St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/17/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "…..The scientific protocol for the test calls for two different forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras mounted in two aircraft. A Sea Owl FLIR, nearly identical to the one used by the FBI at Waco in 1993, will be mounted in a Lynx Mk 8 helicopter borrowed from Britain. The other aircraft will be the FBI's Night Stalker equipped with a modernized version of the FLIR. Each plane will tape the test site from both 4,000 and 6,000 feet, because it appears that some images from 1993 were shot at both altitudes. Factoring in the angle from lens to target, the cameras will be about 5,500 and 7,500 feet away from their targets. The test is planned for a daywhen weather conditions are similar to the day of the siege. The soil may be moistened to increase the humidity. Tanks will churn up the soil. ......"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/17/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "…..The firearms range will have two sets of targets, one 10 yards from the firing area and another 30 yards away. In between the two targets will be a debris field with objects that could cause a flash. One square will have junkyard debris - scattered broken vehicle side window glass, side mirrors from a car, tin cans, hub caps, insulation and foil. Another will have three sheets of aluminum. Another will have pieces of crumpled aluminum foil. Two other squares will have scattered fragments of window glass. Two oil drums will be positioned nearby - one a third full and the other two-thirds full of water. Six shooters will begin the test lying prone for 20 minutes, to see how people are viewed by the infrared cameras. This is important because the 1993 FLIR tape does not show people near the flashes. The soldiers will be wearing camouflage fatigues, sniper suits and Nomex fire-retardant flight suits. The shooters will rise and run to the shooting position for the 10-yard target and fire five single shots from a standing position. Then they will drop to a crouch position, reload and fire bursts of three shots. Then, from prone positions, the shooters will fire at the 30-yard target. Finally, an M-79 launcher will shoot rounds of tear gas and flash-bang devices. An M-60 tank, positioned over glass and aluminum debris, will then drive back and forth to see if particles kicked up near the tank's exhaust show up as flashes……"

Dallas Morning News 2/17/00 Lee Hancock "….One of the government's lead lawyers in the Branch Davidian case said for the first time Wednesday that an upcoming test could capture flashes of gunfire on the type of infrared camera used by the FBI on the last day of the siege. Lawyers for the sect said that concession by U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford, offered after a day of private negotiations on protocols for the test, indicates that the Justice Department fears the upcoming field test will prove allegations that the FBI's camera recorded government gunfire in Waco on April 19, 1993. "We're stunned," said Mike Caddell, lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians. "This is a complete about-face for the government, and coming on the eve of the demonstration, it's very telling. It can only mean that they realize that this demonstration is going to prove what we've said all along: that the flashes on the April 19 videotape are gunfire from government positions." …….. But on Wednesday, Mr. Bradford said: "It's not our position, it's never been our position, that it is impossible under any circumstance to capture gunfire on FLIR technology. We don't know whether gunfire will or will not appear on this test. We have consistently said that the flashes on the April 19 tape are not gunfire." ……. "

Dallas Morning News 2/17/00 Lee Hancock "….After Wednesday's meeting at Mr. Danforth's office, both sides agreed to the public release of a full set of plans for the tests. The release was in itself a reversal. For months last fall, government lawyers fought proposals for field tests, in part, with arguments that even basic information about the FBI camera - including even its manufacturer and the altitude at which it was flown - was should be kept secret. But during the meeting, attended by lawyers and experts for both sides and the judge hearing the case, representatives from the Pentagon announced that basic performance data about the British-made GEC-Marconi camera had been declassified and could be released. …….. In court pleadings last fall aimed at blocking an infrared test, government lawyers argued that the only type of scientific study that the government could accept would involve trying to determine whether it was possible for the camera to capture any kind of gunfire. …….. Some of the FBI's most experienced infrared camera operators said in depositions late last year that they did not believe their camera in Waco could detect flashes from any gunfire…… Mr. Bradford said Wednesday that the sworn statements of the bureau's infrared operators did not represent the government's official position on the matter……"

Dallas Morning News 2/17/00 Lee Hancock "…. The tests hammered out on Wednesday will be conducted in the last half of March, using a British Royal Navy Lynx Mk 8 helicopter outfitted with a Sea Owl camera, a system similar to that flown by the FBI in Waco. The FBI also will fly its camera on its "Nightstalker" fixed-wing aircraft. The camera is the same GEC-Marconi used in Waco but has been significantly upgraded since the 1993 siege. Each aircraft will record two separate test sequences in which U.S. Army personnel will fire weapons carried by both sides during the Waco seige. Weapons will include a sniper rifle, one regular MP-5 machine gun and another equipped with a silencer, an automatic shotgun, an M-16 rifle, an M-60 machine gun and M-79 grenade launchers outfitted with both non-burning "ferret" tear-gas rounds and military-issue, pyrotechnic gas grenades. The cameras also will record footage of fields of debris, including aluminum and glass, as well as containers of water. Some of those test recordings will include exercises in which combat engineering vehicles and Bradley fighting vehicles - armored tanks used by the FBI in Waco - are driven over the debris fields. Recording the debris and water will provide comparative data that could help resolve the government's claim that sunlight reflections or flashes generated by actions of the tanks caused the blips of light on the April l9 video……. The two cameras also will record footage of personnel running, crouching, firing weapons and maneuvering while wearing fire-resistant "Nomex" flight suits and body armor like that worn by the FBI's hostage rescue team in Waco. Other personnel will be photographed in black raid gear, sniper camouflage suits and camouflage rain gear……."

Dallas Morning News 2/17/00 Lee Hancock "….The protocol signed by all sides in the case on Wednesday includes no provision for allowing the media to cover the test. But both Mr. Bradford and lawyers for the sect said it remains undecided whether some form of media coverage will be allowed. …The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press filed a motion Tuesday asking Judge Smith to allow media to be present at Fort Hood. ……. "

Dallas Morning News 2/16/00 Lee Hancock "….Media organizations on Tuesday challenged the secrecy of a test to determine whether government agents fired on Branch Davidians in the 1993 siege. And lawyers for the sect publicly acknowledged disagreements about whether secret plans for the test included enough safeguards to ensure its validity. One lawyer for the Branch Davidians said Tuesday that he was so suspicious about the plans for the infrared field test that he was preparing a backup test at the site of the standoff. James Brannon, one of several lawyers representing sect members in a federal wrongful-death lawsuit, said his backup test would be carried out if the court-sponsored field trial at Fort Hood in March did not clearly demonstrate that the infrared camera used in the Waco siege could and did detect gunfire. But Mike Caddell, lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians, said after meeting Tuesday with the scientific experts who will supervise the test that he thought its design would address not only valid scientific questions but even popular theories unsupported by evidence. ……"

Dallas Morning News 2/16/00 Lee Hancock "….The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press filed a joint motion Tuesday requesting access to the test. "The public's interest in having an independent and objective source for information about the field test far outweighs any reason that might be offered for prohibiting media access," the motion argued. "Insofar as the government seeks to protect top secret or otherwise classified information, the media's presence at the field test does not compromise any such secrets. "The military equipment, ordnance and operations that will be utilized during the field test is the same equipment, ordnance and operations the media observed during . . . April 1993," the motion said. …..Mr. Brannon, whose clients include the family of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, said he fears that secrecy will undermine public confidence and needed outside scientific scrutiny. "I cannot put faith in a test that is essentially subject to being sabotaged, and I think this is," he said. "If this test does not show gunfire on both of the cameras being used, we will know that one or both have been rigged, and we will set up another, nonriggable test." ….."

Albuquerque Journal 2/16/00 Mike Taugher "…..The children of an isolationist religious sect remained in hiding early this week, more than two weeks after state authorities went to the group's compound south of Gallup and tried to take two of the children into protective custody. Meanwhile, some local law enforcement officials are criticizing the action by the state Children, Youth and Families Department, saying it was based on statements of a single witness who has a history of making unfounded allegations to police. The attempt to remove the children from the Aggressive Christianity Mission Training Corps followed a series of television news reports by Darren White, the state's former top police official, who recently quit his job as secretary of the Department of Public Safety and is working as a reporter for KRQE-TV, Channel 13. In reports beginning in December, White compared the group to three cults whose members died in dramatic fashion -- either mass suicides or, in the case of Waco, a massive fire. ….."

Associated Press 2/16/00 Connie Farrow "…..The government and lawyers for the Branch Davidians agreed Wednesday on how to re-create conditions of the 1993 siege on the group, in hopes of putting to rest questions about whether federal agents fired shots at the compound……. The decision to open the test rests with U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. He is presiding over the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Branch Davidians against the government. The government has insisted that no agents fired their weapons. But the Branch Davidian plaintiffs, backed by infrared experts, contend that the bursts of light on the FBI tape can be nothing other than gunfire. "When the test is completed, it will still be subject to interpretation by various parties," Bradford said. "I think that's going to be inevitable as part of the process." …….. "Personnel will be filmed in crouching, kneeling and in standing positions," Caddell said. "They will wear different types of body wear, such as body suits and camouflage, to help determine whether the clothing somehow keeps them from being visible" to infrared cameras…….. After the test, a company chosen by Danforth called Vector Data Systems will verify whether the conditions of the test were satisfactorily met. Vector will give the original tapes to the court, and the parties in the lawsuit will proceed with their own analyses of the data. ….."

yahoo.com 2/15/00 AP "…. News organizations asked a federal judge Tuesday to open to the public an upcoming field test that is likely to resolve the key outstanding question from the Branch Davidian siege: whether federal agents fired on the compound in the final fiery moments. In a motion, lawyers for The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press argued that the public's interest in the case trumps any secrecy claims that the government could assert concerning its conduct during the 51-day standoff…… Issues surrounding the siege and its deadly end continue to be of enormous interest to the public, Dallas attorney Paul Watler argued in Tuesday's filing on behalf of The Dallas Morning News and the AP. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Waco Tribune-Herald also planned to press the case for public access. "Shrouding the test in secrecy serves only to undermine the public's confidence in any such findings or conclusions," the news organizations said in the filing. …."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 2/14/00 Bill Gertz "….. The Justice Department did not prosecute the former head of its intelligence division despite his admission to investigators that he disclosed classified information, The Washington Times has learned. Richard Scruggs, a friend of Attorney General Janet Reno's, who brought him to Washington, provided secret information to two reporters about an electronic eavesdropping FBI operation against the Japanese group Aum Shin Rikyo in 1995, according to Justice Department officials familiar with the case. Justice Department officials disclosed some aspects of the investigation into unauthorized disclosure on condition of anonymity. It is the first time information has been disclosed from the secret court set up under the 1979 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Justice Department's downplaying of the Scruggs findings is similar to the CIA's limited response to former director John Deutch, who was caught mishandling classified documents but not prosecuted. In both cases, government officials have charged that security infractions were covered up to protect senior personnel……"

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 2/14/00 Bill Gertz "….. Mr. Scruggs worked with Miss Reno when she was a prosecutor in Florida and was offered a job on her Justice Department staff in the early 1990s. He was placed in charge of writing the 350-page "after action report" on the Justice Department's handling of the Branch Davidian standoff. The report was submitted in October 1993, six months after the incident……Some officials suggested Mr. Scruggs was not punished for disclosing intelligence because of his friendship with Miss Reno and because he helped protect her from criticism after the Waco affair….."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 2/14/00 Bill Gertz "…..Mr. Scruggs also was singled out for criticism in a recent internal Justice Department report on the department's mishandling of the case of fired Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, who is suspected of passing nuclear weapons secrets to China. The report by Justice official Randy Bellows criticized Mr. Scruggs for his role in setting the department's intelligence policy, including the decision not to seek a court order allowing the FBI to place Mr. Lee under surveillance early in the espionage investigation. One former U.S. government official said Mr. Scruggs' treatment showed the department covered up security infractions by senior officials, but aggressively pursued similar misconduct for lower-ranking officials. Numerous FBI investigations have been ordered by the Justice Department into other leaks of classified information…….. .CIA Director George Tenet, who is in charge of protecting all secrets, was never notified of the leak investigation, the officials said. The committees of Congress with oversight responsibility for the intelligence community also were not informed….."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 2/14/00 Bill Gertz "….. The reporters' book revealed that the FBI and Justice Department were at odds over how quickly to install electronic eavesdropping devices in the offices of Aum Shin Rikyo in New York shortly after the group's poison gas attack in a Tokyo subway. The surveillance and break-in at the group's New York offices required approval by the secret court set up under the 1979 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to authorize searches and eavesdropping in counterspy and counter-terrorism cases. According to the book, Mr. Scruggs delayed approval for the electronic bugging because of a lack of evidence. The holdup angered James Kallstrom, director of the FBI's New York office….."

THE WASHINGTON TIMES 2/14/00 Bill Gertz "….. Mr. Scruggs said he was assigned to "shadow" the two reporters during their work on the book and that the department's cooperation was approved by Miss Reno. Mr. Scruggs also said the probe was not "a leak investigation." However, other officials familiar with the case said it was. One official close to the investigation said Mr. Scruggs was the original source for the intelligence material contained in the book and admitted it during the subsequent investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility……"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2/15/00 William Freivogel Terry Ganey "….. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch went to court today to open Wednesday's meeting to discuss the scientific test for determining if the FBI fired at the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco siege. Attorneys for Pulitzer Inc., owner of the Post-Dispatch, filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. seeking permission to attend the unclassified portion of Wednesday's meeting. ……. In another court action, the Dallas Morning-News and The Associated Press are seeking to open the test itself. …… The newspaper cited Supreme Court decisions recognizing a First Amendment right to access to pretrial hearings and proceedings in civil cases. Before a judge can close a hearing, the court must "both articulate the interest it seeks to protect and make findings specific enough to permit a reviewing court to determine whether the closure order was properly entered.". …… The motion filed by the Dallas Morning News and the AP said that opening the test at Fort Hood would "assist the public in gaining a greater understanding of the events surrounding the Branch Davidian raid, including whether government agents fired shots on April 19, 1993."……. The news organizations argued that allowing the press to view the test did not threaten military secrets. The equipment that will be used is the same as that used at Waco in 1993 and the press would be no closer to it in the reenactment than it was during the original event. "Permitting the media to observe the operation of known military equipment...hardly poses a risk to any classified information." ……. A spokesman for the British government confirmed Tuesday that it had insisted that the test be closed as part of the agreement to provide a GEC Marconi infrared camera that is almost identical to the one used Waco…… Johnny Hodgkins, a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense, said he could not say why the test had to remain a secret. "It's a piece of military hardware," Hodgkins said. "We have sensitivities attached to bits of the equipment.'' …."

dallasnews.com 2/14/00 Lee Hancock "….A military scientist told Justice Department lawyers in 1996 that the FBI's infrared camera was capable of recording gunshots at Waco. But the government never pursued his proposal for tests to determine whether gunfire caused repeated flashes recorded at the end of the Branch Davidian siege, officials said. ……. The spokesman for the House committee re-examining the standoff said the Justice Department's handling of the Air Force scientist's recommendations and the recent field test proposals are the latest examples of what appears to be a long effort to avoid full disclosure of government actions in Waco. "This goes back to 1996. That's three years after the tragedy at Waco," committee spokesman Mark Corallo said. "So here we are, three years after the fact, with still unanswered questions, and the Justice Department somehow decided not to get the answers." "The perception is that they don't want to get to the bottom of this. Whatever their reasons are, the message that it sends to the public is one of cover-up and obfuscation," said Mr. Corallo, whose committee held extensive 1995 Waco hearings and began a new inquiry last fall. "Why not just do everything they can to answer the questions and put this case to rest?" ……."

dallasnews.com 2/14/00 Lee Hancock "….The scientist was questioned at Mr. Danforth's St. Louis office and interviewed in Washington. Officials familiar with his account said he told investigators that he was working at the National Air Intelligence Center in late 1996 when he was contacted by Justice Department lawyers. The center, part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, evaluates foreign military technology……… The Justice lawyers told the Air Force scientist in late 1996 that they needed help in evaluating repeated, rhythmic flashes on a videotape recorded by an airborne FBI infrared camera April 19, 1993, the last day of the Branch Davidian siege……. A retired defense expert had given the sect's lawyers a written opinion in March 1996 that the flashes could have come only from government gunfire. That declaration was filed in September 1996 in the Branch Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit………Many of the flashes on the video that the plaintiff's expert called gunfire appeared around government tanks that were bashing into the sect's building and spraying in tear gas. Others appeared to come from compound windows, toward the tanks. ……"

dallasnews.com 2/14/00 Lee Hancock "….He offered the opinion shared by independent infrared experts that the camera's capabilities would allow detection of only a fraction of any series of shots fired. Some experts with extensive experience in infrared analysis have said they would expect about 50 of any 100 shots to be detected and recorded by the type of camera used in Waco. The Air Force scientist, who had not previously done infrared such as the M-16 or the M-60……. Some FBI agents in the April 19 operation carried CAR-15 assault rifles, short-barreled versions of the M-16. That could prove important, some experts said, because the muzzle flash of a CAR-15 extends almost a foot from its barrel, while the M-16 flash extends a few inches. "If an M-16 could show up, then a CAR-15 would be even more likely to be detected. The blast from a CAR-15 looks like a blowtorch," one expert said......."

dallasnews.com 2/14/00 Lee Hancock "….Even after Judge Walter Smith ordered a test, Justice lawyers filed a pleading in late November arguing that any field test would be unreliable and inadmissible in court. They said the FBI camera was one of a kind and had been significantly upgraded since 1993, making an accurate test impossible. They added that it would also be impossible to replicate environmental conditions of April 19. Justice lawyers instead proposed theoretical studies to explore what gunfire might look like and whether it would show up at all - the same kind of analysis that federal officials said the Air Force physicist had conducted in 1996 before proposing a field test…….. In late December, the Waco special counsel's office filed a court pleading stating that it had learned from the maker of the FBI camera that it was a relatively common device still used by foreign military forces. That filing stated that the government had dropped its opposition and accepted a British infrared expert chosen by the special counsel as court-appointed supervisor for a field test. ...... In January, British government officials said, the special counsel asked to borrow a Royal Navy Sea Owl infrared system mounted on a Lynx helicopter for the court-ordered field test. Experts say the camera is identical to the FBI's 1993 device……."

postnet.com St Louis Post-Dispatch 2/14/00 William Freivogel "….The public and the press will be barred from next month's test to determine whether the FBI fired on the Branch Davidians during the 1993 siege near Waco, Texas. The public will also be barred from Wednesday's meeting to plan the test. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. told the Post-Dispatch Monday that reporters would not be able to attend the test. "For national security and safety reasons, access will be strictly limited," he wrote. "Neither the media nor the public will be permitted to attend." In a brief interview Monday, Smith said the decision was not his. "You have two governments here, and the British government is the one with the national security concerns," he said…….. The decisions to close the test and the meeting about the test ran into strong criticism on Monday from legal and constitutional experts and from lawyers for those Branch Davidians who survived the 1993 siege and are suing the government. ……Paul McMasters, the First Amendment ombudsman at the Freedom Forum in Arlington, Va., noted that the government had pushed back the press before the ill-fated assault on the complex in 1993. "If the press had been allowed to cover the actual event, we might not be having to go through a court case and a government investigation seven years later," said McMasters, the former managing editor of the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader…… McMasters said that relying on the use of British equipment to explain why the test is closed seems to be more of a "cover story" than a good reason for keeping the press out. ……. Ronald Levin, a Washington University law professor and an expert on court procedures, said the Wednesday meeting is unusual because it is being held in Danforth's office instead of the judge's. ……. Michael Caddell, the lawyer for the Branch Davidians, blamed the Justice Department for the secrecy. "I know that obviously the government was admantly opposed to having anyone present," he said. "I think the judge probably erred on the side of caution. When you raise the specter of national security, it's kind of hard for a judge to say no to that. It's a trump card that gets pulled out, and frankly, there is little he can do. It would be beneficial for the press . . . to observe the test. ….."

Michelle Mittelstadt, Associated Press 9/14/99 "…The federal prosecutor who raised questions about a possible Justice Department cover-up in the Waco standoff was abruptly removed from the case along with his boss, according to a court filing made public today. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder recused U.S. Attorney James W. Blagg in San Antonio and assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston in Waco from any further dealings in criminal or civil proceedings related to the siege. Holder appointed the U.S. attorney in a neighboring district as a "special attorney to the U.S. attorney general.'' …."

Michelle Mittelstadt, Associated Press 9/14/99 "…Johnston also has been at odds with Blagg, his superior, and other Justice officials over the investigation of the government's actions during the standoff with the Davidians at their compound outside Waco. It was Johnston who pressed Justice Department officials to allow independent filmmakers to review evidence sifted from the charred ruins of the Davidians' compound — evidence that led to the FBI's recent admission that potentially incendiary tear gas canisters were fired on April 19, 1993. …..The recusal notice provides no explanation for Holder's action….."

Reuters 9/13/99 "...The Justice Department gave Congress documents in 1995 describing the use of military tear gas rounds during the assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, congressional Democrats said Monday. ..... The documents, sent to the panel during its 1995 probe of the incident, include summaries of interviews with FBI agents who participated in the assault and a co-pilot of the FBI surveillance plane above the compound, who reported hearing radio traffic describing ``some sort of military round to be used on a concrete bunker.'' Others include handwritten notes stating ``smoke from bunker came when these guys tried to shoot gas into the bunker (military gas round)'' and noting the use of ``one military tear gas round ... rounds bounced off.'' One summary of an interview with an FBI agent by a Justice Department attorney stated that ``smoke on film came from attempt to penetrate bunker w/1 military and 2 ferret rounds.''....``For six years the Justice Department has claimed it did not use any pyrotechnic devices,'' panel spokesman Mark Corallo said. ``Nothing Mr. Waxman said today can change the fact the Justice Department knew about this for six years and has denied using these devices for six years.'' ....."

World Net Daily 9/14/99 Joe Farah "….Yesterday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that FBI agent Charles Riley said all the way back in June 1993 that he heard shots fired from a sniper post occupied by agent Lon Horiuchi, according to court documents filed by Branch Davidians and relatives as part of a wrongful-death suit scheduled to go to trial next month….Imagine that. Eight months earlier, Horiuchi had blown Vickie Weaver's head off while she stood in a doorway in an isolated rural area. She was no threat to anyone, not wanted on any charges and, of course, unarmed -- unless the FBI now considers infants dangerous weapons. Horiuchi was indicted for manslaughter by Idaho authorities for the shooting, but the charges were thrown out. ….. "

World Net Daily 9/14/99 Joe Farah "….The FBI spent two years investigating Horiuchi's actions at Ruby Ridge, ultimately giving him a clean bill of health. But, in light of the latest Waco revelations, let's review those actions. On Aug. 21, the FBI killed Weaver's son, Sammy. The next day, overcome with grief, Weaver, his 16-year-old daughter, Sara, and a friend, Kevin Harris, ventured out of their cabin to see Sammy and bury him. As Weaver reached the shed where his son's body rested, Lon Horiuchi opened fire on him. One round struck Weaver's underam. "I'm hit," Weaver hollered. Daughter Sara tried desperately to push her father back to the safety of the cabin. Harris ran, his back to the snipers. "I'm hit, Momma," Randy had cried to Vicki as he ran toward the door that Vicki had been holding open for them. "I'm hit." "Get in here!" Vicki shouted. Those were her last words. Horiuchi's bullet smashed into her head and blew off the side of her face. And after she fell, her husband pried the baby from her arms. Weaver and his daughter dragged Vickie's body through the kitchen, her blood flooding the floor.

World Net Daily 9/14/99 Joe Farah "….Horiuchi told investigators he had been trying to kill Harris when he hit Vickie….. Nevetheless, despite all the obvious questions, there was Horiuchi again, eight months later -- on the firing line, in the sniper's post -- when the FBI's targets included women and kids in a church compound in Texas. Once again, the FBI's favorite hitman had an itchy trigger finger. One of his own colleagues reports he heard rounds firing from his perch on the last tragic day of the Waco siege. This story is getting stranger all the time. Just when you thought you had heard the worst about your government, it surprises you with new lows of murderous contempt for human decency. But, remember, Horiuchi is only a trigger man. Like he told investigators in a plea reminiscent of the Nazi war criminals: 'I was only following orders.' Indeed, he was. Let's not allow Horiuchi to be the scapegoat for Waco…."

Washington Post 9/14/99 Lorraine Adams David Vise "...The report raises questions about whether the FBI used gunfire on the final day of the siege, which the bureau has denied...... They found shell casings "which may show that the FBI snipers fired rounds on 04-19-93," according to their report. The Rangers also found a device called a "thumper round" and concluded it was designed to knock down a door and could, under certain conditions, start a fire. ....

Washington Post 9/14/99 Lorraine Adams David Vise "...In an emotional five-page letter, a Justice Department official in Texas has warned Attorney General Janet Reno that she has been misled by people within her own department about the Waco siege and the role of federal agents. The letter from U.S. Assistant Attorney William Johnston reveals a catalogue of frustrations--with the FBI for altering the original crime scene, with Justice Department officials for their poor handling of the 1995 congressional probes, and with the department's torts branch for trying to keep evidence from the public. "I have formed the belief that facts may have been kept from you--and quite possibly are being kept from you even now, by components of the Department," Johnston wrote in a letter dated Aug. 30....The letter was released yesterday by the Texas Department of Public Safety as an appendix to a Texas Rangers' report outlining overlooked Waco evidence......In passages that take up the majority of the letter, Johnston said many people inside the Justice Department knew this past summer of the FBI's use of devices that could have caused the fire but failed to tell Reno...... "It is my own hypothesis that the Torts Branch has had these documents for years, and that they decided not to make them available to plaintiffs," Johnston wrote. "The Torts Branch or some other component also apparently decided not to let you know about these documents." ...."

Washington Times 9/14/99 Jerry Seper "....An FBI sharpshooter who killed the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver during a 1992 siege in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, manned a sniper post outside the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, where Texas Rangers found spent rifle casings. FBI Hostage Rescue Team member Lon Horiuchi, who saw involuntary manslaughter charges brought by state officials in the death of Vicki Weaver later dismissed by a federal court, was in one of two sniper posts outside the Davidian compound during the FBI's 1993 Waco siege. A report released yesterday by the Texas Rangers on the Waco tragedy said a dozen .308-caliber shell casings, two dozen .223 casings, three .45 casings and a .22-250 casing were found at the post manned by Mr. Horiuchi and at another sniper site. The .308 casings are similar to those often used by snipers and are consistent with the round used by Mr. Horiuchi in the death of Mrs. Weaver. Mr. Horiuchi, a 15-year FBI veteran and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., has not been available for comment. He told Justice investigators shortly after the Waco raid that "none of the snipers under his control at Sierra-1 fired any rounds from their weapons.".....

Washington Times 9/14/99 Jerry Seper ".........During the April 1993 Waco raid, FBI agents were authorized to use deadly force. Richard Rogers, head of the hostage-rescue team, said that while the Davidians did shoot at the agents, the FBI did not fire "a single shot" because they did not "acquire clear and identifiable targets." But two experts in thermal imaging are expected to testify during the wrongful death trial that an infrared video shows that gunfire was directed at the compound. That testimony and the Riley statement were what U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr., who will oversee the trial, cited as "at least some evidence" to support the claims that Davidians were afraid they would be shot if they tried to escape from the compound. Judge Smith refused to dismiss Mr. Horiuchi as an individual defendant in the suit, although he dismissed other individual defendants, including numerous FBI and ATF agents. Mr. Horiuchi testified he did not mean to shoot Mrs. Weaver, 42, as she stood in the doorway of their remote Idaho cabin. He said the shot was intended for Kevin Harris, a family friend who was armed. The fatal shot came from a distance of 200 yards, fired from a specially modified .308-caliber sniper rifle. A federal judge dismissed the state charges against Mr. Horiuchi in May 1998, saying he was acting in the line of duty. The Justice Department had argued he was protected by an 1891 Supreme Court ruling preventing federal officers from being prosecuted by states for actions within the scope of their job...."

Washington Times 9/14/99 Jerry Seper ".........Coupled with reports of the expended shell casings and a two-page statement by FBI Agent Charles Riley -- who said he heard shots fired from a sniper post occupied by Mr. Horiuchi -- the new information will generate further public and political pressure for full disclosure of the FBI's actions in Waco.....But bureau officials, who asked not to be identified, said Mr. Riley later retracted his statement, saying he heard no gunshots from the sniper post.....Commissioner James B. Francis, who heads the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said there is some indication "gunfire took place there by government police officers," although he declined to elaborate. He said it was "a subject matter that needs to be investigated."

Washington Times 9/14/99 Jerry Seper ".........In an Oct. 30, 1993, report, the Justice Department said the FBI and the ATF acted responsibly during the siege and that Branch Davidian leader David Koresh was to blame for the carnage. Records show the FBI told Justice within months of the raid it had used incendiary devices, but the department never made the information available to Congress or the public....."

Washington Times 9/14/99 Jerry Seper ".........In a December 1993 report, the FBI said it had found "a fired U.S. military 40 mm shell casing which originally contained a CS gas round" and two other "expended 40 mm tear gas projectiles." That information was listed on the last page of a 49-page report the FBI gave to Justice and the Rangers. Justice said last week only the first 48 pages of the report were turned over to Congress, which held hearings on the siege in mid-1995. Congressional Democrats argued yesterday, however, that Justice gave Congress the full report in 1995, saying the entire 49-page document was located by Democratic staff members in House Government Reform Committee files. Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California, ranking Democrat on the committee, said he has forwarded the documents to Mr. Danforth.....

Washington Times 9/14/99 Jerry Seper ".........Meanwhile, Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Nizam Peerwani said he would welcome the opportunity to reopen his inquiry into how the Davidians died. He headed the team that performed autopsies on Mr. Koresh and his followers, including the children, and said it may be possible to determine whether any of the 23 Davidians killed by gunfire were shot from outside the compound....."

News World Communications, Inc. Mark England Tribune-Herald staff writer ".....Edward Allard was listed among the plaintiffs' expert witnesses for the lawsuit, set for trial on Oct. 18. Allard - who made similar claims in the 1997 film Waco: Rules of Engagemen t - said he recently analyzed another FLIR tape brought to him by Mike McNulty, who is producing his second film on Waco....... "Any layman can look at what I looked at and say it's gunshots, assuming he knows something about gunshots," said Allard, who worked 10 years in the Army's Night Vision Laboratory and is a physicist at a private company in Virginia. On at least three occasions, the FLIR film he analyzed showed automatic weapons fire directed at the Davidians on April 19, 1993, once while their residence was in flames, Allard said. A government plane shot the FLIR images while circling Mount Carmel at 9,000 feet. "What the FLIR shows is that while a fire is engulfing the kitchen area, gun positions on the outside are pouring automatic gunfire in there," Allard said. "I stopped counting at 45 shots. You don't see 45 shots. You see a flash here, a flash there. But if you break the film down, you can actually count the number of rounds." The gun positions were about 30 yards away from the kitchen area, according to Allard, who believes the Davidians were essentially trapped in the fire. Justice Department and FBI officials declined to comment on Allard's allegations....."

News World Communications, Inc. Mark England Tribune-Herald staff writer ".....Attorney Mike Caddell, who represents some of the plaintiffs in the Davidian lawsuit, said he saw the FLIR tape that Allard analyzed. Caddell plans to present it during the upcoming trial, he said. "I think it's the most dramatic evidence that there was gunfire from government positions," Caddell said. "At the end of the day, I think that's what this case is going to be about. I don't know this many years after the fact if we can prove who started the fire." Allard said the FLIR tape also shows two instances where men fired at least 15 shots at the Davidians while using a tank as cover. ...... A firm hired by the Washington Post to examine the FLIR images seen in Waco: Rules of Engagement argued that the flashes could be reflections of sunlight. Allard dismissed that premise, arguing that the company making the claim handles government contracts. He also claimed its methodology for studying the FLIR tape was flawed. Allard said you can measure the flashes shown on the FLIR tape in 60ths of a second. Some of the flashes last 3/60ths of a second, which he said corresponds to automatic weapons fire. "No technical person I know of that's looked at the tapes said it's anything but gunfire," Allard said. ...."

News World Communications, Inc. Mark England Tribune-Herald staff writer ".....The FLIR tape also picked up an image of Davidians on rooftops shooting at targets away from their residence, according to Allard, who said the gunfire took place before the fire. "All we saw were two gun positions on the roof," Allard said. "We couldn't see the men at all. They had warmed up. They were the same temperature as the roof. The FLIR, which sees changes in temperature, couldn't see them. We saw flashes, three of them. They appeared to be firing into the field around them." ....."

The American Partisan 9/14/99 Michael Allen "....Danforth was a moderate senator when he served, never imagining that anything was wrong with America except that it had a high deficit. He was not the sort of man who was worried about government tyranny. As head of the committee, he will likely not want to stir up a "rebellion of the radicals." But that may be unavoidable now. The radicals know the significance of Waco in American History....... After the initial outrage, and subsequent Justice Department cover-up, news of the incident was only found from dedicated researchers. Yet now, there is a revival of investigating the raid. New FBI revelations have spurred a flurry of anti-government rhetoric from the Right. Even if it is mere partisanship (how many Republicans asked for George Bush to resign after Ruby Ridge?), at least it is directed against the State...... Now, Reno's Justice Department will continue its shameless manipulation of truth. In the current federal government, the department is not looking to protect the people from government but government from public scrutiny. Little wonder then, that it has been the Texas Rangers who have been tireless in obtaining federal documents and protecting FBI agents-turned-informants from harassment and threats by the Justice Department. This is the way federalism should work - the state protecting its citizens from federal power. However, Texas can't punish Janet Reno, President Clinton, and the others who commanded the raid. It is Congress who must do that. Unfortunately, one sees Reno and Clinton dancing jigs at the thought of being seriously investigated by this Congress...... After all, Danforth is brought in by Reno. She would not hire her own hitman. Danforth will see them fairly; he is an honest man. But he would never have been brought in if he sees things with radical vision (otherwise known as "seeing things as they are"). He won't scratch too far below the surface. If anyone does, it will be the Texas Rangers -- if the Feds don't crush them first....."

The Cincinnati Enquirer 9/12/99 Peter Bronson ".... As the charred remains of 82 men, women and children were still cooling, tanks lurched back and forth crushing the rubble, caught on video tape obliterating evidence of what took place at Mt. Carmel on April 19, 1993. Some blame stupidity. Some think it was criminal. I'd call it criminally stupid...... Instead, the ATF-Troop tipped Dallas TV stations to expect "something big," assembled an assault team trained by Army Special Forces and invaded Mt. Carmel in cattle trucks. Along the way, a TV crew spilled news of the attack to a mailman - a Davidian who called to warn Mt. Carmel. Surprise was lost. The ATF knew it. They went in anyway. ...... Now, six years after the FBI went in to clean up the ATF's mess - and made it worse - another outside investigation will ask if the FBI also lied and covered up its criminal stupidity. It would be nice to know who shot first, if the FBI's pyrotechnic devices and tear gas started the fire, and if tanks deliberately destroyed evidence. But the big question is: Why did this happen? ......My theory: The ATF, threatened with funding cuts, found an easy target for TV publicity by cooking up lies about guns and drugs stockpiled by a Texas cult. Their raid backfired and the ensuing FBI siege (Nancy Sinatra tapes and dying rabbits) made the new president look wimpy. Bill Clinton called the shots on Waco through his Justice Department crony, Webster Hubbell. Attorney General Janet Reno was as clueless as she looks - out to lunch when the assault began...... "

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/14/99 Susan Parrott "....Caddell said he is still waiting on key evidence from the government, including audio tapes and videotapes from April 19, 1993, the day that the Davidians' compound 10 miles west of Waco went up in flames, killing David Koresh and about 80 of his followers, ending a 51-day siege. In the government's motion, attorneys said they have gathered for the plaintiffs approximately seven boxes of documents, plus several boxes containing videotapes, audio tapes, photographs, diagrams and other materials. "Additional files are being searched, and it is expected that more materials may be made available shortly," the motion states...... "

Detroit News 9/14/99 Jonathan Weisman The Baltimore Sun "....The documents, which have been in the possession of House Republicans for the past four years, disclose the FBI's use of potentially incendiary tear gas rounds during the disastrous assault in 1993. "They appear to conflict fundamentally with the assertions ... that evidence about the use of military tear gas rounds was deliberately withheld from Congress," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., in a letter to former Sen. John C. Danforth, the Waco special counsel. The newly released documents mesh well with a report released Monday by the Texas Rangers, in which Ranger Sgt. George L. Turner revealed that FBI agents told him in January 1994 about the use of military rounds. Turner indicated that he did not see the significance of the admission. "I never came forward with the information that would seem to indicate that an explosive projectile was fired on April 19, 1993," Turner admitted, in a June 30 letter to a superior, Chief Bruce Casteel. "But I was never asked the question." ....."

Ft Worth Star-Telegram 9/14/99 Ron Hutcheson Gabrielle Crist ".... New congressional investigations into the 1993 standoff near Waco have resulted from recent news reports that the FBI did not disclose the use of military-type canisters until this year. But Waxman, a Democrat from California, said congressional investigators were told about the canisters during the 1995 round of investigations. Waxman cited documents from the FBI and the Justice Department that repeatedly refer to military canisters without specifically mentioning the possibility that they can generate fire...... Burton said the evidence gathered by the Texas Rangers "raises new concerns that require further investigation by Congress." Other critics of the Justice Department said Waxman's findings concerning the pyrotechnic tear gas canisters do not exonerate Attorney General Janet Reno or her subordinates because federal agents never highlighted the information. "In 1995, three days before the hearings, they dumped over 100,000 pages worth of documents on the committee staff," Burton's spokesman Mark Corallo said. "I think it was up to them to point it out to us." Corallo also noted that Reno has said that she was unaware of the combustible canisters...... "

Ft Worth Star-Telegram 9/14/99 Ron Hutcheson Gabrielle Crist ".... The report from the Texas Rangers opens a new line of inquiry by raising the possibility that FBI snipers shot at the Branch Davidians..... Included in the 24,000 pounds of evidence was a spent casing from a 40 mm. cartridge believed to have been used to knock down a door so gas could be dispensed, the report says..... "Mike McNulty has advised me that other evidence held by the DPS is crucial to proving some of his suspicions that the FBI and ATF have not been truthful in their account of the Branch Davidian investigation." Ranger Sgt. Joey D. Gordon wrote. For example, McNulty asserts that a blue knit cap worn by a Davidian who was killed during the ATF raid might provide evidence that the man was shot at close range, which contradicts reports by ATF agents who say he was shot from a distance...."

Ft Worth Star-Telegram 9/14/99 Ron Hutcheson Gabrielle Crist ".... The report also includes a June 1999 interoffice memo from Ranger Sgt. George L. Turner, who says he recovered a "thumper round" from the scene, which was later identified as the 40 mm cartridge believed to have been used to knock down the door. Turner's memo says the FBI fired the thumper round, which is highly explosive. Turner notified Rangers and FBI officials of his findings but he did not pursue the matter further. "I never came forward with the information that would seem to indicate that an explosive projectile was fired on April 19, 1993," Turner wrote in the memo. "But I was never asked the question. If I had been, I would have naturally responded with the truth." Turner said Ranger officials who testified in the 1995 Senate subcommittee hearings were reminded of the "possibility of an explosive round having been fired." ...."

Daily Republican 9/14/99 Howard Hobbs "....Internal FBI documents coming to light on Monday reveal the active participation in widespread cover-ups since 1993 by some of the highest officials in the Clinton administration. Public attention is now centering on a clumsy cover-up which would have kept the public in the dark about a 1993 Clinton administration order sending a U.S. Army Ranger Unit to illegally take up arms against American citizens.....The documents cast new light on how the Clinton administration concealed the truth about FBI use of incendiary tear gas grenades and finally opens up some of the darker aspects of the cover-up....."

Daily Republican 9/14/99 Howard Hobbs ".... After 51 days of seige by the Army and a host of law enforcement agencies, the Church was burned to the ground with its members still inside, That was on April 19, 1993. Documents filed at that time appear to point the finger at the Clinton administration which deliberately mislead the public and Congress denying use of explosive gas grenades. Attorney General Janet Reno told reporters this week she, "...did not see any documents on the subject until two weeks ago." However, documents released to the public on Monday, clearly include the use of the explosive military tear gas [mortar] rounds in he raid. Ms. Reno has maintained that even though she is responsible for the actions of the Justice Department, and the FBI, she denies responsibility for the fire or the deaths or the FBI destruction of evidence that the fire started by use of gas grenade weapons. Reno has stated she was not uniformed that the gas grenades she authorized for use at the Davidian Church were explosives....."

Daily Republican 9/14/99 Howard Hobbs "....Representative Dan Burton (R) said Reno failed to inform Congress about the combustible weapons after it was revealed on Friday that a 1993 FBI lab report had been sent to the Government just as the Oversight Committee was preparing for Waco hearings in 1995...."

Boston Globe 9/14/99 James Carroll "… Former Senator John Danforth, defining the purpose of his Waco investigation, distinguishes between bad judgments and bad actions. Only the latter, he says, are his concern…..The government's mistake at Waco transcends, but is related to, the issues of whether ''military style'' flammable tear-gas canisters were fired at the Branch Davidian compound and whether that fact was covered up by the FBI. The profound act of bad judgment that led to those alleged bad actions was the prior decision to militarize government curtailment of the Koresh commune in the first place…"

Boston Globe 9/14/99 James Carroll "… Once a siege was set with the massing of fatigue-clad agents, on-scene advisers from an elite military commando unit, buzzing helicopters, armed vehicles, and a tank, what should have been a civilian law enforcement operation morphed into an instance of martial law…. They stopped thinking like civilian law officers, whose purpose is to maintain order with a minimal use of force, and began thinking like soldiers who, once in combat, do whatever it takes to win. Once the martial drumbeat began, negotiators' efforts at persuasion had to seem untrustworthy to the besieged and all too soft to the besiegers. Soldiers know, perhaps better than police, that the law of critical mass applies to the mustering of arms: Once an overwhelming force is fully deployed, it carries its own momentum to be used, whether wisely or not. By the time Janet Reno was presented with the decision of whether to attack the Davidians, the pressures to do so were probably irresistible. As Colin Powell would be the first to say, don't set a siege unless you want a battle…."

Boston Globe 9/14/99 James Carroll "… A democratic society necessarily distinguishes between police and military functions precisely because in conditions of war, regard for civil liberties is an inevitable first casualty. Another is the principle of accountability to those outside the body of war makers. The Waco case, with the FBI behaving like an army at war both during the siege and in subsequent investigations, seems to have involved both abuses. When law enforcement becomes defined as war, as in the war on drugs; when police departments assemble arsenals appropriate to heavy combat; when traditional blue uniforms are commonly traded in for fatigues and jack-boots; when cops become commandos, an ultimate and prior bad judgment can lead increasingly to the bad action of government violence. The militarization of law enforcement, from federal to local levels, has infected this country like a virus. Waco is not the disease but a symptom. …"

New York Times 9/14/99 David Johnston Neil Lewis "….Internal F.B.I. documents disclosed on Monday by a Democratic lawmaker show that information about the use of combustible tear-gas canisters at the 1993 Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Tex., has sat in the Justice Department's files for years and was even sent to Congress no later than 1995. The documents cast new light on when different parts of the Government first had information about the use of the tear gas cannisters and may alter the dynamics of the renewed outcry over events surrounding the Federal Bureau of Investigation tear-gas attack at the Branch Davidian compound, which burned to the ground on April 19, 1993. The documents show that even though the Justice Department sent United States marshals to the F.B.I.'s headquarters two weeks ago to seize infrared videotapes that contained references to the use of the tear gas rounds, the department had for years possessed F.B.I. records in its own files that showed such devices were used at the cult's compound. The seizure was ordered by Attorney General Janet Reno, who was angry because she had maintained for six years that the F.B.I. had done nothing that could have caused the fire….."

New York Times 9/14/99 David Johnston Neil Lewis "….In addition, the documents provide evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has been accused by some in Congress, the Clinton Administration and the public of misleading the Justice Department about the issue, did provide information about the use of the rounds to Ms. Reno's subordinates on several occasions. Ms. Reno has said she did not see any documents on the subject until two weeks ago. Even so, there is no indication in the documents made public on Monday that F.B.I. officials clearly explained to civilian counterparts at the Justice Department the implications of using the rounds.. .."

New York Times 9/14/99 David Johnston Neil Lewis "….In a separate development, the Texas Rangers released a report to Congress today that said the Rangers, who collected evidence after the tear gas assault, had found spent cartridges from two different types of sniper rifles carried by F.B.I. agents during the 51-day siege. The long-held position of the F.B.I. is that agents did not fire a single shot. Later, officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said its agents had fired the two types of weapons in question during an early, ill-fated raid on the compound in February 1993. But the officials said they had never determined whether the shell casings came from the A.T.F.'s weapons. Federal law enforcement officials said today that the shell casings were collected by F.B.I. agents after they arrived in Waco in March 1993….."

New York Times 9/14/99 David Johnston Neil Lewis "….One document found in the Justice Department's files that was sent to the committee in 1995 is an interview report of an F.B.I. agent dated June 6, 1993. In it the agent, Wayne Smith, recalled hearing a conversation about "some sort of military round" being used. The second document was a summary of testimony of members of the Hostage Rescue Team, the F.B.I. unit that carried out the tear-gas assault. The summary said that there had been an "attempt to penetrate bunker w/1 military round and two ferret rounds. Military round was grey bubblehead w/green base." The third document was comprised of undated, handwritten notes that appear to have been taken close to the date of the assault. It said, "smoke from bunker came when these guys tried to shoot gas into bunker (military gas round)." …"

Associated Press 9/14/99 Michelle Mittelstadt "….``There is no indication that Chairman Burton or his staff thought to review these documents before accusing the attorney general of a cover-up,'' Waxman, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to the special counsel investigating the recently revived Waco controversy. ``Contrary to the allegations of cover-up, substantial evidence of the use of military tear gas rounds was, in fact, provided to Congress in 1995,'' said Waxman, who is top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee…..Burton, who chairs the committee, said the Justice Department buried the panel in an avalanche of documents shortly before the 1995 hearings began, and congressional investigators depended on a Justice summary to guide them. ``The Justice Department dumped 100,000 documents on the committee three days before the hearings, knowing that they couldn't possibly go through them,'' the Indiana Republican said in an interview. Although Burton was on the Government Reform Committee in 1995, he was not on the subcommittee that led the investigation. Burton also noted that the Justice Department was forced to acknowledge last week that it failed in 1995 to give Congress the key page from a 1993 FBI lab report mentioning the use of military tear gas. The final page of that 49-page report, with the key tear gas mention, was missing, he noted. ``I don't think that's a coincidence,'' he said….."

Associated Press 9/14/99 Michelle Mittelstadt "….A Houston lawyer who is representing surviving Davidians in their upcoming wrongful-death lawsuit against the government, said the records offer little proof of candor by Justice and FBI officials in their earlier appearances on Capitol Hill. ``The point is not whether anybody ever discussed the use of military rounds. The point is that representations were made that no pyrotechnic devices were used ... and unless you were a munitions expert, you would not know that military CS gas was necessarily a pyrotechnic device,'' said lawyer Michael Caddell. …."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "…. A Texas Rangers report on evidence from the Branch Davidian siege resolves some mysteries but deepens others, including questions about whether the government fired guns or high explosives on the final day of the 1993 tragedy. The report sent Friday to Congress indicates that the Rangers' evidence trove includes a dozen .308-caliber sniper rifle shell casings and 24 Israeli-made .223-caliber casings recovered from a house used by the FBI's hostage rescue team throughout the 51-day siege. It was the same house from which FBI documents indicate an FBI agent initially reported hearing shots fired on the final day of the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco. The agent has since said that account was wrong, and FB officials insist that none of their agents fired a single shot during the standoff. Bureau officials have noted that the shell casings could have come from agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who used the house as a sniper post and shot repeatedly at the Branch Davidian compound when a gunfight broke out as as they tried to search it on Feb. 28, 1993…."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "…. But the issue is a cornerstone of a federal lawsuit filed by surviving Branch Davidians against the government. And the discovery of shell casings is potentially even more explosive because the FBI agent in charge of the sniper post was Lon Horiuchi, the FBI sniper who fatally shot the wife of a white separatist during the federal standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in late 1992. Mr. Horiuchi has denied firing any shots in Waco, but a federal judge presiding over the Branch Davidian lawsuit recently refused to drop him as a defendant in the case. While the Rangers' report conclusively answers questions about the nature of some evidence - including shell casings from a pyrotechnic tear-gas grenade and two 40-mm projectiles - it offers no conclusions about the potential significance of those items, the sniper rounds or any other evidence under scrutiny….."We now have ballistics exams that can take a shell casing and determine exactly what gun it was fired from," said one Texas official. "We need to see what weapons ATF had and what weapons FBI had, and we can tell you exactly which ones fired these shells. "This is something that has never been looked at," the official said. "There are things here that are potentially very troubling."…."

9/13/99 FoxNews "…A dozen spent rifle cartridges of a type often used by snipers were recovered from a house used by the FBI during the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound, the Texas Rangers reported Monday. For six years federal agents have denied firing shots during the standoff….. In an account the FBI has since said was wrong, an FBI agent initially reported hearing shots fired from that house on the siege's final day. The Rangers disclosed that 12 .308-caliber casings and two dozen Israeli-manufactured .223-caliber casings were recovered from a house used by the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team during the 51-day siege. The special investigator named by Attorney General Janet Reno will have to determine whether the shell casings came from FBI agents or from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents, who had used the same house 51 days earlier during a botched raid to serve weapons warrants on the Davidians….."

9/13/99 FoxNews "…In a report submitted to Congress, the Rangers also released a letter by a federal prosecutor who told Attorney General Janet Reno that Justice Department officials may have withheld facts from her regarding the FBI's use of potentially incendiary tear-gas canisters. "I have formed the belief that facts may have been kept from you — and quite possibly are being kept from you even now, by components of the department," Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston in Waco, Texas, wrote in his Aug. 30 letter …. The report, subpoenaed by the House Government Reform Committee, confirmed that a 40mm shell casing re-examined by the Rangers was a type of military tear gas round that "burns at 500 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, and is capable of igniting flammable items."

The Dallas Morning News first disclosed contents of the report Monday….."

Washington Times 9/13/99 Editorial "…If Miss Reno had any sense of accountability, she would resign. She has become farcical. Can you imagine how then-Rep. Chuck Schumer, who compared Congress' 1995 Waco oversight hearings to "Monday-morning quarterbacking," would have reacted to news that Ed Meese's Justice Department had produced for Congress an Iran-Contra document that omitted the most vital page, which contained information contradicting repeated assertions by the Reagan administration? Here's how one of Miss Reno's colleagues at Justice hilariously -- anonymously, of course -- explained the latest travesty to The Washington Post, "Sometimes the staple doesn't go all the way through and a page gets lost. I'm sure that's what happened here." A total farce. …."

Fox News 9/13/99 Jonathan Broder "….A congressional probe into the 1993 fatal assault on the Branch Davidian compound is focusing on suspicions that federal law enforcement officials trumped up drug manufacturing charges to pave the way for their attack on the group. A senior official with the House Committee on Government Reform told Fox News Online that the military determined that the drug charges were "bogus," and that investigators are now trying to determine why the Army nevertheless became involved in the Waco siege and assault, and to what extent soldiers participated. "The question is: Why were the military folks — who were pretty strident against having any involvement — overruled? And who overruled them?" said the committee official, who spoke on condition of anonymity…."

Fox News 9/13/99 Jonathan Broder "….Official documents obtained by Fox News Online show a senior Army Special Forces lawyer warned his commanders that the direct involvement of soldiers in a civilian operation against the cult’s Waco compound would violate the so-called posse comitatus law, which bans the use of U.S. The lawyer, Maj. Philip W. Lindley, judge advocate for the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, also questioned whether an amendment to the law, which permits the use of military personnel in domestic anti-drug operations, could be cited to justify the deployment of forces from the Army’s Joint Task Force (JTF) against the Branch Davidians. The JTF is a special Army unit that was created to assist law enforcement in drug-related cases. "Since these are point targets with identified civilian subjects, this falls outside the scope of JTF mission and cannot be accomplished," Lindley wrote in a memo dated Feb. 3, 1993. This was three weeks before the 51-day Branch Davidian siege began.

Fox News 9/13/99 Jonathan Broder "….Referring to the anti-drug amendment, Lindley warned that the JTF could face both criminal and civil liability unless the government had a strong drug case against the Branch Davidians. "The case law is clear and the burden is still upon the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the military’s actions were permissible in order to convict the civilians in a U.S. District Court," Lindley wrote. "No 'war on drugs' will be won if the guilty cannot be convicted." Nevertheless, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) later cited suspicions that the Branch Davidians were manufacturing illegal methamphetamines. "The ATF came up with this bogus request (for military support), where they said the Davidians had a meth lab in their compound," said the committee official. The ATF cited suspicions of drug and weapons violations for their initial armed raid on the compound, in which six Davidians and four ATF agents were killed. The official said JTF personnel later determined "there was no evidence" to support the ATF’s suspicions of drug involvement. "They were pretty ticked off at the ATF for even trying it," the official said….."

Fox News 9/13/99 Jonathan Broder "….Further corroboration regarding the lack of evidence of drug manufacturing came from Capt. Truman Simons of the McClennan County, Texas, Sheriff’s Department, where Waco is located. He said in a telephone interview that there had been a drug lab in the Davidian compound during the 1980s, when the cult was led by George Rhoden. But when David Koresh took over the cult and the Waco compound in 1987, "Rhoden left and took all the drug lab stuff with him, " Simons said, adding he had no evidence of any drug manufacturing in the compound after 1987….."

New American Magazine 9/27/99 William Norman Grigg Freeper LYNXcry "… MORE TO COME...Publication of the notes of the April 14/93 meeting has precipitated a crisis at the Army's Fort Bragg Special Forces headquartes. "Special forces command has sent the orders down the ranks that nobody is to talk to the press", a special forces source who has provided detailed legal depositions regarding the Waco tragedy told The New American. "Theres nothing they can do about the facts that have already been publicized, of course, but they are trying to forestall the disclousure of EVEN MORE DAMAGING INFORMATION. There are OTHER SHOES YET TO DROP, and I don't think that they're going to be able to catch them all." ….."

AP 9/13/99 Michelle Mittelstadt "…. The congressional Republican leading an inquiry into the 1993 Waco siege overlooked evidence the Justice Department sent his committee four years ago showing federal agents used potentially incendiary tear gas near the fiery end of the Branch Davidian standoff, a House Democrat said Monday. Releasing documents that describe the FBI's use of military tear gas rounds on the standoff's final day - April 19, 1993 - Rep. Henry Waxman asked why the House Government Reform Committee's chairman is accusing the Justice Department of a cover-up when his own investigators missed the same evidence that has suddenly revived the Waco debate. ``Contrary to the allegations of cover-up, substantial evidence of the use of military tear gas rounds was, in fact, provided to Congress in 1995,'' said Waxman, D-Calif., the committee's top Democrat…. The records Waxman cited, discovered among more than 40 boxes of material compiled during the House's 1995 hearings, include an FBI pilot's 1993 statement recalling a radio transmission in which agents had a conversation ``relative to the utilization of some sort of military round ... on a concrete bunker.'' And post-raid interview summaries include an unnamed FBI agent's explanation that smoke captured on film ``came from (an) attempt to penetrate bunker with one military and two (non-incendiary) rounds……. Burton spokesman Mark Corallo acknowledged the committee had possessed the records since 1995. However, he said they were part of more than 100,000 documents the Justice Department gave the panel three days before hearings were to begin, ``in an obvious attempt to keep congressional staff from having enough time to review those documents.'' Added Corallo: ``You have to wonder why the attorney general is running around seeming so distraught and upset that people lied to her ... despite the fact that a memo has existed at the Justice Department since 1993 that points to the use of these devices.'' ….."

AP 9/13/99 Michelle Mittelstadt "….

Associated Press 9/13/99 Jim Abrams "….A dozen spent rifle cartridges of a type often used by snipers were recovered from a house used by the FBI during the 1993 standoff with the Branch Davidians, the Texas Rangers reported today. The report raised questions about federal agents' insistence that they fired no shots. Twelve .308-caliber casings and two dozen Israeli-manufactured .223-caliber casings were recovered from a house used by the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team during the 51-day siege, the Rangers said in a report provided to Congress. In an account the FBI has since said was wrong, an FBI agent initially reported hearing shots fired from that house on the siege's final day…… Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who provoked the siege with a botched raid to serve weapons warrants on the Davidians, used the house as a sniper post during a fierce gun battle on Feb. 28 -- raising the possibility the spent shells were theirs, rather than the FBI's….. The report, subpoenaed by the House Government Reform Committee, confirmed that a 40mm shell casing re-examined by the Rangers was a type of military tear gas round that ``burns at 500 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, and is capable of igniting flammable items.''

Austin American-Statesman 9/13/99 Mike Ward Laylan Copelin "…On the first day evidence was gathered at the burned Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas Rangers discovered a detonated military shell capable of starting a fire. That piece of evidence, long ignored, now promises to become a centerpiece in a renewed federal inquiry into whether it started the fire. That detail is part of a new Texas Rangers review of 12 tons of evidence from the Davidian siege, made public Sunday as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Austin American-Statesman…..On April 23, 1993, just four days after federal authorities ended the 51-day standoff with David Koresh and his followers in a fiery assault, Rangers Sgt. George L. Turner found the spent 40 mm cartridge. He was leading a team of investigators, including FBI agents, who were scouring the crime scene for evidence. Turner said he told his superiors and FBI Agent Rick Crum, who was in charge of FBI agents investigating the Davidian…"

Associated Press 9/13/99 Jim Abrams "…. Burton made public a letter he sent to Reno about documents on Waco the Justice Department submitted to Congress several years ago that omitted one page mentioning the use of military-style tear gas rounds. He said the missing last page of the 49-page FBI lab report ``raises more questions about whether this committee was intentionally misled during the original Waco investigation.'' He said he wanted to interview this week three Justice Department staffers who were involved in the discovery that some copies of the lab report didn't contain the final page….Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., who has called for Reno to resign over her handling of Waco and other matters, said on CBS' ``Face the Nation'' that it was ``very hard to believe'' that the misplacing of the critical one page was just an accident.

Washington Times 9/13/99 Joyce Howard Price "….Rep. Dan Burton, chairman of the Committee on Government Reform, which is conducting one of several congressional investigations of the Waco disaster, told Fox "it sure looks like they [Justice officials] were withholding information" when they failed to give Congress the forty-ninth page of the report "when we were having oversight investigations into the tragedy." In a letter sent to Miss Reno Friday, the Indiana Republican said the Justice Department has failed to comply with his Sept. 1 subpoena for "any and all originals and identical copies" of the FBI Laboratory report that caused the stir. Mr. Burton told Miss Reno he expects Justice to "produce to the committee all copies of the Laboratory report, along with a log indicating who possessed copies of the report." He also wants to interview three Justice Department employees, including one who found that four copies of the FBI document, including the one given Congress, failed to include information about the use of pyrotechnic devices….."

Star-Telegram Staff Writer 9/13/99 Gabrielle Crist "….FBI agent Charles Riley said in June 1993 that he heard shots fired from a sniper post occupied by agent Lon Horiuchi, according to court documents filed in Waco as part of a wrongful death suit scheduled to go to trial next month….. Riley's statement is among 25 volumes of motions, rulings and exhibit lists filed in the multimillion-dollar lawsuit. An attorney for the 100 or so plaintiffs said he is convinced that gunfire was exchanged on the final day. James B. Francis, commissioner of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said there is some indication that "gunfire took place there by government police officers." Francis would not say when he believes those shots were fired and declined to elaborate. "It is a subject matter that needs to be investigated," he said……Horiuchi …. told investigators in April 1993 that "none of the snipers under his control at Sierra-1 (a sniper post) fired any rounds from their weapons." Government officials have said that Riley retracted his initial statement, according to Houston attorney Michael Caddell, who represents the Branch Davidians in the lawsuit. FBI officials in Washington declined to confirm that Riley issued a retraction and would not comment because of an independent investigation launched last week….."

Star-Telegram Staff Writer 9/13/99 Gabrielle Crist "….Agents were authorized to use deadly force on April 19, according to a 1993 internal FBI document detailing an investigative interview with agent Richard Rogers, an FBI supervisor. Rogers told investigators that members of the Hostage Rescue Team were told to provide cover for the armored vehicles that were launching tear gas into the compound. As the vehicles punched holes in the walls, FBI officials announced over loudspeakers that they were delivering tear gas. They told the Branch Davidians not to shoot and warned that FBI agents would return fire. Although several FBI agents saw and heard Davidians firing at the vehicles and toward the sniper positions, agents did not fire "a single shot," Rogers said, because they "did not acquire clear and identifiable targets."

Star-Telegram Staff Writer 9/13/99 Gabrielle Crist "….But two experts in thermal imaging will contend at the trial that images on an infrared video show shots being fired toward the compound. Their opinions, coupled with Riley's initial statement, "provide at least some evidence" to support the plaintiffs' claims that Davidians were afraid they would be shot if they tried to escape from the burning compound, U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr. said in a July ruling. Because of that evidence, Smith said in his ruling, Horiuchi should be named as an individual defendant in the lawsuit. Smith dismissed all other individual defendants, including numerous officials of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI. Horiuchi and the United States are the sole defendants ….Caddell said he is convinced that at least some of the FBI agents fired at the Branch Davidians, perhaps justifiably. Riley's "unpressured recollection is a lot more believable than any of the recanting" he did five years later, he said…… Caddell said investigators failed to collect and test all the weapons used during the siege to determine whether FBI officials fired. "This whole thing has been an exercise in, `Don't ask, don't tell,' " he said…."

Newsmax - Inside Cover 9/12/99 Carl Limbacher "….Chief House Waco prober Dan Burton (R-IN) said Sunday that he has turned over videotape shot during the government's final April 19 assault on the Branch Davidian compound to technical experts who will determine whether the film shows federal forces shooting into the building …. But ballistics evidence that could confirm charges federal forces shot and killed a number of Mt. Carmel residents has been witheld by the government for years, according to at least one local Texas law enforcement official….. Burton told Fox News Sunday's Tony Snow that the expert video analysis is currently ongoing: SNOW: You have received some film from Michael McNulty who was on our program last week. He's done a documentary on Waco and is about to release another one. He purports that, that film shows definitively that FBI agents, or federal agents, fired on the Branch Davidian compound. You and your staff have looked at that film. Does it in fact show that definitively? BURTON: We need to look at that through the eyes of experts. I'm having those tapes analyzed by two different experts right now. We're going to try to find out as clearly as possible whether or not there was either the military involved or the FBI involved in firing into that compound. And so I don't think I can make a comment on that right now because the experts haven't given us their judgement…."

Newsmax - Inside Cover 9/12/99 Carl Limbacher "….But on Friday, one of four McClennan County, Texas justices who ordered autopsies for the Branch Davidian victims told the Waco Tribune-Herald that the FBI witheld key ballistics test evidence that could confirm charges they were killed by government gunfire. "The thing that always stayed in my mind was if they were afraid some of the ordinance or ballistics could be matched up with their weaponry," Justice of the Peace David Pareya told the paper. Because the government would not release those tests results, the cause of death for many Davidians was officially recorded as unknown, the McClennan County official said….."

Newsmax - Inside Cover 9/12/99 Carl Limbacher "….Tarrant County, Texas coroner Nizam Peerwani determined that 23 Davidians died from gunshot wounds. The Clinton Justice Department has claimed that Mount Carmel residents died by their own hands. In a Rose Garden press conference the day after the Waco massacre, President Clinton asserted that the Davidians "murdered themselves." But Dr. Peerwani said on Friday, "There is the feeling that one should go back and re-evaluate." …"

Newsmax - Inside Cover 9/12/99 Carl Limbacher "….The autopsy results of at least one of Peerwani's examinations has been challeged since he released his initial findings. Evidence noted by the Tarrant County coroner suggests that the death of Branch Davidian victim Winston Blake was caused by friendly fire. Gunpowder burns Peerwani found on Blake's skull indicate he was shot at close range. Blake was shot during the initial Feb. 28 BATF assault on Mt. Carmel……. The Manchester Police Department physician retained by relatives disputed the presence of powder burns on Blake's skull. He concluded in his autopsy report: "This injury had probably been caused by a destabilized high velocity rifle bullet of relatively low weight. This missile had probably been destabilized so as to cause it to yaw in flight prior to striking the victim. Such destabilization could have been achieved if the bullet had previously passed through a light screening cover, such as the light-weight material reported to have been used in the construction of the (Mt. Carmel) building walls."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….It was a breathtakingly risky move for a career federal prosecutor: bucking bosses all the way to Washington to warn Attorney General Janet Reno that her Justice Department had done wrong. Bill Johnston is the kind of maverick lawman, friends and colleagues say, to take that gamble twice. He warned Reno in a letter Aug. 30 that lawyers in her department had long withheld key information about the government's actions against the Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993. …. Johnston's letter, warning that he had just seen documents indicating that other Justice lawyers had known for years about pyrotechnic grenades, was a repeat of his actions during the Branch Davidian standoff. In March 1993, he wrote Reno to complain that FBI actions and missteps were wrecking key evidence, alienating potential witnesses and threatening the effort to prosecute the sect. ….. ``Bill is just that way. Even if it hurts him, he'll stand up for what he thinks is right,'' said David Smith, a retired Waco city manager. ``He's fearless.'' Johnston says he spoke out because the government must account for its actions in the nation's deadliest law enforcement tragedy. ``Ultimately, it must be our jobs to try to get to the truth, and that sometimes is a painful process,'' Johnston said. ``That doesn't stop with a trial. If you find yourself in error, you must admit it, and anyone that thinks that you can just periodically toss out a little truth and meet your burden is playing games.'' …… "

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….The biggest case of Johnston's career began when federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents came to him with an investigation of weapons violations at the Branch Davidian compound. The ATF had evidence that David Koresh was stockpiling an illegal arsenal. Johnston said the ATF initially discussed capturing Koresh outside his compound and then searching inside. Inexplicably, he said, plans shifted in December to a big paramilitary raid. … He helped draft the search warrant that became the basis of the raid. More than 80 heavily armed ATF agents then moved against the Branch Davidians on Feb. 28, 1993, but the raid was a bloody disaster. Four agents died in a gun battle that touched off a 51-day standoff. ….. Immediately, Johnston recruited the Texas Rangers to help investigate what had gone wrong and who in the sect would be prosecuted for the agents' deaths. He sent his first letter to Reno after the Rangers said their efforts were frustrated by FBI commanders. ``He literally put his career on the line,'' said now-retired Ranger Capt. David Byrnes. ``If it wasn't for Bill Johnston, there wouldn't have been any case.'' ….. "

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….Some of those defense attorneys still harshly criticize Johnston. Several note that they learned only after the trial that one government memo suggested Johnston had stopped an ATF internal review of the initial raid because it was uncovering evidence that might help the Davidian defendants. Johnston says he knew nothing about the memo, written by a Treasury Department official. The prosecutor said he stopped the ATF inquiry only because he knew that senior ATF officials were lying about what had gone wrong in their raid and he believed the matter needed to be investigated by an outside agency. He remains bitter that the ATF's two raid commanders weren't prosecuted for lying to Texas Rangers about how the raid went wrong. The two men, Chuck Sarabyn and Phil Chojnacki, have denied wrongdoing. Johnston said the case was derailed in Washington. ``There are lingering issues of accountability in this case,'' Johnston said. ``The Rangers and I both hoped and expected they would be prosecuted. The public deserved that.'' …."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….During 1995 congressional hearings on the Waco debacle, Johnston was grilled by House Republicans and ostracized by Justice colleagues. He returned to Waco eager to put the ordeal behind him….. Johnston said he urged officials in Washington to grant that access. The filmmaker, Michael McNulty, had helped produce an Oscar-nominated documentary harshly critical of the government's actions in Waco. He was now working on a new Waco documentary for MGA Films of Fort Collins, Colo. Letting McNulty in reversed the Justice Department's strict denial of public access to the evidence trove. But Johnston said he argued for letting him in. ``When you just completely stonewall people like that, you only encourage their theories that the government is hiding something.'' ``We wouldn't be here today if McNulty wasn't allowed in,'' Johnston said. ``Pandora's box was opened, and I gave him the key, and I do not regret it. Some of his theories may not have merit. Only time will tell, but he deserves credit for being able to sniff some stuff out.'' …."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "…. The filmmaker shared his findings and new questions with the Rangers and Johnston, and called lawyers representing Branch Davidians in a massive wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government. The lawyers immediately filed new pleadings detailing McNulty's review of the evidence. That prompted outrage from Justice Department civil lawyers, who complained they'd never been alerted that McNulty was given access to the Davidian evidence. The furor became so pronounced that the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety Commission ordered his Rangers to launch an investigation to determine exactly what they had in their evidence lockers. Johnston immediately agreed to help the Rangers' new inquiry. By July, they had information described as so disturbing that DPS lawyers filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to take control of all evidence….."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….Johnston said he became more concerned after receiving a document forwarded to him from the Justice Department in Washington. Markings indicated it had come from the agency's civil lawyers who were defending the Davidians' wrongful death lawsuit and had been furious with him ever since they learned about McNulty's trip to the evidence locker. The document appeared to be notes of a 1993 interview in which an FBI agent told a prosecution paralegal that he had used ``military gas rounds'' on April 19. The document included the notation that Johnston heard the interview. Johnston said he doesn't recall it and wouldn't have known what the term ``military gas'' meant even if he had heard it. The document, now in the hands of congressional investigators, also bore handwritten notes stating ``DOJ witness, do not disclose,'' and ``privileged'' -- terms suggesting that government lawyers were trying to keep it from opposing lawyers in the pending wrongful-death lawsuit. Johnston said he knew that the document's arrival at his office last month meant trouble -- an assessment shared by his boss, Blagg. Failing to turn over such information to defense lawyers would be a gross violation of federal criminal rules. Failing to pass it to his superiors would also be a serious breach, Blagg said…..Johnston said he considered the document ``a shot across his bow,'' an effort to silence him and end his efforts to help the Rangers' investigation.

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….James B. Francis Jr., chairman of the Texas Department of Public Safety Commission, said he believes Johnston has been targeted because of what he has helped expose. ``Johnston received a lot of anger from the Justice Department because he granted access to a citizen to view the Waco evidence,'' he said. ``At one time, I thought it was overzealous lawyers. Now I question whether they knew what was going to be found.''….."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….Johnston said he learned that Washington officials were leaking the 1993 document to the media, so he decided to contact Reno to ensure ``she got the word and the facts.'' Johnston said he has gotten no response. A spokesman for the attorney general declined comment. Blagg said he was dismayed by Johnston's letter because he learned of it only after it was sent. But he added, ``I'm not going to do a single thing.'' Johnston said he is unafraid of what may come next and is heartened by supportive phone calls he has received. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., chairman of a powerful House committee that has subpoenaed Johnston for a new Branch Davidian inquiry, called to praise his actions. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, publicly lauded the Waco prosecutor and called on Reno to resign. The senator told The News that he views Johnston as a textbook ``Texas lawman,'' adding that he wanted to offer public support because the prosecutor ``comes across to me as a hero figure in all this, who has spoken out and tried to get all the facts on the table.'' ``I hope he is not punished for that. There's a long history in the federal government of hostility toward people who come forward with bad news,'' he said…."

The Dallas Morning News 9/13/99 Lee Hancock "….``Am I surprised Bill is taking on the Justice Department? I'm not surprised that he'd take on anybody,'' said Austin author Gary Lavergne. ``Bill has a real strong, old-fashioned sense of right and wrong. And he's gonna do what's right, no matter who's on the other side.''….."

9/13/99 Freeper Registered "….The most interesting information concerning the DOJ is contained in the letter written by Bill Johnston, Ass't US Attorney at Waco to Janet Reno. This guy is a hero. He states facts simply and straight-forward. He has been maligned and threatened within his own agency and continues to press forward to find the truth about what happened at Waco. Whereas Bert Brandenberg, Public Affairs section, now distances himself from the decision to let McNulty review the Ranger evidence and angry phone calls from Torts Branch Lawyer Marie Hagen have not thwarted Mr. Johnston. Even threatening letters from Ms. Hagen and Chief of Torts Jeffrey Axelrod have been sent to Mr. Johnston. Being called as a potential witness during the Congressional hearings in 1995, Mr. Johnston was "handled as if I had some strain of intellectual leprosy". Mr. Johnston was sent a fax from the DOJ of three pages. These three pages contained notes of an interview of an FBI agent which was probably conducted in 1993. The notes reflect that the agent said that he fired ferret rounds and a "military gas" round. Because Mr. Johnston may have been present during this interview, these notes are obviously being used as an obvious attempt to intimidate him. The term "military gas round" would not have meant anything to anyone at that time, including Mr. Johnston. These documents have been sent to "hang over" Mr. Johnston's head, or as a warning to look out before stirring the matter up. In this correspondence to Janet Reno, Mr. Johnston states, " I am not afraid, I will not be intimidated by anyone with the DOJ, I will assist Congress or any other body who seeks the truth in this case". It seems obvious that these subtle threats are coming from the Torts Branch of the DOJ. …."

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….``We now have ballistics exams that can take a shell casing and determine exactly what gun it was fired from,'' said one official in Texas who declined to be identified. ``We need to see what weapons ATF had and what weapons FBI had, and we can tell you exactly which ones fired these shells. ``This is something that has never been looked at,'' the official said. ``There are things here that are potentially very troubling.'' The Rangers report suggests how limited the initial investigation of the tragedy may have been and how tightly it was controlled by the FBI -- although federal officials had publicly insisted that the case was led by a special task force of more than 30 Texas Rangers. ``There needs to be a reanalysis of everything in this case in light of what's recently come out,'' one official said. ``People have said there have already been investigations. But there has never been an investigation of what happened on the law-enforcement side, of what law enforcement did.''…."

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….In the report, a Texas Rangers sergeant assigned to sort through the Branch Davidian evidence kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety wrote that his efforts were slowed by the lack of a complete set of crime scene photographs from the case. ``It is my understanding that the FBI had taken all of the 35-mm film, negatives and reference material into their possession, and only a limited number of photographs were returned to the Texas Department of Public Safety,'' Ranger Sgt. Joey Gordon wrote in the report obtained by the Dallas Morning News….."

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….The admission came only after a former FBI official told The Dallas Morning News that use of two U.S. military pyrotechnic tear-gas grenades ``was common knowledge'' among the FBI's hostage rescue team. Even before then, the Rangers had been working for several months to try to identify a shell casing that proved to be part of one of the military CS gas rounds and other projectiles that had never been properly identified. Francis ordered the inquiry after learning that the Justice Department had tried to block all public access to the evidence trove. The issue came to his attention after Justice Department lawyers defending a massive wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Branch Davidians angrily complained about an independent filmmaker being allowed to view the evidence in DPS custody last fall and this spring. Based on the questions raised by the filmmaker, Michael McNulty, Rangers began trying to identify an oddly-shaped 40-mm shell casing, several unidentified 40-mm projectiles and a number of other items never scrutinized during the initial criminal inquiry. By mid-August, Ranger Sgt. Gordon had identified the shell casing as part of a U.S. military gas grenade known as an M651. With the help of U.S. Army experts, the ranger was able to determine the two-day period in which it was made at a North Carolina factory in 1969 and even acquire two unfired M651 grenades from the same batch that were still in an Arkansas Army arsenal.

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….``Late last month, the Ranger also identified two 40-mm projectiles as German-made ``flash-bang'' grenades, devices that emit a loud, concussive noise and a blinding flash and are used by U.S. law enforcement to stun or distract suspects. Although tests are still being completed, both appear to be German NICO flash-bang devices from a shipment of about 50 sent in 1990 to the FBI, the report stated. McNulty, who is now completing a new documentary on Waco, has questioned whether the two black-and-silver devices might be some form of exotic explosive or incendiary device used to deliberately start a fire.

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….``But the report heightens other questions about what the FBI used on the final day of the standoff. It includes a statement from another Texas Ranger who recalled being told by an FBI agent that the bureau had gotten permission on April 19 to fire a device to knock down a door….."

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….A recent government audit of military assistance during the standoff stated that the FBI's arsenal at Waco included 250 40-mm high-explosive rounds. Bureau officials have said they do not know why the rounds were obtained from Fort Hood, Texas, but they have said that none were used in Waco. After the compound fire, a Ranger found a strange shell casing among debris left by the FBI. Rangers who were military veterans said at the time that the it looked like a ``thumper round,'' a high-explosive Army munition, the report indicated. The Ranger said he was approached by an FBI agent in January 1994, just before the Ranger testified in the federal criminal trial against 11 Branch Davidians. He said the FBI agent reported that the shell was used against a door ``in an attempt to knock it down.'' The shell was ultimately identified as part of a CS gas round, but the account raises questions about what else the FBI may have used….."

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….The Rangers report indicates the DPS has preserved other problematic evidence, including other flash-bang grenades misidentified as silencers, a spent military flare, and DPS photographs and videos. McNulty has contended that those videos could determine whether members of the U.S. Army's secret Delta Force unit were active during the tear-gas assault. Defense Department officials have said three special-forces personnel were present but only watched…."

Dallas Morning News 9/12/99 Lee Hancock "….The report also indicates that some evidence initially reported missing during the 1994 criminal trial had inexplicably reappeared. Among the items found by Mr. McNulty during his visits to the evidence lockers was a watch cap worn by a Branch Davidian who was shot to death by ATF agents as he tried to approach the embattled compound on Feb. 28. ATF agents testified that they shot the man, Michael Schroeder, nine times after he fired first at them. He was shot several times in the head, and DPS photographs of his body showed that he was wearing a watch cap when he died. But defense attorneys for the Branch Davidians were told that the cap couldn't be found before the criminal trials. McNulty said the hat contains visible residues that should be tested to determine whether Schroeder was shot at close range or ``finished off.''…."

Newsweek 9/20/99 Danield Klaidman Michael Isikoff "….Even so, the Feds may have committed a damaging crime in the aftermath of Waco: they concealed and may have lied about relatively minor mistakes, and fueled a conspiracy when there didn't need to be one. Virtually every right-wing antigovernment group points back to Waco as the moment that Washington waged war on its own people. Even the Oklahoma City bombing has its roots in the faith that the Branch Davidians were murdered by the FBI after they had fended off the "jackbooted thugs," as the National Rifle Association once referred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "Had there been an honest investigation and inquiry into Waco in 1993, and had there been justice or the appearance of justice, then clearly there would have been no Oklahoma City bombing," says Stephen Jones, the lawyer who represented Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. That may be a stretch, but by failing to reveal all the facts in Waco, the FBI may have legitimized the views of the survivalist fringe. "The FBI didn't set the fire," a Justice official says. "But they set the conspiracy fire. That's the tragedy here." …."

Newsweek 9/20/99 Danield Klaidman Michael Isikoff "….They apparently ignored Reno's orders; agents can be heard on tape getting authorization from the head of the hostage-rescue team to fire the military-style tear gas. "Some of the cowboys at FBI were strutting," says a former law-enforcement official. When their plan failed, Reno took full responsibility -- and assured Congress that nothing incendiary had been used. Many people knew otherwise. Documents provided to Congress last week show that Justice Department interviews of FBI agents produced numerous mentions of the military shell casings. One agent talked about using a "military... outdoor pyrotechnic." A senior FBI official told NEWSWEEK that as many as 100 FBI agents and officials may have known about the devices. It's still not clear why no one spoke up earlier….."

Newsweek 9/20/99 Danield Klaidman Michael Isikoff "….Conspiracy theorists believe Reno and the FBI covered up the murder of the Davidians. This still seems farfetched. The "evidence" for FBI gunfire centers on murky infrared videotapes that supposedly capture gunfire going into the compound. In a recent film, Waco critic Michael McNulty points to FBI footage that shows black shapes and flashes of light. McNulty's film claims the shapes are agents and the flashes gunfire. In fact, an unedited version of the footage shows FBI tanks rolling over the shapes, so it's highly unlikely they were agents. Conspiracies aside, FBI agents may have had a more mundane reason for staying in the background: if they volunteered information about the pyrotechnic weapons, they may have faced accusations that they disobeyed a direct order from their new boss. And they may have justified their silence, in a Clintonian way, by assuming that the pyrotechnic rounds were irrelevant as long as they didn't actually start the fire….."

Newsweek 9/20/99 Danield Klaidman Michael Isikoff "….The confusion over who knew and who should have known has further strained relations between the FBI and the Justice Department. FBI agents say they told Justice the truth about the incendiary weapons, but nobody listened; Justice says the FBI hid evidence of its insubordination. Freeh was said to be miffed at the heavy-handed way Justice confiscated evidence from FBI headquarters. Reno was said to be furious at having been misled. Still, a friend who had dinner with Reno last week says she was upbeat about her relationship with Freeh. Some of her deputies see it differently. Freeh and his agents "have been sabotaging her all along," says a Justice official. "That's SOP [standard operating procedure] at the bureau." …."

The Washington Times 9/13/99 Dan Gifford "….Without exception, the fourth estate flat ignored the film's [Waco: The Rules of Engagement] documentation that nothing illegal was going on at Mount Carmel to justify the massive raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on the Branch Davidians; that trigger-happy ATF agents opened fire without provocation (shooting sect leader David Koresh three times in cold blood while he stood at the front door unarmed, with his hands in the air), and forced the Davidians to kill or be killed; that its agents murdered Davidian Michael Schroeder in cold blood (leaving his body to rot in the woods 350 yards away from the Mount Carmel complex, where it was discovered by a reconnaissance helicopter five days later); and that FBI commandos (mixed, as we later learned, with U.S. Army Delta Force and British SAS soldiers) intentionally torched the Davidian complex ("compound" is an FBI psychological warfare word intended to vilify), machine-gunned those inside the burning building, destroyed evidence of their crimes and then lied about it all to Texas Ranger investigators, a Texas federal court and then to Congress….."

The Washington Times 9/13/99 Dan Gifford "….From the muzzle flashes of government automatic weapons on the FBI's own Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) aerial surveillance video, to its recording the careful prepping of the Davidian building to burn, to the detonation flashes of government munitions where the fires started, to a Texas Ranger photo of one of the 40 millimeter military munitions found at the fire origins, the evidence is overwhelming. These and other nauseating facts exposed in our Oscar and Emmy nominated documentary, "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" have unfortunately withstood almost three years of expert world scrutiny. Among other honors, "Waco" was the lead film in the Human Rights Watch World Film Tour, winner of the International Documentary Association's top award and showed twice at the Simon Weisenthal Museum of Tolerance. So all of the "new revelations" about Waco have been out there first from Hollywood for quite some time for anyone to see. No matter….."

The Washington Times 9/13/99 Dan Gifford "….Now that Waco is back in the news, media disinformation and spin control continue to distort the facts. Some examples: A star network reporter famous for his alleged toughness and interview inquisitions shuns digging into Waco for fear he'll appear "anti-government." My microphone goes dead on a network talk show as the host rants that the terrible facts I've just presented about Waco are irresponsible and conspiratorial -- before tag-teaming a former FBI agent/ guest who continues in the same vein.

The Washington Times 9/13/99 Dan Gifford "….But in the most abominable example I've yet seen, the Sept. 2 CBS Evening News cleverly sought to demonize news -- using our own film clips -- of the growing number of admitted ATF and FBI lies about Waco with the lead-in, "Waco feeds conspiracies. New evidence in the Branch Davidian case proves to be fodder for anti-government theorists." The story text delivers more of the same: "This is just fodder for the conspiracy theorists," said psychologist Margaret Singer. She says this is just what the militia movement needs to say we told you so. "The anti-government movement, the militia, hate groups are absolutely going to get a boost out of this and I think it's really a tragedy for that reason," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center…… The obvious implication and inference of the CBS piece is that no investigation into government criminality at Waco should go forward because the findings may prove that people in "flyover land," whose religious convictions and political beliefs those of us in the rarefied media air disapprove of (such as our fabricated "militia" bogeyman who, like the Communist Party USA before, is largely composed of FBI and other official mischief-makers) were correct all along. Worse, facts establishing government criminality may provoke another agent John Doe's Timothy McVeigh to action…."

The Washington Times 9/13/99 Dan Gifford "….That same reasoning caused "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" to be turned down by all public relations firms we approached three years ago. "I don't want to encourage the militias to violence," said one after another in New York and Washington. Oh? "Well, we're working on another film that exposes the racist police murders of African-Americans like those that were common during the '50s and '60s," I said. "Knowing that expose may incite violence like that which hit Los Angeles following the initial Rodney King verdict, would you turn it down?" "Well, no. Of course not. That's different," one after another told me. At some point, the Birkenstocks of the "tolerant" morphed into jackboots. The same people who still rail against that "evil" FBI and its COINTELPRO acts to discredit Martin Luther King and others whose politics and beliefs they approve of routinely claim that that same FBI would never commit equally heinous acts against those they disapprove of. That's just nut case conspiracy stuff. Sure. …."

Salon 9/9/99 Sean Elder "....Though the government's siege and destruction of the Branch Davidian headquarters in Waco, Texas, in 1993 has returned to the news with an incendiary burst in the last few weeks, it never really went away. On a host of right-wing Web sites, in fringe literature and on talk radio, "Waco," like "Ruby Ridge," has become a kind of code for all the far right's worst fears about government interference in individual freedom and the state's determination to resort to violence when denied absolute obeisance. One phenomenon feeds the other, of course. The press ignored the inconsistencies in the FBI's account and accepted the government's pat answers to seemingly logical questions. (Why assault the "compound" and endanger the children within if David Koresh and his followers were the unstable, apocalyptic cult they'd been portrayed as?) It has accordingly been demonized by the right as being irresponsible and worse. As Steven Brill can tell you, there's no better way to get the press to ignore you than by challenging its credibility. It's fair to say most people covering Waco had never been anywhere near that town before and won't be heading back soon. More to the point, the people bearing the conspiracy theories since -- the nut jobs who see black helicopters behind every UNICEF card -- are not considered reliable witnesses….."

Salon 9/9/99 Sean Elder "....Mark Pitcavage is a historian who charts the doings of the militia movement and heard the Waco theories long before the FBI began "discovering" evidence the existence of which it had previously denied. Like a lot of people, he didn't trust the messenger. "They deserve a little bit of credit," he told the New York Times of the conspiracy theorists who kept this story alive, "but you wish that someone else had discovered this stuff instead. These guys have ulterior motives." ("Mr. Drudge, a Ms. Goldberg on line one.") "For quite some time, all of the accusations about Waco were from very unreliable people or people who mixed valid allegations with very invalid allegations," Pitcavage told me. "It's natural to distrust things like that." What is ironic is that many of the same journalists who mistrust the Waco alarmists when they question the government grew up distrusting the government themselves, following (and sometimes covering) stories as diverse and earth-shattering as My Lai, Watergate and Contragate. Pitcavage, who has worked closely with the FBI since Waco and Randy Weaver's siege at Ruby Ridge in Idaho (during which government sharpshooters fatally shot Weaver's wife and son), does not see a double standard there. "The FBI has gained a lot more credibility since, say, 1970," he believes. "Cointelpro is a thing of the past." …"

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….Recent revelations indicate that the Delta Force had a greater presence and a more active role in the final assault on the Branch Davidians than FBI officials have acknowledged. According to at least one account, the Delta Force was there not to advise, but to kill. Steven Barry, a retired Special Forces sergeant who sometimes trained members of the Delta Force, gave a sworn affidavit to plaintiffs' attorneys in a civil suit brought by families of dead Branch Davidians. The case is scheduled to go to trial in Waco on Oct. 18. In the affidavit, Barry quoted a friend in the Delta Force as saying the unit set up a tactical operations center during the siege that was staffed by 10 to 20 soldiers. Barry said another friend in the Delta Force told him that the unit's "B" Squadron had been ordered to "take down" Branch Davidians. Barry said he understood from his experience in the Special Forces that "take down" meant to kill people identified as terrorists. Barry isn't alone in these allegations…."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….Former CIA officer Gene Cullen has said in several recent interviews that he learned through casual conversations with Delta Force members that 10 of the unit's commandos were present during the April 19, 1993, assault and may have participated…."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….Similarly, James B. Francis, commissioner of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said "it is clear" that members of the Delta Force were on the scene. Initial reports indicated that three members were present, but Francis said he is now being told that as many as 10 were there. "There is some evidence that might indicate that they were more than observers," Francis said. "It is fuzzy as to what their role was." Francis said law enforcement officials and civilians have provided first- and second-hand reports on Delta Force activities. He declined to elaborate further……"

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "…."We've been told that there were 10 military personnel, but they won't tell us who they were," he said. Caddell said government attorneys were asked to answer questions in connection with the lawsuit. One of the questions asked for a list of all military personnel who were at Mount Carmel. Government officials listed Army medical personnel, the Texas National Guard and 10 others whose identity they said is classified information, Caddell said….."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….Army Col. Bill Darley, a Defense Department spokesman, said the Pentagon has stated that it had only three Special Operations personnel at Mount Carmel and he has seen nothing to refute that statement. Two soldiers were present during most of the siege to maintain high-tech equipment, he said. Another was there when the compound burned, but only as an observer, he said. "We had a presence there for support only," Darley said. "All other allegations appear to us to be unfounded and without basis in fact."…."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….If what Barry and Cullen say is true, military personnel may have violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids use of military personnel in civilian law enforcement except in special cases approved by Congress. The prohibition applies only to direct participation by soldiers in an arrest, search or seizure. Soldiers may train civilian law enforcement agents or provide military vehicles and munitions. A congressional report determined that all members of the military were present only as observers and that no violation of the act had occurred. The report, "Investigation into the Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians," was issued in August 1996 by the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee and the House Judiciary Committee after their 1995 hearings. ….."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….Some evidence suggests that the ATF created a ruse about the possibility of illegal drug manufacturing at Mount Carmel to obtain free military assistance for its Feb. 28, 1993, raid, which left four ATF agents dead and more than 20 wounded. As early as November 1992, ATF agents were discussing the need for military support with Walker, the agency's Defense Department liaison, according to Treasury Department documents. The ATF is part of the Treasury Department. But there was a problem. In a meeting with the ATF on Dec. 4, 1992, Walker informed the agency that it would have to pay the military for the use of its equipment because the military could waive the charges only in anti-drug operations. At the meeting, Walker jotted a handwritten note that said: "There was no known drug nexus," according to the Treasury Department documents….. That military personnel can play a greater role assisting civilian law enforcement in drug investigations is a significant exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, passed as part of the 1990 Department of Defense Authorization Act to help fight illegal drug importation…..Before the end of December 1992, the ATF was investigating "suspicion of drug activity" at the Branch Davidian compound, according to the Treasury Department report……"

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….That addition to the points of investigation apparently was based on a Dec. 16, 1992, facsimile from Marc Breault in Australia, who suggested that a methamphetamine lab had once been seen on Branch Davidian premises. Congressional investigators later determined that Breault was a former Branch Davidian who had left the sect on bad terms……Former Branch Davidians said Koresh had discovered the lab when he arrived at Mount Carmel and had telephoned the McLennan County Sheriff's Department to report it and to ask that deputies confiscate it, but no one ever came, the congressional report said. The building Breault said the lab was in burned down three years before the ATF raid, the report also said……. However, the initial application for a warrant to search the compound included nothing about suspected drug violations. After agents failed to serve the warrant on Feb. 28, 1993, the day of the aborted first assault, they applied for another warrant and expanded its scope. That warrant also made no mention of drugs….."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….The congressional report states that the Feb. 28 raid should have been conducted differently if there was a real concern about the prospect of a clandestine methamphetamine lab on the premises. Because such labs usually contain explosive and toxic chemicals, standard procedure calls for the arrest of lab operators away from their laboratories. Koresh was regularly seen in Waco and could easily have been apprehended, officials have said…… "All those justifying stories have kind of gone up in smoke: drug use, machine guns, child abuse," said Daniel Polsby, a professor at George Mason University's law school who specializes in constitutional law. The congressional committees eventually determined that the "ATF misled the Defense Department as to the existence of a drug nexus in order to obtain non-reimbursable support."…."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….The use of Texas and Alabama National Guard units at Mount Carmel may have violated laws in both states and perhaps the U.S. Constitution. Convincing state officials that drugs were involved in the Branch Davidian investigation was crucial to involvement of the Texas National Guard. The Posse Comitatus Act does not prohibit use of state National Guard personnel for local law enforcement, but Texas law does. State law allows the use of its National Guard helicopters for law enforcement only if there is a evidence of drug violations….."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….On Dec. 11, 1992, ATF Special Agent Jose Viegra met with representatives of Gov. Ann Richards' office to discuss the role of the military in any potential ATF action against the Branch Davidians, Treasury Department documents show. Viegra was told he could not make use of Operation Alliance, which serves as a clearinghouse for several agencies involved in drug investigations along the Southwest border, unless there was a drug component. Three days later, according to a Treasury Department memorandum, Operation Alliance officials received a facsimile from the ATF requesting assistance from the Texas Counterdrug Program, which included the National Guard. Lt. Col. William Pettit, Texas National Guard coordinator of the Texas Counterdrug Task Force, signed off on the request. The ATF fax made no reference to suspected drug violations in the compound, casting Pettit's approval in doubt, according to the congressional report….."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….After the Feb. 28 raid, ATF Deputy Director Daniel Hartnett wrote Gov. Richards a letter on March 27, 1993, denying allegations that Mount Carmel did not have the necessary drug activity to justify the Texas National Guard's involvement. "Please let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth," Hartnett wrote. Hartnett wrote that 11 sect members "have some prior drug involvement, some with arrests for possession and trafficking." However, when ATF agents were interviewed by Treasury Department officials in a post-siege review, they said that only one Branch Davidian had a drug conviction, the congressional report said…."

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 9/12/99 Jennifer Autrey "….The ATF also used the Alabama National Guard for aerial photography on Jan. 14, 1993. That task was authorized by a "memorandum of agreement" between the adjutants general of the Texas National Guard and the Alabama National Guard. According to Texas law, the National Guard from another state cannot be used without approval of the Texas governor. Alabama state law says that its National Guard has no authority to conduct operations outside the state. National Guard personnel said in a post-raid Guard investigation that Gov. Richards did not approve the use of the Alabama National Guard. Military documents released to Congress during its 1995 hearings indicated that Richards was unaware of the extent of the Texas National Guard's involvement until after the Feb. 28 raid, the congressional report said…..Use of the Alabama National Guard may also have violated the U.S. Constitution, the congressional report said, although that issue was outside the scope of the congressional investigation. The Constitution specifically prohibits states from entering into treaties without congressional consent. The National Guard Bureau takes the position that use of the National Guard for law enforcement purposes across state lines is therefore strictly prohibited. "Thus, it appears that the Alabama National Guard entered and conducted military operations in Texas without the proper authority to do so," the congressional report said….."

San Jose Mercury News 9/13/99 Joanne Jacobs "….LATE at night, armed men shot their way into the home, set off a ``flash-bang'' grenade, then ran into a bedroom where a man and his wife had been sleeping. One of the gunmen shot Mario Paz, a 64-year-old grandfather, in the back twice. Paz, head of a hard-working, law-abiding Compton family, was killed on Aug. 9 by a police officer from El Monte who says he thought the retiree might be reaching for a gun. The SWAT team was looking for evidence against a former next-door neighbor, a suspected drug dealer who occasionally used the Paz mailing address. Police had no evidence against anyone in the household and found none during the raid. Nobody in the family has a criminal record. Despite that, they launched a military-style raid, shot a man for looking like he might be trying to defend himself against violent intruders and then handcuffed the survivors, inclu