beyond a Washington-approved plan for tear gassing the Branch Davidian compound when they ordered tanks to drive deep into the building on April 19, 1993, at Mount Carmel, a former senior FBI official testified Thursday. …….."I don't recall that the plan contemplated this activity," former FBI deputy assistant director Danny O. Coulson testified when shown photographs of damage wreaked by FBI tanks. "You could use the term deviation. You could use the term inconsistent with what I understood the plan to be." …….Among other allegations, the lawsuit charges that the FBI's two commanders in Waco violated the gas plan approved by Attorney General Janet Reno when they ordered tanks to begin tearing down the rear area of the compound known as the gym on April 19. The operation plan had called for gassing the building for at least 48 hours before starting demolition. A fire erupted within an hour after an FBI tank began smashing into the compound's rear gymnasium and ripped half of it to the ground. More than 80 Davidians died in the blaze. ……"

The New York Times 6/22/00 Don Van Natta Jr David Johnston "……Houston attorney Michael Caddell spent much of the morning showing jurors three early drafts of the FBI's gas plan. In those documents, bureau officials proposed issuing a surrender ultimatum when they began injecting tear gas and then sending tanks to begin demolishing the building if all Davidians did not give up within an hour. But the final plan presented to, and ultimately approved by, Ms. Reno repeatedly mandated gassing for 48 hours before using a specially outfitted tank to rip down the outer walls of the building....... .In the segment of testimony presented from Mr. Coulson's deposition, the former official recounted watching the Waco gas operation on a monitor at FBI headquarters in Washington with another senior official. When a tank smashed deep into the front side of the building, he said, his stunned colleague blurted, "Holy [expletive!] ……."

The New York Times 6/22/00 Don Van Natta Jr David Johnston "……In another deposition excerpt, former assistant FBI director Larry Potts was shown a memo prepared with the initials of Mr. Jamar and Mr. Rogers after the incident in which they described some of their agents being assigned to begin "systematic demolition" of the rear gymnasium. ……."I believe that an intentional dismantling of the building at that stage would've required an exigent circumstance [or emergency]," Mr. Potts said, adding that he never heard of Mr. Jamar or Mr. Rogers seeking permission to take such action. Asked if he were aware of any emergency on April 19 that would've required early demolition, he said, "I'm not aware of any." …….."

Dick J. Reavis San Antonio Express-News Staff Writer "…….Starting Monday, survivors and relatives of 84 Branch Davidians who died in the compound will begin a long-delayed federal trial to determine whether the government was at least partially responsible for the deaths. ……… "People need to recognize that there are families and children living without the people who were taking care of them," said Sheila Martin of Waco, who lost her husband and four children in the fatal blaze of April 19, 1993. ……… A few of the more than 100 plaintiffs - surviving followers of Davidian leader David Koresh and next of kin of those who died - brought the wrongful death suit in 1993. Others, through different attorneys, filed suit later. All of the suits were consolidated for consideration by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr. in 1996. ……. The plaintiffs represent a range of those with grievances, from the true believers to non-Davidian parents who detested Koresh and his preachings. But they are united in their belief that the government should be held liable and should compensate them for injuries and deaths. ……. Sarah Bain, a schoolteacher who was jury forewoman during the 1994 San Antonio criminal trial of several Davidians, plans to drop in on the proceeding, "because I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall, for the government to have to face the music." …….. In many ways, the trial will review issues exposed during the criminal proceeding and at 1995 congressional hearings on the Mount Carmel events. But because the civil trial's object is different, the testimony will differ, too. For the first time, several Mount Carmel survivors will take the stand to explain what they observed during the raid, standoff and blaze. …….. Congress heard from two survivors of the fire, Clive Doyle and David Thibodeau, in 1995, and other survivors have told their stories to authors and documentary filmmakers. Only one, Marjorie Thomas, a witness for the prosecution during the criminal trial, has testified in court - and her testimony was by videotape. "

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "…..Seven years after the deadly confrontation between federal agents and the Branch Davidians, the combatants will gather Monday in a Waco federal court to decide how much blame, if any, the government should share for the 1993 tragedy. ……… Also hanging in the balance are public confidence in federal law enforcement and the legacy of Attorney General Janet Reno, whose now-waning tenure began with her decision to let the FBI use tanks and tear gas to resolve the Waco standoff. ………"What the Justice Department is concerned about is that a verdict against it would sustain the long-standing criticism of its conduct and the relatively large group of Americans who have been energized by this incident. ...Waco horrified a great number of people in the mainstream," said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor. "The Justice Department, however, tends to portray the Waco incident as largely a concern for fringe and extremist groups. ......... "The Justice Department and Reno know that Waco will remain one of the darkest chapters in her tenure. If there's a verdict against the government, this incident will become more than a mere footnote," he said. "A verdict would be a statement of the community against the conduct of the government. What's important is that this jury and judge cannot be dismissed as a fringe group." ……"

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "…..But for at least one group, the trial may prove a disappointment either way. Some of the most vehement critics of government actions in Waco say they are skeptical about whether the trial will resolve much because of U.S. District Judge Walter Smith's decision to dismiss many issues outright and remove others from consideration by the trial jury. …….. "The 1993 conflagration spawned an entire cottage industry of conspiracy theorists, some of whom were previously occupied with their own theories concerning the grassy knoll and whether or not space aliens were being cloned at Area 51," said one government official close to ongoing federal inquiries into the 1993 incident. "It's clear that Judge Smith has little tolerance for the wackier Waco theories." ….."

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "…..The judge threw out charges in July that government agents infiltrated the compound just before it burned and placed a bomb on top of the concrete room where many of the sect members' bodies were found after the fire, calling the charge "frivolous" and "outrageous."

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "…..He announced in a hearing last week that he would sever from the jury trial the allegation that flashes on an April 19 FBI infrared video were caused by government gunfire that kept sect members from fleeing the fire. On Tuesday, the judge wrote in a pretrial order that he might dismiss that issue outright. …..Michael McNulty, a Colorado filmmaker whose two Waco documentaries have popularized the April 19 gunfire theory as well as the bunker-bomb claim, said the judge's recent actions suggest he intends "to whitewash the only criminally significant issue in the whole mess. ……… "I don't believe they are going to deal with the evidence ... It cuts the importance of the trial by 50 to 70 percent," he said. "But then, I'm somewhat skeptical whether anything will come out of the federal family, from either this judge and court or [Waco special counsel John C.] Danforth or the Congress." ……"

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "….. The government trial team also won a recent fight to bring samples from the Davidians' arsenal into the courtroom and show jurors a photo book of each of the more than 200 guns and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition recovered from the compound after the siege. Lead plaintiff's attorney Michael Caddell said he believes he can blunt the impact of that display by addressing the issue head-on in his opening statement. He said he also will speak bluntly about Mr. Koresh, telling jurors that he and others in the sect's leadership may have contributed to the tragedy. …… "There weren't any 2-year-olds carrying AK-47s," he said. "The bad acts of David Koresh and a handful of others created a dangerous situation, but bad decisions by the government created a deadly situation in which the lives of a lot of innocent women and children were lost."……"

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "…..Some familiar with the case say the argument about excessive use of force by ATF may prove most compelling to jurors. They note that a San Antonio jury acquitted surviving sect members in a 1994 criminal trial of the most serious charge of conspiracy to murder. Eight were instead found guilty of lesser charges of manslaughter and weapons violations. ……. Jurors in that case also told reporters after the trial that they agreed early in their deliberations that "both sides did wrong," and no one could say who started the initial gunfight. Although the more than 20 ATF agents called as witnesses in that trial insisted that sect members fired first, two also acknowledged they initially thought the first shot came from outside the compound. ......"

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "….. Plaintiffs have alleged that the government's two Waco commanders, FBI Hostage Rescue Team commander Richard Rogers, and FBI regional chief Jeffrey Jamar, violated Ms. Reno's orders in their planning and execution of the final April 19 plan. Ms. Reno has disputed that in her deposition, saying their actions were proper. Both sides have indicated they plan to present video excerpts from her deposition during the trial, and lawyers for the plaintiffs say they will also introduce portions of depositions in which senior FBI officials indicated that the FBI's actions in Waco went beyond approved operational plans. ……"

The Dallas Morning News 6/18/00 Lee Hancock "…..Finally, lawyers will contend that the tanks caused or contributed to the spread of the fire. Even if some Davidians set some areas of the building on fire, some lawyers for the plaintiffs will argue, the government was responsible for protecting innocent women and children from harm and did not respond adequately to the known threat of fire. They will argue that government actions set the tragedy in motion, hurried it to its end and were carried out despite clear warnings about how some sect members might react. ……… Government lawyers will argue that the decisions on how to use tanks, whether to fight a fire or have fire equip