WACO THE REAL STORY? by Linda Thompson. ( American Justice Federation) Excerpts from Nexus Magazine Aug/Sept 1993

There is always a story behind a story. This account was pulled off one of the more popular international computer networks.
It makes very chilling reading!

Words can't express the sickness, horror and outrage I felt, watching an army tank bash holes in the walls of the house at Mt Carmel, Monday, 19 April 1993 - exactly 50 years after the Nazis burned the Warsaw ghetto. And all the while, the FBI's personal buffoon, Ricks, sanctimoniously made claims that this was done to "urge" the people to come out, that the FBI was "concerned about child abuse" because of the
"conditions the children were living in".

What utter and total bald-faced lies. The holes were bashed in the sides of the building, not to introduce CS gas, but to make sure the house was well ventilated so that the fire would spread rapidly. I have received reports from no less than 15 people across the country who saw on the TV footage, two men in black uniforms, wearing gas masks, set the fire. I personally saw an incendiary fly through into the second storey window. Three others reported seeing footage where the tank drove over a gas tank, exploding it.

I represent several family members and Branch Davidians. I have talked with several Branch Davidians. They are not glazed-over moonie-type crazies. They are well educated, articulate, very nice people. All of them had normal jobs outside the Mt Carmel centre. None of them believed they were under David Koresh's "control". All of them said they were free to leave whenever they wanted. One of them said that there was no "suicide" - that no one from the Branch Davidians set the fire at all and didn't know it was coming.

Most of you have seen our earlier accounts of Waco while the Branch Davidians were under siege and know from the TV news what the conditions were there.

The news media was kept three miles from the Mt Carmel centre by armed guards at all roads into the compound. And the media dutifully regurgitated whatever tripe the FBI fed them each day at 10.30, calling it "news" as they slandered the Branch Davidians, spreading lies of "child molesting", "planned mass suicide", and "religious whackos in Waco". No matter - sensationalism sells newspapers, doesn't it? It gets those network ratings up, too. It wouldn't be a story if they told the truth. The FCC might shut down a network or two or yank a permit. Better that 100 people should die in an inferno than expose the depths of the depravity of the leaders of this country.

Well, the FBI lied and so have the major media throughout this entire ordeal. Here's the real story. In 1992, Sheri Jewel and her ex-husband were in a custody battle over their daughter, Keri. Sheri was a Branch Davidian and she was killed in the fire Monday. Her ex-husband is a radio announcer. His wife is a TV personality. They have money.

A fellow named Mark Breault, used to be a Branch Davidian. According to Branch Davidian sources, he proclaimed himself to be a prophet. He allegedly tried to take over the Mt Carmel compound and was ousted by David Koresh. Breault, an Australian, left vowing revenge. He often called the compound daily to harass the members. The Jewels hired Mark Breault to testify in their custody dispute. In an affidavit, Breault made allegations of child molestation and religious weirdness. This was in Michigan in 1992.

Senators were contacted to investigate these allegations, as was the "Cult Awareness Network". The Cult Awareness Network is a group in Washington, DC, headed by the wife of late Senator Ryan who was killed at Jonestown. She wields a lot of power in Washington. The allegations of child molestation were investigated in the intervening two years, twice, by Texas welfare department authorities and found to be baseless. The Sheriff's department investigated the allegations of illegal guns and these claims were found to be baseless. The investigations were peaceful. There were no problems. Mark Breault, however, continued to make his baseless and slanderous allegations against the Branch Davidians. The Cult Awareness Network turned up the pressure. The newspapers called Breault a "private investigator who has tracked the Davidians for two and a half years". "Tracked"? They had lived at the Mt Carmel centre since 1935. How much "tracking" did it take? "Investigator"? Ha. He's a self-proclaimed "prophet" with a vendetta against the Branch Davidians. And who paid him so handsomely that he could afford to "track" them for 2 ½ years, anyway? Did the media bother to check any of this out? Never.

You may remember that in the first few days the Branch Davidians were under siege, they hung a sheet outside the window that said, "Send in Don Stewart, ,CFA and Ron Ingleman". I now know all these people pretty well by phone.

Don Stewart says he is a former paid informant and hired assassin for the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). He named dates, times and places, and detailed a secret hit squad operated under the BATF by a man code-named "Wolfgang" (whose name he identified to me). He claims this secret hit squad killed a fellow named Tomassi in California, a religious leader called the Bogwan Rashnesh Shari, and provided the weaponry to the woman named Moore who tried to shoot President Ford, driving her through guards to get her in place. They took her children to keep her quiet. He also says that John Wayne Hearns, the man who ran the ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine as a hired hitman that got Soldier of Fortune sued when he actually carried out a hired murder for someone, was a paid operative. Congressional records show that a man named Dirk Stoffberg was another such operative, who was a hired assassin of our government and also ran guns and cocaine in and out of the country. Don Stewart is now on the run from the BATF, living in an RV with his family. If even a tenth of his information is true, it is a sorry, sorry tale of the depravity existing at the highest levels of our government.

CFA - The Constitutional Foundational Association- was started by Greg Sali and Bill Griffith to expose the true story in Waco. They are also now working to establish common law courts throughout the country to put corrupt judicial officials and politicians behind bars, where they belong. Together with Ken Fawcett, they have collected over 300 hours' worth of videotapes of the initial onslaught. People who have studied these tapes in slow motion say that they show that the BATF agents who were killed going in through the second storey window, were killed by friendly fire and their own fragment grenade. When they got inside the window, they were in a 10 x 10 room that had a locked steel door. They couldn't get out. They were hit by friendly fire and trapped in the room when the fragment grenade went off. One Branch Davidian, Mike Schroeder, left the Mt Carmel compound that morning to go to work as usual. He passed by agents who never stopped him. He didn't learn of the initial siege until later that day. When he tried to return home, he was shot in the back as he climbed a fence. His body was left hanging on the fence for days, where his wife and child could see him from inside the house. The government finally moved his body, using a grappling hook from a helicopter, at night, to drop it into a nearby field, where it was chewed by wild dogs and buzzards beyond recognition as a human being.

Another man was shot and his body was left up on the water tower for days by the government and it, too, was dropped to the ground at night by a helicopter, leaving pieces to be scraped up from the ground. The two old ladies who came out of the compound with the children said that all the children had been in an upstairs room when they were suddenly fired upon by helicopters through the roof, the day of the siege. They covered the children with their own bodies to protect them. These old ladies were charged with murder and held in jail. Eventually, they were put under arrest as material witnesses and held in a half-way house out of the city.

While the FBI was claiming to be urging the Branch Davidians to surrender, FBI spokesperson Ricks announced on Friday 17 April, that anyone who came out would be considered a threat to the BATF agents and would be shot. Shots and percussion grenades were fired at a person who tried to leave through a window that day, and at Steve Schneider. Ricks said that Steve Schneider had "abused his privileges" and had to be taught a lesson.

For 51 days, the FBI tortured the people inside the Mt Carmel centre. All utilities, including sanitation, were cut off. Loudspeakers were set up all around the house to blare sounds 24 hours a day, including the sounds of rabbits being slaughtered, the sound a phone makes when it is left off the hook, Tibetan monk chants, jet airplanes, babies crying, and songs such as "These boots are made for walking" and Christmas carols.

Stadium lights were set up to keep the place lit up 24 hours a day. Military tanks, including M1 Abrams and Bradley's, were brought in and rapidly circled the house, firing percussion grenades continuously. The tanks would charge up to the house and then stop within feet of the house repeatedly.

Black helicopters flew overhead. Two Huey gunships also flew over frequently, guns mounted in front. Around the 40th day of the siege, David Koresh announced that the children and babies were out of milk. Two relief efforts to bring baby food to the Mt Carmel compound were turned back. Two people, one of them Gary Spaulding from South Bend, Indiana, was arrested for trying to take the food past a roadblock. When I posed the direct question to the FBI headquarters, "Has it come to this? Does the United States government want babies to starve to death?" The answer was, verbatim, "Yes". A BATF agent, in a pickup truck that said "Wild Bill" on the side, stole the food.

And how did the BATF account for what it did when it assaulted the Branch Davidians? Did it offer to show the American public the search warrant they claimed to have? No. In fact, the search warrant and probable cause affidavit, if they existed at all, were "sealed" by court order. A court order from the same judge who apparently signed it in the first place.

The same judge, Walter Smith, Jr, of the Waco Division, Western US District Court in Waco, denied eight petitions for relief filed by various lawyers seeking to order the FBI and BATF to be made to follow the law and the United States Constitution. The government never once filed a single paper in opposition to any of these motions. There was clear, controlling Supreme Court law that required that these petitions be granted. The judge had no legal reason to deny them, yet he did. And he used the same order, nearly a Xerox, to deny all of them.

Walter Smith is the same judge who allowed arraignments of people who left the compound to be held in secret. When there was not sufficient probable cause to hold them under arrest, he allowed them to be detained in jails as ""material witnesses""

And this same judge is the only judge in that division, where all the remaining Branch Davidians, now facing "murder" charges, will be put on trial. After the BATF and FBI learned that the American Justice Federation had released a press release stating that the use of military troops against United States citizens violated federal law, specifically the Posse Comitatus Act, the BATF released a cover story, claiming that the tanks were "really" not Army; they were national guard, and had been brought in under the "Drug Interdiction Act" because they had heard there was a "methamphetamine lab" - three weeks after the FBI had already publicly announced there was never any question whatsoever of drug involvement. Governor Ann Richards of Texas, who authorised the use of the tanks, claimed she had been tricked. But she still did not order the tanks to be withdrawn.

Each day, secret horrors were perpetrated upon the Branch Davidians, out of sight of the American public, as the press cowered like sheep, out on the fringes. Each day, the FBI gave us the 'The Truth', as told by the FBI, and the news media dutifully lapped it up and spread it throughout the country, poisoning the minds of people across the country, just as the FBI intended.

Did any of the news media ever challenge how the BATF might have any jurisdiction at all over "child molesting" allegations Or their authority to bring in two cattle trailer full of armed men, who threw grenades at the front door and went in shooting at women and children on a Sunday morning?

One or two persons asked decent questions at the press conference. Lewis Beam, a political activist, and a reporter from Soldier of Fortune magazine, were kicked out of the press conference for doing so. Lewis Beam was arrested. His crime? Asking "Is this the beginning of Gestapo tactics and martial law in this country?" at the press conference.

Others, including myself, were prevented from entering the press conference, despite valid press credentials. In fact, later that day I was detained by a BATF agent at a road block who pointed a machine gun at me and my partner, John Baird, and stole our credentials. My crime? I had filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Branch Davidians, asking that they be allowed to have legal counsel.

And, for all the unasked questions - no, it is not illegal to own a machine gun in this country. Even if the Branch Davidians had a machine gun, which it now appears they did not, if it was "illegal" it merely meant that a $200 tax had not been paid on it. All it takes to legally own a machine gun in this country is to pay a $200 tax and fill out a Form 4. The BATF is supposed to check that those taxes have been paid.

Neighbours we have spoken with who have known the Branch Davidians for 15 years described them as "good Samaritan" types who helped their neighbours and were kind and friendly. Normal people, good neighbours. The kind of folks you'd probably rather have living around you than the thugs who commit the drive-by shootings, rapes, and robberies, for instance.

Calling a religion a "cult" and putting out false information across the media about "child molesting" and "weapons caches" is exactly the same technique that was used by the Nazis to portray the Jews as filthy, disgusting people, so they could be killed. It is the same technique used by every tyrannical government, to kill and unpopular and potentially vocal adversarial group. But in this country, we are supposed to have freedom of religion. It would seem that is a pipe dream.

We have three confirmed reported citings of trainloads of UN tanks going into Portland, Oregon, over the past few weeks, and troop movements of unmarked military vehicles across the nation. Perhaps you might want to ponder the significance of these events. And tonight, Peter Jennings, in yet another 'made for propaganda' ABC News TV special, gave a full and impartial (not) accounting of events by having those bastions of integrity, Kisser, of the Cult Awareness Network, and a former Branch Davidian give us "insight" into how Branch Davidians and "all cults" think. As if they know. Peter Jennings twice said tonight that "there are more than 100 cults across the country and this is a warning of things to come."

Paul Fatta, a Branch Davidian, held a Class III dealer's licence. That meant that he could legally own, sell and buy any type of gun. It is thus highly unlikely that there were any "illegal" guns in the centre at all. And who is responsible for issuing these permits? The BATF. They knew Paul Fatta had a license.

Paul Fatta was not at the Mt Carmel centre the day the BATF assaulted the Branch Davidians. Nonetheless, he is now listed on the FBI's "10 Most Wanted" list as "armed and dangerous". This gives the government the ability to shoot him on sight and then claim he was a "fleeing felon". It is, in other words, a licence for the government to kill, again. To bury the best evidence against them.

David Koresh had a message for the world. He wasn't holding out to commit suicide. He didn't hold anyone hostage. He wanted to give what he believed was a gift to the world. He believed he held the secret to the Seven Seals, spoken of in Revelations. He wanted to offer what he knew for anyone who could hear it, believing he had a duty to offer it to help save the souls of those who did not know. He wanted the time to write it down, which he had to do in candlelight, using a manual typewriter, on scraps of paper. He sent a message to the FBI telling them this. He also sent messages, Bible scriptures, that said that God would send his holy armies to smite his enemies.

The Waco massacre has awakened Americans all across the nation to what is horribly wrong in this country. A voice of unity is being heard, growing louder each day.

We have seen our leaders on the television, lying to us with straight faces, offering justifications for this carnage, as if there could ever be any possible moral explanation or excuse that could be enough. That the people offering these excuses are morally bankrupt and corrupt, should be obvious. A simple "We're sorry" would at least show a glimmer of common decency and humanity, but those words have never crossed any of their lips.

So, America, we have cold-blooded killers running our country. Isn't it about time you put down your beer, get up off the sofa, and do something about it?

Among the government lies refuted: Agent Steve Willis, in one of the cattle trucks, was assigned to kill Koresh at the beginning of the assault. He partially missed. He was killed during the fire-fight.

Several agents were equipped with full auto MP5 machine pistols (NOT equipped with the more common three-round burst mode trigger) loaded with Cyclone ammo designed specifically to defeat body armour. Recall the BATF claimed they were "outgunned" and did not have machine guns.

Many of the casualties were from friendly fire, both from the ground and from the air. One of the Cyclone armour-piercing bullets was removed from one of the BATF casualties.

The first firing was from the helicopters even before the cattle trailers arrived on the scene. One helicopter had already taken hits and autorotated down before the ground assault started.

The first firing from the ground was Agent Steve Willis's firing on Koresh as he opened the door in response to BATF orders.

In response to Government. Richards' accusation, the BATF has admitted lying to the Texas National Guard and the Governor's office, saying drug trafficking was suspected in the compound. Drug interdiction is the only legal basis the BATF had to use National Guard resources.

BATF had no clue as to the internal layout of the compound and had practised the assault on a mock-up that bore no resemblance to the actual compound.

Contrary to BATF claims that Koresh could not be captured outside the compound because he had been holed up for weeks, multiple witnesses confirm he was in town as recently as four days before the assault. Witnesses included a store owner providing receipts containing Koresh's signature, a doctor who had treated him for back pain and a bar manager who saw him eating lunch and having a beer.

Radio communications were in the clear and used commercial radios. Several local reporters recorded BATF communications from scanners including BATF agents talking in plain language about the pending assault. One can assume Koresh had a scanner.

Contrary to BATF's stated concern for the children and women, agents fired wildly into the building, often being seen on the videotape crouching behind cover, holding machine guns over their heads and 'spraying' the building with bullets.

by Linda Thompson

American Justice Federation

3850 South Emerson Avenue

Indianapolis, IN 46203 USA

Tel: (317) 780 5204

 

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