The following is brought to you thanks, in part, to the kind assistance of CyberNews and the fine folks at Cornell University.
("Quid coniuratio est?")
WACO + 3 YEARS
"Robert Gonzalez" was a government undercover agent who had penetrated the Mount Carmel facility near Waco, Texas. He was spying on the Branch Davidians who dwelled there. But the Branch Davidians all knew that Gonzalez was "some kind of a cop" [Reavis, 67] all the time that Gonzalez thought he was "secretly" spying on them. On the morning of February 28, 1993, Gonzalez was still at the Mount Carmel facility, even though he knew a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) was imminent.
According to later testimony by Gonzalez, whose real name was Robert Rodriguez, church leader David Koresh "turned and told me the ATF and the National Guard were coming." [71]
Then, according to Koresh himself, "I went to the window, and I says, Robert, I says, it's up to you now... And I turned around and he just -- his eyes were real big and everything... And he goes, 'what do you mean?' I says, Robert, you know what I mean... We know they're coming." [ibid.] Koresh continued that Rodriguez's "eyes looked down... He was confused, same as [Pontius] Pilate. Pilate was confused. Pilate wanted to let Christ go." [72] Said Koresh to Rodriguez, "You've got to do what you've got to do." [ibid.]
Rodriguez feigned ignorance. He told Koresh he had to go home for breakfast. Before he left, Koresh shook hands with him and said, "Good luck, Robert."
Rodriguez got to a telephone and urged desperately that the raid be called off. But it was too late. [72-73]
Subsequent to the final horror of April 19, 1993, "E.R.", writing in the Fall 1993 issue of Anarchy magazine, wondered, "[What] if Koresh really was the messiah. I am not advocating this view. But if you're Christian, ask yourself why you did not ask: Could this man be the messiah? Must the True Messiah abide by the laws of an imperfect nation-state? Does resistance to the FBI prove a man or woman is not the True Messiah? Now, very few people believe in a Coming Age. If there really is a 'God,' and if this God 'sent' a divine incarnation to live among us, to usher in a millenium of perfect peace, would that Messiah get good press? Or would we simply kill him?" [E.R., 7]
-+- "Showtime" -+-
The theme of the February 28, 1993 BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) raid has been called "Showtime." The agency brought along plenty of cameras to film the excitement. BATF faced upcoming congressional budget hearings on March 10th. Dramatic footage of the government agents boldly confronting the "crazed 'cultists'" would hopefully make BATF seem heroic. That, in turn, could get more money approved by the Congress. [Reavis, 32-33]
A sub-theme of the raid is "The Good O Boys", a.k.a. "The Good Ol' Boys". It was widely reported in mid-1995, even in the mainstream press, that video footage had surfaced showing the antics of BATF agents at their annual "Good O Boys Roundup". The "roundup" is a sort of drunken picnic limited to white rednecks in the agency. After months of dispute, the video has now been confirmed by the government as genuine.
We can thank some of the much maligned citizen militias for bringing the Good O Boys video to the public. (By the way, many militia members are African-Americans, in case you have been propagandized into a skewed perspective by mass media propaganda.) The September 1995 issue of Media Bypass magazine (1-800-4-BYPASS) told the story of how the Gadsden Minutemen and others penetrated one of the BATF bacchanalias and uncovered the story. Acting on rumors, Jeff Randall, a former police officer and commander of the Gadsden Minutemen contacted a retired Alabama state law enforcement officer. The anonymous officer, identified as "George" in the article, "revealed that he had a videotape of the 1990 roundup and dozens of color photographs of federal agents consuming moonshine [and] ridiculing minorities." [Myers, 20]
Randall was able to infiltrate the 1995 "roundup" where he shot dozens of photos. He then sent copies of the photos and the 1990 videotape to the Washington Times newspaper. From there the story was picked up until even the "three stooges", Peter, Dan and Tom of, respectively, ABC, CBS and NBC "News", were forced to cover it.
The material uncovered by Randall and associates had such memorable footage as the infamous "nigger check point" sign found in the 1990 video. "Any niggers in that car?" the sign demands of potential attendees of the "roundup". According to a sworn affidavit by the anonymous retired state trooper "George", "The check-in point also had an effigy or dummy of a black person hanging from a tree. This effigy remained at the check-in point throughout the event. Moreover, ATF agents and other law enforcement officers would surround each vehicle as it approached [the roundup entry], stop it and rock the vehicle while shouting, 'Got any niggers in that car?'" [ibid., 21-22]
The Media Bypass article details the whole sad story. A picture emerges of an agency filled with drunken, drug-abusing, racist cowboys pretending to be agents of law enforcement. These were the armed screaming yahoos who descended on the Mount Carmel Center on that fateful Sunday morning in late February of 1993.
You are probably unaware that the inhabitants of Mount Carmel were "mostly women, children and elderly people." [Moore, 2] Additionally, half of the Branch Davidians present were "of African, Hispanic, or Asian descent." [ibid., 17] In the case of those Branch Davidians who were Caucasian, the "good ol' boys" may have internally dehumanized them with rationalizations that they were "religious nuts" or "hippy freaks".
So that's the sub-theme of the BATF raid: "The Good O Boys". The "good ol' boys" came pumped up and ready to kick some "nigger" butt that Sunday morning.
-+- Helicopters -+-
Subsequent to the initial raid, there were bullet holes in the roof of the Mount Carmel Center. Were bullets fired from above? Because of the April 19th fire, forensic evidence which could have proven this beyond any doubt was destroyed. Yet it seems highly probable -- so probable as to be beyond reasonable doubt -- that bullets were indeed fired from above, into the building. Here is what we know:
** Marjorie Thomas, a nurse, says that on the morning of February 28th she went to her room in the third floor loft. She looked out the window. Says Thomas, "I saw three helicopters approaching... As [one of the helicopters] drew near, I heard a sound. It was a bullet coming -- which came through the window and shattered the blinds. We all dived to the floor." [Reavis, 130]
** Catherine Matteson was heading toward her room . She writes in her memoir that, when she reached her room she started to lay down "when I heard the sound of helicopters roar in my ears... As I went to the window to my amazement there were three helicopters in formation and facing David's room and firing as they came... As they made a turn toward the front of the building I realized there existed a great possibility of my getting shot, so I hit the floor. When they reached the front of the building, all hell broke loose..." [Reavis, 131]
** According to Annette Richards, "I was getting ready for worship. I heard a noise like a helicopter, and then I heard bullets start firing, bullets start coming in from every direction. And the helicopters were flying over the building. The sound of it was so low that at that time I thought they had landed on the roof. Bullets were coming from all directions." [Moore, 144]
** Several of the Davidians' children who were sent out from Mount Carmel after the initial February 28 raid made drawings of the event. "Their drawings, sketched with crayons while the children were in the custody of Texas welfare authorities, show bullet holes in Mt. Carmel's roof and helicopters hovering overhead." [Reavis, 132]
** Dick DeGuerin and Jack Zimmermann, attorneys for the Branch Davidians, visited the compound during the 51 day siege. They say that there was a great deal of forensic evidence that BATF agents shot through doors, walls, and the roof. Zimmermann, an army colonel and Vietnam veteran, testified that "You could see the sky through the roof. They appeared to be exit holes, and the wood was splintered downward. My conclusion was that they came from the sky." [Moore, 149-150]
** Fifteen minutes into the raid, Davidian Wayne Martin phoned 911 and complained about helicopters firing on them:
WAYNE MARTIN: Another chopper with more people; more guns going off. They're firing. That's them, not us.
STEVE SCHNEIDER: There's a chopper with more of them.
LIEUTENANT LYNCH: What!?
STEVE SCHNEIDER: Another chopper with more people and more guns going off. Here they come!
LIEUTENANT LYNCH: All right, Wayne, tell....
STEVE SCHNEIDER: We're not firing. That's not us, that's them!
LIEUTENANT LYNCH: All right. Standby. I'm tryin' to reach 'em. Stand. Don't return fire, okay?
STEVE SCHNEIDER: We haven't been.
LIEUTENANT LYNCH: What?
STEVE SCHNEIDER: We haven't been.
-+- The Fire -+-
Indianapolis attorney Linda Thompson, who has been a major force in combatting government disinformation regarding the Waco tragedy, put it this way: "This is a very frustrating part of dealing with explaining Waco, 'cause first I have to explain to people, 'What you heard was not true,' and 'Here's how I know it's not true.' We spend a lot of time undoing the damage that the government did with its own propaganda." [Thompson]
Or, as I have stated previously: "Everything you 'know' is wrong."
In this brief article I cannot possibly undo all the anti-Davidian propaganda that's been disseminated by "newsfakers" and FBI/BATF liars. If you are saying to yourself, "But what about 'this?'", I encourage you to read Reavis' and/or Moore's books. For information on these well-written books, see the "Works cited" section at the end of this essay.
The Davidians did not have a "suicide pact". All the surviving members testify to this. The real killers at Waco, the federal gestapo and its hierarchy, right up to and including Billy Boy Clinton, made up that story as they fabricated so many other distortions. During an April 20, 1993 press conference, Clinton declared that "some religious fanatics murdered themselves." [Moore, 411] It's not that simple.
More lies from Clinton were heard on the CBS program 60 Minutes on April 23, 1995. Asked by Leslie Stahl, "What about Waco?", the Arkansas lothario let loose with his usual bluster: "When that raid occurred, it was the people who ran their 'cult compound' at Waco who murdered their own children," claimed Mr. "I didn't inhale." But Clinton is lying. Can't you see that?
As the tanks bashed through the walls of their residence that April 19th, the FBI's electronic eavesdropping devices picked up the sounds of people praying, of "children crying and calling for their parents." [Moore, 330-331] Massive amounts of CS gas were pumped into the building as tanks continued to smash into it, slowly but surely collapsing the structure. Many of those inside became trapped; others had no time to escape when fire flashed through the building; many of those who managed to get out of the fiery death-trap were severely burned or were forced to jump from high places.
The most likely cause of the fire is quite simple: The FBI, early in the siege, cut off water and electricity to Mount Carmel. The Davidians began using kerosene lanterns. To avoid the danger of snipers' bullets, they stacked hay by the windows. The place was a "tinderbox". One tank knocking over one lantern could have sparked the flames. Or was it the CS gas? "CS gas and methylene chloride, the solvent with which the FBI claims it was mixed, both are flammable and will sustain and accelerate a fire." [Moore, 364].
Says Attorney Jack Zimmermann: "People were trapped; the building was falling down, the damn tanks had just destroyed the structure, and nobody knew where they were because the ceiling had fallen in." [qtd. in Moore, 349]
Bradford, R.W. "Mass Murder, American-Style". Liberty [magazine], June 1993
"E.R." Anarchy [magazine] #38/Fall '93 (p. 7)
Moore, Carol. The Davidian Massacre (Best is to order directly from Moore; phone (202) 986-1847 for more info; or order from Gun Owners of America.)
Myers, Lawrence W. "Operation Achilles Heel". Media Bypass [magazine], Sept. 1995 (Phone 1- 800-4BYPASS)
Reavis, Dick J. The Ashes Of Waco. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. ISBN: 0- 648-81132-4
Thompson, Linda. Interview by Chuck Harder broadcast on For The People radio show, Feb. 11, 1994
Wattenberg, Daniel. "Gunning for Koresh". The American Spectator [magazine], August 1993
I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
See also: ftp ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred