and they STILL haven't found the front doors...Analysis of the film proved that the four agents who were killed wee killed by” friendly” fire. I believe they had all done service as Clinton bodyguards some time before the massacre.
You can blame the deaths on the idiot that gave the go-ahead after the mole reported back to the commander that they’d been found out. He essentially ordered his men into an ambush.
1. The ATF guys on their way to the Branch Davidian comound GOT LOST.
2. They asked directions from a mailman, cuz, hey, that’s FEDERAL, right? ‘Cept the mailman was a DAVIDIAN, see..?
3. The ATF was up for budget review and this assault was supposed to be a big victory showing how amazing, essential and fund-worthy they were. So they brought along a TV crew. The “go” code for these cowboys —not making this up— was SHOW TIME.
4. They initiated the gunfight, then it lasted only as long as they had ammo. When the ATF ran out of ammo, that’s when the gun battle stopped. The out-of-ammo attackers were permitted to withdraw unmolested. Their view of the film crew suddenly changed dramatically, they didn’t like it anymore.
5. The FBI brought in armored personnel carriers and drove over the Davidians’ cars parked outside. Then they wantonly, needelessly and repeatedly drove over the graves of the Davidians who were killed in the initial shootout.
6. The FBI played recordings of dying rabbits over loudspeakers, shone lights in their windows all night, played scary records and the song, “these boots were made for walkin’” which contains the lyrics, “I’m gonna light a MATCH” (there was later a fire).
7. The first thing the FBI did after the fire subsided was to raise the flag of the ATF on the still smoking embers, Mt. Suribachi-style.
8. FLIR experts were scared stiff to review video of the final conflagration, which showed shooting into the burning compound. The one FLIR expert the defense finally found to testify was later killed under mysterious circumstances.
9. The Compound Front Door (whose bullet holes would show that most of the shooting was from outside in) went MISSING, mysteriously. It was “lost”.
and they STILL haven't found the front doors...http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-waco/
—
Nobody knows who shot first.
Gunfire broke out on the compound when ATF agents arrived with arrest and search warrants against David Koresh and the Branch Davidian compound, based on evidence that the Davidians were illegally stockpiling weapons. How did the shootout begin? It still isn’t clear. But amid the gunfire, Koresh called 911 to report the shooting — and to preach.
—
Two FBI teams clashed over how to handle Koresh, and it spilled over into name-calling.
The FBI had two teams working to end the standoff: The negotiators, who tried to establish a relationship with Koresh and the other Davidians, and the Hostage Rescue Team, which handled the tactical maneuvers. The two sides were often at odds.
Negotiators felt hamstrung by a hostage rescue team that made aggressive moves — blaring music, crushing Davidians’ cars and a guard shack — in the midst of delicate discussions with Koresh.
The hostage teams, meanwhile, felt the negotiators should have pressured the Davidians by denying them food or water, or cutting the power, according to Barry Higginbotham, a member of the FBI hostage rescue team at Waco, who spoke to FRONTLINE in 1995.
That led to a lot of tension. Here’s one example:
BYRON SAGE, FBI negotiator and supervisory senior resident agent: On occasions, I made a number of trips up to the tactical sites located right out in front of the compound. There was one time when there was a notation on one of the portable outhouses up front that said, “Sage is a Davidian,” obviously written by one of the tactical guys.
FRONTLINE asked a member of the hostage rescue team, James McGee, about it. He chuckled:
That would be very symbolic of the frustration. There was a high level of frustration.
—
The FBI told Attorney General Janet Reno that children were being abused at Waco, even though it wasn’t true.
Reno initially rejected the FBI’s tear gas plan as being too aggressive. A strong advocate for children, Reno was concerned the Davidians might use the children as human shields if the FBI launched an offensive. Then Reno said she heard from the FBI that the children at Waco being abused. She told ABC News’ Nightline:
We had had reports that they had been sexually abused, that babies had actually been beaten. I asked when I first heard that for them to verify it and, again, that was the report that was brought back.
It wasn’t true, and the FBI knew it. So who told her? William Sessions, the FBI director at the time, told FRONTLINE he wasn’t the one. But someone at the FBI did, according to documents FRONTLINE uncovered (*). It’s just not clear who.
Ultimately, Reno approved the gas plan. Agents began spraying tear gas into the compound the morning of April 19, 1993.
* http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/wacotranscript.html