She won’t quit, but she will step aside and hand the preacher the magnifying glass
Trent Lott can jaw all he wants — Janet Reno is stayin’ put. "This is certainly a very serious matter," says TIME Justice correspondent Elaine Shannon. "The FBI’s inability to get its Waco story straight undermines faith in not only the FBI but the entire criminal justice system, and that’s her responsibility."
But Reno considers herself an honest victim of bad information, and she’s not a believer in the captain taking the fall for the mistakes of her mates. "She absolutely won’t resign unless she’s found to have lied," says Shannon, and Clinton, still mired after all these years of scandal in an I’m-not-Nixon impotence, doesn’t have the political credibility to fire her. And so the investigation into what the FBI knew and when it knew it is a job for Mr. Credibility, the Warren Rudman of law enforcement: John Danforth.
"Danforth, who spent his career addressing the integrity of the system, is the perfect person to do it," Shannon says of the morally rigorous ex-senator whom Reno introduced on Thursday morning as her special counsel for the outside probe. Clearly "Saint Jack," as colleagues called him, has a good idea of what to give a public whose faith has been shaken: transparency and due dispatch. He’ll use his own investigators – not FBI agents. T
hough he’ll have a grand jury at his disposal, Danforth promised to use it as little as possible, so that whatever he digs up can be made public legally (without leaking). He won’t tackle the FBI’s tactics during the raid – highly questionable, but a job for Congress – just whether the agency broke any serious laws in the siege, and why it’s been so foggy about accounting for its actions.
And he’s eager to have the whole thing wrapped up by the
2000 election – hopefully much sooner. So, is there any there
there? "I’m very excited to hear what he finds,"
says Shannon. "There’s six tons of evidence just sitting
around waiting to be gone through, and a lot to learn." You
can bet Janet Reno is as curious as the rest of us.
-- FRANK PELLEGRINI
FBI Aware Early of Waco Tear Gas
By JOHN SOLOMON
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - A lab document that the Justice Department failed to give Congress discloses that the FBI knew within eight months of the fiery end of the Branch Davidian siege that military tear gas projectiles were used, The Associated Press has learned.
A key final page from a 49-page FBI lab report was turned over to the House Government Reform Committee this week, along with an internal Justice Department memo acknowledging it ``was not produced to Congress'' during the 1995 investigations into the tragedy near Waco, Texas.
The first 48 pages of the lab report, dated Dec. 6, 1993, had been turned over to lawmakers years ago, absent the mention of the military-style tear gas that government officials for years had denied using.
The 49th page, obtained Friday by AP, discloses that FBI investigators who examined the scene at Waco found a ``fired US military 40 mm shell casing which originally contained a CS gas round,'' and two ``expended 40mm tear gas projectiles.''
The report is likely to become a key piece of evidence in the independent inquiry ordered by Attorney General Janet Reno and separate congressional investigations into whether government officials tried to cover up the use of potentially incendiary tear gas on the final day of the siege.
Justice Department and FBI officials denied for years that such tear gas grenades were used on April 19, 1993, the day the Davidian compound went up in flames. They abruptly reversed course earlier this month and acknowledged a ``very limited number'' of such devices were fired hours before the fatal fire.
The government continues to maintain that religious sect members set the fire, and federal agents did not contribute to it. They have said the tear gas canisters bounced off a roof of a concrete bunker and into a field. Sect leader David Koresh and some 80 followers perished during a later blaze in a wooden structure away from the bunker.
Justice spokesman Myron Marlin said Friday night that former Republican Sen. John Danforth, who is heading an independent inquiry into Waco, will have to examine why the crucial page of the report did not reach Congress earlier. Marlin noted, however, that the page was properly turned over to lawyers in criminal and civil cases involving Waco survivors.
``Whether it was an adminstrative error is something that the special counsel will have to look at,'' he said. ``But we know that the plaintiff and defendants counsel received it.''
The lab report does not specifically state whether the gas in the shells was incendiary or when they had been fired. But the potentially flammable M651 tear gas canisters that the FBI belatedly acknowledged using on the final day of the siege are 40mm military shells like those described in the lab report.
The FBI has always acknowledged firing one other type of 40 mm round that contained nonflammable tear gas.
A Sept. 2, 1999 Justice Department memo on the history of the lab document notes that the department's document database ``contains multiple copies of this document, most of which contain all 49 pages.'' It said only four copies of the report were missing the last page.
``It appears that the page on which mention is made of a shell casing for a military CS round and the expended tear gas projectiles was not produced to Congress,'' trial attorney James G. Touhey Jr. wrote.
During congressional probes, the FBI would typically forward its documents to the Justice Department, which would then produce the documents to lawmakers.
Danforth, a former Missouri attorney general, was named Thursday
to oversee the independent inquiry. He promised to investigate
whether government officials were responsible for the fatal fire
and tried to cover it up.
Also Friday, congressional aides sifted through documents subpoenaed
from the Texas Rangers dealing with the fiery end of the 51-day
siege.
The documents were subpoenaed last week by the House Government Reform Committee and included a previously unreleased Rangers report on ordnance used by the FBI in the final hours of the siege, a congressional aide said.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger, whose agency oversees the Rangers, said the report represents ``an extremely exhaustive look at some of the controversial evidence.''
``When you get right down to it, it is very narrow in focus,'' Vinger said. He declined to be more specific.
The Rangers, who have stored tons of evidence collected from
the Davidians' charred compound, began re-examining their holdings
in June after learning that military pyrotechnic tear gas canisters
were fired in the siege's waning hours.
AP-NY-09-10-99 2000EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated
Press.
The Second Siege of Waco: This Time It's Congressional
Will former senator John Danforth set his sights on Waco?
Now the FBI is in the crosshairs as a bevy of investigators sight
in on the six-year-old disaster
Janet Reno is finally learning the value of checks and balances. Evidently unwilling to court still more Republican ire with the internal, FBI-staffed investigation she initially promised, the attorney general is wooing straight-shooting former senator John Danforth of Missouri to head the new probe into the Waco conflagration.
Danforth, a party-line-bucking iconoclast who retired from the Senate in 1995, is a former Missouri attorney general, an ordained Episcopal priest and the kind of guy who won’t stop to consider the FBI’s feelings if he finds anything rotten in the state of the agency’s disastrous siege of the Branch Davidian compound all those Aprils ago.
And if Danforth, 63, is looking for some gumshoes, he might
consider the Texas Rangers — these guys have never been too
fond of the FBI, and they’ve already got a few leads.
Nosing around in a Waco storage facility Friday, the Lone Star
lads turned up one of the infamous missing pyrotechnic tear gas
grenades, a star parachute flare that could have set the fire
— although an FBI spokesman insisted that "categorically,
we did not use illumination rounds on the 19th."
But James B. Francis Jr., the very suspicious head of the Texas Department of Public Safety (of which the Rangers are a part), wants to know why the flares were used at all. "These flares are potentially a very important issue, inasmuch as the government had enormous spotlights trained on the compound throughout the standoff," Francis told The Dallas Morning News. Flares, fires, those redacted-out mentions of the role of Army special forces in the siege — Danforth had better decide quickly whether he's taking the job if he wants any of the good evidence to be left when he starts work.
The House Committee on Government Reform (that’s Dan Burton’s
boys), the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Henry Hyde – oh
no, not him again – all have investigations of their own
in the works. The founding fathers would be proud
-- FRANK PELLEGRINI
Danforth
Vows Thorough Waco Inquiry
Former Senator Opens Inquiry Into
Waco Siege
By PETE YOST
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (Sept. 10) - As he delves into the FBI's actions in the 1993 Branch Davidian tragedy, John Danforth will hope for cooperation, but if he doesn't get it, the former senator can always pull Plan B from his back pocket: an unlimited supply of grand jury subpoenas.
''The attorney general has armed me with all the authority under the law necessary to get to the facts, including, if necessary, the power to empanel a grand jury,'' Danforth said Thursday as Attorney General Janet Reno named him to head an independent investigation of the FBI's actions at the end of the Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Texas.
Investigating what he calls the ''dark questions'' of Waco, Danforth's mission is to delve into whether anyone in the government lied or withheld evidence regarding the fatal April 19, 1993, fire that destroyed the Branch Davidian sect's compound. The government has always maintained the Davidians set the blaze.
Danforth and the FBI agents who are the focus of his investigation could face some difficult choices.
Agents who cooperate voluntarily - a path Danforth says he would prefer - could be placing themselves in legal jeopardy by talking, depending on whether they're supplying evidence that touches on any criminality.
If an agent refuses to answer, Danforth must decide whether to immunize the witness to compel his cooperation, a step that probably would preclude Danforth from prosecuting the person later if Danforth concludes the agent engaged in wrongdoing.
While saying he'll wield the legal tools necessary to get the facts, Danforth says his goal is to give the American people the information they need to answer some key questions.
''How did the fire start? Were there shootings?'' Danforth said Thursday. ''The thing that really undermines the integrity of government is whether there were bad acts, whether there was a cover-up and whether the government killed people.''
Reno has been under fierce criticism since revelations that the FBI, contradicting a position it had taken for six years, had used some potentially incendiary devices on the last day of the 51-day standoff. The devices, however, were fired at a bunker, not at the building where the cult members were under siege.
Danforth also will investigate whether there was any illegal use of the armed forces in the final assault. Delta Force commandoes were at Waco the day of the FBI assault on the compound, but the Pentagon says the military team had no operational role.
''Everything I've read, everything that I've seen leads me to believe that everything'' the Defense Department ''did in support of the Department of Justice during this operation was both legal and in accordance with the guidance that they had been given,'' Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
A retired CIA official, Gene Cullen, claims he has information that members of the Delta team were actively involved in the Waco siege.
Danforth refused to place a time frame on his probe.
Asked if he planned to finish the inquiry by the time the Clinton administration leaves town a year and a half from now, Danforth did say, ''I certainly hope so. That would seem a long time from now to me.''
As the former senator made a round of courtesy calls on Capitol Hill, congressional leaders said they envision Congress' own Waco investigations will be more wide-ranging than Danforth's.
''I want to know it all,'' House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Congress should not defer to the executive branch in delving into Waco because ''after all, Congress was misled by the executive branch.''
''I would hope that they would do it in the broadest possible
way,'' Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said of congressional
probes.
AP-NY-09-10-99 0137EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated
Press.
Flares Said Found in Waco Evidence
.c The Associated Press
DALLAS (Sept. 8) - Several spent illumination flares were found in the tons of evidence recovered from the charred rubble of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, The Dallas Morning News reported today.
The newspaper said Texas Rangers discovered a star parachute flare while sifting through a storage facility Friday for missing pyrotechnic tear gas grenades.
Evidence logs showed more such incendiary flares were recovered in the weeks following the FBI siege and assault on April 19, 1993, said James B. Francis Jr., head of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
''These flares are potentially a very important issue, inasmuch as the government had enormous spotlights trained on the compound throughout the standoff.''
''They didn't need these flares to light the compound. One or more was fired,'' Francis told the newspaper. ''For what purpose or reason would these rounds be used?''
John Collingwood, an FBI spokesman, told the newspaper he could not flatly rule out the agency's use of illumination rounds during the deadly siege but said they played no part in the final assault.
''Several times during the standoff, they had people sneaking in or out of the compound at night. Whether they ever used them then, I don't know,'' said Collingwood. ''But I can say categorically, we did not use illumination rounds on the 19th.''
David Koresh and 78 followers died in the fire and assault at the compound following the 51-day siege. The government has maintained that the fires that destroyed the compound were deliberately set by the Branch Davidians.
Some GOP lawmakers want to know whether the FBI lied for several months about using incendiary tear gas canisters during the final raid. The possibility of launching an independent inquiry has been discussed.
Use of the pyrotechnic rounds, Attorney General Janet Reno has said, violated her strict instructions that nothing capable of sparking a fire be used during the FBI tear-gas assault.
Some 24,000 pounds of evidence has been recovered from the
burned compound, plus more than 300,000 rounds of ammunition and
other ordnance stockpiled by the sect.
AP-NY-09-08-99 1051EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated
Press.
Why
Reno Sent the U.S. Marshals Over to the FBI
The attorney general wants to make it clear that she's furious
over a Waco tape. But will she escape the fallout?
Janet Reno wants you to know she is peeved. It’s not exactly
every day that the attorney general sends U.S. Marshals around
to seize evidence being held at FBI headquarters. And by doing
just that on Wednesday Reno signaled her anger that the bureau
had kept her in the dark over the existence of tapes proving that
federal agents had fired potentially incendiary CS gas canisters
into the Branch Davidian compound at Waco. The tapes, which reportedly
contain the voices of agents asking their field commanders for
— and being granted — permission to fire the ordnance
into the compound several hours before the outbreak of the blaze
that left 80 people dead, have been held by the FBI for six years.
Of course, the dramatic seizure of the tapes may have been purely
theatrical, since it was the FBI that drew Ms. Reno’s attention
to their existence last week following the revelation that —
counter to FBI denials — such ordnance had been used at Waco.
Reno’s public slap-down of the FBI is most likely an attempt
to inoculate the Justice Department from the growing political
fallout over the government’s misrepresentation of events
at Waco. The high-profile nature of the move is meant to emphasize
that Justice hadn’t been properly briefed by the FBI and
thus was not culpable for the six-year delay. But it won't mean
the end of the Justice Department's troubles. Even though the
attorney general is reportedly in the process of establishing
an independent investigation, she’ll have plenty of competition
from probes by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the House Government
Reform and Oversight Committee and a congressional über-inquiry
proposed by House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde. In
addition, the Texas Rangers are about to complete their own inquiry,
which may also challenge aspects of the federal government’s
official story. Six years after the tragedy, the fires of Waco
are burning again — and this time, Washington may get burned.
-- TONY KARON
Waco Filmmaker Finds Satisfaction
By C. BRYSON HULL
.c The Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) - For years, filmmaker Michael McNulty accused the government of lying about its actions during the seven-week confrontation with Branch Davidians that ended in fiery tragedy in 1993.
Finally this week, after years of denials, the government admitted it did use pyrotechnic devices the day the Davidian's Mount Caramel compound burned down, killing David Koresh and about 80 followers.
But while McNulty said he is gratified the truth is finally coming out - he believes there is more that is yet to be revealed.
``Getting answers is satisfying, but it will be much more satisfying when the people who are responsible are in prison,'' he said.
``All of this is not about Mike McNulty, or the films that have been done, or about selling the films. It's about finding the truth.''
McNulty's 1997 film, ``Waco: Rules of Engagement,'' is based on grainy, black and white videotape recorded by an FBI surveillance aircraft circling over the compound. It was nominated for an Oscar in 1998 for Best Documentary Feature.
The film suggests that after Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents botched the raid of Koresh's compound 10 miles east of Waco on Feb. 28, 1993, the FBI recklessly attacked the religious group 50 days later, on April 19, with tank-driving commandos, intent on avenging the death of four agents.
The film cast doubt on Justice Department claims it used only non-burning grenades on April 19, 1993. McNulty said he found physical evidence to that effect - one pyrotechnic shell and a photograph of another shell that had been misidentified - more than a year after the movie's release.
The evidence will be included in the Fort Collins, Colo., resident's second film, ``Waco: A New Revelation,'' to be released this fall.
Attorney General Janet Reno, following a former FBI official's acknowledgment of the devices, said on Wednesday that the incendiaries were used and ordered a full investigation. Congress now says it also will investigate.
``The American public has a right to know the truth,'' said Danny O. Coulson, the retired FBI assistant deputy director whose statements sparked Reno's admission. ``And we have an obligation to tell the truth.''
It was Coulson's statements to The Dallas Morning News that forced this week's admissions.
The Texas Rangers, custodians of the evidence through an arrangement with the federal government, earlier this year opened an inquiry into evidence identified by McNulty.
David Thibodeau, a former Koresh follower and one of nine siege survivors, said Friday that the latest revelations are ``things we were saying for years.''
``People automatically just did believe what they were told because the government and certain members of the press did such a good job of demonizing the Branch Davidians,'' he said.
The case has attracted a cadre of researchers, experts and lawyers who consider themselves government watchdogs.
Arizona attorney David Hardy has fought his battles through open records laws, repeatedly winning Freedom of Information lawsuits against agencies that denied him access to documents about the standoff.
In July, Hardy won $32,000 in attorney's fees - the only financial remedy allowable in such suits - after a judge ruled the FBI and ATF had ``stonewalled'' his requests.
``It's exhilarating because I've spent three years compiling
these documents, and to finally have them all, in the space of
a week, become useful is great,'' Hardy said of the new public
scrutiny. ``We had to pry those documents away from the government
one at a time.''
AP-NY-08-28-99 0650EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated
Press.
Subj:
CBS WACO SPIN
Letter receieved by web mistress from Dan Gifford
Date: 9/3/99 10:09:00 PM US Mountain Standard Time
From: SomFord@worldnet.att.net
To: SOMFORD@WORLDNET.ATT.NET (UNDISCLOSED RECIPIENTS)
This story from CBS News this evening is as masterful a piece
of
propaganda and spin as I have ever seen. If other national news
organizations adopt this story's theme, its repetition stands
an
excellent chance of limiting the scope of any investigation into
the
government's actions at Waco to relatively minor issues. The present
focus on the pyrotechnic devices used in a tornado shelter away
from the
Mount Carmel structure is one such example. That episode was
intentionally omitted from "Waco: The Rules of Engagement"
because it
confused audiences and was not particularly important compared
to other
events. The best that will come from pursuing that episode is
the
finding that yes, the FBI lied about using pyrotechnics but no,
those
devices could not possibly have started a fire in the main building.
And
because all attention is on that, no national news organization
is
saying anything at all about the government's careful prepping
of the
Davidian building to burn nor its machine gunning of the Davidians
in
the burning building that is so clearly shown in the FBI's own
aerial
surveillance video that is included in "Waco:."
Dan Gifford
Executive Producer / Producer
"Waco: The Rules of Engagement"
Waco
Feeds Conspiracies:
New evidence in the Branch Davidian case proves to be fodder for
anti-government theorists.
SAN FRANCISCO
Thursday, September 02,1999 - 09:02 PM ET
(CBS) For years now the disaster near Waco has been exhibit
number one
for many who have deep distrust of the American government. From
conspiracy sites on the Internet to documentary films, Waco has
provided
a focus for those who see the government as the enemy.
And now, they say, there is proof the government has been lying,
reports
CBS News Correspondent John Blackstone.
"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.
"It does feed the conspiracy theory people to have Miss
Reno now coming
out and saying 'oops,'" Singer said.
It was attorney David Hardy whose research helped force Reno to say "oops."
"There is a lot being hidden. It's just not a lot of people doing it," said Hardy.
Hardy's research also helped fuel a sharply anti-government
documentary,
Waco: A New Revelation.
Hardy himself, though, does not see a massive government conspiracy
--just some lower level officials trying to protect themselves.
"In my experience, conspiracies only exist so long as
you keep them
reasonably small. If you put too many people in you may as well
send out
a press release," Hardy said.
But many are certain to see this as government out of control.
"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.
At one time conspiracy theorists may have been viewed as eccentrics
far
out on the fringe, but then Timothy McVeigh drove a truck full
of
explosives to Oklahoma City and we all discovered just how dangerous
it
can be when people stop trusting the government.
Marshals
Impound FBI Waco Evidence
Infrared Videotape Surfaces
By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (Sept. 2) - Previously undisclosed evidence in the FBI's 1993 assault on the Branch Davidian cult near Waco, Texas, has been impounded by federal marshals as Justice Department officials begin seeking an outsider to conduct a new investigation.
The marshals took custody of an infrared videotape recorded during the early morning of April 19, 1993, when FBI agents lobbed incendiary tear-gas canisters at a concrete bunker adjacent to the Davidians' compound, an FBI source said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hours after the incendiary canisters were fired, the wooden compound 50 yards away erupted in flames. Cult leader David Koresh and some 80 followers died during the inferno, some from gunshot wounds, others from the fire.
The FBI and Attorney General Janet Reno, who have been heavily criticized over the Waco tragedy, have said there was no evidence to suggest the blaze was set by the combustible canisters.
Senior Justice officials directed the marshals to seize the evidence Wednesday afternoon after being informed by the FBI that new information had been discovered in the files of the FBI's hostage rescue team at Quantico, Va., Justice and FBI officials said.
The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times today quoted officials as saying an audio track on the infrared tape picked up the voice of an agent seeking and receiving permission from a commander to fire incendiary tear-gas grenades at the bunker.
Reno has decided upon an independent inquiry - as recommended by the White House, the head of the FBI and several lawmakers - instead of one run from within her department, the Times and The Washington Post reported.
An informal list of several potential outside candidates to head the probe was in circulation, and some of them have been contacted, a Justice source said Wednesday. Reno was out of the country on official business through today.
Department sources said Reno and her top aides were angered at the latest twist in the newly resurgent Waco controversy. Just a week ago, the FBI was forced to retreat from six years of denials that it had used incendiary tear gas during the final hours of the 51-day siege, which had begun in a bloody shootout when federal agents tried to arrest Koresh on weapons charges.
That belated admission about the incendiary tear gas has prompted an outcry on Capitol Hill, where congressional Republicans are readying hearings for the fall. A frustrated Reno also ordered an inquiry to determine why combustible tear gas was used against her orders.
Byron Sage, a retired FBI supervisor who was the agency's chief negotiator with Koresh during the standoff, said today Reno's orders were that incendiary gas not be used against the wooden compound for fear it would cause a fire. ''Those instructions were followed,'' Sage said on ABC's ''Good Morning America.''
Even with the latest disclosures, Sage said, ''The facts have not changed as far as what happened on the 19th of April or on the 51-day effort prior to that. The military (incendiary) rounds that are in question were not directed toward the wooden structure - that's a central issue that needs to be remembered.''
The newly uncovered Forward-Looking Infrared, or FLIR, tapes were turned up as part of FBI Director Louis Freeh's order that all files be searched for relevant information in advance of the investigation, the FBI source said. After the evidence was found, it was transferred to FBI headquarters in Washington, where the marshals took possession.
The Hostage Rescue Team was in charge of operations during the siege and the final tear-gas assault.
''Earlier this afternoon, senior main Justice Department officials learned from the FBI that the FBI had found additional materials in its possession regarding the shooting of military CS gas rounds on the morning of April 19,'' Justice spokesman Myron Marlin said.
The Justice officials ''immediately directed the United States Marshals Service to take possession and inventory the materials,'' Marlin added.
The FBI concurred, bureau spokesman John Collingwood said.
''We are anxious to identify and preserve for outside review and congressional oversight anything that may bear on the firing of the military gas rounds,'' Collingwood said. ''In the end, the only way we can completely restore our credibility is to identify every scrap of information we have and immediately turn it over to whomever is doing the review.''
Joining a chorus of voices on and off Capitol Hill, the White House has made clear its preference for an independent investigation, a White House official said Wednesday. ''We would support a thorough and independent look at this,'' said the official, who asked not to be identified.
Freeh, who wants to head off any perception of conflict of
interest, earlier this week indicated support for an inquiry to
be conducted without FBI or Justice Department involvement. Freeh
took office more than four months after the 1993 fire.
AP-NY-09-02-99 0926EDT
Republican lawmaker hints at Reno cover-up on Waco
By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A powerful Republican lawmaker said on Sunday that he would not be surprised if Attorney General Janet Reno had been involved in a cover-up of the deadly fire that ended an FBI standoff with a religious cult in 1993.
``It would not surprise me if Janet Reno tried to keep a lid on this, because I think she's done that in other areas,'' Dan Burton, chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, said in a television interview.
Burton, a fierce critic of Reno's handling of probes into Democratic Party fund-raising abuses, said he planned to subpoena Justice and Defence Department officials this week to examine major new questions about the official version of the April 19, 1993, showdown with the Branch Davidian sect.
Last week, Reno, the nation's top law-enforcement officer, and top aides backed off six years of firm denials that federal agents had used incendiary devices on the day the Davidians' compound in Waco, Texas, burned to the ground.
Cult leader David Koresh and more than 80 followers were killed in the fire, which conspiracy theorists have maintained was deliberately set by the authorities.
Until last week, Reno and the FBI, which she controls, had denied repeatedly that tear-gas canisters used that day contained pyrotechnic devices.
A Justice Department spokesman dismissed as ``ridiculous'' Burton's suggestion that Reno might be involved in a cover-up.
``She was assured no such devices would be used or were used that day -- and that's why she's so angry now,'' Myron Marlin, Reno's spokesman, said.
On Thursday, Reno said she was ``very, very troubled'' by the belated disclosure that the FBI may have used incendiary military tear-gas rounds early that day. But she and the FBI said they continued to believe law-enforcement officers did not cause the fire.
``Apparently, the canisters in question were used in an attempt to penetrate the roof of an underground bunker away from the main Branch Davidian compound,'' FBI spokesman David Miller told Reuters. Citing electronic surveillance tapes, the bureau says the Davidians themselves started the fire.
Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh ordered a sweeping new investigation after the Dallas Morning News found evidence of the use of incendiary devices as a result of a lawsuit in Texas. Reno has not yet specified whether the review will be carried out internally or by an outsider.
Burton, of Indiana, said on the NBC programme ``Meet the Press'' he did not trust Reno. He said he planned to launch congressional oversight hearings ``as soon as possible.''
He alleged that the Justice Department had asked the Texas Rangers, the state law enforcement authority, to keep information about the event ``under lock and key for the past six years.''
``For them to say that they didn't know pyrotechnic devices were used just stretches credulity,'' he said. ``I think the attorney general should be held accountable for not telling the American people about this for the past six years. Because if they didn't know about it, they should have.''
``So when you ask me, do I trust her, I certainly do not. And that's why my committee is going to do a very thorough investigation of this whole matter,'' he said.
Burton left open the possibility that Reno and the FBI might still be hiding a link between the pyrotechnic rounds and the deadly fire at Waco.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah, a Republican presidential hopeful, played down the significance of the related disclosure that elite Army Delta Force units were present during the siege. Any operational involvement could be a violation of the Posse Comitatas Act, which bars the use of the military for domestic law enforcement in the absence of a presidential waiver.
``I have no problem with them there as observers,'' Hatch said on Fox News Sunday. ``If they were there to lead an assault on the compound, that's another matter.''
Retired FBI Supervisory Agent Byron Sage, who led negotiations
with Koresh at Waco, said on Fox he understood three or four ``military
tactical observers'' had been present at Waco, strictly as ``observers
and advisers.''
14:07 08-29-99 Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
2
Texas lawmakers say Reno should leave job
09/02/99
By Lee Hancock and Catalina Camia / The Dallas Morning News
Two Texas lawmakers said Wednesday that Attorney General Janet Reno should resign to answer for conflicting statements about government actions in the 1993 Branch Davidian siege.
Federal officials, meanwhile, said that at least two former Republican senators are among the candidates that Ms. Reno and the Justice Department are considering to lead an independent inquiry of the incident.
Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said it was "embarrassing" to watch Ms. Reno and other Clinton administration officials explain the FBI's recent admission that pyrotechnic devices were used in the April 19, 1993, showdown with the religious sect. The compound burned that day after the FBI used tanks and tear gas to try to force its occupants out. Sect leader David Koresh and more than 80 followers died in the blaze, which independent arson investigators concluded was set by compound occupants.
"If the attorney general cannot manage to find and tell the truth about a matter as important as the Waco incident, she should step aside and give someone else a chance," Mr. Gramm told reporters in Irving after the opening of an anti-drug-trafficking facility.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who accompanied Mr. Gramm, did not echo the call for Ms. Reno to step down. Ms. Hutchison said that she and Mr. Gramm supported an investigation removed from Justice Department and FBI control because both agencies need to be held accountable for their actions in the tragedy.
"We need a full, independent investigation to get to the facts and determine if our laws or principles were violated," Ms. Hutchison said.
Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, a former member of the House Government Reform Committee, which has subpoenaed federal records on the issue, said through a spokesman that he also believes Ms. Reno should leave.
Ms. Reno has repeatedly accepted full responsibility for the Branch Davidian showdown. For six years, however, she and other top Justice Department and FBI officials have insisted that no pyrotechnic devices were used in the final assault on the sect's headquarters.
Ms. Reno, saying she was upset that her credibility is at stake, said last week that the FBI had assured her that no pyrotechnic devices had been used. A Justice Department spokesman said that efforts to set up the inquiry and find someone to lead it are under way. The spokesman said officials also have no timetable for announcing who will lead the probe.
In Washington, a senior federal law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the attorney general was having a difficult time selecting an outside investigator to direct a new inquiry. The official suggested that any outsider taking the job would have to have not only credibility and expertise, but also a considerable amount of time.
Among those mentioned as possible investigators were former Sens. John Danforth, R-Mo., and Warren Rudman, R-N.H., and Chicago lawyer Dan Webb, a former U.S. attorney.
It was unclear, however, whether any of the three possible candidates had the time or desire to take on the job.
Mr. Danforth, contacted at home in St. Louis, would not confirm or deny that he has been approached by the Justice Department.
"I can't say one way or another," said Mr. Danforth, a former state attorney general. "I have nothing to say."
Other federal officials conceded that the selection process
has been complicated by the enormity of the task and the need
to find someone without current ties to the Justice Department
or connections with the tragedy.
Staff writer G. Robert Hillman in Washington contributed
to this report.
Marshals
confiscate FBI siege video
Order to fire pyrotechnics, images of use found on tape
09/02/99
By Lee Hancock and Catalina Camia / The Dallas Morning News
U.S. marshals were dispatched to FBI headquarters in Washington on Wednesday to seize previously undisclosed videotapes with images of pyrotechnic tear gas rounds being fired at the Branch Davidian compound. The tape also contains the voice of an FBI commander authorizing their use.
The seizure, which federal officials conceded was highly unusual and embarrassing to the FBI, was made within hours after senior bureau officials notified the Justice Department that the tapes had been discovered at the headquarters of the FBI's hostage rescue team.
Just last week, FBI and Justice Department officials admitted for the first time that they had used pyrotechnic tear gas devices on the day the Branch Davidian compound burned in 1993 with David Koresh and more than 80 followers inside.
"The FBI located important items relative to the use of military CS [tear gas] rounds at Waco and brought them to the attention of the Justice Department and Congress," said FBI Deputy Director John Collingwood.
"We are anxious to identify and preserve for outside review and congressional oversight anything that may bear on the firing of those rounds," he said. "We are as anxious to secure and provide this information to the marshals as they are to have them."
Federal officials familiar with the tape said they were among a box of items forwarded to FBI headquarters from hostage rescue team offices at the FBI academy in Quantico, Va.
"When the revelation came about about shooting these two military gas rounds, [FBI Director Louis] Freeh told the hostage rescue team to turn the place inside out and ship back to headquarters anything that might have any bearing on everything," one federal official said late Wednesday. "We were going through the stuff today and found this."
An airplane equipped with an infrared camera was assigned to circle the Branch Davidian compound on April 19, 1993, as members of the hostage rescue team used tanks to insert tear gas into the Davidian compound.
Previous denial
FBI officials had previously insisted in sworn affidavits that they had no infrared videotape before 10:42 a.m., four hours into the gas assault. In a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Tucson, Ariz., lawyer David T. Hardy, FBI officials also told a federal judge under oath that the bureau had no recorded radio traffic of the entire six-hour tear gas assault.
But Wednesday, officials played a videotape recovered from hostage rescue team headquarters and discovered it contained infrared footage shot between 6 a.m, when the assault began, and about 8 a.m, federal officials said.
"The audio part of it captures radio traffic in the background. Part of the radio traffic is the request for and authorization to fire the two military gas rounds," a federal official said.
"What's clear is that this is a field command-post decision, a spontaneous decision," the official said.
The order
After agents firing nonpyrotechnic tear gas rounds reported they weren't penetrating a pit adjacent to the compound, the official said, a commander responded that they could try military gas rounds. All tear gas rounds used by the U.S. military are considered pyrotechnic, or capable of sparking fires.
"Everybody here recognizes how unfortunate this is and how bad this looks," one FBI official said. "I think what's important to us is we worked hard to find it, and we immediately preserved it and provided it as quickly as we could to the Justice Department."
One official said some FBI leaders recognized the voice authorizing the use of the devices as Richard Rogers, who was then commander of the hostage rescue team.
Mr. Rogers, who is retired from the bureau, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
"It's extremely unfortunate that it took six years to locate this tape, but it's very good that it appears to be dispositive of the issue of who authorized this and how the rounds are fired," one official said.
There was no indication on the tape that any effort was made to secure permission from superiors in Washington. Attorney General Janet Reno has said she made it clear to the FBI during the siege that no pyrotechnic devices should be used in the final assault.
Although conceding that pyrotechnic gas rounds were used April 19, officials still say that their use did not spark the fire. Investigators have concluded that the blaze was set inside the compound by sect members.
New subpoenas
On Capitol Hill, the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, Dan Burton, R-Ind., said Wednesday that he was issuing a new wave of subpoenas seeking information on the FBI's use of pyrotechnic devices at Waco and the involvement of military personnel in the standoff.
Along with subpoenas for the White House, the Justice Department, the Department of Defense and the CIA, the committee is seeking information from a former CIA employee who has publicly talked about possible military involvement in the FBI assault.
Mr. Burton said the committee has also called in experts to help analyze previously disclosed infrared video shot by the FBI on April 19 and another videotape shot by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
A documentary on the standoff scheduled for release this month by a Fort Collins, Colo., company includes the infrared and DPS footage. A former Defense Department expert alleges in the film, Waco: A New Revelation, that flashes caught on the videotapes are gunfire directed at the Branch Davidians from FBI helicopters and government personnel.
Government officials have vehemently denied that, stating that FBI agents did not fire a single shot during the 51-day siege. The film alleges that gunshots were coming from members of the Army's secret Delta force anti-terrorism unit who were deployed alongside members of the FBI's hostage rescue team.
Judge's move
Mr. Burton said he was pleased that a federal judge in Waco had recently moved to take control of all government evidence relating to the 1993 standoff. On Tuesday, the Justice Department filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to reconsider, arguing that such a turnover might handicap the wave of new investigations.
But Mr. Burton said he supported having a neutral caretaker for the entire body of information on Waco. He noted that his committee has long feuded with Ms. Reno's Justice Department over access to documents and information for other high-profile investigations.
Lawyers for surviving Branch Davidians also have complained that they have been denied access to evidence that might help their pending wrongful death lawsuit against the government.
Judge Smith is expected to rule quickly on the Justice Department's motion, which argued that the judge lacked authority for ordering the turnover.
Some legal observers say that Judge Smith, a no-nonsense jurist who has heard all of the legal actions arising from the Davidian standoff, is not likely to back down. They note that he has a low reversal rate, and his previous order taking control of the evidence made pointed references to intense public interest in the long-controversial incident.
That would leave the Justice Department with two options: either outright refusal to comply with the order and a probable contempt citation, or a quick filing for review by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Such reviews, sought through a legal maneuver called writ of mandamus, argue that a federal judge has overstepped his or her authority. They are rarely filed and rarely granted, but appellate courts have the power to order lower court judges to rescind actions determined to beyond their judicial authority.
Gas Said Fired in Davidian Siege
.c The Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) - A former FBI official said agents fired two pyrotechnic tear gas grenades at the Branch Davidian compound on the day it went up in flames, contradicting previous government claims, The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.
The former official, Danny Coulson, told the newspaper two devices were fired hours before the compound erupted in flames on April 19, 1993. However, he said they did not start the fire.
``The fire did not start there. That's a lot of nothing,'' he said, noting that the fire erupted shortly after noon.
The issue of whether the FBI used pyrotechnic devices that day is a major focus of an ongoing inquiry by the Texas Rangers and a key allegation in a pending federal wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the government by surviving Davidians and families of those who died.
The federal government consistently has disputed accusations that the FBI started the fire that consumed the Branch Davidian compound with David Koresh and more than 80 followers inside.
Independent arson investigators concluded the fire began simultaneously in three separate places inside the compound.
FBI bugs recorded Davidians discussing spreading fuel and planning a fire hours before the compound burned. Arson investigators also found evidence that gasoline, charcoal lighter fluid and camp stove fuel had been poured inside the compound.
Government officials have maintained the FBI used only nonburning devices to insert tear gas into the compound because of fears that pyrotechnic tear gas grenades might spark a fire in the flimsy wooden structure.
The statement by Coulson, founding commander of the FBI's hostage rescue team and a deputy assistant FBI director at the time of the Waco incident, marks the first time any government official has publicly contradicted those claims.
On Monday, a spokesman with the U.S. Justice Department again denied that any pyrotechnic devices were used.
``We are aware of no evidence to support the notion that any
pyrotechnic devices were used by the federal government on April
19,'' Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin told the newspaper.
``We've said that all along.''
AP-NY-08-24-99 0107EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated
Press.
Former FBI Official Confirms Branch Davidians Claim that Pyrotechnics were Used by Government at Mt. Carmel Compound According to Caddell & Chapman
HOUSTON, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- A former senior FBI official has publicly contradicted the government's long standing claims that pyrotechnic devices were not used on April 19, l993 the day a fiery explosion consumed the Branch Davidian compound with David Koresh and 80 of his followers inside. This according to Caddell & Chapman, the Houston law firm representing the Branch Davidians.
"This proves what we have been saying all along, that the government intentionally used fire starting devices on that final day," says Mike Caddell, attorney for the estates and family members of the Davidians who died at Mt. Carmel.
Danny O. Coulson, founding commander of the FBI's hostage rescue team and a deputy assistant FBI director at the time of the incident near Waco, said in today's Dallas Morning News, "There were at least two pyrotechnic devices used that day."
"If that's true, how many other fire starting projectiles were fired at Mt. Carmel by the government on April 19 and were they fired at the points of the fire's origin," Mr. Caddell said. During the arson investigation which followed the fire, the Texas Department of Public Safety found flash bangs at the points of origin for the fire at Mt. Carmel.
As we approach the opening of the trial on October 18, in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the government, the evidence is finally seeing the light of day. "The conspiracy of silence is beginning to crumble. The government lied about this, what else have they lied about?" said Caddell. "This new information supports our contention that the federal government has lied about what they did at the site on that final day of the stand-off."
"It is clear that the federal government shares some responsibility
for the deaths of many innocent women and children at Mt. Carmel."
Caddell said, "It is time that it accepted its share of that
responsibility."
SOURCE newsPRos and Caddell & Chapman 08/24/99
15:25 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
U.S. Army unit had active Waco role
DALLAS, Aug 27 (Reuters) - A former CIA officer was quoted on Friday as saying members of a secret U.S. Army unit played an active role in helping the FBI in the final assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993.
The Dallas Morning News quoted former CIA officer Gene Cullen as saying three or four commandos of the ``Delta Force'' had told him that they were ``present, up front and close'' during the operation.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman denied troops took an active part in the raid but said some personnel were present as advisers and observers.
``We acknowledged in 1995 and again this week that there were Department of Defence personnel there at the time, both as observers and advisers to the ATF and FBI,'' said Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley.
``We are forbidden by law from actively participating in police or law enforcement operations,'' Quigley added.
Cullen was quoted as telling the newspaper that the commandos had discussed their role at Waco with him later in 1993 while they worked together on an overseas assignment.
``When they explained to me the depth to which they were involved down in Waco, I was quite surprised. They said basically they were out there in the vehicles, the Bradley (fighting vehicles), the CEV (tanks) ... They were active,'' he said.
``Whether it's the macho-bravo-type talk of guys in the field, I don't know,'' he said, declining to identify the commandos. ``I have no reason to suspect that they lied,'' he added.
The Dallas Morning News said use of active-duty military personnel against civilians without a specific presidential decree was a violation of federal law.
A defence official, who asked not to be identified, told reporters in Washington that military special forces personnel were on the scene at Waco as advisers. The Pentagon does not openly discuss the operations of such troops.
On Thursday U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said she was angry at not being told until recently that FBI agents involved in the Waco siege used tear gas canisters capable of sparking a fire. The FBI had previously denied using such canisters.
Reno maintained however the FBI did not cause the fire that
destroyed the compound and killed 80 people.
13:48 08-27-99 Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
All rights reserved.
U.S. fights Waco evidence order
Dallas Morning News, Sept. 1, 1999
U.S. Justice Department lawyers on Tuesday challenged a federal
judge's
authority to take control of evidence in the Branch Davidian case,
setting up a high-stakes legal showdown.
An Aug. 9 order in which U.S. District Judge Walter Smith demanded
custody of all documents and other evidence is without any legal
basis
under federal or civil court rules, Justice Department lawyers
argued
in a 19-page motion. The judge's move "threatens a wholesale
intrusion"
into the executive branch and an "unwarranted and substantial
burden"
on the entire federal government.
The argument is the latest development in an escalating skirmish
over
who will control and investigate the vast array of evidence, documents,
photographs and other materials tied to the Branch Davidian standoff.
The government's filing came one day after a Waco federal prosecutor
warned Attorney General Janet Reno in a letter that lawyers within
her
department had long withheld evidence that the FBI fired pyrotechnic
tear gas within hours before the compound burned. For years, government
officials had insisted otherwise.
On Tuesday, the federal prosecutor, Bill Johnston, told The
Dallas
Morning News that he felt compelled to go public with his warning
after
being given a 5-year-old document that discusses the use of "military
gas" by the FBI on April 19, 1993.
He said both the language in those nondisclosure notations
and
typewritten identification lines on the top of each page indicated
that
they were sent from the department's civil torts section, which
is
defending a massive wrongful-death lawsuit arising from the standoff.
On Tuesday, DPS Commission Chairman James B. Francis Jr. said
he was
disappointed that in the Justice Department's action. "From
what I can
understand of the Justice's Department's motion today, they're
still
attempting to prevent the evidence from being judicially reviewed,"
Mr.
Francis said. "And I think that is most unfortunate."
http://dallasnews.com/specials/waco/0901tsw100waco.htm
Fifth
Anniversary: Waco Revisited
This article appeared in the May 1998 (Volume 8, No. 5) issue
of Personal UPDATE.
Sunday, April 19 marked the fifth anniversary of the BATF/FBI assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
We have learned a lot about what happened there, especially that much of the official government story is inaccurate at best and a lie at worst. The most recent expose is a documentary which shows much of what the government has been telling us about Waco to be false. Waco: The Rules of Engagement (Fifth Estate Productions, 1997) was nominated for an Academy Award, having been produced not by right-wing whackos but Hollywood liberals who believe that everyone deserves civil rights.
The BATF was in a battle for congressional funding; the raid on the Branch Davidian compound was not staged to enforce the law, it was staged for public relations purposes-and it was bungled. There was no evidence that the Davidians had violated any law. The BATF used fabricated information to obtain a warrant from a careless magistrate. Some of the allegations made on the affidavit were fraudulent.
David Koresh had previously allowed inspections for weapons and had made an offer to talk to BATF agents about their current concerns. Also, Koresh had cooperated with state officials when two previous allegations of child abuse were made. The BATF had a knock warrant. Instead of knocking on the door and serving the warrant, as required by law, the BATF assembled a combat team. The BATF informed the media prior to the assault and made certain that TV cameras were in place to record the staged gun control and child rescue operation.
To this date, it has never been determined who fired first. A critical piece of evidence-the front door-is missing. Indeed, the federal government saw to it that much evidence was destroyed or burned in the flames. This was not the first time the federal government tampered with or destroyed evidence. Much of this came out in the trial of the people involved with the Ruby Ridge incident, in which the judge reprimanded the government for evidence tampering.
ATF agents who participated in the raid have testified in court and congressional hearings that the Branch Davidians fired the first shots. Right after the raid, however, one AFT agent told an investigator that a fellow agent may have shot first, when he killed a dog outside the compound. The agent later retracted the statement, saying that the Branch Davidians had initiated the gunfire. Surviving Branch Davidians have maintained that they did not shoot their guns until they were fired upon.
Although the federal government used abuse of the Davidian children as one of the rationales for the assault on the compound, they subjected the children to searchlights at night and the sounds of rabbits being slaughtered, played on loudspeakers round-the-clock, along with other forms of psychological warfare. Finally, the government wound up killing them.
The "tear gas" the Davidians were subjected to was CS dissolved in methylene chloride. CS is a highly toxic military gas which is banned for warfare use by international treaty. Methylene chloride is a highly flammable substance, used as paint remover. Government infrared tapes support the thesis that it was the government that started the fire, with methylene chloride, not the Branch Davidians. According to Dr. Edward Allard, former head of the Defense Department's Night Vision Laboratory, the infrared images show conclusively that the Davidians were machine-gunned as they tried to flee the burning building.
And what of the govemment's side of the story? They wouldn't appear in the film. Movie critic Roger Ebert said: "What is remarkable, watching the film, is to realize that the federal case has not been made. Evidence has been 'lost,' files and reports have 'disappeared,' tapes have been returned blank, participants have not testified and the 'crime scene,'as a Texas Ranger indignantly testifies, was not preserved for investigation, but razed to the ground by the FBI-presumably to destroy evidence."
Footage of congressional hearings make it clear that the Republicans knew what had happened but were too fearful of the implications for "law and order" to take any meaningful action. So they did nothing. When it was all over, the government victors flew their flag over the remains of the Davidian compound. It was clear this had been a military action taken against citizens of the United States, even though the law prohibits such action.
The church has failed to grasp the significance of Waco. It is clear that there were serious breaches of Constitutional rights. During the siege, David Koresh and his followers were demonized as religious fanatics, hazardous to themselves and everyone else. The church at large, rather than demanding an investigation, accepted the official story and rationalized it with the thought that Koresh was an extremist, both theologically and sociologically.
But consider that we are now living in a post-Christian culture, where everyday Christianity is considered an extreme belief. At the same time, we find that the Constitutional protections which guarded this republic for so many years are eroding rapidly.
David Koresh was a religious extremist of the 1990s. What if
we become the religious extremists of the next decade? If Waco
could happen to the Branch Davidians, what could happen to us?
Because of Waco, that question is no longer just academic.
Additional Credits:Publisher: Chuck Missler World
Affairs Editor: John Loeffler
