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Waco- Case Analysis "While every person is guaranteed freedom of conscience and freedom of belief, the freedom to act is not guaranteed. When belief is translated into action a person may be required to conform to regulations. argued the constitutional lawyer Alan Gold hammer in a trial with the Supreme Court (Andres 1 - 15). With the recent spread of eastern religions to the United States and the fabrication of unorthodox churches, there has been great opposition to these forces. The general term, cult, has been given to these groups; though not all of them fall into this category. A "cult" is defined as a (usually small) group of persons, who practice an unorthodox religion, usually with a charismatic leader.
There are three types of cults: Communalists, these groups believe in the mutual sharing of the efforts of production and common decisions about the rate of consumption while living as their own community; Metaphysicians, these groups deny the metaphysical reality of evil and take as their mission the attainment of health, wealth and happiness; Psychic-Spiritualists, these groups contact the spiritual world through mediums, live off the findings of parapsychology, and demonstrate the reality of the paranormal universe (King). There has been widespread controversy over whether or not organizations should intervene with cult activities. Organizations should be able to check up on such groups to make sure they are not interfering with peoples' constitutional Rights. Interventions should occur, without them the repercussions can be great, as in the Jonestown Cult, the Branch Davidians, and the Heavens Gate followers.
If an anti- or counter-cult group had stepped in, it could have saved hundreds of lives: men, women, and children alike. The Jonestown, Guyana mass suicide in 1978 is still the most widely known in cult history. Nine hundred thirteen members of the 'People's Temple' died after drinking cyanide-laced Kool Aid. The Branch Davidians are no longer in existence due to the Waco, Texas incident. They believed in an imminent Second Coming and were badly weakened when this failed to happen as predicted in 1959. David Koresh, formally known as Vernon Howell, took over the leadership of the Davidians in 1986 after ingeniously ousting leader George Roden.
Once in charge of the Davidians, he began targeting Britain for recruitment with considerable success: 33 of the 82 followers who died at Waco were British. Koresh had also made recruitment trips to Australia and Israel prior to the tragic 50 -day siege in 1993 (Observer). Koresh had stockpiled weapons and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms were hot on his trail. Local religious and political leaders, fearing potential violence, from David Koresh, demanded his arrest. After all, he has said that his mission was not to bring peace, but a sword" (Epstein).
He would not give up to the government, but burn in eternity before he let them infringe on his self declared divinity. If the ATF had realized what was happening at Waco, cutting off the supplies of weapons to the compound would have resulted in less death to both the members and the ATF teams. In this case there just wasn't a quick enough response from the government. Following the Waco incident in 1993, several issues require further investigation. The standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidians totaled 51 days. On that 51 st day, the compound catches fire and burns to the ground.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations has been accused of a massive cover-up ever since the siege on Mount Carmel. On the other hand, the Bureau along with Bill Clinton places blame on David Koresh, and only David Koresh. First, there have been numerous claims that the FBI was excessive in the amount of force used, versus the amount of force needed. One significant matter is who and what ignited the inferno, which ultimately led to the death of so many Branch Davidians. It is evident that setting the blaze was considered excessive force even to the FBI. If the FBI did not see this as excessive force, there would not be any reason to cover it up.
However, the FBI, along with Attorney General Janet Reno, has remained firm that the fire was ignited by the Branch Davidians. The governments fire expert claims the tapes show three separate points of ignition in quick succession, an almost certain sign of arson. In this quote, he defends the government with the word certain, and he covers himself with the word almost. Reno, without hesitation, classified the members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church as a cult. When a message is received of this magnitude from the Attorney General of the United States, many Americans are automatically inclined to accept it as gospel.
The word cult reflects a religion that is unorthodox in their beliefs. However, in the view of many Americans, a cult is often characterized as an evil group devoted to bizarre practices. Therefore, Reno gave an impression to the American people that the FBI did a good deed and had justification for their use of force. Suddenly, citizens no longer feel as sympathetic as if it were a more commonly known denomination such as the Baptists. However, I would not put all the blame on Janet Reno because I am fully aware of the fact that she is commonly called upon to make decisions based on the information she has been given. 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. 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 congressional testimony, Reno gave only a quick reading of the operations plan and back-up documentation about CS gas provided by the FBI two days before the assault on the compound. The government admitted to using large amounts of tear gas, but insists the canisters were not to blame. The claim that the U. S.
government was anxious to engage in terroristic acts against its own people was preposterous. Koresh's attorneys followed up on the excessive force issue in the court proceedings. He added that the ATF continued to fire their weapons at the compound until all of their ammunition was completely expended. This leads to another significant issue.
Who fired the first round? Both sides claim the opposition fired first. Based upon the text and film, I believe that the ATF fired the first rounds at the Davidians. This belief is supported by the fact that the negotiator clearly lied to Koresh by stating that they were not being fired upon from the helicopter.
This notion suggests attempts to cover-up from the beginning. When Koresh said it was obvious that they were being fired upon from above, the negotiator suddenly agreed with Koresh. What the agents saw that compelled them to begin firing may forever remain a mystery. Nonetheless, the question of who fired first remains 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 might 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. However, once a law enforcement agent has fired shots in your directions, you still do not have the right to return fire at the agents.
The only rational action by the Davidians at this point would be to surrender. Whether or not the adults at Mt. Carmel were to surrender or were to die was, for them, a question for God to decide (Reads 201). They chose to escalate the situation by launching an all out war. They returned fire killing three law enforcement agents in the line of duty.
Yet, all 11 of the surviving Branch Davidians were acquitted of murder charges. I feel this was a drastic oversight. Perhaps, this was make-up call, in an attempt to calm the surviving Davidians of their anger, for the enormous injustice delivered by the government. I realize that the government made numerous mistakes. Attorneys for the sect contend that infrared videotape shot by a FBI airplane during the final assault captured gunfire coming from government positions outside the compound. Experts hired by the Branch Davidians' lawyers have said the repeated rhythmic flashes captured on the infrared video could have only come from gunfire.
An expert hired by the government said earlier this fall that he also believed the flashes came from gunfire. Firing blindly into the compound after it went up in flames certainly presents an argument that excessive force was used. I do not argue that there was a massive cover-up on the part of the government. However, I feel it may be appropriate to cover-up governmental mistakes to a certain extent. Had the ATF and FBI came clean with all their mistakes during the siege, there would have been a great deal of distrust in the government nation wide. In general, people tend to disregard the fact that the Waco incident was a very unusual situation.
It was not a typical drug bust or a hostage situation with a specific standard operating procedure. Instead, it was a situation with numerous unpredictable issues, most of which were never seen before by the agents involved. The argument commonly posed is, could this happen again? There may indeed be a similar case in the future. Hopefully, it will be handled differently due to the significant amount of controversy raised by the Waco incident.
Work Cited Page Andres, G. WACO analyzed. The Turner Diaries. April 7, 1993 Issue. Pgs 1 - 15 Epstein, Julian. Our Current Howler.
The Daily Howler. Sept 3, 1999 Issue. Thibodeau, David A Place Called Waco: A Survivors Story Public Affairs/Perseus Publishers. 1998 Knickerbocker, B. The Explosive Force of Domestic Terrorism Christian Science Monitor, January 2, 1996, Vol. 88 Issue Zesch, Lindy. Hate Wave.
Editorial. American Theater July 1995.
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