If they didn't murder police officers in cold blood this wouldn't have happened, cry me a river
So I guess that gave the Feds the right to shoot them as they tried to escape the flames?
The BATF had no authority to attempt a dynamic entry. By their own testimony, they planned to use deadly force preemptively; I have seen nothing to suggest that they did not do so prior to the Davidians' first shot.
Let's suppose, however, that there was one rogue Davidian who did fire first. Would that in any way, shape, or form, justify the thousands of rounds indiscriminately fired by BATF agents?
Personally, having seen the evidence and heard the BATF testimony, I believe that it is likely some, if not all, of the BATF fatalities were the result of "friendly fire" (since BATF agents who were injured there had bullets recovered which were of a type used only by the BATF, it seems likely the dead agents--whose autopsies were kept secret--may have done so as well).
Typical agent testimony: I was walking into a room when I saw some bullets come through the far wall, so I fired at that wall a bunch of times. If that isn't a recipe for friendly fire (especially when using ammo which can penetrate multiple walls), what is?
Facts are stubborn things....
L
The cops shot first, when they drove the cattle trailer up to the front door and shot Koresh, and killed his daughter. Any and all shooting after that took place as a purely defensive measure by the Davidians. The Feds were the aggressors.
If you look at the video taken when the second assault took place, the one on which the JBT's got their asses handed to them, you will note that there is a line of vehicles with many feds behind them shooting at the Davidians as the assault and retreat took place. See any return fire towards them? No bullet holes in any of the vehicles, or puffs of dust from rounds into the ground around them.
If the Davidians were equipped with the firepower and the will to use it, as is alledged, those Feds behind those cars would have been in serious trouble from even a half-assed marksman.
It matters not who started the fire. The Feds created the environment for the tragedy. If the Feds weren't so hell-bent on proving their manhood, they could have placed a perimeter around the place, parked a guy in a lawn chair with a cell phone, and just waited them out. With even a minute amount of common sense, there never would have been a fire, or for that matter, a "seige" in the first place
the fire was started by feds. DO you believe the feds reports?
I certainly agree that this was the cause of the fire. It appears that this was similar to the Jim Jones incident. However the government probably could have done a slicker job in defusing the situation. The people running the show on the FBI side appear to have been like the managers at NASA before the Challenger disaster.
Video evidence proves that some federal agents entered the window, and only after, fire came
from that window, killing the four remaining outside.