With the announcement of two decisions favorable to the government regarding federal activities in Waco, Texas, government apologists of every political stripe are hailing the end of “speculation” and “conspiracy theories” about what happened at the end of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege. Both Independent Counsel (and former Republican senator) John Danforth and a civil jury have found the government was not responsible for the April 19 fire that burned Mount Carmel, and its eighty occupants, to the ground. Unfortunately, like the burglar who sues the homeowner for tripping over a coffee table and breaking his leg during his malfeasance, some important pieces of the puzzle have been left out.
What happened in April of 1993 on the grassy plains outside of Waco will never be fully known; experts, investigators, and conspiracy theorists will be debating the events of that day until the end of time. Perhaps most importantly, who started the fire that quickly consumed the lives of 80 men, women and children? Were Davidians shooting at FBI agents, thus justifying the claim made by agents in charge that fire trucks were deliberately held up out of concern for the safety of the firefighters? Did FBI sharpshooters fire into the home and church of the Branch Davidians as it burned, killing many that were trying to escape and surrender?
Personally, I don’t have a firm opinion of what exactly happened that day. The “facts” of April 19, 1993 ultimately depend upon whom you ask, and I’ve stopped asking. I stopped asking because trying to determine whom was at fault for the deaths of those people has overshadowed what happened on and before February 28, 1993—what was by far the greater injustice—and to do so means letting it happen again. For February 28 was the culmination of nearly seven months of needless scrutiny that ended with federal stormtroopers descending violently upon a group of peaceful religious separatists, and the beginning of one of the most tragic events in American history.
If Thomas Jefferson was correct, that governments are instituted for the sole purpose of protecting the rights of individual members of society, then a government acting within its moral purview would never have had cause to be at Mount Carmel on February 28, 1993. Why? Because no one’s rights were being violated by anyone at the Branch Davidian complex, and to interfere absent any such violations would be the antithesis of “wise and frugal government”. In light of this philosophical underpinning, the very groundwork on which this country was founded, I would like to submit the following facts to a candid world:
The only claim that members of the Branch Davidian church at Waco, Texas were hurting anyone prior to February 28, 1993 were allegations that some of the children in their care were being abused. These charges were subsequently investigated by the Texas Department of Human Services and the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department in February of 1992, and found to be unsubstantiated. What is also important is that the Branch Davidians, including David Koresh, welcomed the investigators and in no way interfered with their investigation.
In July 1992, when agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) approached federally licensed firearms dealer Henry McMahon to inquire about Koresh’s gun purchases, he called David Koresh. He then took his cellular phone to the BATF agents and informed them that Koresh was on the line. “I’ve got him on the phone,” McMahon told the agents. “If you’d like to go out there and see those guns, you’re more than welcome to.” To which agent Davy Aguilera responded that the BATF “didn’t want to do it that way.” Again we see the Branch Davidians, and David Koresh, cooperating with a law enforcement investigation. Only the BATF “didn’t want to do it that way.”
Hoping to gain exemptions to the posse comitatus law, which forbids the use of the military in domestic law enforcement except in drug-related cases, the BATF told the Texas National Guard that the Davidians were manufacturing methamphetamine at Mount Carmel. Evidence to substantiate this claim has never been presented in any form.
On February 28, 1993 seventy-six commando-suited agents from BATF poured from cattle trucks in front of the Davidian church to serve a search warrant for illegal guns. After shooting five penned dogs the agents fired on an unarmed David Koresh who had come to the door, missing Koresh but fatally wounding his father-in-law. Other agents began placing ladders against the building and climbing onto the roof. After the first exchange of gunfire, a general firefight between the Davidians and the BATF began, at the end of which four agents and six Davidians lay dead.
At the trial of the survivors from Mount Carmel, Davidian Kathryn Schroeder (who was actually a government witness testifying against the other Davidians) stated that she did not hear the federal agents identify themselves in any way during the February 28 raid. Seventy-six black-clad, submachinegun-toting men and women swarmed over a church and home filled with women and children, began shooting, and yet never identified themselves as law enforcement.
Initially, the BATF claimed it had video evidence that the Davidians started the shooting. To this day, that video evidence has never been presented. A taped 911 call to the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department one minute into the raid adequately explains the confusion and terror experienced by the Davidians as the assault began. On the tape Davidian Wayne Martin can clearly be heard shouting, “There are about seventy-five men around our building shooting at us in Mount Carmel. Tell them there are children and women in here and to call it off! Call it off!”
Perhaps the most disconcerting fact about the events surrounding February 28 is that the search warrant issued for Mount Carmel specifically forbade the commando-style, “dynamic” entry raid conducted by the BATF. Under the instructions of the issuing magistrate, the BATF was to peacefully knock on the door, announce their warrant and conduct their search. But when faced with an adversary who had announced his intent to cooperate with any BATF investigation, who had in fact totally cooperated with law enforcement investigations in the past without incident, the BATF proved they certainly “didn’t want to do it that way.” They wanted a fight.
After the murder trial of the surviving members of the Branch Davidian church, jurors said they heard very convincing evidence that the Davidians fired in self-defense during the February 28 raid. One juror told a reporter that “there was no way we could find them [the Davidians] guilty of murder. We felt provocation [by the BATF] was pretty evident.” Jury forewoman Sarah Bain also told a reporter that “The federal government was absolutely out of control [on February 28]. We spoke in the jury room about the fact that the wrong people were on trial, that it should have been the ones that planned the raid and orchestrated it and insisted on carrying out this plan who should have been on trial.” [emphasis added]
What went wrong at Waco began before April 19, 1993. Some would say it started when the federal government became an “activist” government, finding “problems” to “fix” despite its constitutional restraints; some see the federal entrance into law enforcement as the beginning of the end of a restricted, limited central government. One thing is for certain—when the government, through its alphabet soup of federal agencies, sees peaceful Americans as a threat requiring commando raids, machine guns, “flashbang” grenades, National Guard troops and propaganda to subdue, we can hardly be surprised when ninja-suited federal agents create an America more like Nazi Germany or Communist Russia than “the land of the free”. And we can hardly be surprised when they pour from cattle trucks to attack a church in Texas full of women and children.
When members of the media, investigative committees, law enforcement agencies and popular opinion focus on the fiery end to the Branch Davidians on April 19, 1993, something very crucial is overlooked. No one who has never hurt anyone should ever be subjected to an early-morning paramilitary raid on his or her home and family. If we have genuinely learned anything from the Waco debacle, we should immediately repeal every law criminalizing activities that have no victims. Whether the act in question is the use of prohibited substances or a petty violation of an obscure federal gun law, both of which motivated the investigation and attack on Mount Carmel and its peaceful residents, we’re long overdue for rethinking our activist government. April 19, 1993 never would have happened were it not for February 28, 1993. And February 28, 1993 would have been just another day in Waco, Texas had the government of the United States just left those people alone.
07/22/00
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