FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BURNS BRANCH DAVIDIANS - April 19, 1993

WGBH ^ | 1995 | Frontline

[Constitutionalist1958]

Tomorrow, April 19, 1993 is the 15th anniversary of one of the saddest events in American history. It is the day that agents of the Federal government burned to death nearly 80 INNOCENT citizens - infants, children, teenagers and adults of a small, little known Christian sect named the Branch Davidians. Having been attacked by the BATF on a Sunday morning, February 28, 1993, they were surrounded and subjected to psychological warfare techniques for 51 days. Then on the morning of April 19, 1993 agents of the Federal government, using military-supplied tracked vehicles attacked the wooden housing structure of the Branch Davidians for the purpose of introducing CS gas. Fires erupted and the entire structure was consumed. Few escaped the flames and by the end of the day the Branch Davidians were dead. To this day, not one BATF agent, not one FBI agent, not one military officer or one Justice Department official has been reprimanded or charged with wrongdoing in the death of these INNOCENT citizens. To this very day, justice has been denied for the INNOCENT infants, children, adolescents and adults burned to death at the hands of US Federal Government.

[traviskicks]

see post 1

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[WayneS]

And it ALL could have been avoided if the FBI had simply waited for him to drive into town, like he did EVERY week to pick up the newspapers, and arrested him there.

[traviskicks]

Some things don’t change:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2003292/posts

[Jet Jaguar]

BTTT

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Oh come on, they were “religious nutjobs”, it's not like they were American Citizens or anything. There people were a threat to everything that makes America what it is today. A threat I say and well deserving of death for not toeing the line!

And they were abusing the children! Uncle Sam had to burn those children to death to save them from allegedly being abused.

If we can't trust the government to incinerate people for their own good, then who can we look to?

[BwanaNdege]

Reports at the time said that military tear gas, CS, was being used.

CS can KILL you! You drown in mucus and saliva. I know because I pulled a combat engineer out of a VC tunnel pumped full of CS. His gas mask had damp filters and was not working. The other two combat engineers with him barely made it out, gasping, coughing and crying.

When I got to the third man and tried to turn him to get a rope around him, he only gurgled. We got him hauled out and the Navy corpsman was able to restore his breathing with CPR.

He lived and miraculously recovered without brain damage. (or at least no more brain damage that we Marines normally have! :-) )

It was CRIMINAL for Reno to allow and Larry Potts to order CS to be used in an enclosed space with INNOCENT women & children inside. They are guilty of negligent homicide at the least.

[LtKerst]

Bill Clinton and Janet Reno Murdered 20 innocent American Children

[beltfed308]

A videotape of the children in the compound is sent out by the Davidians. The negotiators' log shows that, when the tape is reviewed, there is concern that if the tape is released to the media, KORESH would gain much sympathy. [Dennis 11]

Has this tape ever been released?

[firewalk]

Bttt

[trumandogz]

All the Davidians had to to was to leave the compound as some of them did between 2/29 and 4/19. However, they choose to stay even after the cult leaders set the compound on fire.

And no, I do not believe that FBI and BATF Agents would intentionally set the place on fire. And yes, I have heard and read what Alex Jones and his ilk believe and that is B.S.

[He'sComingBack!]

“Some things don’t change”

And the tangent is what? That both lived on a compound? Please explain the relevance of the link you posted.

Thanks

[YOUGOTIT]

it was the idiots in the federal government who wanted to have their play military actions seen on TV so they could ask for more money from the congress. There was NO reason to not arrest they man they wanted in town away from the building but as is normally the case they have the power to kill us all and nothing will every be done about it. “We The People” are no longer in charge.

[driftdiver]

The DOJ is above the law, that was clearly indicated by Reno after this event and the Ruby Ridge killings.

The entire complex was razed within 24 hours after the fire. There musta been some good evidence of crimes by the FBI and ATF for them to do that.

[kittymyrib]

And before the military attack on the Branch Davidians and their children, Hillary Clinton flew to Austin to confer with then Gov. Ann Richards. The Clintons were sick of the 54 day stand-off in Waco and wanted to end it.

I’d like someone to file a FOIA to see if there is a record of what Hillary Clinton told Gov. Richards. I think it’s a safe bet that she gave the governor a heads-up that the military would be coming in to end it, with Janet Reno’s blessing, and Gov. Richards had to provide the fig leaf of requesting help from Ft. Hood. Hillary doesn’t seem to brag about this episode in her resume of how she handled various crises as First Lady.

Because the women were taking care of it, Billy Jeff could hide behind Reno’s ample skirt after the inferno that cremated 22 Texas children.

Strangely, there was scarcely a peep from the American people after this atrocity...far less that the wailing about rights of the children at the FLDS compound at Eldorado, who are in a much safer situation than the Davidian children were.

[HAL9000]

Press Briefing by George Stephanopoulos

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release April 19, 1993

PRESS BRIEFING
BY GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

The Briefing Room

1:10 P.M. EDT

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: I can just take questions today. I have no announcements to make.

~ snip ~

Q Does the President or anybody in the White House have any input into the operation in Waco?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: The Attorney General informed the President yesterday that they were planning on going ahead with this kind of an operation. But it's a decision by the Attorney General and the FBI.

Q George, since the Attorney General works for the President, isn't it fair to say that it's a presidential decision not to stop it?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: The President was clearly informed of --

Q apparently gave approval to do it, or he could have stopped it.

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, he didn't stop it. No, he didn't stop it. The Attorney General informed --

Q So in not stopping it, he approved it.

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: We can get into a philosophical or semantic discussion, but --

Q Well, he assumes responsibility --

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Certainly he is responsible, but it's the Attorney General and the FBI have operational control over this. But clearly he was informed.

Q Did she ask him for authorization?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: No, she informed him. She said this is what the FBI would like to do.

Q But why, George -- Dee Dee didn't know this morning -- why is it FBI and Justice as opposed to ATF --

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: That was -- a special agent was put in charge -- I think it was within 24 hours of the original incident. That's not common practice. And the FBI has been --

Q It's not a reflection on the agency?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Not in the least. The FBI has been in control of this since the very beginning.

Q Why did the President think this was the right time to go ahead?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: The FBI laid out -- I mean, the Attorney General for the FBI laid out the arguments. And I can't get into all of the details of the argument. It wouldn't be appropriate to do that while the situation is still going on. But the Attorney General laid out the argument and the President made no objection.

Q Has he received any reports today?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: I think he's been -- we've been receiving periodic updates from the FBI.

Q How closely is he following it, though, along those same lines? Is this something he's following the news accounts? Is someone there calling him from the Justice Department every hour or two hours or what?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Again, he's received periodic reports during the day. I don't know how many he's received. Clearly, CNN is also giving it blanket coverage. But the President has received reports from the Justice Department this morning.

Q Shakey coverage. (Laughter.)

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Wolf, what do you have to say to that?

~ snip ~

Q Before Haiti, can we get back to Waco for one second? We were just told the Waco -- the building, the compound is now on fire. Have you heard about that?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: This just in.

Q You've got to move faster. (Laughter.)

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, what is just in is that CNN is now showing live footage of -- (laughter) -- of the building on the Koresh compound. It's unclear what this is. I have no independent information on this, as you know. It's just reported. I will try and get something and get it back to you.

Q Can I ask about Haiti?

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Sure.

~ snip ~

[AmericanHunter]

“And it ALL could have been avoided if the FBI had simply waited for him to drive into town, like he did EVERY week to pick up the newspapers, and arrested him there.”

If they did that they wouldn’t be able use use the tank, flash-bang grenades, etc. Jeez, what’s the matter with you?

[YOUGOTIT]

You wrote “And no, I do not believe that FBI and BATF Agents would intentionally set the place on fire.”

I firmly believe that the play military civilians set the place on fire and killed the children with NO regrets when they did NOT have to do it and could have made the arrest in town like they should have done but wanted to play military.

[traviskicks]

The idea was that abuse of government power and force is still going on today. That link described how “416 children taken by the state” from their families, over a ‘phone call alleging abuse’. It used to be you were innocent until proven guilty.

[WayneS]

RE: Branch Davidians VS. Current situation in Eldorado...

Maybe some of us American people learned our lesson after Waco.