Even the government did not claim that Koresh was planning an armed attack on the government.
Let's begin with a simple Q&A and information so we can all have the same information and base from which to argue rather than simply claim whatever we want.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/topten.html
They attacked to serve warrants for illegal weapons and explosives, not for any plan to attack the government.
Why did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raid the Branch Davidian compound on February 28, 1993?
The ATF raided the Branch Davidian compound to serve arrest and search warrants as part of an investigation into illegal posession of firearms and explosives there. (Treasury Department press memorandum, July 13, 1995)
Who fired first on that day, the Branch Davidians or the ATF?
The question of who fired first is in dispute. ATF agents who participated in the raid have testified in court and at a congressional hearing that the Branch Davidians fired the first shots. Right after the raid, however, one ATF agent told an investigator that a fellow agent may have shot first, when he killed a dog outside the compound. The agent later retracted the statement, saying that the Branch Davidians had initiated the gunfire. Surviving Branch Davidians have maintained that they did not shoot their guns until they were fired upon by federal authorities.
Had the Branch Davidian leader, David Koresh, been abusing children in the compound?
The issue of whether David Koresh sexually and physically abused children in the compound is also not entirely resolved. Koresh acknowledged on a videotape sent out of the compound during the standoff that he had fathered more than 12 children by several "wives" who were as young as 12 or 13 when they became pregnant. ("Why Waco?," by James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher.) A review of Waco events published by the Justice Department in October 1993 concludes, "Evidence suggested that Koresh had 'wives' who were in their mid-teens, that Koresh told detailed and inappropriate sexual stories in front of the children during his Bible study sessions, and that Koresh taught the young girls that it was a privilege for them to become old enough (i.e., reach puberty) to have sex with him." (Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas February 28 to April 19, 1993.)
There is considerable evidence as well that Koresh harshly disciplined the children in the compound. According to affidavits obtained by the FBI from several former Branch Davidians and from Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist who examined several Branch Davidian children, Koresh beat young children with a wooden spoon or withheld food for as much as a day to punish them. (op cit pp. 224-226)
Assuming that Koresh had been abusing children before Feb. 28, 1993, a related question is whether the abuse continued during the 51-day siege of the compound. At first Reno explained that a paramount reason for approving the tear-gas assault on April 19 was that "babies were being beaten." ("Reno Says, I Made the Decision," WPost, Apr. 20, 1993.) FBI Director Sessions, however, said the next day there was "no contemporary evidence" of child abuse. ( Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas, February 28 to April 19, 1993.)
And Reno revised her statement several months later, agreeing there was no evidence of ongoing child abuse by Koresh, who was wounded in the shootout on Feb. 28, at Mt. Carmel, as the Branch Davidians' residence was known. ("Waco Siege Prompts Crisis Training for Top Justice Department Officials," WPost, Dec. 9, 1993.)
Why did Attorney General Janet Reno approve the FBI's CS gas plan to end the standoff at the compound after 51 days?
Reno has cited a number of factors to explain why she endorsed the tear-gas plan. She has said that she had concluded that negotiations with the Branch Davidians were indefinitely stalemated, that the FBI's hostage rescue team on duty at Waco was becoming fatigued, that the security perimeter established by the FBI around the compound was endangered and that the children inside the compound were at risk because of deteriorating sanitary conditions and the potential for sexual and physical abuse. According to Justice Department reports and congressional testimony, Reno gave only a cursory reading of the three-inch thick operations plan and back-up documentation about CS gas provided by the FBI two days before the assault on the compound. (Joint Hearing of the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee and National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the House Government Reform and The Oversight Committee, July 1995; Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas February 28 to April 19, 1993.)
[Janet Reno's opening statement before the Congressional Hearings on August 1, 1995.]
What role did President Clinton play in overseeing the handling of the crisis and in authorizing the tear-gas plan?
In the early days of the crisis Clinton endorsed a "wait-and-see" strategy, asking to be consulted before a change in strategy. On April 18, in a conversation with Reno, the President endorsed the gas plan. Although Clinton distanced himself from the matter after April 19, saying it has been Reno's call, FRONTLINE has learned that Clinton apparently followed developments at Waco closely through some of his closest White House aides.
Did the CS gas harm any of the people, especially the twenty-two children, inside the compound?
According to medical examiners who performed the autopsies, CS gas did not directly kill any of the more than 80 Branch Davidians, including 22 children, who died in the fire on April 19. Nor did anyone perish from inhalation of CS gas--or its byproduct from a fire, cyanide--the medical examiners told FRONTLINE. Other experts have told FRONTLINE that CS gas may have totally incapacitated the children and others so that when the fire occurred, it would have rendered them incapable of escape. It should be noted that Mount Carmel had not been gassed preceding the last hour of the fire. Experts also noted that CS gas only has a persistence factor of about ten minutes.
Why did the tear gas fail to roust the Branch Davidians out of the compound?
FBI agents and various experts who are familiar with the events at Waco have suggested several reasons why the CS gas did not roust the Branch Davidians out of their compound. For one thing, the adult Branch Davidians had gas masks. Holes that the FBI's armored vehicles punched in the walls of the compound to insert the gas also allowed the high winds on that day to disperse it. And, for many of Koresh's followers inside the compound, fleeing the compound and deserting him would have amounted to renouncing their religious faith; many apparently chose to stay. Furthermore, the thirty-mile winds gusting to 31 miles per hour caused the gas to quickly dissipate and FBI listening devices showed that the gas seemed to have little effect on the adult occupants during the six hour assault. All the adults had gas masks with filters, which the FBI believed would last up to 48 hours. FRONTLINE has learned that is why the FBI's initial plan called for incremental gassing over a 48 hour period.
Who started the fire that erupted a little more than six hours after the FBI began inserting the tear gas on April 19?
Although several of the surviving Branch Davidians insist that they did not start the fire, a panel of arson investigators concluded that the Davidians were responsible for igniting it, simultaneously, in at least three different areas of the compound. Unless they were deliberatley set, the probability of the three fires starting almost simultaneously was highly unlikely, according to fire experts. Furthermore, the videotapes show the use of accelerants that strongly increased the spread of the fire. Although one Branch Davidian stated that a FBI tank had tipped over a lantern, videotapes show that the tank had struck the building a minute and a half before the fire began. Also some of the surviving Davidians' clothing showed evidence of lighter fluid and other accelerants. In addition, FBI listening devices seemed to establish that the Davidians were overheard making statements such as, "Spread the fuel," some six hours before the fires began. (Joint Hearing of the Crime Subcommittee July 1995.)
What caused the death of more than 80 Branch Davidians inside the compound on April 19?
Medical examiners, Dr. Nizam Peerwani and Dr. Rodney Crow, have told FRONTLINE that many of them died from asphyxiation when the intense fire raced through the compound. Others, particularly women and children who huddled under wet blankets in a concrete chamber, were fatally injured when debris collapsed on them during the fire, the officials said. Still others were shot to death, suicide or homicide victims in apparent mercy killings, they said. Both the coroners and some FBI sources have told FRONTLINE that the pattern of most of the bodies was not consistent with a theory of mass suicide.
Have any federal agents been disciplined for wrongdoing in the Waco affair? And were any of the surviving Davidians convicted of federal charges?
Two ATF supervisors, Chuck Sarabyn and Phillip Chojinacki, were fired, although they were later reinstated at a lower rank. No FBI agents have been officially disciplined. Eight of the surviving Branch Davidians were convicted on charges ranging from voluntary manslaughter to weapons violations. Seven got 40-year prison terms, and the eighth got five years. A ninth, Kathy Schroeder, got three years in prison after testifying for the government.
