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"It was a legitimate warrant. Who knows what these people had in store for the community?" |
Rot in Hell, Mr. Aguilera.
Best regards to all,
Robert Teesdale
Chairman
American Party of Colorado
chairman@theamericanparty.us
Posted on 10/13/2003 2:22:37 PM PDT by Stew Padasso
ATF agent tries to put Waco ghosts to rest
By Guillermo Contreras San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 10/12/2003 12:00 AM
Images of the shootout and siege, scenes that once gripped viewers around the globe but which long since have faded from the public consciousness, still streak through Aguilera's mind.
He was the ATF agent whose firearms investigation of the Branch Davidians led to a raid on their compound near Waco on Feb. 28, 1993.
The ill-fated raid claimed four U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents and six Davidians and sparked a 51-day standoff that ended in the deaths of 76 Davidians — including the religious sect's leader, David Koresh.
"These are scenes I relive every day, especially at that time of year," said Aguilera, 47. "Although I've been able to control it somewhat, it's something you never forget."
Memories of the tragedy have tormented Aguilera, causing emotional trauma, feelings of guilt and failed relationships, and in 1994 he left Texas for another job.
The move enabled him to further his career while escaping the past and the negative publicity surrounding Waco.
But now, in a new twist on an old story, Aguilera has returned. He's heading the ATF field office in San Antonio, the latest stop on a road that has taken him to agency jobs in Mexico and supervisory posts in New Jersey and Washington.
In coming home to Texas, the veteran federal agent who was shot at in Waco finds himself in another challenging confrontation: facing down his own past.
"It was something painful I had to go through in life," he said of Waco, "and I had to come back and face it, just accept it."
Remembering Waco
Aguilera hopes his homecoming will facilitate the healing process and help bring the Waco chapter of his life to a close.
"It's an experience you don't want to ever experience again," he said. "What could have been an easy resolution turned out be a tragedy."
What happened that day brought a firestorm of criticism.
"It was the biggest disaster in law enforcement history," said Dave Hardy of Tucson, Ariz., a lawyer involved in an unsuccessful wrongful death suit against the government over Waco.
"Foul-up is far too mild. In a situation where you have 10 possible decisions, they consistently picked the worst. It's just, 'My God, what were they thinking?'"
Critics took the ATF to task for the way it handled the initial raid and questioned Aguilera's investigation. They blasted the FBI for its handling of the ensuing siege.
Civil lawsuits, congressional probes and a federal prosecutor's report that dismissed many allegations stemming from the Waco raid did little to quietthe clamoring for justice.
Michael White, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Antonio, said a cloud remains over the agents involved.
"I don't know how much responsibility (Aguilera) had, but the way it was carried out was a fiasco," White said of Waco. "It didn't have to go that way."
Aguilera's memories of the raid are vivid. But citing the possibility of further litigation by relatives of some Branch Davidians, he said he "can only reflect on my feelings and what I observed and what's already been made public."
On the morning of the raid, Aguilera and other agents went to the Mount Carmel compound to arrest Koresh and serve a search warrant alleging that Koresh and his followers were stockpiling illegal automatic weapons and explosives.
Aguilera boarded one of three helicopters — what he said was part of an airborne diversion — while agents rode cattle trailers and headed for the compound's doors.
Versions from critics and the government differ on the encounter, disagreeing even on who fired first.
Aguilera said bullets from the Davidians struck the helicopter he was in, forcing it to make an emergency landing.
Critics charged that ATF agents shot from the choppers at the Davidians first, and that the FBI knocked down the walls with tanks in the subsequent siege to hide evidence proving that theory.
In his measured account of what happened, Aguilera said the investigation was warranted and that the numerous illegal firearms and rounds of ammunition found show the probe was on target.
"We didn't do anything wrong," Aguilera said. "The media just made it look like we were the bad guys, when in fact we were doing what warranted the execution of that warrant."
But Aguilera acknowledged he has struggled with his feelings over the results.
"Initially, I felt guilty because I had opened up this investigation. I thought, 'If I had not opened this, people would have not gotten killed or wounded or hurt by this,'" Aguilera said. "I have come to understand now that this had to be done because who knows what these people had in store for the local community down the road, or in the future."
ATF agent Roland Ballesteros, whose thumb was partly shot off after he approached the compound's doors and spoke briefly to Koresh, said Aguilera made the right calls in his part of the investigation.
"He wanted to step aside and take a look to see if it could have been handled differently," Ballesteros said. "To be honest with you, I don't think it could have. He did the job that he was supposed to do, and he did a good job."
A new future
Aguilera, who assumed his current post in July, is the first Hispanic to hold the ATF title of resident agent in charge in San Antonio, part of the agency's Houston division.
The son of immigrant parents, Aguilera said his father, who labored in steel mills in Indiana and later became a contractor in Joliet, Ill., called for his 10 children to better themselves. Aguilera was the middle sibling of seven boys and three sisters.
"He would take us to work. The intent was to stress the importance of an education," Aguilera said of his father. "He would say, 'It's either this or something better.' I was the first one out of there."
Aguilera joined the Marines to help pay for college, earning a bachelor's in history at the University of Illinois while working as a police officer in his native city. Stints followed later with the Border Patrol in South Texas and the ATF.
He said his training and experience helped him "keep my head above water" and move forward, even when bumps emerged.
Aguilera is unmarried, though he has two daughters — April, 22, and Miechaela, 12 — who live elsewhere but with whom he has frequent contact.
"It's just been really difficult to establish a relationship," Aguilera said of his reasons for being single.
He attributes that to his passion for the job, and frequent moves. He also acknowledges Waco had a hand in his lifestyle.
"I was seeing somebody at the time, but this was so much pressure, it was such a significant emotional event, that (the relationship) didn't materialize," he said.
Now the head of a 10-agent office, Aguilera enthusiastically talks about his plans to make the ATF more recognizable for its assault on crime rather than how it's seen in some circles — synonymous with Waco.
He said he plans to increasingly push federal initiatives like the Safe Streets program, which attempts to keep guns out of the hands of felons, and the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, a collaboration with state and local law officers that aims to disrupt the flow of firearms to juveniles.
He said he plans to be more involved with local and state agencies in the 20-plus counties surrounding San Antonio that his office covers. Furthermore, he wants to reach out to the community, partly by pitching the agency to college students as a career choice.
"I'm hoping to help reduce crime and take some guns off the streets," Aguilera said. "I'm coming here to make a positive impact on the community."
Ballesteros, who has known Aguilera since their days at the ATF training academy in 1987, sees Aguilera's perseverance and determination as a breath of fresh air for others who might want to abandon their professions during difficult times.
"I was afraid that all of the fallout from (Waco) would have changed his attitudes about his career," Ballesteros said. "He'll tackle that role, as a resident agent, as he did as a street agent, basically just immerse himself into it and do the best job anybody can possibly do and run a course until justice is done. That's the kind of guy he is, and I respect him for it."
Aguilera thinks putting Waco behind him will take time. Talking to Ballesteros and other agents who were part of the investigation — looking to them for support — is part of the healing process.
"It's been 10 years and really, I've just begun to heal," Aguilera said.
"Life has to go on. I have to put this behind me and I have to go forward."
...straight to Hell, where I will be waiting for him at the very gates.
Not in this century at least.
I think that you've probably nailed it, Teesdale. I've asked myself the question, "Where is John Danforth politically?" At first glance, it appears that he was bought off by the political left. But, after some consideration, I conclude that he was never far from their camp in the beginning. I confess to not knowing much about this guy's career. If I recall, he is billed as a Republican. I think that the truth here is that Danforth is first a politician, second a Republican and, if there is anything left after that, he is a conservative. One must conclude that there is seldom anything left.
I regret that I didn't even address the "Ruby Ridge" thing. I'll be brief and just say I hope that little geek with the Japanese sounding name (can't think of his name at the moment) who murdered Vicki Weaver never ever sleeps again. If anyone on this planet ever should have been brought up on murder charges, convicted and snuffed, it should have been him. As a matter of fact, I find it incredible that he is still walking the planet.
Not in this century at least.
Remember that in the last few months of the Clinton administration, the *Justice* Department tried and convicted of civil rights violations several of those who'd been found innocent of state murder charges or had charges for their activities in the early or mid 1960s dropped.
Maybe in 35 or 40 years from now, a Justice Department with a different American outlook will take similar action against the Waco murderers, both those who conspired to plan it, perjured to obtain warrants and military assistance, and murdered the witnesses to the initial attack.
And once convicted, hang them. If not, then America is no longer worth defending from its external enemies, the Constitution is effectively ended, and the authority given by that document for government itself to exist is no more valid than the protection it once offered its citizens.
United States Code, Title 18, US Criminal Code, Section 242;
- Deprivation of rights under color of law:
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both;
and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
The BATF investigation of Koresh quickly led to Henry McMahon, doing business as Hewitt Handguns, Koresh's favorite gun dealer. The lead BATF agent on the Koresh case, Davy Aguilera, listed in his affidavit for the search and arrest warrants all of the relatively recent purchases by Koresh, including flare launchers, over one hundred rifles, an M-76 grenade launcher, various kits, cardboard tubes, blackpowder, and practice grenades. [43] All of those items may be lawfully owned without the government's permission. [44] Accordingly, the purchases, while listed in the affidavit, did not in themselves establish probable cause that Koresh or his followers had violated or were planning to violate any federal law
The warrant also listed the possession of "the Shotgun News and other related clandestine magazines." So much for the first amendment as well as the second.
Well I wouldn't expect them to go that far, although other, but honorable, men have. They at least could have resigned and found work more suited to their morality, or lack thereof, such as dealing cards or running a wheel in Las Vegas.
Well I wouldn't expect them to go that far, although other, but honorable, men have. They at least could have resigned and found work more suited to their morality, or lack thereof, such as dealing cards or running a wheel in Las Vegas.
Well I wouldn't expect them to go that far, although other, but honorable, men have. They at least could have resigned and found work more suited to their morality, or lack thereof, such as dealing cards or running a wheel in Las Vegas.
Lon Horiuchi. He is a USMA graduate of Japanese ancestory, which why his name is "Japanese Sounding", just like my grandmother's maiden name was "German Sounding", since it *is* a German name.
According to at least some sources, our boy Lon was at Waco too, again playing the role of sniper, some distance from the main building.
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"It was a legitimate warrant. Who knows what these people had in store for the community?" |
One of the prerequisites for a career with ATF is to believe the lies you utter.
This is one, of many, central government agencies that need to be excised. If these "agents" were turned loose on the open job market they would, no doubt, turn to a life of crime and violence for money.
A day that forever changed the way millions of Americans feel about their country.
"Our government is the potent, omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by it's example." - Justice Brandies
Is your church BATF approved?
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