WACO: "Ex-U.S. Attorney Dead in Apparent Suicide"

www.washingtonpost.com ^ | September 10, 2003; 5:30 PM | Associated Press

[OutSpot]

SOUR LAKE, Texas - A former federal prosecutor who successfully defended the government in a lawsuit filed by surviving members of the Waco cult was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A police officer found the body of former U.S. Attorney J. Michael Bradford on Tuesday after checking on an abandoned car in the woods near Sour Lake, about 20 miles from Beaumont. The body and a shotgun were about 75 feet away. The wound was apparently self-inflicted, Sheriff Ed Cain said.

[archy]

Does it seem like a coincidence to you?

It doesn't really seem to be a coincidence to me.

No, really, it's just a coincidence. Ask any high school geometry teacher, and they'll tell you. The point at which two non parallel lines converge is a coincidence.

Waco and Oklahoma City, for instance.

[Alamo-Girl]

There are only two possibilities: coincidence or conspiracy. Thanks for the heads up!

[archy]

I'll never forget watching Sonny Bono quietly cry and hide from camera's during the Waco hearings. His unspoken testimony was so powerful, I'm sure that same evil got even in some strange way. That evil seems to do it's best for the Clinton's and I wonder at what cost?

Yep. Waco County Sheriff Sheriff Jack Harwell seems to have shared that same reaction. Until he, too died.

Thrust into the forefront of the Branch Davidian siege, McLennan County Sheriff Jack Harwell was credited with many for trying to stave off a full-fledged, final assault on the compound by federal agents. During the siege, the veteran lawman - trusted by many Branch Davidians - served as mediator between David Koresh and impatient FBI negotiators. ... .

Years afterward, Harwell still wept while talking about the children who died in the April 19, 1993, fire at Mount Carmel.

Sheriff since 1973 and a sheriff's department employee since 1961, the 71-year-old lawman died in 2000, nine months short of retirement. To his last days, he voiced frustration about federal handling of the siege that overshadowed his career.

[archy]

There's a lot of things in the Clinrton administration that stink to high Heaven. Waco is near the top of the list.

Near, Sam, but not at the top. At the top would be the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas on 22 November, 1963, certainly the top Texas story of the XX Century . The machinegunning and burning of the church at Waco and its occupants by federal agents would be but the top story of the final decade of that century.

And to connect the stories, begin looking for similarities in both, including the initial role of the BATF in both instances, [known as the Treasury Department's ATTU, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Unit in 1963] followed by the FBI having to come in afterward to tidy up the loose ends.

Note the points of similarity, and connect the dots....

-archy-/-

[archy]

There are only two possibilities: coincidence or conspiracy. Thanks for the heads up!

Note, though that both can also be at play, and that a lack of any coincidences at all would be as suspicious as the wealth of them present in this instance.

There are almost always blind alleys and false leads to track down, but when they all offer leads back to the original points of interest, the little light should come on to tell you that you're on a path someone wants you on.

-archy-/-

[Ready4Freddy]

Different guy.

[Alamo-Girl]

Good point! Thanks for your insight!

[archy]

So who is next? Who else could damage Clark?

Documents released to Cox Newspapers on Friday by the FBI indicate that Col. William Boykin, then Delta Force commander, and Brig. Gen. Peter Schoomaker, then the assistant division commander of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, were the previously unidentified officers who told Reno use of CS gas, a potent form of tear gas, would make the compound "untenable."

Tear gas and the manner in which it was used at Waco have become an issue in recent days with the disclosure that what the FBI describes as "a very limited number" of military-issue pyrotechnic gas grenades were used in the final assault on the compound.

This revelation, contrary to Reno's repeated assertion during recent years, has led to renewed calls by members of Congress for committee investigations.

On Friday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) called for a Senate Judiciary Committee probe of the pyrotechnic grenades, and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said his House Government Reform Committee would hold hearings on the matter in the fall.

Reno said Thursday she was "upset" to learn that assurances to her by the FBI that incendiary tear gas grenades were not used at Waco were untrue.

In addition to the controversy over the tear gas canisters, The Dallas Morning News reported that a "former CIA officer" had said he was told that three or four Army Special Forces troops at Waco had taken an active role in the Davidian assault.

That would be illegal under federal laws that prohibit use of military force against American civilians without a special presidential waiver.

Although it has been reported that military officers were at a meeting at which Reno was advised to approve the use of CS gas at Waco, the names of Boykin and Schoomaker were deleted from an Army memorandum describing the meeting. Both men were among the original Delta Force officers when it was established by the late Army Col. Charlie Beckwith, and both participated in the failed mission to rescue U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980.

Maj. Gen. William G. Boykin presents
an American Flag to Joshua Miller in
honor of his father, Command Sgt. Maj.
Franklin D. Miller.

15. Officers of the Chinese People's Liberation
Army, Senior Col. Chen Kai and Capt. Jin Luo,
present plaques to Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker
and Brig. Gen. Jack R. Holbein.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Is anything know about this guys health, marital status, or financial situation? Many suicides are health-related.

[Tymesup]

Sonny Bono - didn't he die in a ski accident? Probably just another coincidence.

[Alamo-Girl]

The only thing mentioned is that his wife filed for divorce the previous week. He was 51 and a prior U.S. Attorney, State Judge and Federal Magistrate. He was in private practice at the time.

[Maelstrom]

At the moment, I'm not sure Ashcroft would approach things differently.

He sure hasn't supported the 2nd Amendment beyond worthless mouthings.

[Ed_in_NJ]

Interesting -- wonder what these two are doing right now?

There certainly is a lot of 'food for thought' that pops up on a Google of: "wesley clark" waco ...including THIS.

[mathluv]

My first thought!

[lonestar]

Is anything know about this guys health, marital status, or financial situation? Many suicides are health-related.

This happened close to me. His wife had just filed for divorce. The day he died he spent re-writing his will.

No foul play here.

[Cvengr]

If he won the case, then there would be plenty of future for him in the same fashion that Wesley Clark has been successful.

So one has to consider the options,...either he committed suicide, which also damns the consequence of a world of Democratic Socialism,...or he was perhaps damned by that group and murdered.

Seems like sleeping with Democratic Socialists is a damning process in either circumstance.

[PGalt]

Waco was the Clinton administration's greatest military triumph.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the link (post #81). Plummz research was especially interesting.

[scabbage]

I wonder if the shotgun blast was to the back of his head, because anytime someone connected to the Klintoons commits suicide by shooting themselves in the back of the head it`s definately a suicide. "Well, looks like he shot himself in the back of the head with that here rifle." "But how will we explain that?" "Just say that he had "stretch Armstrong syndrome" and could stretch his arms 20 feet behind him"

[aristeides]

Schoomaker is now chief of staff of the Army.

By the way, I think this quote is about Waco:

"I find him to be a guy who's very clever at determining which way the wind's blowing," said Gen. Paul Funk, who was General Clark's boss in the early 1990's. "Who knows, maybe in the political world that's a good thing."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/politics/campaigns/21CLAR.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5062&en=6de175b616cc24bb&ex=1064721600&partner=GOOGLE. Funk was commander of III Corps and Ft. Hood (and thus Weasely Clark's immediate superior) from 1993 to 1995.