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The department of children’s services down there testified that they could find no evidence of any children being abused, and they did interview children at the farm.

I guess you missed some of the interviews of the child brides of Koresh.

During Koresh's Bible study sessions - which could be as long as 12 hours - he preached a vision of violent confrontation with the government. He taught his followers that his mission was to lead them into the final battle that would end the world and take them onto eternal glory. The members understood that meant they would die.

The children were taught the morbid message too. They used to chant: "We are soldiers in the army. We've got to fight. Some day we have to die. We have to hold up the blood-stained banner. We have to hold it up until we die."

They were kept in line by a wooden paddle known as "the helper," and faced severe beatings for minor infractions like spilling a glass of milk. Dana Okimoto, Sky's mother, remembers being so under Koresh's control that she beat Sky until he bled.

Koresh ordered the men in the cult to be celibate and took some of their wives and daughters to be his own wives. Jewell became Koresh's youngest "bride" when she was just 10, and would later testify in Congress that Koresh molested her at a motel. She told Primetime she was not upset at the time. "I had been trained from a very early age that this was a good thing," she said.

The Children of Waco

I remember seeing interviews of the Jewell girl.

CPS was only allowed to see what Koresh allowed them to see.

Harsh Discipline and Child Brides

The children remember a close-knit community in which they were not allowed to have contact with anyone outside the cult. They were taught that there were only two types of people: "good" people who were inside the cult, and "bad" people who were everyone else.

Let's try to recall what the original warrants were for at the Branch Dividian farm. The BATF executed that raid. The raid was to investigate firearms violations.

I would wager that a very strong arguement could be made that every church in this nation teaches that there are two types of people, ones that will be saved and ones that won't. Please make the case for the two types of people arguement you used above, and why it wouldn't apply to every church in this nation. You see, that's the problem with this nonsense. The charges get so broad that almost every church member in the U.S. is guilty of some of this.

During Koresh's Bible study sessions - which could be as long as 12 hours - he preached a vision of violent confrontation with the government. He taught his followers that his mission was to lead them into the final battle that would end the world and take them onto eternal glory. The members understood that meant they would die.

While I do disagree with Koresh's interpretations, I think you're kidding yourself if you think churches across this nation don't think persecution by the government is a very real possibility. Should we bulldoze every one of them men women and children inside? Should we pump them full of flamables first, then let them burn to the ground?

The children were taught the morbid message too. They used to chant: "We are soldiers in the army. We've got to fight. Some day we have to die. We have to hold up the blood-stained banner. We have to hold it up until we die."

What seems to elude you, is that this very thing did happen. What utterly amazes me is that you seem to think the chants were worse than the actual events that occurred. After all, that's what you have chosen to herald here. Rather strange IMO.

They were kept in line by a wooden paddle known as "the helper," and faced severe beatings for minor infractions like spilling a glass of milk. Dana Okimoto, Sky's mother, remembers being so under Koresh's control that she beat Sky until he bled.

You've never had a paddle used on you? I attended a boarding school in the 60s, and our dean of men had a paddle that he gave whacks with. I look at kids today and think they and society could benefit from a return to that practice. Evidently you disagree. As for Sky bleeding, I don't exactly know what that means. What type of injury are we talking about? Saying that he bled could mean that he received a slight injury from the paddling. It could also mean that he was severely beaten. Which was it? I don't consider paddling a kid for just cause to be a beating. It would depend on what precipitated the paddling and what the exact nature of the paddling was.

Koresh ordered the men in the cult to be celibate and took some of their wives and daughters to be his own wives.

And the men and the women remained loyal to the group, so what's your point? We had Bill Clinton running around schtupping anything with two legs and a skirt. Did we march into the White House with guns blazing, fill the place with chemicals known to be fatal to young children and burn the place down?

Jewell became Koresh's youngest "bride" when she was just 10, and would later testify in Congress that Koresh molested her at a motel. She told Primetime she was not upset at the time. "I had been trained from a very early age that this was a good thing," she said.

Perhaps you remember the McMartin preschool fiasco in Southern California. Kids said quite a few things in those days too. None of it was true. It just may be that this 10 year old was telling the truth. It still might have been advisable for Koresh to be able to testify in his own defense. Instead the BATF went in with guns blazing, killing the dogs as a first measure. This caused the people inside the compound to start firing and they were off to the races.

Thanks for your comments. I know where you are coming from. Neither of us wants criminality taking place or kids being abused either sexually or in other ways. I do however want these issues looked into in a professional legal manner. I don't want these folks destroyed in the media without any actual facts being proven.