On July 30, 1992, one of David Koresh's business associates, Henry McMahon, received a visit from several ATF agents. The subject of the inquiry was recent gun purchases made by David Koresh. McMahon, himself a gun dealer, phoned David Koresh while the agents stood in front of him, and told Koresh about the ATF inquiries. Koresh invited the ATF out to inspect his premises and his guns.

According to Mr. McMahon's testimony in the 1995 Congressional hearings, when he relayed Koresh's invitation, the ATF agents declined to accept the invitation. The legality of David Koresh's guns were, then, never the issue. They could have gone out and inspected the guns at any time.

Had the ATF not wanted to accept Koresh's invitation to come out to inspect the guns, and had the simply wanted to arrest him on some pretext, they could have apprehended him when he was out of the Mt. Carmel Center. But ATF claimed that David Koresh never left the property, and therefore a raid was necessary to apprehend him.

In an article entitled: "Residents, businessmen say Howell not a recluse," which appeared in the Waco Tribune-Herald, March 4, 1993, one Waco resident was quoted:

"To say that he never leaves that place is ridiculous. He is always out everywhere. Everybody and their dog see him and many of the people out there. But I guess they are just trying to cover themselves because they are going to be in big trouble--hopefully," she said.

David Koresh used to like to work on car engines at a repair shop owned by the Davidians, which was about five miles from the Mt. Carmel Center. He was also "seen dining and drinking at Chelsea Street Pub, a popular West Waco eatery, at least twice in the past six weeks," according to the paper. There was no need for an assault, no need to endanger ATF agents, and no need to endanger peaceful civilians.

What was at issue? The issue seems to be that the February 28, 1993 raid and ensuing siege provided the US the opportunity to test, for the first time, the "National Response Plan." (Treasury Report, pg. 152 for description).

Purpose of National Response Plan

A chart of the National Response Plan's organization appears on Treasury Report, pg. 63. At the top of the chart, we see that control of the plan is vested in the "National Command Center," which was ostensibly under the command of an ATF agent (Treasury Report, pg. 152). At the bottom of the chart, we see other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense (DoD National Guard Support). Thus we are asked to believe that an ATF agent sits at the top of the organization board (in command) and that the Department of Defense is at the bottom of the organization board.

It is of course unbelievable that an ATF employee would be taken seriously if he tried to issue directives to the Pentagon concerning the deployment of Pentagon troops. The picture of a four star general, having climbed to the top of the military chain of command by decades of careful politics, taking orders from Treasury Department functionaries is not credible. Had this organizational chart borne semblance to reality, we surely would have seen "DoD" box at the top of the chart.

National Military/Police Take-over Plan

But the ATF is essentially a tax-collecting agency. What "situations" could exceed the capabilities of an ATF field division to collect taxes? Clearly any situation that required the power of the DoD National Guard would be a major civil upheaval. The NRP is a preparation for armed confrontation between the military/police forces in the US government and US citizens.

Since the US citizenry is not preparing a massed attack against the military/police combine, we can only conclude this National Response Plan is a plan for military/police occupation of civilian society.

How the Plan Was Tested

• The ATF chose the Texas State Technical College (TSTC) as site for the command post of the operation. The sheriff's department had previously gotten cooperation from the airport manager. (Treasury Report, pg. 55).
• At the suggestion of the local police, the planners chose Bellmead Civic Center as the staging area because it was large enough to accommodate the agents, it was close to Mt. Carmel Center, and had ample parking. (Treasury Report, pg. 56)
• The Texas Rangers were lined up to surround the Mt. Carmel Center and prevent anyone from leaving (Treasury Report, pg. 79)
• The McLennan County sheriff's department was lined up to "provide other support functions." (Treasury Report, pg. 79).
• When the raid "failed," Mt. Carmel Center was cut off from its neighbors through the efforts of local law enforcement personnel and SWAT teams, including:
  • the Austin Police Department,
  • the McLennan County Sheriff's Department, and, for federal balance,
  • the US Marshall's Service (Treasury Report, pg. 112).
• By March 2, 1993, 400 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers had converged on Waco, according to the Dallas Morning News of March 3, 1993.
• During the 51 days of the siege, the FBI sent 668 people to Waco. Each day an average of 217 agents and 41 support people were present. The DoJ Report, pg. 10, states that other military/law enforcement personnel on site were:
  • ATF -- 136
  • Customs -- 6
  • Waco Police Department 18
  • McLennan County Sheriff's Office -- 17
  • Department of Public Safety (Texas Rangers) -- 31
  • Department of Public Safety (Patrol) -- 131
  • US Army -- 15
  • Texas National Guard -- 13.

• ATF officials conducted a briefing at the Best Western Hotel. Attending were members of the arrest and support teams, National Guard members, explosives specialists, dog handlers, and laboratory technicians.
• Local merchants were lined up to supply the raiders with:
  • ambulance services,
  • portable toilets, and
  • doughnuts.
• The sheriff's department saw to it that coffee would be ready for the raiders at the staging center on the morning of the raid (Treasury Report, pg. 79).

Delta Force Founder on Hand to Critique

The Treasury Report says, "Colonel Charlie Beckwith, U.S.A. Ret., on assignment for Soldier of Fortune magazine, claims that he managed to advance on foot to within less than a mile of the Compound without being challenged." (Treasury Report, pg. 112). "Note: Beckwith was within one mile of the Mt. Carmel Center during hostilities, and he was not arrested--yet, several days after the fire in April--reporters from the Associated Press and Houston Chronicle were arrested for getting within two miles of the complex (see Inside the Concrete Room in the Death Gallery)".

In an article appearing in the Soldier of Fortune, July 1993, Col. Beckwith also criticized the ATF's handling of the media. "It was not until the FBI arrived on 29 February (sic) that the media was put under control and moved outside the target area," he lamented.

Military Occupation of Local College

"Just before 11 a.m., a number of buses and heavily armed ATF agents carrying plastic flex-cuffs left the base for the compound. Dozens of agents began carrying tables, chairs and stenography machines into the hangar, students and instructors at the college said.

"Then ATF agents began evacuating the campus. Students said armed officers entered classrooms and told them to leave."

-- This from the Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1993, pg. 14A.

And How Did The Test Come Off?

1. State and local police, from the Texas Rangers to the local county sheriff's department cooperated with the federal government.
2. The local merchants enjoyed the business opportunity afforded by visitors to Waco,
3. The news services conducted almost no independent investigation whatsoever, and faithfully relayed the government propaganda line. In other words, the media covered Waco in the same way they covered the Gulf War (see Veracity of Contemporaneous News Coverage).
4. Civic organizations--from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Southern Baptist Conference, barely made a whisper of protest or opposition.
5. The politicians in Washington DC conducted cover-up Congressional investigations (see Burial Gallery).

 

In the military takeover of a country, paradigms must be established, from which the people can learn that resistance to the new order can only result in annihilation. With the practical details embodied in the National Response Plan, the new paradigm was established in Waco, Texas, in 1993.

Update, June 7, 1995:

And the Tests Go On . . .

Most recently, Special Ops exercises in Pittsburgh provoked considerable negative public reaction. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report, between midnight and 2 a.m. on June 4th, 200 Special Ops commandos buzzed the city with Black Hawk helicopters, slid down ropes to the streets, and landed in the Brighton Heights area. They fired loud explosions and fired blank bullets for sound effects, and set off small explosions to breach doors in an abandoned building. Department of Defense Spokesmen said they were simulating a "rescue."

Notice the same Orwellian rhetoric used in Waco: This is not an assault, this is a rescue.

According to another report, one startled resident said, "If I had been up on my third floor, I could have touched it "the helicopter" with a broom handle. That's how close it came."

The 911 emergency operators were given handouts instructing them to tell panicked callers they were witnessing "training" exercises. Callers who would not be placated were to be given another telephone number which connected them to the DoD.

Some local officials had been warned of the exercises, and indeed helped in setting them up. But the public had deliberately not been warned, ostensibly to avoid the public safety issues created by curious onlookers.

These exercises are, in part, mass desensitization sessions, the object of which is to dull public reaction to the sights and sounds of military takeover of urban areas. See "The Making of a Commando" in The Black Army for a description of desensitization programs.

Visitors who have read The Boy Who Cried Wolf may remember what the young shepherd with a warped sense of humor learned: If you fake a wolf alert too often, people stop coming when you cry wolf. Now the wolf has learned the trick: Its only a drill, a practice session, I'm here to rescue you. Go back to sleep.

These practice sessions will enable the Pentagon to send a flotilla of military helicopters over any major city, day or night, land soldiers in the streets, set off guns and explosions, breach doors with grenades--and people will ignore them.

Paul Revere may ride, but we will ignore him, too. We all know the British are just maneuvering and practicing their skills--they are just here to rescue us.

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Few military operations are designed for failure. But the February 28, 1993 assault on the Mt. Carmel Center seems to have been one such operation.

Given the desire of the new military to establish new paradigms, there is reason for the failure of the raid. Without the death of the four ATF agents in the failed raid, it is doubtful that the American public would have supported moving in massive war equipment and escalating the war against the Davidians during the next 51 days. Without the deaths of the four ATF agents in the failed raid, the new paradigm of the military annihilation of citizens under the color of law would not have been established.

The Commander-in-Chief himself validated this observation: "The first thing I did after the ATF agents were killed, once we knew that the FBI was going to go in, was to ask that the military be consulted because of the quasi-military nature of the conflict, given the resources that Koresh had in his compound and their obvious willingness to use them," President Clinton said (Washington Times, April 24, 1993).

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

On August 5, 1964, President Johnson called congressional leaders to the White House and told them that North Vietnamese naval vessels had flagrantly and without provocation attacked two US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. President Johnson had the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution drawn up, and it flew through both the House of Representatives and the Senate with virtually no debate. On August 7, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution had been passed, continuation and escalation of military reprisals against the North were given congressional blessing. "In the heat of the Tonkin clash, the Administration had accomplished . . . preparing the American public for escalation" (Pentagon Papers, pg. 269).

"The Tonkin Gulf reprisal constituted an important firebreak and the Tonkin Gulf resolution set US public support for virtually any action" (study quoted in Pentagon Papers, pg. 269).

Several years later the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted an inquiry into the events of August, 1964. Senator Fulbright would later write that the Pentagon had misrepresented the actual event, and that the US had provoked the attack.

"Only when we began those later hearings on the Tonkin Gulf did it really begin to dawn on me that we had been deceived. In the beginning--before Vietnam, that is--it never occurred to me that presidents and their secretaries of state and defense would deceive a Senate committee.

"I thought you could trust them to tell you the truth, even if they did not tell you everything. But I was naive, and the misrepresentation of the Tonkin Golf affair was very effective in deceiving the Foreign Relations Committee and the country, and me, because we didn't believe it possible that we could be so completely misled." (J. William Fulbright, The Price of Empire, pg. 107.)

The Secret Raid that Lacked a Marching Band

According to the Treasury Report, the ATF had gathered evidence that:

• The Mt. Carmel Center was a fortress-like compound. (pg. 9)
• David Koresh had a formidable arsenal of firearms, including many illegal machine guns and unlawful destructive devices. (pg. 8).
• David Koresh posted guards at Mt. Carmel (pg. 8)
• David Koresh trained his followers to fire weapons (pg. 8).
• David Koresh believed he would have a violent confrontation with law enforcement (pg. 8)
• David Koresh was prepared to use the arsenal he was amassing (pg. 8).
• The people who lived at Mt. Carmel were "fiercely loyal" to Koresh (pg. 38).
• Of these 75 "fiercely loyal" people, large numbers were women and children. (pg. 38.)

Therefore, the Davidians had to be covertly tipped off about the impending "raid," so they could make full preparations. Every effort, short of a certified letter, was made to alert the Davidians to the impending attack, and each tip was made to look like a little snafu that could happen by the operation of Murphy's law.

• Several months before the raid, the ATF rented the house across the street from the Davidians and filled it with undercover agents posing as students. The "students" were old, and drove late model, mid-sized cars similar to those driven by undercover agents and plain clothes police. Predictably, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians had become suspicious of the occupants in the undercover house.

In fact, David Koresh told the ATF undercover agents that he had been watching the "undercover house" with binoculars (Treasury Report, pg. 54). David Koresh knew he was under suspicion and surveillance.

• The ATF tipped off the local press to the raid. Such was the media furor that on the morning of the raid, five media vans were either stationed at or driving around the roads near Mt. Carmel (Treasury Report, pg. 84).
• The ATF reserved 153 rooms at three local hotels for the evening of 28 February, an action that might cause public notice and comment (Treasury Report, pg. 79).
• On the morning of February 28, the ATF traveled from the military encampment at Ft. Hood in a huge caravan. The Treasury Report says:

" . . . at Ft. Hood, the 76 agents assigned to the cattle trailers assembled at 5:00 a.m. They traveled to the staging area, the Bellmead Civic Center, in an approximately 80-vehicle convoy with a cattle trailer at each end. Many of the vehicles bore the telltale signs of government vehicles--four-door, late-model, American-made vehicles with extra antennas. All the vehicles had their headlights on. Agents report that, once underway, the convoy stretched at least a mile." (Treasury Report, pg. 81.)

"An ATF agent wearing an ATF raid jacket and local police were in the street in front of the civic center directing the convoy into the parking lot. While waiting to be briefed, some of the agents went inside the center to have coffee and doughnuts; other milled about outside. A supervisor become concerned about the visibility of the agents, many of whom wore ATF insignia or were otherwise unmistakably law enforcement personnel. He ordered everyone to go inside and remain in the civic center. " (Treasury Report, pgs.. 81-82).

• The ATF planned to conduct the "secret" raid in broad daylight, at 10:00 am.

The ATF had to know that the Branch Davidians could see out for miles over the prairies, and given the Davidians' alleged proclivity for lookout towers and guards, had to be able to see them coming;

The almost treeless terrain of the Mt. Carmel Center provided the ATF with little cover.

• The ATF arrived at the Mt. Carmel Center in noisy cattle cars. The noisy cattle cars had to go across a pothole-scarred gravel road outside the Center. The condition of the road would have amplified the noise of the cattle cars.
• The ATF raiders drove canvas-topped cattle trailers containing their troops across the front driveway of the Mt. Carmel Center, and parked the trailers broadside to the windows and the doors of the building. Had the Davidians opened fire, this maneuver would have provided them with the best target and the highest possible number of ATF casualties. The Dallas Morning News diagram of March 1, 1993 shows how the cattle trailers were positioned (Waco Tribune-Herald, March 1, 1993). The newspaper drawing is confirmed by a Treasury Report aerial photograph (pg. 99), in which the trailers are clearly visible across the front of the Mt. Carmel Center (the top of this picture).

The ATF troops were ordered to take position in front of the house with no cover from possible return fire except the thin metal of car bodies that happened to be parked there. If the Davidians had opened fire when the trailers first arrived with the 50 caliber machine gun they were alleged to possess, many ATF agents would have died.

That's Not Murphy's Law

With this perspective on the purpose of the raid, we will examine whether the Davidians rose to the bait in Who Struck John?

But other details should be mentioned first:

We are asked to believe another manifestation of Murphy's law. The Treasury Report tells us that early on the morning of February 28, local Waco TV station KWTX cameraman Jim Peeler, on his way to cover the event, "became lost" on "back roads." There he coincidentally met a letter carrier who, coincidentally, was a Branch Davidian. Mr. Peeler asked directions and coincidentally mentioned the impending raid; naturally the letter carrier, Davidian David Jones, went to the Mt. Carmel Center and told David Koresh about upcoming events, as we might expect (Treasury Report, pg. 85).

We have been asked to believe a lot, but this is beyond the pale: The location where Mr. Peeler became "lost" was within sight of the Mt. Carmel Center!

That encounter on the "back roads" was witnessed by one of the ATF undercover agents in casual clothes, accompanied by the "forward observers ... in ATF battle dress utilities" and "their arrest support teams," who, we are asked to believe, were coincidentally on their way to a hay barn behind the Mt. Carmel Center (pg. 88).

The Treasury Report expresses no curiosity about how a local news reporter, covering an important local news story at a well-known local landmark, could become "lost" within eyesight of his destination.

The narration of this incident and speculations on its effect is spread over seven pages in the Treasury Report (pgs.. 82 to 88), including a map and schedule of which reporter was where when and what car he was driving. The drafters of that report worked very hard to convince the readers of the incident.

In fact, the number of pages in the Treasury Report consumed in narrating all the dumb moves of government planners and agents in the planning and execution of this investigation overstates the case. Government bureaus are notoriously reluctant to admit to their own errors. The Treasury Report, however, is replete with such "confessions."

The Final Tip

We have already seen that the ATF deployed a number of very obvious undercover agents across the street from the Mt. Carmel Center, and that David Koresh had told them that he was watching them with binoculars.

One of these agents, Robert Rodriguez, had been taking Bible lessons from Koresh in order to spy on him. On the morning of February 28, the Waco Tribune-Herald had just (coincidentally) published a second inflammatory article on David Koresh in a series entitled the "Sinful Messiah." Rodriguez visited Koresh to assess what effect the negative PR was having, whether the publication Tribune-Herald's publication of Sinful Messiah had incited Koresh and his followers to take up arms or otherwise increase their security measures. The planners were still not sure Koresh had been effectively tipped off.

While Rodriguez was taking his Bible lesson from Koresh, David Jones allegedly returned to the Mt. Carmel Center and gave the news of the impending raid to his father, Perry Jones. Jones interrupted the Bible discussion, called David Koresh out of the room on the pretext that he had a phone call, and told him the news. When Koresh came back into the room, he allegedly told Rodriguez "they're coming, Robert, the time has come."

We are asked to believe that Rodriguez was "shocked" when he heard the news; he became so agitated, he contemplated jumping out a window in order to get out before the ATF arrived (Treasury Report, pg. 89). Rodriguez suddenly remembered a breakfast appointment, bolted out of his Bible lesson, jumped in his truck, and drove back to the undercover house. When he got to the undercover house, Rodriguez found the window was raised. A camera was in one of the windows, and it was clearly visible from the outside of the house (doubtlessly within the scope of David Koresh's binoculars.)

When Rodriguez took fast leave of the Mt. Carmel Center he acted like what he was-- a man in the know, getting out of the way of a massacre--a man who preferred to be elsewhere when it happened. Just in case everything else failed, the Davidians watched a house guest suddenly remember a "breakfast appointment" in the middle of a Bible lesson and make a mad dash to safety.

The ATF plan was both murderous and suicidal. The evidence indicates that the "bungling" was intended to forewarn the Davidians of the impending attack, to provoke them into defending themselves, and to provide them with easy targets. The ATF were led to slaughter to provide the excuse for the first test of the National Response Plan.

It was not Murphy's law. It was a set-up. It was a domestic Gulf of Tonkin incident. And as we shall see later in Who Struck John?, it included some powerful backup plans to ensure its success.

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This photo was printed in Soldier of Fortune magazine, July, 1993, with an article entitled "What Went Wrong in Waco?" written by Col. Charlie Beckwith, who is described in the footnote as "founder of America's elite Delta force and a noted authority on raids and assault planning."

Col. Beckwith wrote, "I cried when I heard that four ATF agents had been killed and 16 wounded," but apparently shed no tears for the Branch Davidians. The brilliant tactician also failed to notice there was no photographic evidence of retaliation by the Branch Davidians.

Who shot first, and who shot whom in the February 28, 1993 Mt. Carmel gunfight?

The Treasury Report states that when the ATF agents left the cattle trailers they were met with a hail of gunfire and homemade grenades. "In the face of overwhelming firepower the agents displayed extraordinary disciple and courage," (pg. 11).

Perhaps unknown to the raid planners, most of the guns owned by the Branch Davidians were off the premises that day, having been taken to a gun show in nearby Austin, Texas by Branch Davidian Paul Fatta. Concerning the ATF claim that they were met "by a hail of gunfire" as they approached the building: photographic evidence shows the agents firing blindly into a building with empty windows and drawn blinds.  HERE is an excerpt from Linda Thompson's "Waco, The Big Lie," showing footage of ATF agents firing into the building that day.

Let's have a look at the Treasury statement in more detail:

"Koresh appeared at the front door and yelled, 'What's going on?' The agents identified themselves, stated they had a warrant and yelled 'freeze' and 'get down.' But Koresh slammed the door before the agents could reach it. Gunfire from inside the Compound burst through the door. The force of the gunfire was so great that the door bowed outward. The agent closest to the door was shot in the thumb before he could dive for cover into a pit near the door. Then gunfire erupted from virtually every window in the front of the Compound." (Pg. 96)

A picture published in Soldier of Fortune, July, 1993 (our copy was slightly damaged at the centerfold as it was removed from the magazine) shows about 11 agents in front of the building. Note that eight of the agents in this picture are using the automobiles for cover, while the rest are in the open.

The ATF said the Davidians had illegal machine guns. The ATF Report also said the agents were ambushed by waiting Davidians (pg. 11). When talking to the press after the raid failure, ATF PR agent Sharon Wheeler explained: "They had bigger guns than we did." But these agents don't seem concerned about Davidian guns, big or small, manual or automatic. Where are the guns? Where are the Davidians? Where is the ambush?

Automobiles are not good cover from firearms. Most bullets will easily penetrate the thin steel of a car body. If a Davidian were shooting at an agent who was taking cover behind a car, he could as easily hit the agent by aiming through the car at the hidden portion as by aiming at the exposed portion.

On Monday, March 1, 1993 the Dallas Morning News published a page of color pictures from the raid. One 7 x 11 shows the main entrance of Mt. Carmel. Judging by the number of visible bullet holes in the walls, the condition of the window to the right of the door, and the condition of the second floor window frames, this picture was taken later than the Soldier of Fortune picture. We see (Dallas Morning News, March 1, 1993, Figure 21) agents in the foreground are carrying off an injured comrade. Looking over the picture for details, we see a spray of bullet holes around the second floor windows (magnified view at Figure 21A). Those holes were quite obviously the caused by shots aimed at the general area of the widows from the outside--that is, by agents shooting at Davidians or at guessed locations of Davidians.

The Dallas Morning News photograph has been magnified to verify the point: The windows and bodies of all the automobiles within the frame of the picture reveal not a single bullet scar (Figure 21B). In addition, not a single tear appears in the canvas of the cattle trailer (Figure 21C).

Had the Davidians been returning fire, we should be able to see evidence in the photo. The shots should have left scars, similar to the scars in the building, on the trailer canvas and the metal and window glass of the cars and trucks the agents were hiding behind. A careful examination of the vehicles in this picture reveals not a single bullet scar to compare with the bullet scars on the building.

The Treasury Report contains a picture of the second trailer to arrive in front of the Mt. Carmel Center. The side facing the camera is the same side that was visible to the Branch Davidians; that side should bear bullet marks if the agents had received fire as they claimed.

In a final test of the veracity of the Treasury Report account, a magnification of the double door reveals that it is not "bowed out" from gunfire (Figure 21D), as alleged in the Treasury Report. It stands as any normal door, with the exception of a few bullet holes (disregard crease mark in newspaper). One section of the double door which bore many bullet holes would have been a key piece of defense evidence when the Branch Davidians were charged with the murder of the ATF agents. The trajectory of the bullet scars would have told the story of who shot whom; but the door section mysteriously went missing after the April 19 inferno, while the crime scene was under control of the ATF's allies, the Texas Rangers.

TV footage of the scene clearly shows the agents firing into the building, and not one Davidian returning fire--or even visible. The ATF also took videos of the raid as it was occurring. Later, the ATF claimed that their video camera malfunctioned and that no pictures had been taken after all.

Not an Ambush

Had the Branch Davidians been armed for warfare with a 50 caliber machine gun and spoiling for a fight with the government, as the ATF said, the ATF agents were at a deadly disadvantage. Given the Davidians had cover and elevation, the ATF agents could have been slaughtered wholesale. But that didn't happen.

Blind Fire

In the light of other information, however, this manner of shooting is more sinister. As researcher Ken Fawcett points out, diagrams left in a diner by ATF agents at the time of the raid show the floor plan of the Center and names of Davidians listed for each room (see the Smart Diagrams). Given the relatively flimsy structure that was Mt. Carmel, bullets would penetrate the walls almost as easily as the windows. Peppering the outside walls of rooms of individuals selected for death just might work.

Entry of Agents into Second Story Window

Only a few frames of this footage appeared on commercial news coverage and in newsmagazines. Those frames usually showed the agents at the window, or an agent shielding himself from shots coming through the walls of the room. Footage that showed the fourth agent throwing a grenade and firing blindly into the room was not shown.   TV coverage of the February 28 raid often showed one agent on the roof being fired upon from the inside, and falling, as if fatally wounded.  However, the next frames showing the agent getting up and climbing down the ladder were not shown, giving the TV audience the impression that agent had been killed by the Davidians.  HERE are excerpts from Linda Thompson's "Waco, The Big Lie" that show the action.

On March 5, 1993, the Dallas Morning News reported that all the agents who had entered that room, Robert Williams, Conway LeBleu, and Todd McKeehan had died. Later, this report was changed.

Killed by Expert Marksmen

• Conrad LeBlue's head bore two gunshot wounds (see Autopsy Report diagram);
• Todd McKeehan was killed by a single shot to the left upper chest which ruptured the aorta (see Autopsy Report diagram); note the "tracheostomy" wound in the throat: a tracheostomy is not an recommended treatment for a bullet puncture of the aorta. Note: Branch Davidian Peter Gent (Mt. Carmel Doe 76 was also killed by a shot through the aorta.)
• Robert Williams' head bore two gunshot wounds (see Autopsy Report diagram); and
• Steven Willis's head bore at least two gunshot wounds (see Autopsy Report diagram).

All four who were killed by expert marksmen were treated by private physicians or emergency medical technicians on the scene; none were taken to nearby hospitals, despite the severity of the injuries (Treasury Report, pg. 102).

Death of ATF Agents Necessary for Escalation of War

Certainly there would have been little public support for tanks, torture, and escalating the war had agents not been killed. In the War Gallery Entrance, we saw that heavy military equipment was at Mt. Carmel from Day One, February 28, 1993. The failure of the raid was a forgone conclusion: as pointed out in the previous exhibit, the raid was Designed to Fail.

NOTE: Four Branch Davidians were ultimately tried for conspiracy to murder the ATF agents. In a trial that took place in San Antonio in 1994, they were all acquitted of murder. As a result of a press blackout, their acquittal has been a carefully kept secret from the American people. See Burial Gallery.

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Sometime in the morning--we are lead to believe that the time was a few minutes earlier than 9:48 a.m.-- 100 "federal agents" in cattle trucks, and three black helicopters arrived at the Mt. Carmel Center.

Video footage broadcast by KWTX-TV shows three black helicopters low over the horizon while ATF troops fire blindly into the Mt. Carmel Center. These were the helicopters the Davidians say fired down into the second floor women's and children's quarters.

The National Guard did not possess black helicopters--they would have no reason to do so. Black US Army helicopters are characteristically flown by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (the "Nightstalkers") , headquartered in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, a secret unit that delivers and picks up commandos working CIA and illegal Pentagon junkets (see A Death Cult Wears Black and The Black Army). Typically the 160th's flights are made at night, perhaps prompting the commanders of the 160th to paint the helicopters black.

The US government denies that the helicopters were armed, and denies that they strafed the building, but the evidence leaves little room for doubt.

• At the time the raid began, the Davidians placed a call to the 911 emergency number of the Waco police force. The call was taken by a Lt. Lynch. It was recorded and a transcript made. The transcript was introduced into the 1994 San Antonio trial of the Branch Davidians, and is reproduced in The Waco Whitewash by Jack DeVault (pg. 212). The Museum's copy of the 911 tape contains background noise that is clearly a helicopter rotor and automatic gun fire.
• The transcript of the 911 call shows that at one point, while listening to the background noise, Lt. Lynch says: "That's automatic weapon fire . . ."
• Automatic machine gun fire can be heard as helicopters pass overhead during this conversation between Lt. Lynch and the Davidian, who is identified as Wayne Martin:

Martin: 
They're still attacking.

Lynch: 
Awright.

Martin: 
There's a chopper with more of 'em.

Lynch: 
What?

Martin: 
Another chopper with more people--More guns goin' off. Here they come!"

Lynch: 
Awright. Wayne Cah (unintelligible)

Martin: 
More firing!

Lynch: 
"Unintelligible"

Martin: 
That's not us. That's them!

(tape played in Waco, the Big Lie Continues, and quoted in Devault, pg. 214-15).

• The footage taken by KWTX-TV and shown in Waco, the Big Lie Continues shows bullets hitting the roof and eaves of the Mt. Carmel Center. In that video, the American Justice Federation made an analysis of the trajectories of the bullets. The bullets must have come from the sky above the building.

Eyewitness Statements

• Davidian survivor Catherine Mattson said: "I heard three helicopters. The reason I knew they were three was I looked out the window and I could see they were firing on us . . . And they turned, and when they turned I fell to the floor, because I could see that those bullets could hit me if I was standing. They went to the front of the building. And it seemed like by the time they got to the front, they were firing again." (Shown in Day 51, a video available from the Mt. Carmel Survivors Fund.)
• Davidian survivor Annetta Richards: " I was actually getting ready for worship. I heard a noise like a helicopter, and then I heard bullets start firing; bullets start coming in from every direction. And the helicopter were flying low over the building. The sound of it was so low that at that time I thought they had landed on the roof. Bullets were coming in from all directions." (Day 51)
• Davidian child's interview with Dr. Bruce D. Perry. See photograph and caption on page header.

Death of Jaydean Wendel

Attorney Inspection of Building

Mr. Zimmerman testified that when he visited Mt. Carmel during the siege and inspected the premises, he found holes in the plywood roof. All the splinters were facing down, indicating the shots had come from the sky into the rooms below (1994 San Antonio Trial of the Branch Davidians, Transcript, pgs.. 6610-11).

Unmarked US Army Helicopters Used

Attorney Carroll: 
And they didn't have any distinct markings on them identifying them as Texas National Guard or US Army or anything like that, did they?

Capt. Dickens: 
No, sir.

Attorney Carroll: 
You just couldn't tell whose helicopters they were by looking at them, unless you knew something specific about your helicopter, right?

Capt. Dickens: 
Yes, sir.

Attorney Carroll: 
I wouldn't have known, would I?

Prosecutor Johnston: 
Your honor, I object to what Mr. Carroll would know. I have no idea--

Court: 
Sustain the objection.

. . .

Attorney Carroll: 
The man on -- a man on the street without any special experience wouldn't have known, would he?

Capt. Dickens: 
All Army helicopters are marked the same.

Attorney Carroll: 
But this helicopter didn't have anything in white paint that said "U.S. Army," did it?

Capt. Dickens: 
No, sir, not . . . "Questioning continues on different subject"

(Transcript, pg. 3296)

Note that the "National Guard" pilot has inadvertently admitted that the helicopter he was flying was an unmarked US Army helicopter.

As noted before, National Guardsmen can be selected to go on Special Operations missions, as can Army Reservists (Army Times, January 2, 1996, Special Ops: Bosnia's Best Hope, pg. 51). And Special Operations can form ad hoc teams for special missions--including commandos from ATF or FBI.

Whether the helicopters used in the February 28 assault were "National Guard" helicopters is an empty issue. Even if the helicopters that strafed the Mt. Carmel Center were owned by the State of Texas, when National Guard equipment and personnel are used in federal service, they operate on federal (Pentagon) command lines.

Now, there is an exercise in Constitutional absurdity: to cast as a "states rights" issue the use of some military helicopters, when that use consisted of strafing women and children with machine gun fire!

Historical Perspective

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The modest plywood shelter the Branch Davidians had built with the own hands could not be expected to withstand the barrage of helicopter machine gun fire and the hail of bullets from the frontal infantry assault of February 28.

Early accounts indicated that a child, or "children" had been killed that day. This was surely not unexpected, because the helicopters had fired into the second story quarters where the children lived.

When the Davidians were attacked, they called 911. The call was taped. The recording captured David Koresh's voice: "You see you brought your bunch of guys out here and you killed some of my children. We told you we wanted to talk. . ." Dallas Morning News, March 1, quoted Steve Schneider: "People are lying dead in here, babies and everything . . ." (pg. 13A), and also reported David Koresh saying a 2-year old girl was killed.

Early in March, Waco researcher Ken Fawcett captured raw TV footage, not shown on nightly newscasts, which showed several black clad men carrying what appeared to be a small body in a body bag to an ambulance waiting outside the Mt. Carmel Center. The identical footage is shown in "Waco, the Big Lie."

Reports also indicated that 14 Branch Davidians in the Mt. Carmel Center at the time of the raid had been killed. On March 3, the Dallas Morning News reported that ""a" McLennan County official who was familiar with the negotiations said that as many as 14 people are believed dead and that 'a whole lot' are wounded," (pg. 14A) Another Davidian, Michael Schroeder, was off site when the raid occurred, and was killed when he was repeatedly shot while attempting to get back to the Center to reach his family. Schroeder's death would have been the fifteenth Davidian death on February 28.

On March 2 arrangements had reportedly been made to end the confrontation. David Koresh was to tape a message he wanted the American people to hear. The taped message would be aired on national radio. The dead and the wounded would be taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center and the Branch Davidians would confront the government in the courtroom (Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1993).

Hillcrest Hospital had set up a temporary morgue and emergency room to handle the Davidian dead and wounded. According to the Dallas Morning News, "Hillcrest expected that the Davidians were going to arrive after 2:30 pm on March 2. A triage area was set up outside the emergency room, and an area for a temporary morgue designated." Shortly before 1:00 pm, "agents arrived at the hospital in a large white truck and took up positions on rooftops surrounding the emergency room. They surveyed the area through binoculars and clutched assault rifles to their chests." (Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1993, pg. 14A.)

But the dead and wounded Davidians reportedly never arrived at Hillcrest. David Koresh's taped massage was not aired on national radio, but aired on a local station. The FBI would later say that David Koresh simply broke his word on March 2 and refused to let anyone leave. They implied that the local radio airing of Koresh's taped message should have been good enough.

On the other hand, there could be an alternate explanation for the events of March 2. The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team had fully installed itself as the tactical unit in charge of the siege on that date (Treasury Report, pg. 118). Perhaps the "new management" decided against the release of the dead and the wounded. Surely there would be good reason to make the change.

The confirmation that a child or children had been killed in the February 28 raid would have surely had the gravest political consequences for the US government. The raid had taken place just weeks after the new Democratic president, William Clinton, had been inaugurated. But the raid had obviously been planned months in advance--when the Republicans were in power. Simple political expediency would dictate that the news of a murdered child or children be suppressed.

The news reports of the death of a child or children abruptly stopped about March 3, and the news reports of the numbers of the dead Davidians also ceased. Occasionally there would be a reference to the wounded who were still inside.

Recall that Mt. Carmel was implanted with sophisticated surveillance devices, and that there were a number of informants living within the community. Throughout March many Davidians who had been inside the Mt. Carmel Center at the time of the raid left. Upon leaving, each was immediately interrogated by the commandos from the Hostage Rescue Team (See HRT--Rescue Team or Death Squad?). The FBI, then, had at least three different sources of information on the numbers and identities of those killed on February 28.

On March 10, the Dallas Morning News reported: "'The children all spoke of seeing bullets flying through their windows in their quarters and seeing numerous wounded people in the compound,' said Joyce Sparks of the state Children's Protective Services office."

On March 15, the Dallas Morning News reported: "She acknowledged that other sect members were wounded and need medical attention." (Attorney Peterson, speaking for Kathy Schroeder, pg. 9A).

On March 18, the Dallas Morning News reported: ". . . agents have offered medical treatment to wounded cult members if they ventured to the edge of the compound. Those not requiring hospitalization would be allowed to return to the compound, said Agent Ricks." (pg. 16A).

On March 22, the Dallas Morning News reported the remarks of FBI agent Dick Swensen: "Also, the wounded people and the conditions inside the compound add to the pressures on this to end this thing soon." (pg. 6A), and

On March 22, the Dallas Morning News reported: "The most recent releases bring to 34 the number of people who have left the Mt. Carmel compound since a Feb. 28 shootout. Four ATF agents and an unknown number of cult members were killed and 16 ATF agents wounded."

Once again: At this point (March 22), the FBI would have known exactly how many were killed in the raid, their ages, and their identities.

Then, on April 21, the Chicago Tribune reported that: "FBI officials in Washington received information last week that sanitary and other conditions in the compound were deteriorating in ways that were especially threatening to the children. One FBI official said children who had left the compound recently reported the presence of dead bodies and buckets full of human waste." (Chicago Tribune, April 21, 1993, pg. 20).

"Presence of dead bodies." Perhaps these were the bodies of the Davidians who had been killed on February 28 and who had not been buried, or people who had died of their wounds? And what of the dead child, or children?

During the course of the siege the US government continuously made accusations of child abuse against David Koresh. The FBI apparently persuaded Koresh to make a tape of the children inside the Mt. Carmel Center during the siege, ostensibly to show that they were OK. A video tape was made showing David Koresh talking to children, who were responding to his questions and shyly smiling at the camera.

No list of the residents of Mt. Carmel was published contemporaneously with the beginning of the siege. Without a roster, we do not know which children, if any, did NOT appear in the video. It is quite possible that a child or children were lying dead or dying from the February 28 attack, even as the uninjured children were being taped.

The Branch Davidian survivors say that despite the machine gun strafing on February 28, no children were killed. The Branch Davidians also say that just five people in the Center at the time of the raid were killed -- not the 14 reported by the press. What are we to believe? The duress under which the surviving Branch Davidians live, and the unwillingness of the government to release the names of their agents who posed as Branch Davidians, leaves a prudent person relying on the entirety of the evidence before us. See Veracity of Branch Davidian Statements.

The Smart Diagram of the second floor of the Mt. Carmel Center shows the names of many of the women and children who lived there. The helicopters directed their fire at that area. A glance at Dallas Morning News, March 1, 1993 showing bullets in windows" shows that, quite apart from helicopter fire, ground fire was aimed into those quarters.

Had the February 28 raid been a law enforcement action, there would have been no need for helicopters to strafe the women's and children's quarters. But the killing of women and children does fit in quite nicely with the purposes of war, which is to inflict the maximum horror and suffering on the opponents.

It is claimed that, with the exception of Jaydean Wendel, all the women and children still in the Mt. Carmel Center on April 19 were alive. It is claimed that they went to the concrete room at the base of the four story residential tower to seek shelter from the tank and gas attack, and died in the final moments when the concrete room collapsed.

It is indeed a coincidence that the women and children's quarters suffered the brunt of the February 28 attack, and it was almost exclusively women's and children's bodies that were found in the concrete room.

The dead can speak. Much can be learned from examination of the corpse. In the Death Gallery we shall examine the Autopsy Reports of the corpses found in the concrete room in an effort to come to a better understanding what happened during the 51 days of the Waco Holocaust.

Let us now look at what happened during the siege.

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"The siege has become a focal point for the world's special forces eager to see the latest equipment being applied in a real crisis. Observer teams from the American Delta Force and British Special Air Service have already visited Waco." (London Sunday Times, March 21, 1993).

The US by far had the superior forces--tanks, armed helicopters, commandos, state and local police--and could surely have overwhelmed the people in the rambling farmhouse. Yet for 51 days the US "negotiated" with the Davidians and allowed the siege to play out on the national and international stage.

A common dictionary will define negotiation as the act or procedure of coming to terms with, or reaching an agreement with, another. Negotiations imply a rough equality between negotiators--both parties have something of value that the opposite party would like to share.

As already pointed out, the Department of Justice report admits to the deployment of at least 17 tanks; add to that almost a thousand commandos and policemen and numerous helicopters, with free access to the US Treasury.

The docile news services were stationed three miles away, facing the front of the Mt. Carmel center (facing center stage). The back and the sides of the building (stage sides and stage back) did not even have the appearance of being under observation. Under the cover of night and the constant noise of the helicopters and the psychological warfare sound technologies, the US could have arguably entered and left the Mt. Carmel Center at any time it chose.

Strange Negotiation Techniques

But the siege did provide an opportunity to use the residents of the Mt. Carmel Center as a national testbed in which besieged civilians' reactions and resistance to military force was tested; the news coverage of the siege provided a testbed for the gullibility of the American public. Just how much newspeak would America swallow?

Civilian Head of FBI Told to Take a Walk

Now let's look at how the Davidians were subjected to diverse and bizarre treatments that gradually increased in intensity.

First Amendment Canceled

During the siege, ""t"he HRT maintained the inner perimeter, the SWAT teams maintained an outer perimeter, and various agencies, mainly the Texas Highway Patrol, manned various checkpoints on the roads leading to the compound." (Justice Report, pg. 150).

"Additionally, throughout the standoff, families and friends of those inside the compound appeared unannounced at checkpoints requesting to go inside. While those individuals turned out not to be security risks, the danger that a friend or relative might try to slip into the compound was always present." How would this be a danger, unless the friend or relative might learn some piece of the truth and talk? (Justice Report, pg. 153).

Davidians Imprisoned with Tanks, Grenades, and Concertina Wire

Tanks: By March 1 the FBI had moved in armored vehicles "to help secure the inner perimeter." Yet, remember, the FBI claimed it wanted the Branch Davidians to come -- OUT.

Grenades: On March 10, "numerous individuals came out of the compound, walked around, then went back inside. It appeared from these actions that they were attempting to test the resolve of the agents, since the FBI had warned people not to come outside without first obtaining permission." (Justice Report, pg. 62). And from whom were the Davidians to ask permission? Was there someone inside the Mt. Carmel Center who was directing releases, or otherwise acting as a liaison for the FBI? On what basis would such "permission" be granted?

"March 18. At 1:34 p.m., SSRA "FBI agent "negotiator" Brian" Sage began to speak to those inside the compound over the loudspeaker system in an attempt to communicate directly with everyone, to urge everyone to come out. Sage told them they would be treated fairly, that they were free to come out . . . " (Justice Report, pg. 73).

"Stay Inside!" "Come Out!" The FBI was playing with the Branch Davidians as a cat plays with a mouse before the kill.

The Justice Report states that in April, "individuals inside the compound were exiting unannounced with ever-increasing frequency," and that they "only returned to the inside after being "flash-banged." (Justice Report, pg. 153). A "flash-bang" is a type of grenade used by the ATF and the FBI during the initial assault and siege. Rather than being harmless as the agencies claimed, the devices have caused severe bodily injury, including dismemberment. The Branch Davidian attorneys called one such victim to the stand during the 1994 San Antonio trial of the Branch Davidians The victim, Sandra Sawyer, a mother of four, was at a friend's house when it was raided by the police, who threw flash-bangs into the home. Ms. Sawyer's right right was almost severed, and, at the time of the trial, she had undergone six reconstructive surgeries. "Transcript, pg. 6806-13".

There we have it. In order to keep them inside the building, the FBI threw explosive devices at the Branch Davidians. Flash bangs were thrown at the Davidians regularly throughout the siege. Psychiatrist Dr. Bruce D. Perry, who had interviewed the Davidian children who left the Mt. Carmel Center, wrote a memo to the FBI on March 11. He "described the children's 'many, many, many, allusions to explosions' and raised questions about whether the compound had booby traps or was wired to explode," (Dallas Morning News, May 4, 1993, pg. 13A). If Dr. Perry were to read the Justice Department report, he would perhaps understand to what the children were referring.

Another report published by the Department of Justice, the DoJ Dennis Report, also cites many instances of the Branch Davidians being flash-banged by the FBI in order to keep the Davidians from leaving the building.

On April 10, the FBI erected concertina (razor) wire around the building. (Justice Report, pgs.. 102, 145).

Tanks, grenades, razor wire--all used to keep people inside a building. This was a strange way to encourage them to leave the building. It is obvious that the Davidians were hostages of the FBI, kept like fish in a barrel.

Electricity Turned Off

Radio, TV Signals Jammed

Jamming of radio and TV signals is strictly prohibited by US law, and can be carried out only in extreme situations such as war or national security emergencies. President Clinton himself would have had to sign the order (Communications Act of 1934, 47 USC 706(a) and (c)).

The FBI jammed TV and radio signals as part of its psychological warfare against the Davidians (Dallas Morning News, April 17, 19, 1993). Signals were jammed almost completely during the day and night to prevent the Davidians from hearing news of support from other Americans. The only signals permitted into Mt. Carmel's airspace during the siege were those carrying FBI news conferences, in which David Koresh was held up to scorn and the religious views of the Davidians were ridiculed. Through listening devices, the FBI then studied the Branch Davidian responses to the briefings.

"You could hear them yelling and screaming about "FBI agent" Ricks and "BATF agent" Troy, yelling and screaming about "how" people were lying about them . . . That came mostly from Schneider," an FBI official told the Dallas Morning News.

The jamming equipment was supplied by the Federal Communications Commission--the very body entrusted with enforcing the Federal Communications Act.

Morse Code Signals Jammed

Associated Press reported issued a report stating that it had analyzed the transmissions, that that the message was this: SOS SOS SOS FBI BROKE NEGOTIATIONS. WANT NEGOTIATIONS FROM THE PRESS. The Dallas Morning News, March 16, 1993 (pg. 12) reported the same message, but said the message had been made with a flash light.

The Morse Code transmissions were also studied by George Zimmerlee, a Marietta, Georgia electronics expert who designs and builds prototype electronic equipment. He is an amateur radio operator, and holds an FCC General Radiotelephone (Operator) License. On the night the signal began, stadium lights were focused into the room from which the signals were being transmitted. The Morse Code signals were obscured by the much brighter stadium lights. The cameras also began panning back and forth so that viewing of the signal was interrupted during crucial transmission periods. Apparently the government was alerted to the Branch Davidian plans by listening devices planted inside Mt. Carmel. "Much of what the Branch Davidians transmitted has been lost," says Zimmerlee.

Interfering with SOS signals violates several international laws, including the International Telecommunications Convention of Atlantic City, 1947 (Article 44) and the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Part III, Article 19. The SOS message met the International Telecommunication Union Rules (Article 37) definition of a distress signal.

Davidians Wayne Martin or Jeff Little, now both dead, probably sent the code, says Zimmerlee. Both were ham radio operators, knew Morse code, and had a proficiency of 20 words per minute. "They were sending coherent, very readable code--exquisitely good, it was very readable." says Zimmerlee.

"Communications in this military operation was a high priority target. The government has lied about the nature and purpose of the raid. Evidence of jamming shows that there was something extremely dangerous about permitting the Branch Davidians to communicate with the outside world," says Zimmerlee.

Mr. Zimmerlee has carried his objection all the way to Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Speaker of the House of Representatives in the US Congress. A letter of response from the FBI to Congressman Gingrich was returned to Zimmerlee (see page 1 and page 2 of that letter).

Mind Manipulation Experiments

The FBI brought in loudspeakers, and through the speakers came the high decibel sounds of laughter, birds squawking, sirens, rabbits being slaughtered, rock music, Tibetan chants, and recordings of "negotiation" sessions held between the Branch Davidians and the FBI (Justice Report, pgs.. 69, 73, 79).

"March 22. The negotiators called Schneider at 9:03 a.m. Schneider was still angry about the loud music which had included Tibetan chants. The negotiators attempted to calm him by blaming the FBI tactical agents; however, Schneider remained angry . . ." (Justice Report, pg. 79).

On March 23, the Department of Justice report states that Davidian Steve Schneider, with whom the FBI was "negotiating" "had become very combative and argumentative" (Justice Report, pg. 81).

"March 24. After several attempt, the negotiators reached Steve Schneider at 9:52 a.m. Still angry over the loud music, Schneider refused to talk any further that day." (Justice Report, pg. 83)

Acoustic Psycho-Correction Technology

Acoustic psycho-correction attempts to implant thoughts in the target's mind without the target being aware of the source of the thought. A voice of someone known to the target is synthesized and transmitted through loud noise; the target hears the voice, and is supposed to believe the message is his own thought. The technology was the subject of author Dick Russell's article in Prevailing Winds magazine in 1995. Says Russell:

Last July, an article in the monthly periodical Defense Electronics described a series of secret meetings held last March in suburban Northern Virginia between US intelligence officials and a group of Russian scientists. They were talking, the article maintained, "about the Russians' decade-long research on a computerized acoustic device allegedly capable of implanting thoughts in a person's mind without that person being aware of the source of the thought." The FBI was apparently considering using the Russian device - dubbed "acoustic psycho-correction" - on David Koresh, sending in the voice of God (or, alternatively, of the cult leader's mother) in an effort to get the Branch Davidians to emerge. But the Russian scientists allegedly refused "to promise zero risk."

When the NIJ's David Boyd was asked recently whether any non-lethal weapons were considered for use in Waco, he responded: "I have to answer that very carefully. The fairest answer is, none were suitable."

Notice the hedging in Boyd's answer, and notice the lack of denial. No, maybe the non-lethal weapons were not "suitable." Maybe they didn't work in the predicted manner. 

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