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On This Day: Feds Raid Waco Compound
February 28, 2009 06:00 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
On Feb. 28, 1993, federal agents tried to arrest David Koresh at his Waco, Texas, compound. A gunfight ensued, killing 10 and beginning a 51-day standoff.
The Waco Seige
At 9:30 a.m., over 70 U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents approached the headquarters of the Branch Davidians, an apocalyptic sect of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
The agents, responding to reports of stockpiled weapons and child abuse, had planned the raid for eight months and hoped to "protect the children, neutralize the military force, and seize the arms," PBS says.
Koresh refused to surrender and a shootout erupted, leaving four ATF agents and six Davidians dead. The debate continues about who fired the first shot.
Over the next 50 days, Koresh negotiated by telephone with agents seeking the group’s voluntary surrender. Armored vehicles surrounded the headquarters. Most residents stayed inside, although 10 children were released to safety.
As the siege wore on, some agents argued for the use of force, but negotiators persisted and even “argued the Bible with Koresh,” according to the Crime Library Web site.
By mid April, authorities decided negotiations were futile, and newly appointed Attorney General Janet Reno approved the use of tear gas to flush out the compound's occupants.
On April 19, vehicles with spray booms pumped tear gas into the building, and agents fired pyrotechnic tear gas rounds at a nearby tornado shelter. Gunshots broke out and a fire started, engulfing the building. Seventy-five people, including Koresh and 21 children, died.
The tragedy sparked a heated public discussion about whether the violence could have been avoided. In 2000, a Texas court ruled that the agents were not responsible for the deaths, ending a lawsuit brought by a surviving member of the Davidian sect and the families of the deceased.
The agents, responding to reports of stockpiled weapons and child abuse, had planned the raid for eight months and hoped to "protect the children, neutralize the military force, and seize the arms," PBS says.
Koresh refused to surrender and a shootout erupted, leaving four ATF agents and six Davidians dead. The debate continues about who fired the first shot.
Over the next 50 days, Koresh negotiated by telephone with agents seeking the group’s voluntary surrender. Armored vehicles surrounded the headquarters. Most residents stayed inside, although 10 children were released to safety.
As the siege wore on, some agents argued for the use of force, but negotiators persisted and even “argued the Bible with Koresh,” according to the Crime Library Web site.
By mid April, authorities decided negotiations were futile, and newly appointed Attorney General Janet Reno approved the use of tear gas to flush out the compound's occupants.
On April 19, vehicles with spray booms pumped tear gas into the building, and agents fired pyrotechnic tear gas rounds at a nearby tornado shelter. Gunshots broke out and a fire started, engulfing the building. Seventy-five people, including Koresh and 21 children, died.
The tragedy sparked a heated public discussion about whether the violence could have been avoided. In 2000, a Texas court ruled that the agents were not responsible for the deaths, ending a lawsuit brought by a surviving member of the Davidian sect and the families of the deceased.
Opinion & Analysis: Should the government be blamed for Waco?
Steve Higgins, the former director of the ATF, defended the actions of his agency in a July 1995 op-ed published in The Washington Post. Higgins stressed the need for intervention, and the potential danger posed by Koresh’s stockpile of weapons. Citing Jonestown and other cult suicides, Higgins went on to say, “The day has long passed when we can afford to ignore the threat posed by individuals who believe they are subject only to the laws of their god and not those of our government.”
An essay on the CATO Institute’s Web site from Sept. 8, 1999, criticizes the investigation and the aftermath of the Waco siege: “Although the president shed crocodile tears over the 12 children at Columbine High School and now seeks partisan advantage by pushing for federal laws that could not possibly have prevented Columbine, he and his administration remain coldly indifferent to the 26 children at Waco.” According to David Kopel and Paul Blackman, the true events of the siege are shrouded by lies. They call for an outside investigation free from FBI influence.
In a Feb. 28, 2007, Huffington Post blog entry called “What Really Happened at Waco,” Texas reporter James Moore writes about his and television photographer Jim Peeler's firsthand experiences covering the Waco siege. Following the incident, certain news stations blamed TV crews, including Peeler, for “hanging out of the trees” and “tipping the Branch Davidians.” But according to Moore, the photographers “were innocent of doing anything other than acting with great courage to report on a story of profound national importance.”
An essay on the CATO Institute’s Web site from Sept. 8, 1999, criticizes the investigation and the aftermath of the Waco siege: “Although the president shed crocodile tears over the 12 children at Columbine High School and now seeks partisan advantage by pushing for federal laws that could not possibly have prevented Columbine, he and his administration remain coldly indifferent to the 26 children at Waco.” According to David Kopel and Paul Blackman, the true events of the siege are shrouded by lies. They call for an outside investigation free from FBI influence.
In a Feb. 28, 2007, Huffington Post blog entry called “What Really Happened at Waco,” Texas reporter James Moore writes about his and television photographer Jim Peeler's firsthand experiences covering the Waco siege. Following the incident, certain news stations blamed TV crews, including Peeler, for “hanging out of the trees” and “tipping the Branch Davidians.” But according to Moore, the photographers “were innocent of doing anything other than acting with great courage to report on a story of profound national importance.”
Related: Controversial religious groups and the government
An August 1997 New York Times film review analyzes the documentary, ''Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” produced by PBS four years after the incident. The documentary presented some new, controversial information, including the implication that federal agents fired on Branch Davidians while the fire was burning. Reflecting the ongoing debate about the Waco incident, the review says, “In any event, many [of the film’s viewers] seemed to come out as baffled as they were when they went in.”
The documentary, “Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” is available at the Dulcinea Media Store.
The documentary, “Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” is available at the Dulcinea Media Store.
The nonprofit Rick A. Ross Institute (RRI) of New Jersey tracks controversial religious movements and maintains a research archive Web site. The institute has an advisory board that includes legal and academic professionals, and says its mission is to “study cults, controversial groups and movements and to provide a broad range of information and services easily accessible to the public.”
An audio clip from NPR recalls the Jonestown tragedy. Reverend Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple cult, established a community in Guyana called Jonestown to create a communist “utopia,” with Jones as the “incarnation of Christ.” In 1978, after U.S. Representative Leo Ryan of California was killed on his investigation of the town, a mass suicide ensued in which over 900 people died from drinking cyanide.
A CNN article from March 1998 revisits the Heaven’s Gate cult suicide that occurred a year earlier. The incident involved the suicides of 39 cult members, who “died in shifts.” Heaven’s Gate followers thought that the bright Hale-Bopp comet indicated it was time to “shed their earthly bodies” and enter a “higher plane of existence.” As CNN makes clear, the Internet played a large role in the whole affair.
An audio clip from NPR recalls the Jonestown tragedy. Reverend Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple cult, established a community in Guyana called Jonestown to create a communist “utopia,” with Jones as the “incarnation of Christ.” In 1978, after U.S. Representative Leo Ryan of California was killed on his investigation of the town, a mass suicide ensued in which over 900 people died from drinking cyanide.
A CNN article from March 1998 revisits the Heaven’s Gate cult suicide that occurred a year earlier. The incident involved the suicides of 39 cult members, who “died in shifts.” Heaven’s Gate followers thought that the bright Hale-Bopp comet indicated it was time to “shed their earthly bodies” and enter a “higher plane of existence.” As CNN makes clear, the Internet played a large role in the whole affair.
Timothy McVeigh, the architect of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, was influenced by Waco, according to the BBC. The bombing occurred on April 19, exactly two years after the Waco episode’s deadly conclusion. The BBC writes, “McVeigh traveled to Waco to see the siege for himself and was horrified by the final showdown when federal troops fired tear gas and a massive fire engulfed the compound.” McVeigh, who had become acquainted with a number of anti-government militia groups, said he was angered by the government’s inability to apologize for Waco.
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