WACO ....THE UNTOLD STORY? by Samual L. Blumenfeld. Excerpts from Nexus Magazine June/July 1994

This stunning video documentary gives a totally different picture of what really happened.

The first part of the video presents information about the Branch Davidians which seems to contradict what the media have told us about them. The media gave the impression that the Branch Davidians were a bunch of suicidal apocalyptic psychopaths. The Thompson video shows them as pretty normal human beings, seriously devoted to a charismatic teacher, living peacefully in communal style at their Mt Carmel centre. The sect, founded in 1935, is an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventist church. There have been many such unorthodox religious sects and communities in America, none of which have ever suffered a military-style assault by the US government.

But what drew the ire of the federal government to the Branch Davidians was the fact that they bought and sold guns, which is perfectly legal. Buying and selling guns in Texas and elsewhere is one way in which many people earn money. None of the Branch Davidians had been convicted of a violation of any of the gun laws on the statute books.

The second part of the video deals with the legal preparations made by the government to justify its planned assault on the Branch Davidians' compound. Mrs Thompson points out the blatant irregularities in the search warrant issues by the federal judge.

THE FIRST ASSAULT

The third part shows the unprovoked military assault on the Branch Davidians on Sunday morning, 28th February 1993. ATF troops are shown firing at the front of the compound with automatic weapons with no fire being returned. In addition, it shows three helicopters flying overhead. It then shows two teams of ATF men in black uniforms at the side of the house with automatic weapons climbing onto the first-floor roof by ladders. The group at the right is comprised of four men, three of whom smash their way into a second-floor window after throwing a smoke grenade into the room. The fourth man on the roof is lying prone with a machine gun, covering his buddies as they enter the building. No one is firing at them. The fourth man then goes to the window and throws a grenade into the room his buddies have just entered. He then fires the machine gun into the room. Why is he firing at his own men? As he fires into the room, we see three shots fired from inside the room piercing the outside wall. Did those shots come from the three ATF agents in the room who realised they were being shot at from the outside? Undaunted, the fourth man then fires into the room once more. A bullet hits his helmet and the impact knocks him down, but he is unhurt. He scurries to the edge of the roof and quickly goes down the ladder to the ground.

Who is that fourth man, and why did he fire into the room where he knew his own men had entered? We are told that the ATF had rehearsed the attack over and over again. Had that fourth man been given special instructions? The three men who had entered that room were the three men killed in the assault, and they have all been identified as Bill Clinton's bodyguards during the election campaign.

Why was an investigation not made into the circumstances of the deaths of the three ATF agents? Why was the blame immediately placed on the Branch Davidians who suffered six deaths in the assault? The circumstances of the death of the fourth ATF man have never been satisfactorily explained. Supposedly he was killed before the shooting even started. Was it an accident? But if it is true that one or more of the agents were actually killed by the Branch Davidians, it should be noted that the attack by the ATF was unprovoked and unconstitutional. How can the government justify shooting its way into the house of a suspect, endangering the lives of over 80 innocent men, women and children who were in the building at the time? No one in that house had been convicted of a crime.

The ATF spent months planning the attack. Was any attempt ever made to peacefully serve a search warrant? Who gave the authorisation to use deadly force before any attempt had been made for peaceful entry into the compound?

The failure of the government's attack was attributed to the superior fire power of the Branch Davidians. Yet, the Branch Davidians suffered much higher causalities than the ATF, and there is good reason to believe that the ATF men in the building were killed by their own man on the roof.

The whole episode cries out for a full, open Congressional investigation. But that's only the beginning.

ISOLATING THE VICTIMS

The fourth part of the video deals with the 51-day period between the two assaults. After the failure of the initial attack, the ATF and the FBI then engaged in psychological warfare against the hapless inhabitants of the compound. All of their utilities were shut off, their only communication with the outside world was through the ATF. Even close relatives on the outside were not permitted communication with their loved ones inside the compound. Why not? Was the ATF afraid that those in the compound might reveal what actually happened during that attack? And why didn't the press complain about not being permitted to communicate with the Davidians inside the compound?

At night the ATF played ear-splitting recordings of rabbits being slaughtered, Tibetan monks chanting, and Nancy Sinatra singing: "These boots are made for walking…they're gonna walk all over you." Also, the building was floodlit with stadium lights during the night to keep the inhabitants awake. What kind of psychological advantage the government hoped to gain by these crude and ludicrous techniques has not been explained. But it would be interesting to listen to the ATF and FBI psychos explain before a Congressional committee where they picked up these techniques of torment. From unemployed communist brainwashers?

Also, a Branch Davidian who had been at work in town during the attack and wanted to get back into the building to be with his loved ones was shot to death by the ATF as he was climbing over the fence. Obviously, if the man had been out of the compound during the raid, he could not have been guilty of any crime against the ATF. Nevertheless, the ATF executed him on the spot. Not since the Nazi occupation of Europe were innocent people subjected to such stark, lawless atrocities at the hands of government as those in Waco.

It is also now known that the ATF and the FBI used the latest technology which permitted them to actually see and hear everything going on in the compound. The whole sordid operation was based on the unwarranted assumption that everyone in that compound, including the children, were enemies of the United States and that the only way out of their predicament was unconditional surrender. Yet, no one in that building had been convicted of a crime!

One wonders why none of the civil authorities in Waco, the state government of Texas, or the federal government could see that what was being perpetrated against the Branch Davidians violated every precept of justice and human rights codified in American law. The American people, watching the spectacle on television, simply assumed that the "cultists" or "religious fanatics" in the compound were so dangerous and criminal as to warrant the most drastic military means to bring them into submission.

Also, we do not know, as yet, of the state of mind of the people in the compound who were being subjected to this barbaric torment by their own government. We can only speculate about David Koresh's political knowledge. Having gone to American public schools where he was labelled dyslexic, he probably had a very faulty view of the American government. It probably never occurred to him that the federal government was willing to do anything and everything in its power to destroy him, regardless of the illegality of its methods. He probably assumed that sane people on the outside would prevent the government from doing what it finally ended up doing: burning them all to death. After all, this was America, not Nazi Germany, and those men in the black uniforms pointing guns and tanks at the compound were Americans, educated in the values of religious freedom and due process, pledged to uphold the Constitution of the United States. After all, didn't President Clinton take his oath with a hand on the Bible, the same Bible that Koresh used as the basis of his beliefs? It should be noted that Koresh's followers were not idiots. One of them was a graduate of Harvard Law School.

THE FINAL SOLUTION

The fifth part of the video deals with the final assault that led to the total destruction of the compound by fire and the death of virtually everyone inside. We do not know how the final assault was planned. But we do know that the plan was approved by President Clinton and his Attorney General, Janet Reno.

The plan, as advertised to the public, was to use tanks with extended arms to punch holes in the walls of the compound, pump CS gas into the building and force the people inside to come out with their hands up. Janet Reno justified the use of these methods in order to "save the children". Of course, had she really been interested in saving the children, she could have simply called off the entire military operation and permitted anyone who wanted to leave the compound to do so unharmed. That would have been the humane and sensible thing to do. It is wiser to let the guilty go free it that's what it takes to save the innocent. But she was so intent on capturing the alleged killers of the ATF agents, that she was unwilling to spare the 85 innocent men, women and children in that building. If she was so intent on bringing the killer or killers of the ATF agents to justice, why didn't she start by questioning the ATF man who fired into the room where his buddies, Clinton's former bodyguards, were?

What the Thompson video shows is that the plan as described to the American people on television was quite different from what actually happened on that tragic day, 19th April 1993, beginning at 6.05 am. First, the Thompson video shows us a diagram of the compound and the two underground bunkers a few feet away from the main building which were accessible through a trapdoor in the house. It is speculated that many of the Davidians, particularly the women and children, were spending nights in the bunkers to escape the psychological torment aimed at them by their government. And since the government knew where everyone was in that building at all times, what took place next is perhaps to gruesome to be true but probably is.

The first thing we see is a large military tank manoeuvring directly over the bunker area at 6.00 am, moving back and forth. It is not clear what the tank is doing, but it seems to be destroying the building over the trapdoor leading to the bunkers, which would have made it impossible for anyone to get out. We then see smoke rising out of the ground where the bunkers are located. The bunkers are obviously on fire, and the people inside are trapped. They can't get out, and they are being burnt to death. The ATF has blocked their escape. All of this took place early in the assault, six hours before the big conflagration that destroyed the entire complex.

In fact, we see no evidence of CS gas being pumped into the building. What we see are 58-ton converted MO tanks with extended crane-like arms simply pushing in and destroying the building around the bunker entrance area as if to seal it off. The big fire is reported to have started at 12.05 pm at the very other end of the compound. It should be noted that during that entire time, a good six hours after the beginning of the operation, no ATF or FBI agent was shot at.

Since many of the people who were burned to death in the compound were found in the underground bunkers, we have no choice but to assume that they were killed by the government hours before the big fire. They were killed in the bunkers, probably between 6.00 and 8.00 am, well before the big fire broke out. Their murder had to be covered up, for they would not have been killed in the big fire had they been alive before the fire at noon and taken refuge in the bunkers.

What about CS gas? Was any of it actually pumped into the building, or was the CS gas idea simply invented as a pretext for using the tanks to demolish the buildings? We shall have to wait to hear the testimony of the Davidian survivors who will stand trial for their 'crimes'.

But what we then clearly see in the video is the US government starting the fire at around noon, which reduced the entire compound to ashes. We clearly see a converted tank with a blowtorch pushing into the building and pulling out. Also, we see two ATF agents who probably started fires in the upper levels. One has leapt down onto a tank, the other we see jumping from the building, removing fire-repellent clothing and nonchalantly walking away from the building. Who were those two ATF agents? What were they doing on top of the building? Who gave them their instructions? Have they been questioned by anyone? Also, who was driving the tank with the blowtorch? Who gave him his instructions, and what were they?

DESTROYING THE EVIDENCE

We also know that Koresh made a desperate call for help, but that the ATF prevented any fire-fighting apparatus from getting to the building until it was burnt to the ground. We also know that the ATF proceeded to level everything in sight and destroy any evidence that would have contradicted their story that the Branch Davidians had immolated themselves in some sort of apocalyptic mass suicide. The truth is that the government is covering mass murder by its own agents.

The sense of shock one feels after viewing that video is numbing. One asks how could the US government commit such an atrocity on 85 or so innocent men, women and children, none of whom had been convicted of a crime, and all of whom had been denied and deprived of their basic constitutional right to due process. Apparently, the Constitution no longer means anything to those who rule over us.

And the myth that David Koresh and his followers committed mass suicide is still being drummed into the heads of the American people eight months later by the media, despite the existence of the Thompson video and their own video files which contain the same footage.

The government hopes that an indifferent and apathetic public will let them get away with the Waco massacre. But what happened in Waco is far worse than what happened at My Lai, for in Vietnam our soldiers were fighting a war. There was no war in Waco, only sheer, unadulterated tyranny by a lawless government that must be made accountable for its murderous actions. Some 85 individuals were killed by their government at Waco. The American people must not permit the murderers to go unpunished.

LIES FROM THE MEDIA

What is most disturbing about this entire Waco episode is the utter complicity of the media in characterising Koresh and his followers as suicidal apocalyptic psychopaths.

For example, Steven V. Roberts, a senior writer at US News & World Report, wrote the following commentary in its 3 May 1993 issue:

"Waco and Bosnia. David Koresh and Slobodan Milosevic. One driven by religious zeal, the other by nationalist bloodlust. But these two places, and these two men, present civilised people with basically the same question: How does society deal with a messianic personality who resists all attempts at persuasion and pressure?"

How? In a country that believes in religious freedom, you leave him and his followers alone, all 85 of them. That's how. Koresh represented no danger to anyone. The government's suspicions of illegalities were simply that. Suspicions founded on hearsay, noises, and the tales of vindictive individuals and cult deprogrammers. The question the writer should ask is how does an individual protect himself from false witnesses when the government has decided that it is out to get you? Mr Roberts continues:

"As President Clinton put it, after Koresh and his followers burned themselves at the stake of Ranch Apocalypse, "There is unfortunately a rise of this sort of fanaticism all across the world. We may have to confront it again."

Whose fanaticism was more dangerous: The ATF's fanatic determination to get its man no matter the cost, or Koresh's belief in his own religious calling? The latter claimed the loyalty of about 130 people, while the former represents a gross perversion of the American legal system. Were the technical gun violations the Branch Davidians were accused of worth the 85 lives destroyed by the government's relentless and merciless pursuit after an eccentric religious visionary? Why didn't the writer in US News question the government's wisdom and/or legality in Waco? He writes:

"The most painful question is this: To stop insanity, do civilised people have to become insane themselves? Do they ultimately have to kill and maim in order to thwart a greater evil? Finally, in Waco, the patience broke, and the result was tragedy."

Obviously, the writer in US News hasn't the slightest idea how to tell fact from fiction. Was it "civilised" to attack a compound of 85 men, women and children with helicopters and automatic weapons for the purpose of serving a search warrant? Only an insane or evil government would do what was done in Waco. And comparing David Koresh to Slobodan Milosevic is about the closest thing to insanity I can think of. Koresh did not attack the ATF. They attacked him first, killing six of the people in the compound. During World War II , there were Germans who used tortured logic to justify what Hitler was doing to the Jews, and Mr Roberts is using the same strained logic to justify what this government did to the Davidians.

Has Mr Roberts or any of his colleagues seen the Thompson video? Are they even interested in knowing the truth? Has anyone in Congress seen the video? At a speech Linda Thompson gave to an audience of 3,000 Milwaukee in 23rd October 1993, she said:

"We started sending out videos to churches and groups around the country. We sent a copy to every member of the House and Senate Judiciary Committee in the US Congress and they denied getting them. We called behind them to ask if they got them. Now, one Congressman - Sam Nunn of Georgia - said on TV the other night, 'Please, don't anybody send me another copy of this tape!' We've got to inundate them with this, so please don't let my copyright on the video throw you off because I really could care less if you copy it. In fact, I want you to copy it! I am an attorney and I really put that copyright on there to offend the people that put this coverage out originally so that they would sue me, and nobody has! Make copies, lots of copies and get them out there. Send them to Congress. Get the cheapest deal you can get. Make as many as you can - get then out there! This is the only way we're going to convince anybody to do a genuine investigation."

It is also important to get this video discussed by the media which so happily played the Rodney King tape over and over again. What bout 60 Minutes, 20/20, Prime Time Live, and other such TV magazine shows? For a media that devoted volumes to Watergate and Irangate, where is the curiosity over Wacogate? Where are all those well-paid investigative reporters? Where are all those Pulitzer Prizewinners? Only a massive effort on the part of thousands of Americans will be able to break through the wall of censorship and disinformation erected by the Clinton government and its accomplices.

(The Video, Waco the big Lie, was produced by Linda Thompson of the American Justice Federation, 3850 S. Emerson Ave, Indianapolis, Indiana 462103, USA; phone (317) 780 5204, fax (317) 780 5209. A new video , Waco the Big Lie part two has recently been made available. This includes some eye opening behind the scenes footage supplied by renegade FBI and ATF agents. These videos can be obtained by contacting the American Justice Federation.)

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