Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:21 am

Speech Given by General Carl Stiner at an Eagle Scout Banquet
1990's



In the early 1990's, I was fortunate enough to meet General Carl Stiner at a very prestigious Eagle Scout Banquet, in honor of 99 new Eagle Scouts, one of which was myself. This is part of the speech he gave that night. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this inspirational speech... he is not the kind of person I would ever want to get angry with me... :)
-- methiasis 1973
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:35 am

Carl Stiner
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/31/18

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Carl W. Stiner
General Carl W. Stiner
Born September 7, 1936 (age 81)
LaFollette, Tennessee, U.S.
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service 1958–1993
Rank General
Commands held U.S. Special Operations Command
XVIII Airborne Corps
Joint Special Operations Command
82nd Airborne Division
Battles/wars Vietnam War
Operation Just Cause
Operation Desert Storm
Awards Defense Distinguished Service Medal (2)
Army Distinguished Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal
Legion of Merit (2)
Purple Heart
Meritorious Service Medal (3)
Air Medal (16)
Army Commendation Medal (11)

Carl Wade Stiner (born September 7, 1936) is a retired United States Army four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, United States Special Operations Command (USCINCSOC) from 1990 to 1993.

Military career

Stiner was born in LaFollette, Tennessee on September 7, 1936. He graduated from Tennessee Polytechnic Institute in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned in the Infantry. He served initially with the 9th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia and commanded a basic training company at Fort Jackson.

His first special operations tour of duty was in 1964–66 with the 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Following graduation from the Army Command and General Staff College in 1967, he served in the Vietnam War as both an infantry battalion and brigade operations officer (S-3) with the 4th Infantry Division.

In 1970, after a tour with Headquarters, Department of the Army in Washington, D.C., he joined the 82nd Airborne Division where he commanded the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, and served as the Division operations officer (G3). Following graduation from the Army War College and Shippensburg State College in 1975, and a tour in Saudi Arabia, he commanded the 1st Infantry Training Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Promoted to brigadier general in 1980, he served first as the chief of staff, Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF), then headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, and later as the assistant division commander of the 82d Airborne Division. After serving on the Joint Staff in Washington, D.C., as assistant deputy director for politico-military affairs, in 1984 he was promoted to major general and appointed as commanding general of the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.

He held this post until assigned as commanding general, 82nd Airborne Division, in January 1987. In October 1988 he was named commanding general, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg. As commanding general, XVIII Airborne Corps, he was designated commander, Joint Task Force South, and served as the operational commander of all forces employed on Operation Just Cause in Panama in December 1989.

In May 1990 he was promoted to the rank of general and became the second commander in chief of the United States Special Operations Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. As commander in chief, he was responsible for the readiness of all special operations forces of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, both active duty and reserve, retiring in May 1993.

During his 35-year career, Stiner commanded the Army's preeminent contingency strike forces; including the Joint Special Operations Command, the 82d Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps. Stiner has an extensive background in special operations. Among the many missions in which he was involved was the capture of the terrorists in the Achille Lauro hijacking, the Panama invasion and the capture of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and all special operations activities during Operation Desert Storm.

Stiner was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2004.[1]

Awards and decorations

Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf clusterBronze oak leaf clusterBronze oak leaf cluster Award numeral 1.pngAward numeral 6.png Silver oak leaf clusterSilver oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster Bronze star
Bronze starBronze starBronze starBronze star
MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 5Class BAR.png

Post-military career

Stiner co-authored the 2002 book Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces with Tom Clancy.[2][3] He is also a recipient of the Freedom Foundation Award and the Distinguished Alumnus award from Tennessee Technological University[4] and serves as chairman of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.[5] Stiner has also been active teaching the joint warfare fighting course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia, and works as a senior advisor for new joint war fighting experiments.[6]

Additional recognition

An approximately 10-mile (16 km) stretch of State Highway 63 between LaFollette and Speedwell, Tennessee, is named in honor of General Stiner. The Army ROTC offices at Stiner's alma mater, Tennessee Tech, have been renamed the Carl W. Stiner Leadership Center in his honor.[7]

On September 7, 2002, an oil portrait in the likeness of General Carl Wade Stiner was unveiled to a company of interested citizens, friends and relatives of General Stiner, at the proposed location of a new Veteran's Memorial Museum in Jacksboro, Tennessee. Since that time, the portrait is being housed at the Campbell County Historical Society located at 235 E. Central Ave. in LaFollette, Tennessee, and curated by Jerry Sharp at that location.

The biographical material and photo of the portrait of General Stiner has been entered into the Catalog of American Portraits, Center for Electronic Research and Outreach Services, National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

In February 2015, the radio program This American Life featured General Stiner prominently for his role in creating The Soldier Safety Show at Fort Bragg, a mixture of serious videos and upbeat show-tunes that helped reduce the number of soldiers' deaths from dangerous behaviors off-duty. [8]

Published works

Clancy, Tom; Stiner, Carl (2002). Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399147837.

References

• Biography portal
• United States Army portal
1. Ranger Hall of fame bio Archived December 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
2. National Public Radio's Fresh Air, March 4, 2002
3. Clancy, Tom; Stiner, Carl (2002). Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399147837.
4. TGAgency.com - Carl Stiner
5. Special Operations Warrior Foundation Board of Directors Archived May 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
6. Business TN Magazine, June 2004 Archived June 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:56 am

Part 1 of 3

Waco siege
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/31/18

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


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Waco siege
The Mount Carmel Center engulfed in flames on April 19, 1993
Date February 28 – April 19, 1993; 24 years ago
Location Mount Carmel Center, near Waco, Texas, U.S.
31°35′45″N 96°59′17″WCoordinates: 31°35′45″N 96°59′17″W
Caused by Suspected weapons violations[1]
Goals
ATF attempted to serve search and arrest warrants.
FBI attempted to end ensuing siege.
Resulted in
Four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians killed in initial raid.
A 51-day siege ensued, ending with an FBI assault during which the compound burned down, killing 76 people inside including David Koresh. Eleven people who left the compound were arrested.[2]
Parties to the civil conflict
United States United States
ATF
FBI
Branch Davidians
Unknown number of armed adult members of the Branch Davidian home and church (maximum residents during siege 132)
Lead figures
Janet Reno
Jeff Jamar
Richard Rogers
David Koresh
Steven Schneider
Wayne Martin[3]
Number
ATF and FBI: Hundreds of agents.
80+ Branch Davidians.
Casualties
4 ATF agents killed, 16 wounded.
6 killed on February 28.
76 killed on April 19.
Total: 82 killed
Mount Carmel Center is located in Texas Mount Carmel CenterMount Carmel Center

The Waco siege was the siege of a compound belonging to the Branch Davidians, carried out by American federal and Texas state law enforcement, as well as the U.S. military, between February 28 and April 19, 1993.[4] The Branch Davidians, was led by David Koresh and was headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in the community of Axtell, Texas,[5][6][7] 13 miles (21 kilometers) east-northeast of Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the ATF obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh and a select few of the group's members.

The incident began when the ATF attempted to raid the ranch. An intense gun battle erupted, resulting in the deaths of four government agents and six Branch Davidians. Upon the ATF's failure to raid the compound, a siege lasting 51 days was initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Eventually, the FBI launched an assault and initiated a tear gas attack in an attempt to force the Branch Davidians out of the ranch. During the attack, a fire engulfed Mount Carmel Center. In total, 76 people died,[8][9] including David Koresh.

Much dispute remains as to the actual events of the siege. A particular controversy ensued over the origin of the fire; an internal Justice Department investigation concluded in 2000 that sect members had started the fire. The events near Waco, and the siege at Ruby Ridge less than twelve months earlier, were both cited as the primary motivations behind the Oklahoma City bombing that took place exactly two years later.

Background

The Branch Davidians (also known as "The Branch") is a religious group that originated in 1955 from a schism in Shepherd's Rod (Davidians) following the death of the Shepherd's Rod founder Victor Houteff. Houteff founded the Davidians based on his prophecy of an imminent apocalypse involving the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the defeat of the evil armies of "Babylon".[10] As the original Davidian group gained members, its leadership moved the church to a hilltop several miles east of Waco, Texas, which they named Mount Carmel, after a mountain in Israel mentioned in Joshua 19:26 in the Bible's Old Testament. A few years later, they moved again to a much larger site east of the city. In 1959, the widow of Victor Houteff, Florence Houteff, announced that the expected Armageddon was about to take place, and members were told to gather at the center to await this event. Many built houses, others stayed in tents, trucks, or buses, and most sold their possessions.[11]

Following the failure of this prophecy, which many attribute to Mrs. Houteff setting her own private date as to its fulfillment, control of the site (Mount Carmel Center) fell to Benjamin Roden, founder of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association (Branch Davidians). He promoted different doctrinal beliefs than Victor Houteff's original Davidian Seventh-day Adventist organization. On Roden's death, control fell to his wife, Lois Roden. Lois considered their son, George Roden, unfit to assume the position of prophet. Instead, she groomed Vernon Howell (later known as David Koresh) as her chosen successor. In 1984, a meeting led to a division of the group, with Howell leading one faction (calling themselves the Davidian Branch Davidians) and George Roden leading the competing faction. After this split, George Roden ran Howell and his followers off Mount Carmel. Howell and his group relocated to Palestine, Texas.[12][13]

After the death of Lois Roden and probate of her estate in January 1987, Howell attempted to gain control of Mount Carmel Center by force. George Roden had dug up the casket of Anna Hughes from the Davidian cemetery and had challenged Howell to a resurrection contest to prove who was the rightful heir to the leadership. Howell instead went to the police and claimed Roden was guilty of corpse abuse, but the county prosecutors refused to file charges without proof. On November 3, 1987, Howell and seven armed companions attempted to access the Mount Carmel chapel, with the goal of photographing the body in the casket as evidence to incriminate Roden. Roden was advised of the interlopers and grabbed an Uzi in response. The Sheriff's Department responded about 20 minutes into the gunfight, during which Roden was wounded. Sheriff Harwell got Howell on the phone and told him to stop shooting and surrender. Howell and his companions, dubbed the "Rodenville Eight" by the media, were tried for attempted murder on April 12, 1988; seven were acquitted, and the jury was hung on Howell's verdict. The county prosecutors did not press the case further.[14]

While waiting for the trial, Roden was put in jail under contempt of court charges because of his use of foul language in some court pleadings, threatening the Texas court with sexually transmitted diseases if the court ruled in favor of Howell. The next day, Perry Jones and a number of Howell's other followers moved from their headquarters in Palestine, Texas, to Mount Carmel. In mid-1989, Roden used an axe to kill a Davidian named Wayman Dale Adair, who visited him to discuss Adair's vision of being God's chosen messiah. He was found guilty under an insanity defense and was committed to a mental hospital. Shortly after Roden's commitment, Howell raised money to pay off all the back taxes on Mount Carmel owed by Roden and took legal control of the property.[15]

On August 5, 1989, Howell released the "New Light" audio tape, in which he stated he had been told by God to procreate with the women in the group to establish a "House of David" of his "special people". This involved separating married couples in the group and agreeing that only he could have sexual relations with the wives, while the men should observe celibacy.[15][16] He also claimed that God had told him to start building an "Army for God" to prepare for the end of days and a salvation for his followers.[16] Howell filed a petition in the California State Superior Court in Pomona on May 15, 1990, to legally change his name "for publicity and business purposes" to David Koresh; on August 28, he was granted the petition.[17] By 1992, most of the land belonging to the group had been sold except for a core 77 acres (31 ha). Most of the buildings had been removed or were being salvaged for construction materials to convert much of the main chapel and a tall water tank into apartments for the resident members of the group. Many of the members of the group had been involved with the Davidians for a few generations, and many had large families.[18]

Prelude

If you are a Branch Davidian, Christ lives on a threadbare piece of land 10 miles [16 km] east of here called Mount Carmel. He has dimples, claims a ninth-grade education, married his legal wife when she was 14, enjoys a beer now and then, plays a mean guitar, reportedly packs a 9 mm Glock and keeps an arsenal of military assault rifles, and willingly admits that he is a sinner without equal.
— Opening passage of "The Sinful Messiah", Waco Tribune-Herald, February 27, 1993[19]


On February 27, 1993, the Waco Tribune-Herald began publishing "The Sinful Messiah", a series of articles by Mark England and Darlene McCormick, who reported allegations that Koresh had physically abused children in the compound and had committed statutory rape by taking multiple underage brides. Koresh was also said to advocate polygamy for himself and declared himself married to several female residents of the small community. According to the paper, Koresh declared he was entitled to at least 140 wives, that he was entitled to claim any of the females in the group as his, that he had fathered at least a dozen children, and that some of these mothers became brides as young as 12 or 13 years old.[19]

In addition to allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct, Koresh and his followers were suspected of stockpiling illegal weapons. In May 1992, Chief Deputy Daniel Weyenberg of the McLennan County Sheriff's Department called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to notify them that his office had been contacted by a local UPS representative. A UPS driver described a package that had broken open on delivery to the Branch Davidian residence, revealing firearms, inert grenade casings, and black powder. On June 9, a formal investigation was opened and a week later it was classified as sensitive, "thereby calling for a high degree of oversight" from both Houston and headquarters.[20][21] The documentary Inside Waco claims that the investigation started when in 1992 the ATF became concerned over reports of automatic gunfire coming from the Carmel compound.[22] On July 30, ATF agents David Aguilera and Skinner visited the Branch Davidians' gun dealer Henry McMahon, who tried to get them to talk with Koresh on the phone. Koresh offered to let ATF inspect the Branch Davidians' weapons and paperwork and asked to speak with Aguilera, but Aguilera declined.[23][24] Sheriff Harwell told reporters regarding law enforcement talking with Koresh, "Just go out and talk to them, what's wrong with notifying them?"[25] The ATF began surveillance from a house across the road from the compound several months before the siege. Their cover was noticeably poor (the "college students" were in their 30s, had new cars, were not registered at the local schools, and did not keep a schedule which would have fit any legitimate employment or classes).[26] The investigation included sending in an undercover agent, Robert Rodriguez, whose identity Koresh learned, though he chose not to reveal that fact until the day of the raid.

The ATF obtained a search warrant on suspicion that the Davidians were modifying guns to have illegal automatic fire capability. Former Branch Davidian Marc Breault claimed that Koresh had "M16 lower receiver parts"[15] (combining M16 trigger components with a modified AR-15 lower receiver is, according to ATF regulations, "constructive possession" of an unregistered machine gun, regulated in the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986[27]).

Raid

Preparations


Using the affidavit filed by Aguilera that alleged that the Davidians had violated federal law, the ATF obtained search and arrest warrants for Koresh and specific followers on weapons charges, citing the many firearms they had accumulated.[28][29] The search warrant commanded a search "on or before February 28, 1993", in the daytime between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm. ATF made a claim that Koresh was possibly operating a methamphetamine lab, to establish a drug nexus and obtain military assets under the War on Drugs. Although the ATF's investigation "focused on firearm violations, not on illegal drugs", the ATF requested assistance from the DEA and the DOD "citing a drug connection" based on 1) a recent delivery to the compound of "chemicals, instruments, and glassware", 2) a written testimony from a former compound's resident, alleging "Howell had told him that drug trafficking was a desirable way to raise money", 3) several current residents who "had prior drug involvement", 4) two former residents who were incarcerated for drug-trafficking crimes, and 5) National Guard overflights' thermal images showing a "hot spot inside the compound, possibly indicating a methamphetamine laboratory".[30] Although the original request for assistance was initially approved, the commander of the Special Forces detachment questioned the request, and the ATF obtained only a training site at Fort Hood, Texas, from February 25 to February 27 with safety inspections for the training lanes, and was given only medical and communications training and equipment.[31]

ATF had planned their raid for Monday, March 1, 1993, with the code name "Showtime".[32] The ATF later claimed that the raid was moved up a day, to February 28, 1993, in response to the Waco Tribune-Herald's "The Sinful Messiah" series of articles (which the ATF had tried to prevent from being published).[22] Beginning February 1, ATF agents had three meetings with Tribune-Herald staff regarding a delay in publication of "The Sinful Messiah". The paper was first told by ATF that the raid would take place February 22, which they changed to March 1, and then ultimately to an indefinite date. ATF agents felt the newspaper had held off publication at the request of the ATF for at least three weeks. In a February 24 meeting between Tribune-Herald staff and ATF agent Phillip Chojancki and two other agents, ATF could not give the newspaper staff a clear idea of what action was planned or when. The Tribune-Herald informed ATF they were publishing the series, which included an editorial calling for local authorities to act. Personnel of the Tribune-Herald found out about the imminent raid after the first installment of "The Sinful Messiah" had already appeared on February 27.[33]

Although the ATF preferred to arrest Koresh when he was outside Mount Carmel, planners received inaccurate information that Koresh rarely left it.[34] The Branch Davidian members were well known locally and had cordial relations with other locals. The Branch Davidians partly supported themselves by trading at gun shows and took care to have the relevant paperwork to ensure their transactions were legal.[35] Branch Davidian Paul Fatta was a federal firearms licensed dealer, and the group operated a retail gun business called the Mag Bag. When shipments for the Mag Bag arrived, they were signed for by Fatta, Steve Schneider, or Koresh. The morning of the raid, Paul Fatta and son Kalani were on their way to an Austin, Texas, gun show to conduct business.[36]

February 28

The ATF attempted to execute their search warrant on Sunday morning, February 28, 1993. Any advantage of surprise was lost when a KWTX-TV reporter who had been tipped off about the raid asked for directions from a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier who was coincidentally Koresh's brother-in-law.[22] Koresh then told undercover ATF agent Robert Rodriguez that they knew a raid was imminent. Rodriguez had infiltrated the Branch Davidians and was astonished to find that his cover had been blown. The agent made an excuse and left the compound. When asked later what the Branch Davidians had been doing when he left the compound, Rodriguez replied, "They were praying." Branch Davidian survivors have written that Koresh ordered selected male followers to begin arming and taking up defensive positions, while the women and children were told to take cover in their rooms.[22] Koresh told them he would try to speak to the agents, and what happened next would depend on the agents' intentions.

Despite being informed that the Branch Davidians knew a raid was coming, the ATF commander ordered that the raid go ahead, even though their plan depended on reaching the compound without the Branch Davidians being armed and prepared.[22] While not standard procedure, ATF agents had their blood type written on their arms or neck after leaving the staging area and before the raid, because it was recommended by the military to facilitate speedy blood transfusions in the case of injury.[37][38]

ATF agents stated that they heard shots coming from within the compound, while Branch Davidian survivors claimed that the first shots came from the ATF agents outside. A suggested reason may have been an accidental discharge of a weapon, possibly by an ATF agent, causing the ATF to respond with fire from automatic weapons.[35] Other reports claim the first shots were fired by the ATF "dog team" sent to kill the dogs in the Branch Davidian kennel.[39] Three Army National Guard helicopters were used as aerial distraction, and all took incoming fire but did not return fire.[40] During the first shots, Koresh was wounded, shot in the wrist.[41] Within a minute of the raid starting, Branch Davidian Wayne Martin called emergency services, pleading for them to stop shooting.[41] The resident asked for a ceasefire, and audiotapes record him saying, "Here they come again!" and, "That's them shooting! That's not us!"[41]

The first ATF casualty was an agent who had made it to the west side of the building before he was wounded. Agents quickly took cover and fired at the buildings while the helicopters began their diversion and swept in low over the complex, 350 feet (105 m) away from the building.[40] The Branch Davidians fired on the helicopters and hit them, without injuring the crew, and the helicopters immediately stopped the mission and landed.[40] On the east side of the compound, agents hauled out two ladders and set them against the side of the building. Agents then climbed onto the roof with the objective of securing the roof to reach Koresh's room and the arms storage. On the west slope of the roof, three agents reached Koresh's window and were crouching beside it when they came under fire. One agent was killed and another wounded. The third agent scampered over the peak of the roof and joined other agents attempting to enter the arms room. The window was smashed, a flashbang stun grenade thrown in, and three agents entered the arms room. When another tried to follow them, a hail of bullets penetrated the wall and wounded him, but he was able to reach a ladder and slide to safety. An agent fired with his shotgun at Branch Davidians who were shooting at him until he was hit in the head and killed. Inside the arms room, the agents killed a Branch Davidian gunman and discovered a cache of weapons but then came under heavy fire; two were wounded. As they escaped, the third agent laid down covering fire, killing a Branch Davidian. As he made his escape, he hit his head on a wooden support beam and fell off the roof but survived. An agent outside provided them with covering fire but was shot by a Branch Davidian and killed instantly. Dozens of ATF agents took cover, many behind Branch Davidian vehicles, and exchanged fire with the Branch Davidians. The number of ATF wounded increased, and an agent was killed by gunfire from the compound as agents were firing at a Branch Davidian perched on top of the water tower. The exchange of fire continued, but 45 minutes into the raid the gunfire began to slow down as agents began to run low on ammunition. The shooting continued for two hours.[42]

Sheriff Lt. Lynch of the McLennan County Sheriff Department contacted the ATF and negotiated a ceasefire.[22] Sheriff Harwell states in William Gazecki's documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement that the ATF agents withdrew only after they were out of ammunition.[43] ATF agent Chuck Hustmyre later wrote: "About 45 minutes into the shootout, the volume of gunfire finally started to slacken. We were running out of ammunition. The Davidians, however, had plenty." After the ceasefire, the Branch Davidians allowed the ATF dead and wounded to be evacuated and held their fire during the ATF retreat.

Four ATF agents (Steve Willis, Robert Williams, Todd McKeehan, and Conway Charles LeBleu) were killed during the raid. Another 16 were wounded. The five Branch Davidians killed in the 9:45 am raid were Winston Blake, Peter Gent, Peter Hipsman, Perry Jones, and Jaydean Wendell; two were killed at the hands of the Branch Davidians.[44] Nearly six hours after the 11:30 am ceasefire, Michael Schroeder was shot dead by ATF agents who alleged he fired a pistol at agents as he attempted to re-enter the compound with Woodrow Kendrick and Norman Allison.[22] The local sheriff, in audiotapes broadcast after the incident, said he was not apprised of the raid. Alan A. Stone's report states that the Branch Davidians did not ambush the ATF and that they "apparently did not maximize the kill of ATF agents", explaining that they were rather "desperate religious fanatics expecting an apocalyptic ending, in which they were destined to die defending their sacred ground and destined to achieve salvation."[45] A 1999 federal report noted:

The violent tendencies of dangerous cults can be classified into two general categories——defensive violence and offensive violence. Defensive violence is utilized by cults to defend a compound or enclave that was created specifically to eliminate most contact with the dominant culture. The 1993 clash in Waco, Texas at the Branch Davidian complex is an illustration of such defensive violence. History has shown that groups that seek to withdraw from the dominant culture seldom act on their beliefs that the endtime has come unless provoked.[46]


Chronology of events on February 28

Time / Event
05:00 / 76 agents assemble at Fort Hood for the drive to the staging area at the Bellmead Civic Center. According to a later Treasury Department Review, the agents drove in an 80-vehicle convoy that stretched for a mile (1.6 km) with a cattle trailer at either end.
09:45 / ATF agents move in on the compound. A gun battle begins.
09:48 / Branch Davidian Wayne Martin, a Waco attorney, calls 9-1-1.
11:30 / Ceasefire reached.
16:00 / The first message from Koresh is relayed over KRLD Radio In Dallas.
16:55 / Michael Schroeder is shot dead returning to the compound.
17:00 / ATF spokesman Ted Royster says gunfire has continued sporadically through the afternoon.
19:30 / Koresh is interviewed by CNN. The FBI instructs CNN not to conduct further interviews.
20:15 / ATF spokesperson Sharon Wheeler says negotiations continue with Branch Davidians and gunfire has ended.
22:00 / Four children exited the compound (two Sonobe children and two Fagan children).
22:05 / Koresh talks for about 20 minutes on KRLD, describing his beliefs and saying he is the most seriously wounded of the Branch Davidians.

Siege

ATF agents established contact with Koresh and others inside the compound after they withdrew. The FBI took command soon after as a result of the deaths of federal agents, placing Jeff Jamar, head of the Bureau's San Antonio field office, in charge of the siege as Site Commander. The FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) was headed by HRT Commander Richard Rogers, who had previously been criticized for his actions during the Ruby Ridge incident. As at Ruby Ridge, Rogers often overrode the Site Commander at Waco and had mobilized both the Blue and Gold HRT tactical teams to the same site, which ultimately created pressure to resolve the situation tactically due to lack of HRT reserves.

At first, the Davidians had telephone contact with local news media, and Koresh gave phone interviews. The FBI cut Davidian communication to the outside world. For the next 51 days, communication with those inside was by telephone by a group of 25 FBI negotiators.[22] The final Justice Department report found that negotiators criticized the tactical commanders for undercutting negotiations.[47]

In the first few days, the FBI believed they had made a breakthrough when they negotiated with Koresh an agreement that the Branch Davidians would peacefully leave the compound in return for a message, recorded by Koresh, being broadcast on national radio.[22] The broadcast was made, but Koresh then told negotiators that God had told him to remain in the building and "wait".[22] Despite this, soon afterwards negotiators managed to facilitate the release of 19 children, ranging in age from five months to 12 years old, without their parents.[11] However, 98 people remained in the building.[22] The children were then interviewed by the FBI and Texas Rangers, some for hours at a time.[11] Allegedly, the children had been physically and sexually abused long before the standoff.[48] This was the key justification offered by the FBI (both to President Bill Clinton and to Attorney General Janet Reno) for launching tear gas attacks to force the Branch Davidians out of the compound.[49]

During the siege, the FBI sent a video camera to the Branch Davidians. In the video tape made by Koresh's followers, Koresh introduced his children and his "wives" to the FBI negotiators, including several minors who claimed to have had babies fathered by Koresh. (Koresh had fathered perhaps 14 of the children who stayed with him in the compound.) Several Branch Davidians made statements in the video.[50] On day nine, Monday March 8, the Branch Davidians sent out the video tape to show the FBI that there were no hostages, but in fact everyone was staying inside of their own free will. This video also included a message from Koresh.[22] The negotiators' log showed that—when the tape was reviewed—there was concern that the tape's release to the media would gain sympathy for Koresh and the Branch Davidians.[51] Videos also showed the 23 children still inside the compound, and child care professionals on the outside prepared to take care of those children as well as the previous 21 released.[11] As the siege continued, Koresh negotiated more time, allegedly so that he could write religious documents which he said he needed to complete before he surrendered. His conversations—dense with Biblical imagery—alienated the federal negotiators, who treated the situation as a hostage crisis.

As the siege wore on, two factions developed within the FBI,[22] one believing negotiation to be the answer, the other, force. Increasingly aggressive techniques were used to try to force the Branch Davidians out (for instance, sleep deprivation of the inhabitants by means of all-night broadcasts of recordings of jet planes, pop music, chanting, and the screams of rabbits being slaughtered). Outside the compound, nine Bradley Fighting Vehicles (carrying M651 CS tear gas grenades and Ferret rounds) and five M728 Combat Engineer Vehicles (obtained from the U.S. Army) began patrolling.[22] The armored vehicles were used to destroy perimeter fencing and outbuildings and crush cars belonging to the Branch Davidians. Armored vehicles repeatedly drove over the grave of Branch Davidian Peter Gent despite protests by the Branch Davidians and the negotiators. Two of the three water storage tanks on the roof of the main building had been damaged during the initial ATF raid. Eventually the FBI cut all power and water to the compound, forcing those inside to survive on rain water and stockpiled military MRE rations.[22] Criticism was later leveled by Schneider's attorney, Jack Zimmerman, at the tactic of using sleep-and-peace-disrupting sound against the Branch Davidians: "The point was this – they were trying to have sleep disturbance and they were trying to take someone that they viewed as unstable to start with, and they were trying to drive him crazy. And then they got mad 'cos he does something that they think is irrational!"[52]

Despite the increasingly aggressive tactics, Koresh ordered a group of followers to leave. Eleven people left and were arrested as material witnesses, with one person charged with conspiracy to murder.[22] The children's willingness to stay with Koresh disturbed the negotiators, who were unprepared to work around the Branch Davidians' religious zeal. However, as the siege went on, the children were aware that an earlier group of children who had left with some women were immediately separated, and the women arrested. During the siege, a number of scholars who study apocalypticism in religious groups attempted to persuade the FBI that the siege tactics being used by government agents would only reinforce the impression within the Branch Davidians that they were part of a Biblical "end-of-times" confrontation that had cosmic significance.[53] This would likely increase the chances of a violent and deadly outcome. The religious scholars pointed out that the beliefs of the group may have appeared to be extreme, but to the Branch Davidians, their religious beliefs were deeply meaningful, and they were willing to die for them.[53]

Koresh's discussions with the negotiating team became increasingly difficult. He proclaimed that he was the Second Coming of Christ and had been commanded by his father in heaven to remain in the compound.[22] One week prior to the April 19 assault, FBI planners considered using snipers to kill David Koresh and possibly other key Branch Davidians.[54] The FBI voiced concern that the Branch Davidians might commit mass suicide, as had happened in 1978 at Jim Jones's Jonestown complex. Koresh had repeatedly denied any plans for mass suicide when confronted by negotiators during the standoff, and people leaving the compound had not seen any such preparation.[55]

Final assault

Image
An M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle brings down the back wall and roof of the Mount Carmel gymnasium

Image
Smoke rises from the compound

Image
Last remnants of the razed Mount Carmel Center burn down

Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved recommendations by the FBI Hostage Rescue Team to mount an assault, after being told that conditions were deteriorating and that children were being abused inside the compound.[48] Reno made the FBI's case to President Bill Clinton. Recalling the April 19, 1985, The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSAL) siege in Arkansas (which was ended without loss of life by a blockade without a deadline), President Clinton suggested similar tactics against the Branch Davidians. Reno countered that the FBI Hostage Rescue Team was tired of waiting; that the standoff was costing a million dollars per week; that the Branch Davidians could hold out longer than the CSAL; and that the chances of child sexual abuse and mass suicide were imminent. Clinton later recounted: "Finally, I told her that if she thought it was the right thing to do, she could go ahead."[56] Over the next several months, Janet Reno's reason for approving the final gas attack varied from her initial claim that the FBI Hostage Rescue Team had told her that Koresh was sexually abusing children and beating babies (the FBI Hostage Rescue Team later denied evidence of child abuse during the standoff) to her claim that Linda Thompson and her one-woman "Unorganized Militia of the United States" was on the way to Waco to aid or attack Koresh.[57]

Because the Branch Davidians were heavily armed, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team's arms included .50 caliber (12.7 mm) rifles and armored Combat Engineering Vehicles (CEV). The assault took place on April 19, 1993. CEVs used explosives to puncture holes in the walls of buildings of the compound so they could pump in CS gas ("tear gas") and try to flush out the Branch Davidians without harming them. The stated plan called for increasing amounts of gas to be pumped in over two days to increase pressure. Officially, no armed assault was to be made and loudspeakers were to be used to tell the Branch Davidians that there would be no armed assault and to ask them not to fire on the vehicles. FBI Hostage Rescue Team agents had been permitted to return any incoming fire, but no shots were fired by federal agents on April 19. When several Branch Davidians opened fire, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team's response was to increase the amount of gas being used.[22]

The FBI Hostage Rescue Team delivered 40-millimetre (1.6 in) CS grenade fire from M79 grenade launchers; very early in the morning, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team fired two military M651 rounds at the Branch Davidian construction site. Around mid-morning, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team began to run low on 40 mm Ferret CS rounds and asked Texas Ranger Captain David Byrnes for tear gas rounds; the tear gas rounds procured from Company "F" in Waco turned out to be unusable pyrotechnic rounds and were returned to the Company "F" office afterwards.[58] 40 mm munitions recovered by the Texas Rangers at Waco included dozens of plastic Ferret Model SGA-400 Liquid CS rounds, two metal M651E1 military pyrotechnic tear gas rounds, two metal NICO Pyrotechnik Sound & Flash grenades, and parachute illumination flares.[58][59] After more than six hours, no Branch Davidians had left the building, sheltering instead in a concrete block room within the building or using gas masks.[60] The FBI Hostage Rescue Team stated that CEVs were used to punch large holes in the building to provide exits for those inside.[citation needed]

At around noon, three fires broke out almost simultaneously in different parts of the building and spread quickly. The government maintains the fires were deliberately started by the Branch Davidians.[22][61] Some Branch Davidian survivors maintain that the fires were accidentally or deliberately started by the assault.[62][63] Only nine people left the building during the fire.[22][61] The remaining Branch Davidians, including the children, were either buried alive by rubble, suffocated by the effects of the fire, or shot. Many who suffocated from the fire were killed by smoke or carbon monoxide inhalation and other causes as fire engulfed the building.[61] According to the FBI, Steve Schneider—Koresh's top aide—shot and killed Koresh and then killed himself with the same gun.[64] Footage of the blaze was broadcast live by television crews.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:57 am

Part 2 of 3

Chronology of events of April 19

Time / Event
05:50 / Agents call the Branch Davidian compound to warn they are going to begin tank activity and advise residents "to take cover". Agents say the Branch Davidian who answered the phone did not reply but instead threw the phone and phone line out of the front door.
05:55 / The FBI Hostage Rescue Team deploys two armored CEVs to the buildings. CEV1 goes to the left of the buildings, CEV2 to the right.[65]
06:00 / FBI surveillance tapes from devices planted in the wall of the building record a man inside the compound saying "Everybody wake up, let's start to pray", then, "Pablo, have you poured it yet?" ... "Huh?" ... "Have you poured it yet?" ... "In the hallway" ... "Things are poured, right?" CEV1 receives orders to spray two bottles of tear gas into left corner of building.[65]
06:04 / Armored vehicle with ram and delivery device to pump tear gas into building with pressurized air rips into front wall just left of front door, leaving a hole 8 feet (2.4 m) high and 10 feet (3.0 m) wide. Agents claimed the holes allowed insertion of the gas as well as provided a means of escape. Agent sees shots from inside the compound directed at CEVs.[65]
06:10 / FBI surveillance tapes record "Don't pour it all out, we might need some later" and "Throw the tear gas back out." FBI negotiator Byron Sage is recorded saying "It's time for people to come out." Surveillance tapes record a man saying "What?", and then "No way."
06:12 / FBI surveillance tapes record Branch Davidians saying "They're gonna kill us", then "They don't want to kill us."
06:31 / The entire building is gassed.[65]
06:47 / The FBI Hostage Rescue Team fires plastic, non-incendiary tear gas rounds through windows.[65]
07:23 / FBI surveillance tapes record a male Branch Davidian saying, "The fuel has to go all around to get started." Then a second male says, "Well, there are two cans here, if that's poured soon."
07:30 / CEV1 is redeployed, breaching the building and inserting tear gas. Branch Davidians fire shots at CEV1.[65]
07:48 / On FBI tapes of agents recorded during the siege, an FBI Hostage Rescue Team agent requests permission to fire military-style tear gas shells to break through an underground concrete bunker. He receives permission and fires two shells.[65]
07:58 / CEV2, with battering ram, rips a hole into second floor of compound; minutes later another hole is punched into the rear of one of the buildings of the compound. The vehicles then withdraw.[65]
08:08 / Three pyrotechnic military tear gas rounds are shot at the concrete construction pit (not the concrete bunker), away and downwind from the main quarters, trying to penetrate the structure, but they bounce off.[66]:28–32 An agent in the CEV reports that one shell bounced off bunker and did not penetrate.[65][66]:30
08:24 / The audio portion of FBI videotape ends, at the request of the pilot.[65]
09:00 / The Branch Davidians unfurl a banner which reads "We want our phone fixed."
09:13 / CEV1 breaks through the front door to deliver more gas.[65]
09:20 / FBI surveillance records a meeting starting at 7:30 am between several unidentified males.[67]
UM: "They got two cans of Coleman fuel down there? Huh?"
UM: "Empty."
UM: "All of it?"
UM: "Nothing left."
10:00 / A man is seen waving a white flag on the southeast side of the compound. He is advised over loudspeakers that if he is surrendering he should come out. He does not. At the same time, a man believed to be Schneider comes out from the remains of the front door to retrieve the phone and phone line.
11:30 / The original CEV2 has mechanical difficulties (damaged tread); its replacement breaches through back side of compound.[65]
11:17 – 12:04 / According to the government, a series of remarks such as "I want a fire", "Keep that fire going", and "Do you think I could light this soon?" indicate that the Branch Davidians have started setting fire to the complex around 11:30.[66]:15–19[67]:287 Surviving Branch Davidians testified that Coleman fuel had been poured, and fire experts in Danforth's report agree "without question" that people inside the complex had started multiple accelerated fires.[66]:15–19, appendixes D and E
11:43 / Another gas insertion takes place, with the armored vehicle moving well into the building on the right rear side to reach the concrete interior room where the FBI Hostage Rescue Team believe the Branch Davidians are trying to avoid the gas.
11:45 / The wall on the right rear side of the building collapses.[65]
12:03 / An armored vehicle turret knocks away the first floor corner on the right side.
12:07 / The first visible flames appear in two spots in the front of the building, first on the left of the front door on the second floor (a wisp of smoke then a small flicker of flame), then a short time later on the far right side of the front of the building, and at a third spot on the back side. An FBI Hostage Rescue Team agent reported seeing a Branch Davidian member igniting a fire in the front door area.[66]:18
12:09 / Ruth Riddle exits with a computer disk in her jacket containing Koresh's Manuscript on the Seven Seals. A third fire is detected on first floor.[65]
12:10 / Flames spread quickly through the building, fanned by high winds. The building burns very quickly.
12:12 / An emergency call is placed regarding the fire. Two Waco Fire Department trucks are dispatched. Shortly after, the Bellmead Fire Department dispatches two trucks.
12:22 / Waco fire trucks arrive at the checkpoint, where they are halted (not being allowed to pass until 12:37);[68] Bellmead follows shortly after.
12:25 / There is a large explosion on the left side of the compound. One object hurtles into the air, bounces off the top of a bus, and lands on the grass.
12:30 / Part of the roof collapses. Around this time, there are several further explosions, and witnesses report the sound of gunfire, attributed by the FBI Hostage Rescue Team to live ammunition cooking off throughout the buildings because of the fire.
12:43 / According to fire department logs, fire trucks arrive at the compound.
12:55 / Fire begins to burn out. The entire compound is leveled.
15:45 / A law enforcement source states that David Koresh is dead.

Fatalities of April 19

In all, 76 Branch Davidians died,[9] and nine survived the fire on April 19 (five others had been killed in the initial ATF raid, and their bodies were buried on the grounds; one had been killed by the ATF after the raid; and 35 had left during the FBI siege).[61]

A large concentration of bodies, weapons, and ammunition was found in the bunker. The Texas Rangers' arson investigator report assumes that many of the occupants were either denied escape from within or refused to leave until escape was not an option. It also mentions that the structural debris from the breaching operations on the west end of the building could have blocked a possible escape route through the tunnel system.[69] An independent investigation by two experts from the University of Maryland's Department of Fire Protection Engineering concluded that the compound residents had sufficient time to escape the fire, if they had so desired.[61]

Autopsies of the dead revealed that some women and children found beneath a fallen concrete wall of a storage room died of skull injuries. Autopsy photographs of other children locked in what appear to be spasmic death poses are consistent with cyanide poisoning, one of the results produced by burning CS gas.[43] The U.S. Department of Justice report indicated that only one body had traces of benzene, one of the components of solvent-dispersed CS gas, but that the gas insertions had finished nearly one hour before the fire started, and that it was enough time for solvents to dissipate from the bodies of the Branch Davidians that had inhaled the tear gas.[70]

Autopsy records also indicate that at least 20 Branch Davidians were shot, including five children under the age of 14. Three-year-old Dayland Gent was stabbed in the chest. The medical examiner who performed the autopsies believed these deaths were mercy killings by the Branch Davidians trapped in the fire with no escape. The expert retained by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel concluded that many of the gunshot wounds "support self-destruction either by overt suicide, consensual execution (suicide by proxy), or less likely, forced execution."[66]

Aftermath

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Remains of a swimming pool left on the grounds of Mount Carmel Center in 1997

The new ATF Director, John Magaw, criticized several aspects of the ATF raid. Magaw made the Treasury "Blue Book" report on Waco required reading for new agents. A 1995 Government Accountability Office report on use of force by federal law enforcement agencies observed that, "on the basis of Treasury's report on the Waco operation and views of tactical operations experts and ATF's own personnel, ATF decided in October 1995 that dynamic entry would only be planned after all other options have been considered and began to adjust its training accordingly."[71]

Nothing remains of the buildings today other than concrete foundation components, as the entire site was bulldozed two weeks after the end of the siege. Only a small chapel, built years after the siege, stands on the site.[72]

Trial

The events at Waco spurred both criminal prosecution and civil litigation. On August 3, 1993, a federal grand jury returned a superseding ten-count indictment against 12 of the surviving Branch Davidians. The grand jury charged, among other things, that the Branch Davidians had conspired to, and aided and abetted in, murder of federal officers, and had unlawfully possessed and used various firearms. The government dismissed the charges against one of the 12 Branch Davidians pursuant to a plea bargain.

After a jury trial lasting nearly two months, the jury acquitted four of the Branch Davidians on all charges. Additionally, the jury acquitted all of the Branch Davidians on the murder-related charges but convicted five of them on lesser charges, including aiding and abetting the voluntary manslaughter of federal agents.[73] Eight Branch Davidians were convicted on firearms charges.

The convicted Branch Davidians, who received sentences of up to 40 years,[74] were:


• Kevin A. Whitecliff—convicted of voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm during a crime.
• Jaime Castillo—convicted of voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm during a crime.
• Paul Gordon Fatta—convicted of conspiracy to possess machine guns and aiding Branch Davidian leader David Koresh in possessing machine guns.
• Renos Lenny Avraam (British national)—convicted of voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm during a crime.
• Graeme Leonard Craddock (Australian national)—convicted of possessing a grenade and using or possessing a firearm during a crime.
• Brad Eugene Branch—convicted of voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm during a crime.
• Livingstone Fagan (British national)—convicted of voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm during a crime.
• Ruth Riddle (Canadian national)—convicted of using or carrying a weapon during a crime.
• Kathryn Schroeder—sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of forcibly resisting arrest.

Six of the eight Branch Davidians appealed both their sentences and their convictions. They raised a host of issues, challenging the constitutionality of the prohibition on possession of machine guns, the jury instructions, the district court's conduct of the trial, the sufficiency of the evidence, and the sentences imposed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the defendants' sentences for use of machine guns, determining that the district court had made no finding that they had "actively employed" the weapons, but left the verdicts undisturbed in all other respects, in United States v. Branch,[75] 91 F.3d 699 (5th Cir. 1996), cert. denied (1997).

On remand, the district court found that the defendants had actively employed machine guns and re-sentenced five of them to substantial prison terms. The defendants again appealed. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed.[76] The Branch Davidians pressed this issue before the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the term "machine gun" in the relevant statute created an element of the offense to be determined by a jury, rather than a sentencing factor to be determined by a judge, as had happened in the trial court.[77] On September 19, 2000, Judge Walter Smith followed the Supreme Court's instructions and cut 25 years from the sentences of five convicted Branch Davidians, and five years from the sentence of another.[78] All Branch Davidians had been released from prison as of July 2007.[79]

Civil suits

Several of the surviving Branch Davidians, as well as more than a hundred family members of those who had died or were injured in the confrontation, brought civil suits against the United States government, numerous federal officials, the former governor of Texas Ann Richards, and members of the Texas Army National Guard. They sought monetary damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, civil rights statutes, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and Texas state law. The bulk of these claims were dismissed because they were insufficient as a matter of law or because the plaintiffs could advance no material evidence in support of them.

The court, after a month-long trial, rejected the Branch Davidians' case. The court found that, on February 28, 1993, the Branch Davidians initiated a gun battle when they fired at federal officers who were attempting to serve lawful warrants.[80] ATF agents returned gunfire to the building, the court ruled, in order to protect themselves and other agents from death or serious bodily harm. The court found that the government's planning of the siege—i.e., the decisions to use tear gas against the Branch Davidians; to insert the tear gas by means of military vehicles; and to omit specific planning for the possibility that a fire would erupt—was a discretionary function for which the government could not be sued. The court also found that the use of tear gas was not negligent. Further, even if the United States government were negligent by causing damage to the buildings before the fires broke out, thus either blocking escape routes or enabling the fires to spread faster, that negligence did not legally cause the plaintiffs' injuries because the Branch Davidians started the fires.

The Branch Davidians appealed. Their contention was that the trial court judge, Walter S. Smith, Jr., should have recused himself from hearing their claims on account of his relationships with defendants, defense counsel, and court staff; prior judicial determinations; and comments during trial. The Fifth Circuit concluded that these allegations did not reflect conduct that would cause a reasonable observer to question Judge Smith's impartiality, and it affirmed the take-nothing judgment, in Andrade v. Chojnacki,[81] 338 F.3d 448 (5th Cir. 2003), cert. denied (2004).

British nationals

Thirty-three British citizens were among the members of the Branch Davidians during the siege. Twenty-four of them were among the 80 Branch Davidian fatalities (in the raid of February 28 and the assault of April 19), including at least one child.[49] Two more British nationals who survived the siege were immediately arrested as "material witnesses" and imprisoned without trial for months.[74]

Derek Lovelock was held in McLennan County Jail for seven months, often in solitary confinement.[74] Livingstone Fagan, another British citizen, who was among those convicted and imprisoned, says he received multiple beatings at the hands of correctional officers, particularly at Leavenworth. There, Fagan claims to have been doused inside his cell with cold water from a high-pressure hose, after which an industrial fan was placed outside the cell, blasting him with cold air. Fagan was repeatedly moved between at least nine different facilities. He was strip-searched every time he took exercise, so he refused exercise. Released and deported back to the UK in July 2007, he still held on to his religious beliefs.[74]

Role of anti-cult activists

In the weeks preceding the raid, Rick Ross, a self-described cult expert and deprogrammer affiliated with the Cult Awareness Network, appeared on major networks such as NBC[82] and CBS in regard to Koresh.[83] Ross later described his role in advising authorities about the Davidians and Koresh, and what actions should be taken to end the siege.[84] He was quoted as saying that he was consulted by the ATF[85] and he contacted the FBI on the March 4, 1993, requesting "that he be interviewed regarding his knowledge of cults in general and the Branch Davidians in particular". The FBI reports that it did not rely on Ross for advice whatsoever during the standoff, but that it did interview and received input from him. Ross also telephoned the FBI on March 27 and March 28, offering advice about negotiation strategies, suggesting that the FBI "attempt to embarrass Koresh by informing other members of the compound about Koresh's faults and failures in life, in order to convince them that Koresh was not the prophet they had been led to believe".[84] The ATF also contacted Ross in January 1993 for information about Koresh.[84]

Several writers have documented the Cult Awareness Network's role in relation to the government's decision-making concerning Waco.[82] Mark MacWilliams notes that several studies have shown how "self-styled cult experts like Ross, anticult organizations like the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), and disaffected Branch Davidian defectors like Breault played important roles in popularizing a harshly negative image of Koresh as a dangerous cult leader. Portrayed as "self-obsessed, egomaniacal, sociopathic and heartless", Koresh was frequently characterized as either a religious lunatic who doomed his followers to mass suicide or a con man who manipulated religion for his own bizarre personal advantage".[86] According to religious scholars Phillip Arnold and James Tabor who made an effort to help resolve the conflict, "the crisis need not have ended tragically if only the FBI had been more open to Religious Studies and better able to distinguish between the dubious ideas of Ross and the scholarly expertise".[87] In a New Yorker article in March 2014, writer Malcolm Gladwell wrote that Arnold and Tabor told the FBI that Koresh needed to be persuaded of an alternative interpretation of the Book of Revelation, one that does not necessarily involve a violent end. They made an audiotape which was played for Koresh, and seemed to convince him. However, the FBI waited only three days before beginning the assault, instead of an estimated two weeks for Koresh to complete a manuscript sparked by this alternate interpretation, and then come out peacefully.[88]

Controversies

Rolland Ballestros, one of the agents assigned to the ATF door team that assaulted the front door, told Texas Rangers and Waco police that he thought the first shots came from the ATF dog team assigned to neutralize the Branch Davidians' dogs, but later at the trial he insisted that the Branch Davidians had shot first.[89] The Branch Davidians claimed that the ATF door team then opened fire at the door, and they returned fire in self-defense. An Austin Chronicle article noted, "Long before the fire, the Davidians were discussing the evidence contained in the doors. During the siege, in a phone conversation with the FBI, Steve Schneider, one of Koresh's main confidants, told FBI agents that 'the evidence from the front door will clearly show how many bullets and what happened'." Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who went inside Mount Carmel during the siege, testified at the trial that protruding metal on the inside of the right-hand entry door made it clear that the bullet holes were made by incoming rounds. DeGuerin also testified that only the right-hand entry door had bullet holes, while the left-hand entry door was intact. The government presented the left-hand entry door at the trial, claiming that the right-hand entry door had been lost. The left-hand door contained numerous bullet holes made by both outgoing and incoming rounds. Texas Trooper Sgt. David Keys testified that he witnessed two men loading what could have been the missing door into a U-Haul van shortly after the siege had ended, but he did not see the object itself. Michael Caddell, the lead attorney for the Branch Davidians' wrongful death lawsuit explained, "The fact that the left-hand door is in the condition it's in tells you that the right-hand door was not consumed by the fire. It was lost on purpose by somebody." Caddell offered no evidence to support this allegation, which has never been proved. However, fire investigators stated that it was "extremely unlikely" that the steel right door could have suffered damage in the fire much greater than did the steel left door, and both doors would have been found together. The right door remains missing, and the entire site was under close supervision by law enforcement officials until the debris—including both doors—had been removed.[90]

Helicopters had been obtained from the Alabama and Texas National Guard on the pretext that there was a drug laboratory at Mount Carmel.[31][91] There were, however, no drug-related charges on the arrest warrant served on the morning of February 28, 1993.[92][93] The official version of events has always stated that the helicopters were merely used as a diversion, that the crew only had 9 millimeter sidearms, and that no shots were made from them.[40]

Critics suggest that, during the final raid, the CS gas was injected into the building by armored vehicles in an unsafe manner, which could have started a fire. While two of the three fires were started well inside the building, away from where the CS gas was pumped in, survivor David Thibodeau claimed in a 1999 interview with Reason that damage to the building allowed the gas to spread, stating, "They started to break the walls, break the windows down, spread the CS gas out." The FBI had planted surveillance devices in the walls of the building, which captured a number of conversations which the government claims are evidence that the Davidians started the fire.[67]:287 The recordings were imperfect and many times difficult to understand, and the two transcriptions that were made had differences at many points.[67]:287 According to reporter Diana Fuentes, when the FBI's April 19 tapes were played in court during the Branch Davidian trials, few people heard what the FBI audio expert claimed to hear; the tapes "were filled with noise, and voices only occasionally were discernible. [...] The words were faint; some courtroom observers said they heard it, some didn't."[94] The Branch Davidians had given ominous warnings involving fire on several occasions.[95] This may or may not have been indicative of the Branch Davidians' future actions, but was the basis for the conclusion of Congress that the fire was started by the Branch Davidians, "absent any other potential source of ignition." This was prior to the FBI admission that pyrotechnics were used, but a yearlong investigation by the Office of the Special Counsel after that admission nonetheless reached the same conclusion, and no further congressional investigations followed. During a 1999 deposition for civil suits by Branch Davidian survivors, fire survivor Graeme Craddock was interviewed. He stated that he saw some Branch Davidians moving about a dozen one gallon (3.8 L) cans of fuel so they would not be run over by armored vehicles, heard talk of pouring fuel outside the building, and, after the fire had started, something that sounded like "light the fire" from another individual.[96] Professor Kenneth Newport's book The Branch Davidians of Waco attempts to prove that starting the fire themselves was pre-planned and consistent with the Branch Davidians' theology. He cites as evidence conversations the FBI recorded during the siege, testimonials of survivors Clive Doyle and Graeme Craddock, and the buying of diesel fuel one month before the start of the siege.[67]

Attorney General Reno had specifically directed that no pyrotechnic devices be used in the assault. Between 1993 and 1999, FBI spokesmen denied (even under oath) the use of any sort of pyrotechnic devices during the assault; however, pyrotechnic Flite-Rite CS gas grenades had been found in the rubble immediately following the fire. In 1999, FBI spokesmen were forced to admit that they had used the grenades; however, they claimed that these devices—which dispense CS gas through an internal burning process—had been used during an early morning attempt to penetrate a covered, water-filled construction pit 40 yards (35 m) away and were not fired into the building. According to FBI claims, the fires started approximately three hours after the grenades had been fired. When the FBI's documents were turned over to Congress for an investigation in 1994, the page listing the use of the pyrotechnic devices was missing. The failure for six years to disclose the use of pyrotechnics despite her specific directive led Reno to demand an investigation. A senior FBI official told Newsweek that as many as 100 FBI agents had known about the use of pyrotechnics, but no one spoke up until 1999.[65] On May 12, less than a month after the incident, Texas state authorities bulldozed the site, rendering further gathering of forensic evidence impossible.

The FBI received contradictory reports on the possibility of Koresh's suicide and was not sure about whether he would commit suicide. The evidence made them believe that there was no possibility of mass suicide, with Koresh and Schneider repeatedly denying to the negotiators that they had plans to commit mass suicide, and people leaving the compound saying that they had seen no preparations for such a thing.[55] There was a possibility that some of his followers would follow Koresh if he committed suicide.[55] According to Alan A. Stone's report, during the siege the FBI used an incorrect psychiatric perspective to evaluate Branch Davidians' responses, which caused them to over-rely on Koresh's statements that they would not commit suicide. According to Stone, this incorrect evaluation caused the FBI to not ask pertinent questions to Koresh and to others on the compound about whether they were planning a mass suicide. A more pertinent question would have been, "What will you do if we tighten the noose around the compound in a show of overwhelming power, and using CS gas, force you to come out?"[45] Stone wrote:

The tactical arm of federal law enforcement may conventionally think of the other side as a band of criminals or as a military force or, generically, as the aggressor. But the Branch Davidians were an unconventional group in an exalted, disturbed, and desperate state of mind. They were devoted to David Koresh as the Lamb of God. They were willing to die defending themselves in an apocalyptic ending and, in the alternative, to kill themselves and their children. However, these were neither psychiatrically depressed, suicidal people nor cold-blooded killers. They were ready to risk death as a test of their faith. The psychology of such behavior—together with its religious significance for the Branch Davidians—was mistakenly evaluated, if not simply ignored, by those responsible for the FBI strategy of "tightening the noose". The overwhelming show of force was not working in the way the tacticians supposed. It did not provoke the Branch Davidians to surrender, but it may have provoked David Koresh to order the mass-suicide.[45]


Danforth Report

The Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995 caused the media to revisit many of the questionable aspects of the government's actions at Waco, and many Americans who previously supported those actions began asking for an investigation.[97] By 1999—as a result of certain aspects of the documentaries discussed above, as well as allegations made by advocates for Branch Davidians during litigation—public opinion held that the federal government had engaged in serious misconduct at Waco. A Time poll conducted on August 26, 1999, for example, indicated that 61 percent of the public believed that federal law enforcement officials started the fire at the Branch Davidian complex. In September 1999, Attorney General Reno appointed former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth as Special Counsel to investigate the matter. In particular, the Special Counsel was directed to investigate charges that government agents started or spread the fire at the Mount Carmel complex, directed gunfire at the Branch Davidians, and unlawfully employed the armed forces of the United States. A yearlong investigation ensued, during which the Office of the Special Counsel interviewed 1,001 witnesses, reviewed over 2.3 million pages of documents, and examined thousands of pounds of physical evidence.

In the "Final report to the Deputy Attorney General concerning the 1993 confrontation at the Mt. Carmel Complex, Waco Texas" of November 8, 2000, Special Counsel Danforth concluded that the allegations were meritless. The report found, however, that certain government employees had failed to disclose during litigation against the Branch Davidians the use of pyrotechnic devices at the complex, and had obstructed the Special Counsel's investigation. Disciplinary action was pursued against those individuals. Allegations that the government started the fire were based largely on an FBI agent's having fired three "pyrotechnic" tear gas rounds, which are delivered with a charge that burns. The Special Counsel concluded that the rounds did not start or contribute to the spread of the fire, based on the finding that the FBI fired the rounds nearly four hours before the fire started, at a concrete construction pit partially filled with water, 75 feet (23 m) away and downwind from the main living quarters of the complex. The Special Counsel noted, by contrast, that recorded interceptions of Branch Davidian conversations included such statements as "David said we have to get the fuel on" and "So we light it first when they come in with the tank right [...] right as they're coming in." Branch Davidians who survived the fire acknowledged that other Branch Davidians started the fire. FBI agents witnessed Branch Davidians pouring fuel and igniting a fire, and noted these observations contemporaneously. Lab analysis found accelerants on the clothing of Branch Davidians, and investigators found deliberately punctured fuel cans and a homemade torch at the site. Based on this evidence and testimony, the Special Counsel concluded that the fire was started by the Branch Davidians.

Charges that government agents fired shots into the complex on April 19, 1993, were based on forward looking infrared (FLIR) video recorded by the Night Stalkers aircraft. These tapes showed 57 flashes, with some occurring around government vehicles that were operating near the complex. The Office of Special Counsel conducted a field test of FLIR technology on March 19, 2000, to determine whether gunfire caused the flashes. The testing was conducted under a protocol agreed to and signed by attorneys and experts for the Branch Davidians and their families, as well as for the government. Analysis of the shape, duration, and location of the flashes indicated that they resulted from a reflection off debris on or around the complex, rather than gunfire. Additionally, independent expert review of photography taken at the scene showed no people at or near the points from which the flashes emanated. Interviews of Branch Davidians, government witnesses, filmmakers, writers, and advocates for the Branch Davidians found that none had witnessed any government gunfire on April 19. None of the Branch Davidians who died on that day displayed evidence of having been struck by a high velocity round, as would be expected had they been shot from outside of the complex by government sniper rifles or other assault weapons.

In view of this evidence, the Special Counsel concluded that the claim that government gunfire occurred on April 19, 1993, amounted to "an unsupportable case based entirely upon flawed technological assumptions." The Special Counsel considered whether the use of active duty military at Waco violated the Posse Comitatus Act or the Military Assistance to Law Enforcement Act. These statutes generally prohibit direct military participation in law enforcement functions but do not preclude indirect support such as lending equipment, training in the use of equipment, offering expert advice, and providing equipment maintenance. The Special Counsel noted that the military provided "extensive" loans of equipment to the ATF and FBI, including—among other things—two tanks, the offensive capability of which had been disabled. Additionally, the military provided limited advice, training, and medical support. The Special Counsel concluded that these actions amounted to indirect military assistance within the bounds of applicable law. The Texas National Guard, in its state status, also provided substantial loans of military equipment, as well as performing reconnaissance flights over the Branch Davidian complex. Because the Posse Comitatus Act does not apply to the National Guard in its state status, the Special Counsel determined that the National Guard lawfully provided its assistance.

David Koresh's lawyer called the Danforth report a whitewash.[98] Ramsey Clark—a former U.S. Attorney General, who represented several Branch Davidian survivors and relatives in a civil lawsuit—said that the report "failed to address the obvious": "History will clearly record, I believe, that these assaults on the Mt. Carmel church center remain the greatest domestic law enforcement tragedy in the history of the United States."[99]

Equipment and manpower

Government agencies


• Raid (February 28): 75 federal agents (ATF and FBI); 3 helicopters manned by 10 Texas National Guardcounter-drug personnel as distraction during the raid and filming.[91][100] Ballistic protection equipment, fire retardant clothing, regular flashlights, regular cameras (i.e. flash photography), pump-action shotguns and flashbang grenades,[101] 9 mm handguns, 9 mm MP5 submachine guns, .223 AR-15 rifles, a .308 bolt-action sniper rifle.[102]
• Siege (March 1 through April 18): Hundreds of federal agents; 2 Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters.[103]
• Assault (April 19): Hundreds of federal agents; military vehicles (with their normal weapon systems removed): 9–10 M3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 4–5 M728 Combat Engineering Vehicles (CEVs) armed with CS gas, 2 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks, 1 M88 tank retriever.[100][103]
• Support:[100] 1 Britten-Norman Defender surveillance aircraft;[104] a number of Texas National Guard personnel for maintenance of military vehicles and training on the use of the vehicles and their support vehicles (Humvees and flatbed trucks); surveillance from Texas National Guard counter-drug UC-26 surveillance aircraft and from Alabama National Guard; 10 active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces (Delta Force) soldiers as observers and trainers (also present during assault); 2 senior U.S. Army officers as advisers, 2 members of the British Army's 22nd Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment as observers;[105] 50+ men in total.[106]

Branch Davidians

The Branch Davidians were well armed with small arms,[106][107] possessing 305 total firearms, including numerous rifles (semi-automatic AK-47s and AR-15s), shotguns, revolvers and pistols;[61][66][108] 46 semi-automatic firearms modified to fire in full automatic mode (included on above list): 22 AR-15 (erroneously referred to as M16), 20 AK-47, 2 HK SP-89, 2 M-11/Nine[66][108] Texas Rangers reported "at least 16 AR-15 rifles,";[61] 2 AR-15 lower receivers modified to fire in full automatic mode;[108] 39 "full auto sears" devices used to convert semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons; parts for fully automatic AK-47 and M16 rifles; 30-round magazines and 100-round magazines for M16 and AK-47 rifles; pouches to carry large ammunition magazines; substantial quantities of ammunition of various sizes.

Other items found at the compound included about 1.9 million rounds of "cooked off" ammunition;[61] grenade launcher parts; flare launchers; gas masks and chemical warfare suits; night vision equipment; hundreds of practice hand grenade hulls and components (including more than 200 inert M31 practice rifle grenades, more than 100 modified M-21 practice hand grenade bodies, 219 grenade safety pins and 243 grenade safety levers found after the fire);[108] Kevlar helmets and bulletproof vests; 88 lower receivers for the AR-15 rifle; and approximately 15 sound suppressors or silencers (the Treasury reports lists 21 silencers,[108] Texas Rangers report that at least six items had been mislabeled and were actually 40 mm grenades or flash bang grenades from manufacturers who sold those models to the ATF or FBI exclusively;[109][110] former Branch Davidian Donald Bunds testified he had manufactured silencers under direct orders of Koresh).[37]

The ATF knew that the Branch Davidians had a pair of .50 caliber rifles, so they asked for Bradley armored vehicles, which could resist that caliber.[111] During the siege, Koresh said that he had weapons bigger than .50 rifles and that he could destroy the Bradleys, so they were supplemented with two Abrams tanks and five M728 vehicles.[111][112] The Texas Rangers recovered at least two .50 caliber weapons from the remains of the compound.[61][66] There is the question of whether the Branch Davidians actually fired the .50 caliber rifles during the raid or during the assault. Various groups supporting gun bans, such as Handgun Control Incorporated and the Violence Policy Center have claimed that the Branch Davidians had used .50 caliber rifles and that therefore these types of firearms should be banned.[113][114] The ATF claims such rifles were used against ATF agents the day of the search. Several years later, the General Accounting Office, in response to a request from Henry Waxman, released a briefing paper titled "Criminal Activity Associated with .50 Caliber Semiautomatic Rifles" which repeated the ATF's claims that the Branch Davidians used .50 caliber rifles during the search.[115] FBI Hostage Rescue Team snipers reported sighting one of the weapons, readily identifiable by its distinctive muzzle brake, during the siege.[116]

Legacy

Oklahoma City bombing


Timothy McVeigh cited the Waco incident as a primary motivation[117] for the Oklahoma City bombing, his April 19, 1995, truck bomb attack that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a U.S. government office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, and destroyed or damaged numerous other buildings in the vicinity. The attack claimed 168 lives (including 19 children under age 6) and left over 600 injured in the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil prior to the September 11 attacks, and as of 2018 it remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history.[118] Within days after the bombing, McVeigh and Terry Nichols were both taken into custody for their roles in the bombing. Investigators determined that the two were both sympathizers of an anti-government militia movement and that their motive was to avenge the government's handling of the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents.[119] McVeigh testified that he chose the date of April 19 because it was the second anniversary of the deadly fire at Mount Carmel. In March 1993, McVeigh drove from Arizona to Waco in order to observe the federal standoff. Along with other protesters, he was photographed by the FBI.[120] A courtroom reporter also claims to have seen McVeigh outside the courthouse at Waco, selling anti-government bumper stickers.[121]

Events matching the date

Other events sharing the date of fire at Mt. Carmel have been mentioned in discussions of the Waco siege. Eight years prior to the Waco fire, the ATF and FBI raided another compound of a religious cult: The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. Some ATF agents who were present at that raid were present at Waco. The April 20, 1999, Columbine High School massacre might have been timed to mark either an anniversary of the FBI's assault at Waco or Adolf Hitler's birthday.[122] Some of the connections appear coincidental. April 19 was the date from the American Revolution's opening battles ("the shot heard round the world"). On April 17, 2013, a fertilizer plant exploded at West near Waco,[123] two days after the Boston Marathon bombings that some speculatively connected to an upcoming 20th anniversary of the Waco incident of 1993, as well as to an anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre of April 16, 2007.[124][125]
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

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Part 3 of 3

Media

The Waco siege has been the subject of numerous documentary films and books. The first film was a made-for-television docudrama film, In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco, which was made during the siege, before the April 19 assault on the church, and presented the government's view of the initial ambush of February 28, 1993. The writer, Phil Penningroth, has since disowned his screenplay.[126] The first book about the incident was 1993's Inside the Cult co-authored by ex-Branch Davidian Marc Breault, who left the group in September 1989, and Martin King who interviewed Koresh for Australian TV in 1992. In July 1993, true crime author Clifford L. Linedecker published his book Massacre at Waco, Texas. Shortly after, in 1994, a collection of 45 essays called From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco was published, about the events of Waco from various cultural, historical, and religious perspectives. The essays in the book include one by Michael Barkun that talked about how the Branch Davidians' behavior was consistent with other millenarian religious sects and how the use of the word cult is used to discredit religious organizations, one by James R. Lewis that discussed the large amount of evidence there was that the FBI lit the fires, and many others. All of these perspectives, however, are united in the belief that the deaths of the Branch Davidians at Waco could have been prevented and that "the popular demonization of nontraditional religious movements in the aftermath of Waco represents a continuing threat to freedom of religion".[127] Other scholarly articles after the tragedy also condemned the government's actions, especially on the day of the final siege, but also on the days leading up to it. An article by Stuart A. Wright that was published in Nova Religio discussed how the FBI mishandled the situation, saying that "there is no greater example of misfeasance than the failure of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to bring about a bloodless resolution to the 51-day standoff".[128] Some of Wright's major concerns about the operation include that the FBI officials, especially Dick Rogers, behaved increasingly aggressively and impatiently, when the conflict could have been resolved by more peaceful negotiation. He mentions that Dick Rogers said in an interview with the FBI that "[W]hen we started depriving them, [we were] really driving people closer to him [Koresh] because of their devotion to him",[128] which was different from what he said in the Department of Justice report. Because of these tactics, Wright says, pressure was added unnecessarily, creating conflict.

The first documentary film that was critical of the official reports were Waco, the Big Lie,[129] and Waco II, the Big Lie Continues, both produced by Linda Thompson. Thompson's films made a number of controversial allegations, the most famous of which was her claim that footage of an armored vehicle breaking through the outer walls of the compound, with an appearance of orange light on its front,[130] was showing a flamethrower attached to the vehicle, setting fire to the building. As a response to Thompson, Michael McNulty released footage to support his counter-claim that the appearance of light was a reflection on aluminized insulation that was torn from the wall and snagged on the vehicle. (The vehicle is an M728 CEV, which is not normally equipped with a flamethrower.[131]). McNulty accused Thompson of "creative editing" in his film Waco: An Apparent Deviation. Thompson worked from a VHS copy of the surveillance tape; McNulty was given access to a beta original. However, McNulty in turn was later accused of having digitally altered his footage, an allegation he denied.[132] The next film was Day 51: The True Story of Waco, produced by Richard Mosley and featuring Ron Cole, a self-proclaimed militia member from Colorado who was later prosecuted for weapons violations.[133] Thompson's and Mosley's films, along with extensive coverage given to the Waco siege on some talk radio shows, galvanized support for the Branch Davidians among some sections of the right including the nascent militia movement, while critics on the left also denounced the government siege on civil liberties grounds. America Wake Up (Or Waco) is a 2000 film by radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that documents the incident.

In 1997, filmmakers Dan Gifford and Amy Sommer produced their Emmy Award-winning documentary, Waco: The Rules of Engagement,[92] presenting a history of the Branch Davidian movement and a critical examination of the conduct of law enforcement, both leading up to the raid and through the aftermath of the fire. The film features footage of the Congressional hearings on Waco, and the juxtaposition of official government spokespeople with footage and evidence often directly contradicting the spokespeople. In the documentary, Dr. Edward Allard (who held patents on FLIR technology) maintained that flashes on the FBI's infra-red footage were consistent with grenade launcher and automatic small arms fire from FBI positions at the back of the complex toward the locations which would have been exits for Branch Davidians attempting to flee the fire. Waco: The Rules of Engagement was nominated for a 1997 Academy Award for best documentary and was followed by another film in 1999, Waco: A New Revelation.[134] In 2001, another Michael McNulty documentary, The F.L.I.R. Project, researched the aerial thermal images recorded by the FBI, and using identical FLIR equipment recreated the same results as were recorded by federal agencies April 19, 1993. Subsequent government-funded studies[135] contend that the infra-red evidence does not support the view that the FBI improperly used incendiary devices or fired on Branch Davidians. Infra-red experts continue to disagree and filmmaker Amy Sommer stands by the original conclusions presented in Waco: The Rules of Engagement.

The documentary The Assault on Waco was first aired in 2006 on the Discovery Channel, detailing the entire incident. A British-American documentary, Inside Waco, was produced jointly by Channel 4 and HBO in 2007, attempting to show what really happened inside by piecing together accounts from the parties involved. Branch Davidian survivor David Thibodeau wrote his account of life in the group and of the siege in the book A Place Called Waco, published in 1999. The City of God: A New American Opera, an opera by Joshua Armenta dramatizing the negotiations between the FBI and Koresh, premiered in 2012, utilizing actual transcripts from the negotiations as well as biblical texts and hymns from the Davidian hymnal.[136] In 2015, Retro Report released a mini documentary looking back at Waco and how it has fueled many right-wing militias.[137]

In 2011, the English indie rock band The Indelicates released their third album David Koresh Superstar. It is a concept album about Koresh and the Waco siege.[138]

In 2018, the Paramount Network aired a six-part miniseries based on the siege starring Michael Shannon and Taylor Kitsch.[139][140]

References

1. Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell Also Known as David Koresh, September 1993, PDF of actual report, p. 8.
2. Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell Also Known as David Koresh, September 1993, p. 1, 9, 11, 213.
3. Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell Also Known as David Koresh. September 1993. pp. 51, 77.
4. Justin Sturken and Mary Dore (February 28, 2007). "Remembering the Waco Siege". ABC News. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
5. Wright, Stuart A. (September 20, 1995). Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict. University of Chicago Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-226-90844-1.
6. JSmyrl, Vivian Elizabeth. "Elk, Texas". Handbook of Texas – Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
7. Ames, Eric S (May 4, 2009). Images of America WACO. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-7131-7.
8. Dick J. Reavis, The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), p.13. ISBN 0-684-81132-4
9. Gennaro Vito, Jeffrey Maahs,Criminology: Theory, Research, and Policy, Edition 3, revised, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2011, ISBN 0-7637-6665-8, 9780763766658, P. 340
10. "Scholars tackle "cult" questions 20 years after Branch Davidian tragedy – WacoTrib.com: Religion". WacoTrib.com. 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
11. [Psychotherapy Networker, March/April 2007, "Stairway to Heaven; Treating children in the crosshairs of trauma." Excerpt from the book The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz.
12. "Adventists kicked out cult, leader". Chicago Tribune. March 1993. After spending two years regrouping in Palestine, Texas, Koresh returned to Mt. Carmel ...
13. Jordan Bonfante in Los Angeles; Sally B. Donnelly in Waco; Michael Riley in Waco; Richard N. Ostling in New York (15 March 1993). "Cult of Death". TIME magazine (TIME.com). Retrieved November 1, 2010. It ended with Howell being driven from the sect at gunpoint. He briefly established his own desolate congregation, living with them in tents and packing crates in nearby Palestine, Texas.
14. Clifford L. Linedecker, Masscre at Waco, Texas, St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 70-76. ISBN 0-312-95226-0.
15. Marc Breault and Martin King, Inside the Cult, Signet, 1st Printing June 1993, ISBN 978-0-451-18029-2. (Australian edition entitled Preacher of Death).
16. Ashley Fantz. "Who was David Koresh? - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
17. Clifford L. Linedecker, Masscre at Waco, Texas, St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 94. ISBN 0-312-95226-0.
18. Ten years after Waco, People Weekly, April 28, 2003
19. Waco Tribune-Herald, "The Sinful Messiah", February 27, 1993.
20. Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians/Section 2|Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians: II. The ATF Investigation.
21. Steve Higgins (July 2, 1995). "The Waco Dispute – Why the ATF Had to Act". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
22. Neil Rawles (February 2, 2007). Inside Waco (Television documentary). Channel 4/HBO.
23. Marc Smith, "Agent allegedly refused Koresh's offer," Houston Chronicle, September 11, 1993; "Gun Dealer Alerted Koresh to ATF Probe, Lawyer Says," Houston Post, Associated Press, September 11, 1993.
24. Henry McMahon, Testimony, 1995 Congressional Hearings on Waco, part 1, pp. 162–63. Stuart H. Wright, Editor of Armageddon at Waco, and Robert Sanders, former ATF Deputy Director, also remarked on the ATF refusal of Koresh's offer in testimony.
25. Darlene McCormick, "Sheriff says he did not curb probe," Waco Tribune-Herald, October 10, 1993.
26. "Tripped Up By Lies: A report paints a devastating portrait of ATF's Waco planning – or, rather, the lack of it", Time, October 11, 1993.
27. Rep Hughes, William J. (1986). "H.AMDT.777 to H.R.4332". Library of Congress THOMAS. Retrieved August 3,2010.
28. Search Warrant W93-15M for the "residence of Vernon Wayne Howell, and others", signed by U.S. Judge or Magistrate Dennis G. Green, dated 25 February 1993 8:43 pm at Waco, Texas
29. Theodore H. Fiddleman, David B. Kopel (June 28, 1993). "TF's basis for the assault on Waco is shot full of holes – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms fatal attack on the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas – Column". Insight on the News. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
30. Cohen, W. S.; Reno, J. F.; Summers, L. H. (August 26, 1999). "Military Assistance Provided at Branch Davidian Incident" (PDF). Report to the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of the Treasury. United States General Accounting Office.
31. Thomas R. Lujan, "Legal Aspects of Domestic Employment of the Army," Parameters U.S. Army War College Quarterly, Autumn 1997, Vol. XXVII, No. 3.
32. Eric Christensen (June 18, 2001). "Reno's halfway house". Insight on the News.
33. Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell Also Known as David Koresh, September 1993, PDF of actual report, pp. 9–10.
34. Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell also known as David Koresh, September, 1993, p. 136-40.
35. Albert K Bates (Summer 1995). "Showtime At Waco". Communities Magazine. Thefarm.org. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
36. Jump up^ Clifford L. Linedecker, Massacre at Waco, Texas, St. Martin's Paperback's, July 1993. ISBN 978-0-86369-713-5.
37. "Agents prepared for worst before Waco raid". Associated Press. July 5, 2000. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
38. Davidian Criminal Trial Transcripts, Richardson – Cross (Mr. Rentz), pp. 2054–2055.
39. Bovard, James (May 15, 1995). "Not So Wacko", The New Republic: "Rolland Ballestros, one of the first ATF agents out of the cattle trucks, told Texas Rangers and Waco police shortly after the raid that he thought the first shots came from agents aiming at the Davidians' dogs."
40. House of Representatives report, "c. Pre-raid military assistance requested by ATF and assistance actually received". Also Section 4, chapters "1.3.5 5. True Army National Guard role only made clear 24 hours prior to the raid"and "1.5.2 2. Were shots fired from the helicopters?". Also final version of Danforth report, pages 24–25 (footnote 26), 33, 42–43, 132, 134.
41. Waco: The Rules of Engagement
42. Chuck Hustmyre, "Trojan Horse: Inside the ATF raid at Waco, Texas," TruTV Crime Library, 2003. An account by an ATF agent, Chuck Hustmyre, who was part of the raiding party.
43. William Gazecki (2003). Waco – The Rules of Engagement (Film documentary). New Yorker Video.
44. Coulson, Danny O & Shannon, Elaine, No Heroes ISBN 0-671-02062-5
45. "Report and Recommendations. Concerning the Handling of Incidents Such As the Branch Davidian Standoff in Waco Texas". October 10, 1993. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
46. FBI, "Project Megiddo," January 31, 2000, page 29; United States Department of Justice, "Operation Megiddo" November 2, 1999. A strategic assessment of the potential for domestic terrorism in the United States undertaken in anticipation of, or response to, the arrival of the new millennium.
47. Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell also known as David Koresh, September, 1993, Appendix D, 136–140.
48. FBI. "Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas/Child Abuse". Retrieved 2009-01-08.
49. Nick Davies (January 14, 1994). "Lost in America". The Guardian.
50. Waco: The Rules of Engagement contains several sequences taken from the FBI negotiation videotape.
51. PBS Frontline Waco Timeline from the government report "Evaluation of the Handling of the Branch Davidian Stand-off in Waco, Texas, February 28 to April 19, 1993" by Edward S. G. Dennis, Jr. October 8, 1993, at 11. Footage from this tape was later obtained and used in the documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement.
52. Testimony to the Subcommitee on National Security et al., loc cite. Congressional Record, July, 1995.
53. "U.S. ignores religion's fringes". USA Today. October 4, 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
54. Jump up^ Lee Hancock, "No Easy Answers: Law Authorities Puzzle over Methods to End Branch Davidians Siege," Dallas Morning News, April 15, 1993.
55. FBI. "Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas/Attitudes of Koresh and others in the Compound". Retrieved 2009-01-08.
56. Bill Clinton, My Life, Alfred A. Knopf, Vintage Books (Random House), ISBN 1-4000-3003-X, 2005. Pages 497–499.
57. "Joe Rosenbloom III, "Waco: More than Simple Blunders?," Wall Street Journal, October 17, 1995". Pbs.org. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
58. Interoffice Memorandum Memo to Bruce Casteel, Chief, Texas Rangers, from Earl R. Pearson, Captain, Texas Rangers, Company "A," dated September 3, 1999, in Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety, Branch Davidian Evidence, Investigative Report No. 2, January 2000.
59. Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety, Branch Davidian Evidence, Investigative Report No. 1, September 1999; Investigative Report No. 2, January 2000 (PDFs available at Texas Rangers website). The Army considers the M651 a pyrotechnic device and that it is known to cause fires, note that the Army does not have a formal definition for "pyrotechnic device" (from Casteel memo). Army Tech Manual for the M651 (TM 3-1310-243-10 January 1975) warns the M651 can penetrate 3/4" plywood at 200 meters and "projectile may explode upon target impact." During inventory of the Waco evidence the Texas Rangers also found flash bang grenades in FBI evidence envelopes labelled as Branch Davidian silencers.
60. "Tanks, chemicals couldn't break resolve of cultists", Associated Press, Washington Times, April 23, 1993.
61. "Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas/The Aftermath of the April 19 Fire ("The Fire Development Analysis" section)". Retrieved 2012-04-25.
62. Waco: The Rules of Engagement, 1997 film directed by William Gazecki, produced by Michael McNulty. Congressional testimony and interviews of Branch Davidian survivors David Thibodeau, Clive Doyle and Derek Lovelock.
63. David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story, Public Affairs 1999, ISBN 1-891620-42-8.
64. "Koresh's Top Aide Killed Cult Leader, FBI Official Says". highbeam.com. September 5, 1993.
65. Daniel Klaidman & Michael Isikoff (July 20, 1999), "A fire that won't die", Newsweek
66. cesnur.org "Final report to the Deputy Attorney General concerning the 1993 confrontation at the Mt. Carmel Complex, Waco Texas," by John C. Danforth, special counsel. Issued November 8, 2000
67. Newport, Kenneth G. C.The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect, 294–301 (The FBI transcript quote is on page 298.) (Oxford University Press, 2006). ISBN 0-19-924574-6, ISBN 978-0-19-924574-1
68. nytimes.com
69. A team of independent arson investigator assembled by the Texas Rangers. "Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas/Appendix D". Archived from the original on April 11, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2008.
70. "C. Identification of Bodies/Medical Examiner Reports". Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas. April 3, 1993. Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved April 2, 2008.
71. United States General Accounting Office, GAO Report to the House Subcommittee on Treasury, USE OF FORCE: ATF Policy, Training and Review Process Are Comparable to DEA's and FBI's, March 1996, page 49.
72. Mabin, Connie (April 19, 2000). "Branch Davidians hope a new church can close wounds". The Independent. London.
73. p. 7403 of the trial transcripts.
74. The British Waco survivors'- The Sunday Times December 14, 2008.
75. United States v. Branch
76. United States v. Castillo, 179 F.3d 321 (5th Cir. 1999)
77. Castillo v. United States, 530 U.S. 120 (2000)
78. Staff reports, "Davidians have prison terms cut", The Dallas Morning News, September 20, 2000.
79. Six Branch Davidians due for Release 13 Years After Waco Inferno, FoxNews, April 19, 2006; personal letter to Carol Moore from Livingstone Fagan, June 2007.
80. "United States vs. Branch". August 2, 1996 – via caselaw.findlaw.com.
81. https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_ca ... AMIJygAMAA
82. Zulaika, J. and W.A. Douglass. 1996. Terror and Taboo: The Follies, Fables, and Faces of Terrorism: Routledge.
83. Johnstone, Nick (December 12, 2004). "Beyond Belief". The Observer. London. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
84. Wright, S.A. 1995. Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict: University of Chicago Press.
85. Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas February 28 to April 19, 1993 (Report). United States Department of Justice. October 8, 1993. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
86. MacWilliams, Mark (2005). "Symbolic Resistance to the Waco Tragedy on the Internet". Nova Religio. University of California Press. 8 (3): 59–82. doi:10.1525/nr.2005.8.3.59.
87. Weitzman, Steven P. 2013. "Religious Studies and the FBI: Adventures in Academic Interventionism". Journal of the American Academy of Religion 81 (4): 959–995.
88. Gladwell, Malcolm (March 31, 2014). "Sacred and Profane". The New Yorker. New York. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
89. "James Bovard, "Not So Wacko", The New Republic, May 15, 1995". Jimbovard.com. 2007-04-19. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
90. Robert Bryce (August 18, 2000). "Prying Open the Case of the Missing Door". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
91. House investigators determined that "someone" at BATF lied to the military about the Davidians being involved with drugs in order to get U.S. Army Special Forces and other military aid, in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary at the Oversight Hearings on Federal Law Enforcement Conduct in Relation to the Branch Davidian Compound near Waco, Texas, and appended documents, Congressional Record, July, 1995.
92. "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" Official site of documentary.
93. House of Representatives report, Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians, Section 5, note 168: "ATF did not mention a drug lab or possession of illegal drugs as suspected crimes in its search warrant."
94. Diana R. Fuentes, "Davidian Told Grand Jury of Arming before the Raid," San Antonio Express-News, February 16, 1994, 4A.
95. Katherine Ramsland. "David Koresh: Millennial Violence". trutv.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2005. Retrieved August 4, 2008.
96. Graeme Craddock Testimony on Waco Fire, October 1999 civil suit deposition regarding April 19, 1993 fire at Branch Davidian home and church.
97. Brigitte Lebens Nacos (2002). Mass-mediated terrorism: the central role of the media in terrorism and counterterrorism(illustrated ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 168–169. ISBN 978-0-7425-1083-8.
98. Koresh's Lawyer Critical of Danforth Report Archived August 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine., UPI, July 22, 2000
99. Lichtblau, Eric (July 22, 2000). "Report Clears Feds in Deaths of Davidians". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 27,2010. (page 3 in the link)
100. Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians: V. Military involvement in the Government operations at WACO
101. House of Representatives report, Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians/Section 5, section about equipment for raiding a methamphetamine lab being used or not by ATF agents the day of the raid.
102. Hustmyre, Chuck. "Chuck Hustmyre, "Trojan Horse: Inside the ATF raid at Waco, Texas," TruTV Crime Library, 2003". Trutv.com. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
103. Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas Appendix B. List of Military Personnel and Equipment Archived March 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
104. FBI brings out secret electronics weapons as Waco siege drags on, by James Adams. The Sunday Times, p. 23, March 21, 1993
105. "SAS history and operations list". Sasspecialairservice.com. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
106. Evaluation of the Handling of the Branch Davidian Stand-off in Waco, Texas. (section "3. FBI Restraint")Archived May 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Edward S.G. Dennis, Jr.
107. Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas Archived March 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Appendix F Copy of indictment.
108. US Treasury Department July 13, 1995 Memorandum to the Press "Weapons Possessed by the Branch Davidians."
109. Part 1 of "Investigative Report #2," EXHNUM 001037, 001383, 001525, and also 000768, 002247, and 002248
110. "Texas Rangers Branch Davidian Evidence Reports", Texas Department of Public Safety, released online September 1999 and January 2000.
111. David Kopel. "Can Soldiers Be Peace Officers? The Waco Disaster and The Militarization of American Law Enforcement".
112. Victoria Loe (March 14, 1993). "FBI'S "A-Team" Plying Varied Skills in Sect Talks But Experts Say Obstacles Numerous". The Dallas Morning News.
113. Brady Campaign "Selling High Powered Military Weapons in the Suburbs" [1].
114. VPC Criminal Use of the .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 2, 2011. Retrieved 2009-03-22..
115. Office of Special Investigations, U.S. General Accounting Office, Briefing Paper: Criminal Activity Associated with .50 Caliber Semiautomatic Rifles, Number, presented to GAO/OSI-99-15R of the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, July 15, 1999 p. 5 [2].
116. Whitcomb, Christopher. Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. ISBN 0-552-14788-5
117. Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing (New York: ReganBooks, 2001); ISBN 0-06-039407-2
118. Prior to 9–11, the deadliest act of terror against the United States was the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 189 Americans.
119. Agent describes Waco video found in Nichols' home Archived June 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine., CNN and Associated Press, November 17, 1997. Retrieved March 15, 2008, "A key government witness, Michael Fortier, has testified that Nichols and Timothy McVeigh, his Army pal and convicted Oklahoma City bomber, began plotting the bombing in response to the government's deadly raid on the Branch Davidian compound." (see archived copy)
120. Vidal, Gore (2001). "The Meaning of Timothy McVeigh". Vanity Fair (September). Archived from the original on March 20, 2007.
121. Lopez, Pat. Presentation: OKC National Memorial. July 2012. DVD Recording. Oklahoma City National Memorial Center Archives, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Acc. No. 397.5.078.
122. "Boston, Oklahoma City, Waco: Why Patriots Day? - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
123. "Texas Explosion Casts Pall Over Waco – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
124. "Boston Marathon Explosion Date Evokes Oklahoma City, Columbine, Waco And Hitler's Birthday". Ibtimes.com. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
125. "Fox And CNN Speculate Link To Boston Marathon Bombing: Waco And Oklahoma City Were On Patriots' Day". Mediaite. 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
126. Penningroth, Phil (2001-08-25). "Righting Waco: Confessions of a Hollywood Propagandist < Killing the Buddha". Killingthebuddha.com. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
127. Lewis, James (1994-01-01). From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco. Rowman & Littlefield.
128. Wright, Stuart A. (2003-10). "A Decade After Waco: Reassessing Crisis Negotiations at Mount Carmel in Light of New Government Disclosures". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 7, No. 2. Check date values in: |date= (help)
129. Waco: The big lie, documentary, Google Video.
130. captainwess (November 10, 2010). "Bill Hicks Waco Bradley Tank Setting Fire To The Compound" – via YouTube.
131. Ewing, Phillip; Hoffman, Michael (May 30, 2009). "Flamethrowing Tanks Gave U.S. the Edge on Iwo Jima". Marine Corps Tankers Association. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
132. [3]
133. Day 51 Waco Tragedy Memorial & Information, link to film[dead link]
134. Waco: a new revelation, official site of the documentary.
135.
136. Larry Bangs, Review of "The City of God", DC Theatre Scene.com, July 15, 2012.
137. Retro Report. "The Shadow of Waco". Retro Report. Retro Report. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
138. "David Koresh Superstar". corporaterecords.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
139. "EPIC SCRIPTED EVENT SERIES "WACO," LANDS ON SPIKE TV". Spike. October 26, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
140. Pedersen, Erik (August 30, 2016). "Michael Shannon & Taylor Kitsch Topline Weinstein Co. Series 'Waco', Based On 1993 Siege". Deadline. Retrieved May 16, 2017.

Bibliography

Government investigations and hearings


• "Hearings before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress regarding Administration's fiscal year 1994 budget proposals for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, U.S. Tax Court, and Internal Revenue Service, April 22 and 28, 1993." Link to online and PDF versions.
• "Events surrounding the Branch Davidian cult standoff in Waco, Texas: hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, first session, April 28, 1993." Archive.org Link to online and PDF versions.
• "Raid on the Branch Davidian Compound, Waco, Texas. Hearing before House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations subcommittee on the Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations, June 9, 1993."
• "Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Rangers Branch Davidian Evidence Reports", released online September 1999 and January 2000.
• Texas Rangers Investigative Report, Branch Davidian Evidence, September 1999 34.6 MB PDF
• Texas Rangers Investigative Report No. 2, Branch Davidian Evidence, January 2000
• Report #2, Part 1
• Report #2, Part 2
• Report #2, Part 3
• Report #2, Part 4
• "Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell Also Known as David Koresh September 1993." archive.org, PDF
• Department of the Treasury, Memorandum to the Press "Weapons Possessed by the Branch Davidians" July 13, 1995.
• "Report to the Justice and Treasury Departments regarding law enforcement interaction with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas," by Nancy T. Ammerman, September 1993 and "s:Correspondence to Deputy Attorney General Heymann regarding Waco Report – Addendum" from Nancy T. Ammerman, September 10, 1993.
• "Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas" (redacted version), USDOJ, October 8, 1993. Also available from Department of Justice.
• "Lessons of Waco: Proposed changes in Federal Law Enforcement" by Philip B. Heymann Deputy Attorney General. October 8, 1993. (Washington: USDOJ, 1993). ISBN 0-16-042977-3 Also available from Department of Justice.
• "Evaluation of the Handling of the Branch Davidian Stand-off in Waco, Texas" (redacted version), Edward S.G. Dennis, Jr., USDOJ, October 8, 1993. Department of Justice version.
• "Recommendations of Experts for Improvements in Federal Law Enforcement after Waco," October 8, 1993 (Washington: USDOJ, 1993). ISBN 0-16-042974-9 (not available online)
• Wikicommons FBI photos of April 19, 1993 siege and fire at Mount Carmel
• "Branch Davidian Negotiation Transcript from April 18," the day before the 1993 FBI actions and the Mount Carmel fire.
• "Report and Recommendations. Concerning the Handling of Incidents Such As the Branch Davidian Standoff in Waco Texas", Alan A. Stone, M.D., November 10, 1993. (Also known as "Stone Report") (full copy including all documents, appendixes, press release, exhibits, etc.)
• "House of Representatives Report 104-749 – s:Activities of federal law enforcement agencies toward the Branch Davidians." Joint report by the House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and Committee on the Judiciary's July 2005 hearings. (Or see Government printing office PDF.)
• "Joint Hearings before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives and the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Secession." Part 1 – July 19, 20, 21, 24: PDF; Part 2 – July 25, 26, 27: PDF; Part 3 – July 28, 31, August 1: PDF
• "Department of Defense: Military Assistance During the Branch Davidian Incident," August 21, 2000 letter from Carol R. Schuster of National Security Preparedness Issues, to Dan Burton, Chairman of the Committee on Government Reform. PDF version
• "Remarks to Federal Law Enforcement" regarding the House hearings, July 20, 1995 by Bill Clinton
• "The aftermath of Waco: changes in federal law enforcement. Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress. October 31 and November 1, 1995." Link to online and PDF versions.
• "Final report to the Deputy Attorney General concerning the 1993 confrontation at the Mt. Carmel Complex, Waco Texas," by John C. Danforth, special counsel. Issued November 8, 2000. (Also known as the "Danforth Report.") (cesnur.org copy, linked from PBS report [4])
• "House Report 106-1037 – The Tragedy at Waco: New Evidence Examined, Committee on Government Reform. Thursday, December 28, 2000."
• Sacred and Profane: How not to negotiate with believers by Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker, March 31, 2014

Legal proceedings

• United States v. Branch, W.D. Texas Criminal Case No. 6:93cr46, trial transcript January 10, 1994 – February 26, 1994; 91 F.3d 699 (5th Cir. 1996)
• United States v. Castillo, 179 F.3d 321 (1999); Castillo v. United States, 120 S.Ct. 2090 (2000); on remand, 220 F.3d 648 (5th Cir. 2000)
• Andrade v. United States, W.D. Texas Civil Action No. W-96-CA-139, trial transcript June 19, 2000 – July 14, 2000; 116 F.Supp.2d 778 (W.D. Tex. 2000)
• Andrade v. Chojnacki, 338 F.3d 448 (5th Cir. 2003)
• Graeme Craddock Testimony on Waco Fire, October 1999 civil suit deposition regarding April 19, 1993 fire at Branch Davidian home and church.
Books[edit]
• Anthony, D. and T. Robbins (1997). "Religious totalism, exemplary dualism and the Waco tragedy." In Robbins and Palmer 1997, 261–284.
• Bell, Randall (2009). Strategy 360. Laguna Beach, CA: Owners Manual Press. ISBN 978-1-933969-16-9.
• Christopher Whitcomb. Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. ISBN 0-552-14788-5. (Also covers Ruby Ridge.)
• Docherty, Jayne Seminare. Learning Lessons From Waco: When the Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table(Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2001). ISBN 0-8156-2751-3
• Kerstetter, Todd. "'That's Just the American Way': The Branch Davidian Tragedy and Western Religious History," Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 4, Winter 2004.
• Kopel, David B. and Paul H. Blackman. No More Wacos: What's Wrong With Federal Law Enforcement and How to Fix It(Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1997). ISBN 1-57392-125-4
• Lewis, James R. (ed.). From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 1994). ISBN 0-8476-7915-2 (cloth) ISBN 0-8476-7914-4 (paper)
• Linedecker, Clifford L. Massacre at Waco, Texas: The Shocking Story of Cult Leader David Koresh and the Branch Davidians (New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1993). ISBN 0-312-95226-0
• Lynch, Timothy. No Confidence: An Unofficial Account of the Waco Incident (Washington: Cato Institute, 2001).
• Moore, Carol. The Davidian Massacre: Disturbing Questions About Waco Which Must Be Answered." (Virginia: Gun Owners Foundation, 1995). ISBN 1-880692-22-8
• Newport, Kenneth G. C. "The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect" (Oxford University Press, 2006). ISBN 0-19-924574-6, ISBN 978-0-19-924574-1
• Reavis, Dick J. The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995). ISBN 0-684-81132-4
• Tabor, James D. and Eugene V. Gallagher. Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995). ISBN 0-520-20186-8
• Thibodeau, David and Leon Whiteson. A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story (New York: PublicAffairs, 1999). ISBN 1-891620-42-8
• Wright, Stuart A. (ed.). Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:22 am

Mayaguez Affair
Excerpt From "A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present"
by Howard Zinn

The following month came the Mayaguez affair.

The Mayaguez was an American cargo ship sailing from South Vietnam to Thailand in mid-May 1975, just three weeks after the victory of the revolutionary forces in Vietnam. When it came close to an island in Cambodia, where a revolutionary regime had just taken power, the ship was stopped by the Cambodians, taken to a port at a nearby island, and the crew removed to the mainland. The crew later described their treatment as courteous: "A man who spoke English greeted us with a handshake and welcomed us to Cambodia." The press reported: "Captain Miller and his men all say they were never abused by their captors. There were even accounts of kind treatment -- of Cambodian soldiers feeding them first and eating what the Americans left, of the soldiers giving the seamen the mattresses off their beds." But the Cambodians did ask the crew about spying and the CIA.

President Ford sent a message to the Cambodian government to release the ship and crew, and when thirty-six hours had elapsed and there was no response (the message had been given to the Chinese liaison mission in Washington, but was returned the next day, "ostensibly undelivered," one press account said), he began military operations -- U.S. planes bombed Cambodian ships. They strafed the very boat that was taking the American sailors to the mainland.

The men had been detained on a Monday morning. On Wednesday evening the Cambodians released them -- putting them on a fishing boat headed for the American fleet. That afternoon, knowing the seamen had been taken off Tang Island, Ford nevertheless ordered a marine assault on Tang Island. That assault began about 7:15 Wednesday evening, but an hour earlier the crewmen were already headed back to the American fleet. About 7:00 P.M. the release had been announced on the radio in Bangkok. Indeed, the boat carrying the returned crewmen was spotted by a U.S. reconnaissance plane that signaled them.

Not mentioned in any press account at the time or in any government statement was a fact that emerged in October 1976 when the General Accounting Office made a report on the Mayaguez affair: the U.S. had received a message from a Chinese diplomat saying China was using its influence with Cambodia on the ship "and expected it to be released soon." This message was received fourteen hours before the marine assault began.

No American soldier was hurt by the Cambodians. The marines invading Tang Island, however, met unexpectedly tough resistance, and of two hundred invaders, one-third were soon dead or wounded (this exceeded the casualty rate in the World War II invasion of Iwo Jima). Five of eleven helicopters in the invasion force were blown up or disabled. Also, twenty-three Americans were killed in a helicopter crash over Thailand on their way to participate in the action, a fact the government tried to keep secret. All together, forty-one Americans were killed in the military actions ordered by Ford. There were thirty-nine sailors on the Mayaguez. Why the rush to bomb, strafe, attack? Why, even after the ship and crew were recovered, did Ford order American planes to bomb the Cambodian mainland, with untold Cambodian casualties? What could justify such a combination of moral blindness and military bungling?

The answer to this came soon: It was necessary to show the world that giant America, defeated by tiny Vietnam, was still powerful and resolute. The New York Times reported on May 16, 1975:

Administration officials, including Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, were said to have been eager to find some dramatic means of underscoring President Ford's stated intention to "maintain our leadership on a world-wide basis." The occasion came with the capture of the vessel.... Administration officials ... made it clear that they welcomed the opportunity....


Another press dispatch from Washington, in the midst of the Mayaguez events, said: "High-ranking sources familiar with military strategy and planning said privately that the seizure of the vessel might provide the test of American determination in Southeast Asia that, they asserted, the U.S. had been seeking since the collapse of allied governments in South Vietnam and Cambodia."

Columnist James Reston wrote: "In fact, the Administration almost seems grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate that the President can act quickly.... Officials here have been bridling over a host of silly taunts about the American 'paper tiger' and hope the Marines have answered the charge."

It was not surprising that Secretary of Defense Schlesinger called it a "very successful operation," done "for purposes that were necessary for the well-being of this society." But why would the prestigious Times columnist James Reston, a strong critic of Nixon and Watergate, call the Mayaguez operation "melodramatic and successful"? And why would the New York Times, which had criticized the Vietnam war, talk about the "admirable efficiency" of the operation?

What seemed to be happening was that the Establishment -- Republicans, Democrats, newspapers, television -- was closing ranks behind Ford and Kissinger, and behind the idea that American authority must be asserted everywhere in the world.

Congress at this time behaved much as it had done in the early years of the Vietnam war, like a flock of sheep. Back in 1973, in a mood of fatigue and disgust with the Vietnam war, Congress had passed a War Powers Act that required the President, before taking military action, to consult with Congress. In the Mayaguez affair, Ford ignored this -- he had several aides make phone calls to eighteen Congressmen to inform them that military action was under way. But, as I.F. Stone said (he was the maverick journalist who published the anti-Establishment I.F. Stone's Weekly), "Congress raped as easily as it did in the Tonkin Gulf affair." Congressman Robert Drinan of Massachusetts was an exception. Senator McGovern, Nixon's presidential opponent in 1972 and longtime antiwar critic, opposed the action. So did Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Senator Edward Brooke raised questions. Senator Edward Kennedy did not speak out, nor did other Senators who during the Vietnam war had influenced Congress to ban further military action in Indochina but now said their own legislation did not apply.

Secretary of State Kissinger would say: "We are forced into this." When Kissinger was asked why the U.S. was risking the lives of the Mayaguez seamen by firing on ships in the area without knowing where they were, he called it a "necessary risk."

Kissinger also said the incident "ought to make clear that there are limits beyond which the United States cannot be pushed, that the United States is prepared to defend those interests, and that it can get public support and congressional support for these actions."

Indeed, Congressmen, Democrats as well as Republicans, who had been critical of the Vietnam war now seemed anxious to pull things together in a unified show of strength to the rest of the world. A week before the Mayaguez affair (two weeks before Saigon fell), fifty-six Congressmen had signed a statement saying: "Let no nation read the events in Indochina as the failure of the American will." One of them was a black Congressman from Georgia, Andrew Young.

It was a complex process of consolidation that the system undertook in 1975. It included old-type military actions, like the Mayaguez affair, to assert authority in the world and at home. There was also a need to satisfy a disillusioned public that the system was criticizing and correcting itself. The standard way was to conduct publicized investigations that found specific culprits but left the system intact. Watergate had made both the FBI and the CIA look bad -- breaking the laws they were sworn to uphold, cooperating with Nixon in his burglary jobs and illegal wiretapping. In 1975, congressional committees in the House and Senate began investigations of the FBI and CIA.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:32 am

Donald G. Cook
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/31/18

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Image
Donald G. Cook
General Donald G. Cook
Born 1946 (age 71–72)
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Air Force
Years of service 1969-2005
Rank General
Commands held Air Education and Training Command
20th Air Force
45th Space Wing
21st Space Wing
Awards Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Merit (2)
Other work Board of Directors, Burlington Northern Santa Fe

Donald G. Cook is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as Commander, Air Education and Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas from 2001 to 2005.

Cook entered the Air Force in 1969 through the ROTC program at Michigan State University. He completed undergraduate pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. He has commanded a flying training wing, two space wings and the 20th Air Force. He has served as Legislative Liaison in the Senate Liaison Office, on the staff of the House Armed Services Committee, and as Director for Expeditionary Aerospace Force Implementation at U.S. Air Force headquarters. Prior to assuming command of Air Education and Training Command, he was assigned to Air Combat Command as Vice Commander. He is a command pilot and has flown more than 3,300 hours in the B-52D/G/H, T-37B and T-38A.

After retirement, Cook was elected to the Board of Directors of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, Crane Corporation, HawkerBeechcraft Corporation and USAA Federal Savings Bank.[1]

Education

• 1969 Bachelor of Science degree in communication arts, Michigan State University
• 1975 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
• 1976 Master's degree in business administration, Southern Illinois University
• 1982 Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia
• 1987 Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
• 1996 National Security Leadership Course, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, and School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Assignments

• December 1969 - December 1970, student, undergraduate pilot training, Williams AFB, Arizona
• January 1971 - April 1972, T-37 instructor pilot, Webb AFB, Texas
• April 1972 - March 1974, T-37 instructor pilot, Moody AFB, Georgia
• March 1974 - June 1974, B-52 training, Castle AFB, California
• June 1974 - June 1978, aircraft commander and instructor pilot, 2nd Bomb Squadron, later, Chief of Mission Development and Chief of Training Flight, 22nd Bomb Wing, March AFB, California
• June 1978 - August 1981, resource manager, Chief, Special Actions Division, and assistant for Colonel Assignments, Headquarters Air Force Military Personnel Center, Randolph AFB, Texas
• January 1982 - March 1984, Chief, Program Evaluation Division, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt AFB, Nebraska
• October 1984 - June 1986, Commander, 325th Bomb Squadron, Fairchild AFB, Washington
• July 1986 - June 1987, student, Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Alabama
• August 1987 - November 1987, Chief, Special Activities Division, Headquarters U.S. Air Force Programs and Resources, Washington, D.C.
• November 1987 - November 1988, Air Force Representative to the House Armed Services Committee, Washington, D.C.
• November 1988 - July 1989, Deputy Commander for Operations, 7th Bombardment Wing, Carswell AFB, Texas
• July 1989 - June 1990, Vice Commander, 7th Bombardment Wing, Carswell AFB, Texas
• June 1990 - July 1991, Commander, 3415th Air Base Group, Lowry AFB, Colorado
• July 1991 - July 1992, Commander, 47th Flying Training Wing, Laughlin AFB, Texas
• August 1992 - August 1993, Chief, Senate Liaison Office, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force for Legislative Liaison, Washington, D.C.
• August 1993 - January 1995, Commander, 21st Space Wing, Peterson AFB, Colorado
• January 1995 - August 1995, Commander, 45th Space Wing, Patrick AFB, Florida
• August 1995 - June 1996, Director of Operations, Headquarters Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colorado
• June 1996 - September 1998, Commander, 20th Air Force, Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming
• September 1998 - July 1999, Director for Expeditionary Aerospace Force Implementation, Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
• July 1999 - June 2000, Vice Commander, Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colorado
• June 2000 - December 2001, Vice Commander, Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, Virginia
• December 2001 - 2005, Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas

Flight information

• Rating: Command pilot
• Flight hours: More than 3,300
• Aircraft flown: B-52D/G/H, T-37B and T-38A

Awards and decorations

US Air Force Command Pilot Badge
Command Space and Missile Operations Badge
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Legion of Merit with two bronze oak leaf clusters
Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with two bronze oak leaf clusters
Combat Readiness Medal
National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star
Air Force Longevity Service Award with silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters
Air Force Training Ribbon

Effective dates of promotion

• Second Lieutenant November 26, 1969
• First Lieutenant May 26, 1971
• Captain November 26, 1972
• Major July 1, 1981
• Lieutenant Colonel March 1, 1984
• Colonel July 1, 1988
• Brigadier General August 1, 1993
• Major General September 1, 1996
• Lieutenant General October 6, 1999
• General December 17, 2001

References

1. BNSF Elects Air Force Gen. Donald G. Cook (Ret.) To Its Board
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:38 am

James R. Joy
by militarytimes.com
Accessed: 3/31/18

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James Joy was commissioned in the Marine Corps in 1957 upon graduation from Northwestern Missouri State University. He retired as a U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General in 1996.

AWARDS BY DATE OF ACTION:

Defense Superior Service Medal
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Peace Time Awards
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Brigadier General
GENERAL ORDERS:
CITATION:
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Brigadier General James R. Joy, United States Marine Corps, was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal for exceptionally superior service to the Defense Department of the United States.

Legion of Merit
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Vietnam War
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Brigadier General
GENERAL ORDERS:
CITATION:
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Brigadier General James R. Joy, United States Marine Corps, was awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States.

Legion of Merit
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Peace Time Awards
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Brigadier General
GENERAL ORDERS:
CITATION:
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Brigadier General James R. Joy, United States Marine Corps, was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States.

Legion of Merit
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Peace Time Awards
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Brigadier General
GENERAL ORDERS:
CITATION:
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Brigadier General James R. Joy, United States Marine Corps, was awarded a Second Gold Star in lieu of a Third Award of the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States.

Legion of Merit
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Peace Time Awards
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Brigadier General
GENERAL ORDERS:
CITATION:
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Brigadier General James R. Joy, United States Marine Corps, was awarded a Third Gold Star in lieu of a Fourth Award of the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States.
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sun Apr 01, 2018 4:16 am

Ode to Jim Joy '57: Retired Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps
by Mitzi Lutz
Photography by Darren Whitley
Northwest Alumni Magazine
July, 2005

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Image

Let's be clear about something: Jim Joy is a man of his word.

As a retired brigadier general from the United States Marines Corps, he's one of those true Americans who has put himself in harm's way to protect his country. He's an old-fashioned, Missouri-born, tell-it-like-it-is guy. But don't believe him when he says "Marines don't smile."

For one thing, he has many, many reasons to smile. He has a wonderful family. He’s healthy, retired and plays golf three days a week. He survived two tours and two ferocious attacks in Vietnam. He was called upon by the President of the United States to take charge of a situation following one of the nation’s darkest moments. He was the leader of a multimillion-dollar organization. He served nearly 20 years on the United States Olympic Committee.

Joy’s life has been a series of challenges – from professional to personal – that brought him to a place where, really, he has plenty to smile about.

 MISSION: MARINES

Image

JOY AS A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR, 1953.

Jim Joy loves sports, but as a kid growing up in the small town of Conception Junction, he never played on a football team. But his road to the Marines, where he would have a distinguished career, would begin on the gridiron.

During high school, Joy was such an athlete that he caught the attention of Bearcat football coach Ryland Milner who recruited him to play for Northwest. Joy, at 5-foot-7 and barely 150 pounds, accepted the offer and played for three years.

“I worked on the railroad in the summer and told the foreman I wanted to carry the jack and the handle all the time so I could get in shape,” he said. “Everyone laughed because it was more than 100 pounds! They thought I’d last maybe three days. Well, I lasted all summer, and needless to say, I was in excellent shape.”

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 JOY’S FINAL ASSIGNMENT AS AN ACTIVE MARINE WAS SPEARHEADING THE MARINE CORPS RECRUITING EFFORT FROM 1985 TO 1988.

Joy didn’t receive much playing time as a Bearcat, but it didn’t stop him from receiving a little ribbing from his teammates.

“I guess it was a combination of my Indian ancestors and the sound I made every time I was hit on the football field, because they gave me the nickname Chief Ugh,” he said.

The “chief” knew he wanted to become a high school coach, but first he was determined to become a Marine.

“Several of the Bearcat football players I watched before I came to Northwest were Marines, including Paul Tobin who was a co-captain, and about a dozen of the guys on the team when I was a freshman were in the Marine officer program,” Joy said. “There was no draft going on at the time, but the Marines struck my fancy – their spirit, their determination.”

After he graduated from Northwest in 1957, Joy, who later earned two master’s degrees, intended on staying in the military for three years. He miscalculated by 28 years.

MISSION: FAMILY

Image
SINCE THEIR DAYS TOGETHER AT NORTHWEST, JIM AND PATTY JOY HAVE STOOD BY EACH OTHER DESPITE THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CHALLENGES THEY’VE BEEN DEALT. TODAY, THEY LIVE IN ROGERS, ARK., AND ENJOY SPENDING TIME WITH THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.

Following his college graduation, Joy headed to the First Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, Calif., and married his college sweetheart, Patty New ’58. Patty taught elementary school until their first child was born in 1961. But during childbirth, Patty, at age 25, suffered a cerebral incident that left her unable to talk and the right side of her body paralyzed – a condition from which she would never fully recover.

“Patty needed the best medical attention in the country at the time. For her to receive that, I knew I needed to stay in the Marine Corps,” Joy said. “She could get great speech and physical therapy in Washington, D.C., so in 1963 the Marine Corps transferred us to that area.”

Because of her mother’s paralysis and loss of speech, Joy’s oldest daughter, Amy, became a speech therapist and lives in Virginia. Their youngest daughter, Abby, is an executive for Wal-Mart and lives just a few miles from her parents in Rogers, Ark.

Joy said the toughest part of his military career was being separated from family.

“I had two yearlong tours in Vietnam and another six months in Lebanon,” he said. “I had the reputation in the Marines of being cool under fire, and my men always knew I was in charge, but being away from your family is tough on anyone.”

MISSION: VIETNAM

Image
IN 1966, JOY, NOW A FATHER OF TWO YOUNG DAUGHTERS, GOT HIS ORDERS FOR HIS FIRST TOUR IN VIETNAM.

Joy’s first tour in Vietnam was in 1966-67 as a company commander. In 1971- 72, he returned to Vietnam as an adviser with the Vietnamese Marines where he was involved in two heavy battles.

His involvement in the Easter Offensive (when the North Vietnamese Army launched a large-scale attack on the South) is chronicled in the book “The Easter Offensive, The Last American Advisors.”

“In a three-day period, all of the Vietnamese Army regiments were overrun, and then our Vietnamese Marine brigade had to evacuate our fire bases and make about a 25-kilometer march over very rugged terrain,” Joy said. “It was a very harrowing experience, and we lost half of the brigade – they were either killed or captured.”

After being reequipped and receiving new personnel, Joy and his comrades were thrown back into battle.

“Believe it or not, the same thing happened again just a few months later,” he said. “We had to start a counter attack and the next thing we know, there’s no one between us and the North Vietnamese and the DMZ. All of the Vietnamese Army units fell back and left our brigade facing the North.”

Joy and his troops had to evacuate again, and things went from bad to worse. “We were under a tank and infantry attack,” he said. “There were only about five of us Americans left between North Vietnam and South Vietnam when we were finally extracted by helicopter under a very, very dire situation. We really thought we may be going to the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ and joining the other Americans whose planes we saw being shot down.”

Joy is confident one of the reasons he advanced through the military ranks to brigadier general is due to his heavy combat experience. This experience would be put to use when he received an assignment from the Commandant of the Marine Corps General P.X. Kelley and President Ronald Reagan in 1983.

MISSION: LEBANON

Image
JOY’S TROOPS IN LEBANON WERE VISITED BY MANY ENTERTAINERS IN 1983, INCLUDING BOB HOPE (LEFT, WITH JOY), CHARLTON HESTON AND BROOKE SHIELDS.

The intensity of the battles Joy faced in Vietnam would pale in comparison to his assignment in Lebanon.

“You have defining moments in your life,” Joy said. “I’ve had several of these – Patty’s bad illness, the big battles in Vietnam, and in 1983 when I was selected by President Reagan to go over and take charge in Lebanon following one of the darkest days in the history of our country when 241 Marines were killed.”

Before departing for Lebanon to secure the safety of the U.S. military and to complete his mission, Joy and his wife met with President Reagan.

“He gave me quite a pep talk,” Joy said. “It was like talking to your grandfather. He said ‘Jim, I’m very proud of you, and we don’t want to lose any more Marines over there.’”

Joy had his orders, but he didn’t know what the future held.

Image

“The situation in Beirut was the most challenging thing I’ve ever had to undertake,” he said. “If you look at some of the pictures from Beirut, you can see that I’m very tired. I was working 20 hours a day for six months solid. I later learned my men called me “Raccoon Eyes” because I had such dark circles under my eyes. When you’re in combat, you may have a battle that lasts a couple of days, but you don’t have battles that last six months where you’re under excruciating pressure. It was hardball.”

When Joy and his troops left six months later – although difficult for Joy to accept – 12 more Marines had been killed. Because of his stellar service, the president of Lebanon awarded him the Order of Cedar, the highest award the government gives to any foreign officer. He also received the U.S. Department of Defense Superior Service Medal.

SPOTLIGHT: LEBANON, 1983

Image
JOY WAS PRESENTED THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SUPERIOR SERVICE MEDAL BY MAJ. GEN. STEVE OLMSTEAD

Image
THE DAY AFTER HE RETURNED FROM LEBANON, JOY FOUND HIS WAY TO THE NEAREST GOLF COURSE.

■ U.S. Marines were in Lebanon to secure peace to the city of Beirut and to prevent the area from becoming a battlefield following a civil war among the Christians, Muslims and Palestinians. On Oct. 23, 1983, a truck packed with explosives blew up a Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport killing 241 Marines.

■ In November 1983, Joy was appointed the first commanding general of the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit in Lebanon, and in February 1984 he became the commander of the Joint Task Force, Lebanon.
 
MISSION: LIFE AS A CIVILIAN

Image
Image
JOY WAS FEATURED ON THE COVER OF MILITARY MARKET MAGAZINE IN 1988 WHEN HE BECAME THE DIRECTOR OF THE MARINE CORPS MWR PROGRAMS.

■ Director of the Marine Corps Morale Welfare and Recreation programs, 1988-1996

■ MWR programs, now called Marine Corps Community Services, aim to improve the quality of life for Marines and their families by providing recreation programs and family services such as libraries, dry cleaners, convenience stores, bowling alleys, fitness centers and childcare facilities

■ From 1988 to 2005, Joy was a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, serving in several capacities on the Olympic Foundation as well as the audit, budget, nominating and executive committees

■ Currently lives in Rogers, Ark., and works parttime as a consultant

Image
JOY’S MANY MEDALS ARE A TESTAMENT TO HIS DISTINGUISHED MILITARY CAREER
 
Image
JOY WEARS HIS U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE BLAZER AS A PROUD REMINDER OF NEARLY 20 YEARS OF SERVICE TO AMERICAN ATHLETES.

Joy’s passion for his profession continued following his retirement from active duty in June 1988 where he had most recently been spearheading the Marine Corps recruiting effort. For the next eight years, he served as the director of the Marine Corps Morale Welfare and Recreation programs.

“I took off my uniform one day and put on a suit the very next day, but fortunately, I was able to work with the same people I had worked with for the previous 31 years,” he said.

Joy, who now had to learn his way around Capitol Hill, had a big job ahead of him, constructing a new organization by putting four separate entities into one large $750 million business, the MWR.

“Funds were available for things like libraries and fitness centers because they’re tied into the mission of developing Marines,” Joy said, “but 90 percent of my budget was from nonappropriated funds. Money for things like golf courses, marinas and stables had to be generated the old fashioned way – by earning it.”

Image
THOUGH RETIRED FROM TWO CAREERS, JOY, PICTURED IN HIS HOME OFFICE, REMAINS BUSY AS A PART-TIME CONSULTANT.

Also about the time Joy retired from active duty, the Olympic Committee was looking for volunteers with experience managing big organizations and big budgets, and Joy’s leadership skills caught the committee’s attention. He also knew how to speak his mind.

“It all boils down to common sense and being able to articulate your position,” Joy said. “With the Olympics, I kind of had the reputation of being a bulldog, but at the same time I’m an eternal optimist. I think it goes back to my days on the battlefield during Vietnam and Lebanon. Even though there were some very difficult situations, I never gave up or thought I wouldn’t make it.”

Likewise, Jim and Patty Joy have never given up on their devotion to each other and are looking forward to their retirement years.

“I’m going to phase down my consulting business and take care of ‘grandma,’” Joy said. “When you’ve been as busy as I have, it’s hard to just stop. I’ll still be active and keep my fingers in the Olympics. Patty and I will do some traveling and enjoy the grandkids, and I’ll continue to golf, hunt and fish.”

After a lifetime of service, Joy, a true American and dedicated family man, has a lot to look forward to. And that’s certainly something to smile about. ■
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Re: Mrs. Kay Griggs on How the Government Works

Postby admin » Sat Oct 06, 2018 1:22 am

Part 1 of 2

Secret Honor
directed by Robert Altman
© Sandcastle 5 Productions, Inc., 1984
© 2004 The Criterion Collection
[Transcribed from the movie by Tara Carreon]

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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This work is a fictional meditation concerning the character of and events in the history of Richard M. Nixon, who is impersonated in this film.

The dramatist’s imagination has created some fictional events in an effort to illuminate the character of President Nixon.

This film is not a work of history or a historical recreation. It is a work of fiction, using as a fictional character a real person, President Richard M. Nixon – in an attempt to understand.


[Clock Chiming]

SANDCASTLE 5 PRODUCTIONS, INC.
in cooperation with
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION
and the
LOS ANGELES ACTORS’ THEATRE
presents
PHILIP BAKER HALL
in
SECRET HONOR
A Political Myth

[Door Lock Unlocking]

Musical Score by GEORGE BURT
Art Director STEPHEN ALTMAN
Editor JULIET WEBER
Director of Photography PIERRE MIGNOT
Associate Director ROBERT HARDERS
Executive Producer SCOTT BUSHNELL
Written by DONALD FREED and ARNOLD M. STONE
Produced and Directed by ROBERT ALTMAN

[President Richard Nixon] Um, testing. Uh, one, two, three, four.

[Motor Winding, Click]

[President Richard Nixon] [Takes a tape out of his pocket, inserts it, and pushes the record button]
Uh, testing. Uh, one, two, three.
Uh, uh, uh, four.
[Pushes buttons]

[Tape: Classical, Harpsichord]

[President Richard Nixon] [Pushes button and turns music off]
[Pushes button]
Uh, testing. Uh, one, two, three, four.
Uh, Roberto, I told you before …
that this thing doesn’t, uh – because there’s no –
because the, uh, uh – You know.
[Pushes buttons]

[Tape: Classical, Harpsichord]

[President Richard Nixon] [Turns it off]
Cocksucker!
[Takes machine instructions out of his desk, reads them, pushes buttons]
Uh, testing. Uh, one, two, three, four.
Uh, Roberto, this is for, uh …
eyes only.
Um, our eyes.
Uh –
[Reads machines instructions and pushes more buttons]

[Tape: Classical, Harpsichord]

[President Richard Nixon] [Pushes button, music stops]

[On Tape] Uh, testing. Uh, one, two, three, four.
Uh, Roberto, this is for, uh …
eyes only.
Um, our eyes.
Uh –
[Tape: Classical, Harpsichord]
[Continues]

[President Richard Nixon] [Pushes button, music stops]
Okay, Roberto …
would you, uh – would you send, uh –
call Mr. Stein at my publishers …
to pick up that, uh, package that I gave you.
Oh! Oh, yes.
Would you also tell Mrs. Nixon that I, um –
Never mind.
Oh! Oh, yes.
I, uh, I-I hear that the gardener’s wife – that Fernando’s wife is in the hospital.
Would you send her a, uh, u-uh –
Send her a new portable radio, please. Uh, make it a good one.
And, oh, uh, don’t – uh, don’t – don’t tell her that it’s from, uh –
I would – I would rather that she didn’t, uh – just make it, uh, anonymous. I –
No! No, no, no, no, no. Say that, um –
Uh, say that it is from Friends of a Free Cuba.
[Chuckles] Cuba libre.
Okay, uh, side one.
Um, day and date, um, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
I’ll, um – I’ll write the, um, um, uh – the prayer f—
Uh, the, um, uh – the plea f—
the prologue –
You know. Um –
Okay, uh –
[Clears Throat] Your Honor …
may we take the matter of the, uh, pardon first?
Uh – [Scoffs] It was a complete fake.
It solved nothing because, uh, well …
if there had been a trial and all the rest of it –
Well, you know, if I had gone to prison, I would be a free man today.
A free man!
Now, the word “pardon” has two definitions.
First, there is the legal aspect, which is to …
excuse a convicted man from punishment.
Then there is the general definition of the word “pardon” …
which is to forgive.
[Hisses] "Forgive."
[Laughs]
Forgive them before they ever forgive me.
Bastards. Fuck 'em!
Son of a bitches. [Chuckles]
Your Honor...
my client has been driven almost mad...
because he has had to carry the most terrible secrets of all...
locked up inside his, uh, uh, breaking heart...
and, uh, uh, beating mind.
Now, you have read in the press...
the reasons for the Watergate affair.
Today my client is going to reveal to you...
the reasons behind the reasons.
You, ladies and gentlemen of the American jury...
shall look at the face that is under the mask that is --
that is under the mask!

[Chuckling]
You alone shall judge his life.
Your Honor, my client has never been convicted of anything...
therefore, technically, he was not qualified for a pardon.
Now, as to the definition of the word “pardon"-
Look, there's been no forgiveness here.
The whole damn thing has been a sham.
There's been no trial, no legal conviction, no punishment.
Instead, Your Honor, my client has had to suffer...
lifelong personal punishment and, uh, torment...
for what has been called, the, uh -- [Scoffs] good of the nation.
Look, if the nation knew the real truth...
why, I would be in the position of, uh, of de Gaulle, for instance, because I --
Look, I had to withdraw becau --
De Gaulle and, uh -- and, uh, Mao --
[Stammers] Mao!
He was a kind of a lone wolf too, you know.
As a matter of fact, he said to me once, he said...
"I am alone with the people, waiting."
I will never forget that moment.
It made the, uh, gooseflesh come out, because I -
Look, if the American people knew what really happened, I - I - I -
You see, Your Honor, I know that the whole story...
could never be told during my lifetime...
because the nation could not have stood the whole story.
Take the, uh, killing of President Kennedy and the Warren report and so forth.
The nation could not have stood the whole story.
So it was a blessing when that, uh -- Shit! What's his, uh, uh -- Ruby.
When he shot, uh, O -- Uh, Oswald.
Look, I'm not saying that two rights make a wrong.
But it was a godsend when that, uh -- that patriotic nightclub owner--
when he -- when he shot
-- Look, I --
I always understood the Kennedy brothers. Oh, yeah.
The four boys? Well, see, we were four brothers too, you know.
My brother, Harold, you know, he had the same charisma.
[Chuckles] The women, they all --
You know, he was a big, brash redhead. I --
Shit!
It was TB.
Goddamn TB.
Up and down both sides of the family.
Got my little brother, Arthur, in 1925.
And it got my brother, Harold...
in 1933.
[Stammering] But in those days you went to, uh --
Well, actually, my mother, she took us to, uh, Arizona for the dry air.
Then I came along later in the summer too...
to work as a barker at the carnival there...
at the, uh, uh, Slippery Gulch rodeo. [Stammering]
Then, years later, that son of a bitch wrote that I was a shill for a crooked card game!
That bastard! Son of a bitch! I - I - But --
[Chuckling] But my -- My old man...
he-he-he called it a, uh -- a fat cat's lunger clinic.
My old man was very, uh -- He had a certain kind -- He was --
[Chuckling] Ah, shit!
Arthur was only seven years old.
He was the worst.
God, he was so cute. Goddamn TB!
That's the reason that we came to California in the first place -- because of the climate.
And they all died anyway.
I used to lay awake at night trying to figure out how the hell I got --
[Stammers]
When I was a child...
the sweetest sound I ever heard...
was the sound...
of the Santa Fe Railway.
[Takes out book from bookcase: THE MEMOIRS OF RICHARD NIXON]
"Tonight I see the face of a child.
"He is black. He is white. He is Mexican, Italian, Polish.
"None of that matters.
"What does matter is that he is an American child.
"He is American.
"He sleeps the sleep of childhood...
"and dreams its dreams.
"But when he awakens...
"he awakens to a living nightmare of poverty, neglect and despair.
"For him, the American system is one that feeds his stomach...
and starves his soul."
[Chuckles] That's very good!
That's -- That's my favorite. That's a --
"It breaks -- It --
"It breaks his heart...
and in the end it may take his life on some distant battlefield."
I see the face...
of another child.
He lies awake at night...
and he hears the train go by...
and he dreams...
of faraway places that he would like to go.
Seems like an impossible dream.
But he is helped on his journey through life...
by his father, by a gentle Quaker mother...
by a great football coach...
courageous wife...
and loyal children.

[Crowd Cheering, Faint]

[President Richard Nixon]Tonight, ladies and gentlemen...
he stands before you...
nominated for president of the United States.
You can see why I believe deeply in the American dream.
For most of us, the American revolution has been won.
The American dream has come true.
Well, I ask you to help me make that dream come true...
for millions to whom it is an impossible dream today.
[Laughing]

[Clock Chimes Once]

[President Richard Nixon] Uh, Roberto?
Would you, uh, erase everything, please, back to, uh...
"I see the face of a...
child."
Oh, yes, um, would you also send Fernando's wife a, uh --
Shit!
Goddamn Kennedys!
They stole the 1960 election in Chicago.
Then they told me to go in there and blow it wide open.
And I would have! I could have -- Shit!
Um, yes, Roberto, would you, um...
send Fernando's wife a, uh --
a basket of fruit also.
Would you make that a big basket, please?
Poor woman. She, uh --
She had a, uh --
Because of the, uh -- She --
Your Honor, the Watergate was nothing more than a misdemeanor...
copping a plea, a third-rate burglary.
It was nothing more than a convenient hook...
upon which to hang my client's political body.
Because before anybody in the world ever heard the word "Watergate"...
the Nixon presidency was over.
Your Honor, my client had faced, as you know...
the acid test of six major crises.
But I -- See...
this is not like 1952...
when I could go to the public with my side of the story.
Oh, yes! [Chuckles]
You see, the whole country was waiting.
Ike had just dropped me like a, uh -- That bastard son of a --
Well, when the cameras came on, I was going to drop out of the race.
As a matter of fact, I had promised, uh, uh, uh, Pat...
that I was going to, uh --
Pat, of course, is my, uh -- [Stammers] Out of the race -- Wife.
Well, you know, it's true.
She did still believe in me in 1952.
When someone believes in you, someone to whom you've made a promise to --
I couldn't! I --
Well, then when I lost in California in '62...
I really was going to drop out of the race.
As a matter of fact, I wrote it -- Well, I wrote it down.
And I, uh, I carried it around in my, uh, uh, uh, uh --
The, uh, uh -- The promise...
to, uh, uh, uh -- to Pat.
"I promise not to run for public --"
Uh, uh -- In my, uh, wallet -- [Stammers]
I couldn't! I --
Well, even then, of course, you know, she -- she did believe in me.
And they spit on her down in South America.
My God, I'm so sorry for that. But I couldn't --
I couldn't quit...
with my tail between my, you know, legs like that!
My wife does not wear a mink coat!
My wife wears a good Republican cloth coat.
And my little dog, Checkers, he --
[Blows Raspberry, Laughing]
And I cried.
And the public cried with me.
And Ike -- The old man couldn't get rid of me! Yes!
I could always cry in public.
Dr. Birdsell, my dramatic coach in school...
always said that I...
was the most melancholy Dane that he had ever directed.
To be...
or not --
Yes.
That is the question, all right.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind...
to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...
or to take arms against --
Look, I am not your stinking caddy anymore.
Everyone used to say that Adlai Stevenson was Hamlet.
No, no, that is not true. It was me who was really Hamlet, and Ike was the king!
I never even got to see all the rooms in the White House...
until Johnson became president.
Shit! Ike -- Ike introduced me to a crowd one time...
as Nick Dixon, for Christ's sake!
See, what he would do -- He would drag his coattails, then he would pull them away...
and he would leave me standing there high and dry.
I was running. I-I was always running.
I was trying so hard to make the team that I was always offsides
. Well --
Just like my old man.
He sold the lemon grove. Then they discovered oil on it.
Well, shit!
Not me. Not to the manor born.
You see, I had to pretend not to see all the snubs and the sniggers...
and the sneers.
I had to put up a front.
Welcome to Denmark! [Chuckling]

My -- My first debate when I was in high school...
resolved, "Girls are no good," and I won!
[Continues Chuckling]
My second debate resolved, "Cows are better than horses."
You see, I --
I always hated girls. [Stammers]
Well, you know, in high school I couldn't -- I couldn't stay away from 'em.
You know how it is when you're -- You know what I did?
I founded the Orthogonian Society.
That's all boys, no girls. Just square shooters.
And our motto was, uh...
"Beans, Brains, Brawn and Bowels."
And we -- we -- we had this, uh -- [Chuckles]
We -- We all used to, uh -- [Clears Throat]
[Singing] All hail the mighty boar
Our patron beast is he
Ecrasons l'infame
Our battle cry will be
Brothers together
We'll travel on and on
Worthy the name
Of Orthogonian

Plays a chord on the piano]
[Laughing]
Resolved -- Resolved to win, period...
because that is the American system.
You take either side -- It doesn't even matter which one --
and you go on the attack!
It's like, uh, football -- No! No, no, no, no. It's like poker.
The winners make jokes, but the loser says, "Deal! Deal! Deal! Deal! Deal!"
[Sputtering, Laughing]
Roberto, would you erase all that crap, please.
Back to, uh, uh, the lesser of two, uh, uh, evils.
No, no, no, no. Back about -- Before the, uh, uh, break-in.
[Softly] Thank you, Roberto.
Your Honor...
there were three charges...
of impeachment brought against me.
None of them could be proved. They all knew that.
Kennedy's hit man, John Doar --
And he had a hundred bloodhounds working for him.
They told him -- And we have ways of knowing this, Your Honor --
They told him, "There is no case against the president, period."
Your Honor, the impeachment process itself was simply the grandest cover-up of all.
There can only be one -- And you know this -- one impeachment charge...
and that is, treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Well, so they brought a load of --
Well, shit, we gave them a load of chicken-shit charges against me...
and none of them stuck, and none of their theories either.
You see, I happen to know what was going on inside the committee.

Shit, the theories, for Christ's sake!
[Laughs] Let's see, there was the, uh, tip-of-the-iceberg theory. Hmm?
Oh, yes, then there was the narrow-escape theory.
Oh, the robber baron baloney and all that crap -
Oh! We must not forget the higher-standard-of-conduct theory.
That's rich! [Chuckles]
The Founding Fathers caused the White House...
to be built in a swamp in the first place, for Christ's sake...
and Congress up on a goddamn hill!
The Founding Fathers were nothing more than a bunch of snotty English shits...
who never trusted any elected president to begin with!
So, why then, Your Honor, did my client resign voluntarily...
when the fact is that Richard Nixon not only need not have quit...
but in fact could have stayed on beyond the --
Your Honor, something happened to my client.
The year is 1945.

Okay, Roberto...
that is the end of the, uh, prologue.
The next section will be, um...
1945...
through 1952.
So would you please make a separate, um, uh...
uh, you know, for each of the, uh -- You know.
Okay, Your Honor...
in 1939 I went to Cuba.
I -- [Snickers, Laughs]
A-A-After I almost got disbarred...
for signing some client's name to a --
[Continues Laughing]
Roberto, would you erase that, please?
Your Honor, I am trying to tell you...
about 1945.
I was just getting out of the navy.
An ad appeared in the Whittier Daily News.
I will never forget it.
It said...
"Wanted: Young man...
"interested in running for Congress.
Veteran preferred."
And then they listed the name of a, uh, committee...
to contact.
So, well, I-I took some of my, uh, poker winnings and I flew out there...
in my uniform, of course.
If the choice of this committee comes to me...
I promise to wage an aggressive and vigorous campaign...
based on a platform of practical liberalism.
Well, it was those men --
I-I did, Your Honor. I answered the ad.
They called themselves the, uh, Committee of 100.
But the name's changed many times over the years, oh, yes.
Uh, Committee for a Free Iran, a free Guatemala...
a free, uh, Congo...
uh, a free, uh --
But always Taiwan. Oh, yes.
Always for a free Taiwan.
So, they did, Your Honor. They selected me.
And they took my client up to Bohemian Grove.
Now, that is where the China plan was --
That's where I got the message.
Yes.
Up there in, uh, Bohemian Grove...
deep in the California Redwoods...
with the, uh -- the dogs and the guards...
and the prostitutes from Guerneville at the caveman camp -- I --
Your Honor, this young man, Richard Nixon...
this boy from a poor family...
a boy who never had a break, who never had a chance...
he was just overwhelmed by these big men...
on the Committee of 100...
because they showed him a vision...
of the riches and power of this world...
and he drank their words and their visions, he --
[Giggling] He had a little sip of their whiskey too...
this poor boy who couldn't drink.
Didn't know how to drink...
because of his strict Quaker background.
And so, he, uh --
I may have said and done some things up there that...
came back to haunt me...
25 years later...
when the real China card was played.

I -- Your Honor, that first night up there in the Grove...
I couldn't sleep all night. I was awake -- Then --
Well, you know, the big German shepherd dogs...
they're howling all night, you know.
But it was way off, you know, in the, uh, in --
And the men, you know, they're -- they're laughing, singing, dancing.
You know, football songs mostly. Marches, you know.
So, naturally, I was unable to get any, uh -- All the --
But it was, you know -- It was way off there in the, uh...
distance.
It was very, uh...
[Solemnly: "Notre Dame Fight Song"] -- Far away.
[Strikes Dissonant Note Three Times]
Uh, it's a little out of, uh --
But you were my mother's piano...
and that fucking museum is not going to get you!
[Continues]
[Striking Chords]
[Stammering] Your Honor, I forgot to tell you about the whores.
Now, look, these guys were not homos from Westchester County or Cambridge.
You know, this is not old money or "the better sort."
I mean, these guys were Armenians and, uh, Italians and Irish.
You know, assorted white trash. Men!
And what they wanted was a political laboratory...
and that is what they made California into --
a kind of a, uh, proving ground for later on.
You understand why all this was music to my ears?

[Up-tempo: "Notre Dame Fight Song"]
[Humming Along]
[Music stops]
-- Your Honor, it was the words.
That was the real music to my ears, because I-I --
You know what Coach said?
Coach said if you could run -- me, number 23 --
if you could run the ball the way you run your mouth...
winning the big prizes, why -- [Laughs]
I'm gonna be a winner -- Yes! Because I've always been --
Now, these guys dancing with the hookers, these guys were real winners!
I couldn't dance, not worth a goddamn. My old man, he wouldn't dance.
He said it gave him a, uh -- You know, it aroused him. You know?
Me too! So now, you can imagine I took a hell of a kidding on that.
But... you know what I did when I ran for student council president?
I promised a liberal dress and dance code. And you know something? I won!
[Chuckling]
My old man hated politicians.
So there's me saying, "Daddy, when I grow up I'm gonna be an old-fashioned man.
I'm gonna be an honest lawyer. I'm not gonna take any bribes."
Shit! If he'd gone beyond the sixth grade, poor bastard would know that we were all crooks!

[Chuckles]
Well, shit!
I had the last laugh on that son of a bitch!
When I won that scholarship to Duke -- I -- You see --
I still was not a winner yet.
A winner does not have to break into the dean's office the way I did...
to find out what his grades are.
But I did graduate third in my class, though.
But then, when we all went to New York to interview for some big-time law firms...
I was a little out of my league, and I knew that.
But I also knew this -- I knew that New York was the big time. Oh, yeah.
The big, big money!
I mean, New York, with the clubs and the fast track!
I'll tell you this -- in New York, money talks!
Oh, yeah. Money talks, talks, talks, talks, talks.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Anyway, Your Honor, what I wanted to do --
I wanted to join the Dulles brothers' law firm.
That's Sullivan and Cromwell. You know, thick, plush carpeting and --
[Scoffs] East Coast shits is what they really were.
Well, my two friends, they, um --
they did get taken on by one of the big law firms.
I did not. Well, then I tried to join the FBI.
I got turned down again.
I mean, Hoover -- I worshipped Hoover! See?
Then years later that son of a bitch Hoover, he tried to stab me in the back!
Fuck him! Your Honor -- [Stammers]
What I'm trying to say here is that the Committee of 100 had a plan...
and that was it.
In 1946, '48, '50, right on through.
I -- Look.
I was very young.
I was a kid.
And they gave me the blueprint...
for my life.
You understand that?
Well, tha -- that's when, uh, Murray Chotiner came into the picture.
Well, because Murray, he was the link to Lansky...
and Ratner and, uh -- and the Mob and --

You see, what Hiss and the Kennedys, all those East Coast pricks, never understood was...
that I would be a winner because I was a loser.
That's right. I dream of failure every night of my life, and that is my secret.
To make it in this rat race, you have to dream of failing every day. I mean, that is reality.
Jews, niggers, Reds, kikes...
old Nixons, new Nixons.
Because I am an American. A real American -- that's me!
I'm not some rich Ivy League prince that thinks that he is a winner.
See? What the big guys thought was, is that I was a dogcatcher.
Yeah, I was. I am! And a, uh, used-car salesman too.
Oh, s -- sure, fine!
And a siding and a shingle man.
Because I knew that today the dogcatcher is king!
And all those crooks and those shysters...
and those mobsters and those lobsters -- I mean, lobbyists --
I mean, all the well-fed -- all the welfare bums and tramps in this country...
that is your palace guard!

[Laughing]
Shit.
Ehh...
let 'em suck on that for a while.
[Chuckles]
[Sighs]
[Wheezes]
Shit!
I could have beaten Kennedy.
I could have won...
in 1960.
But, see...
goddamn C.I.A., they went and they told Kennedy all about the --
the track-two operation against Castro...
and then Jack, he out-red-baited me by attacking Castro...
and that made me look soft.
I mean, they promised me that the invasion would --
the "executive action" against Castro...
would take place before the election.
I mean, God, how they screwed me!
I could have won. I could have won. I could have beaten Kennedy.
Look, it was me with the 54-12 Special Group...
who'd planned the whole damn thing in the first place.
Yeah, I would have bombed 'em. Oh, how I would have bombed 'em!
But, you see, Castro, he was very smart. Oh, boy. Oh, boy, oh, boy.
When Eisenhower refused to meet with Castro...
when he came to this country before the election --
And then that son of a bitch Castro...
he went up there and he had lunch with the goddamn colored waiters...
at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem!
I would have got him! We already had the poison, for Christ's sake!
We had tested it on some monkeys -- Shit! Where's my fucking drink?

H-H-Hey, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack.
I mean, shit, nobody coulda beaten Kennedy, for Christ's sake.
He was a big, good-lookin' Irishman, and he had that shock of hair.
Just like my brother Harold. They had the same charisma, you know.
The women, they all jump up and down -- Shit! His wife was a goddamn clotheshorse.
Shit! Pat was 48 years old, for Christ's sake! What was Jackie, thir --
What the fuck is this, for Christ's sake?
And, uh -- And -- I went to the wedding. Did you know that?
And Jack, he liked me. Oh, no, he did. Jack liked me.
He congratulated me when I beat Helen Gahagan Douglas.
His old man even contributed money to my campaign.
Well, it's true, of course, you know, that we were black Irish...
and they were -- [Blowing Raspberries]

Look, we both had our tragedies.
Brothers.
Four boys.
And the Catholic thing --
I never used that.
I didn't!
Shit. See, then the debates came along.
And everybody said that I was like Cicero. They said --
They said, "How well he speaks!"
And then when Demosthenes spoke, everybody said, "How smart! Yes!"
[Chuckling]
Goddamn Jack, he was something else. I'll tell you that.
Then -- Then I got rattled...
when the press got ahold of that Howard Hughes loan to my brother...
for that wacko scheme of his...
to sell Nixonburgers!
[Laughing]
And then Haldeman, he goes and calls Martin Luther King a nigger...
on the teleph -- [Chuckles]
But the worst was, three days before the election...
when I slipped and called for peace and surrender.
That was the dumbest thing I ever did!
[Continues Laughing]
My poor goddamn dumb brothers.
Did you know that I had to put all my brothers under surveillance...
because of that -- [Chuckles]
Then my brother Don's kid, he goes and runs off and joins...
some dirty hippie commune.
Then they have to get some investigator to wade through all that crap...
drag him back by the ears, put him to work for -
[Laughing]
I -- I -- I mean, my goddamn family alone...
could have ruined me!
Shit.
I still couldn't sleep.
Right up to the election. Shit.
I couldn't neutralize the Hughes thing...
because the Committee of 100, they were tapping her -- Uh, Marilyn Monroe.
[Sputters] You know, the Kennedy boys, you know, they were all big studs...
like their old man.
Like my brother, Harold.
And you know something else? That is what killed him too. That's right!
No women allowed up at Bohemian Grove. No, sir, not real women!
We were a different type from that Kennedy crowd.

I was sure as hell a different type.
You know, in all those years, I never -- I didn't – I – I – I - I -- Not one time, I didn't --
But I didn't quit! That's right!
Not even in '74! I could have! I sh --
I could have burned the tapes and stonewalled it. Mm-hmm.
Let the big guys fight it out up there at Bohemian Grove. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
And let the country go fascist by 1980.
Oh, that's right, Your Honor. I am talking shooting it out in the streets.
I mean civil war in this country by 1977 --
You understand why I had to withdraw?
Why I had to lay my life on the line to stop fascism and communism?
Fuck! The goddamn Yankees, Ford -- They get the fuckin' presidency anyway!
And the goddamn cowboys, Bush -- They get the C.I.A.
And what the hell do I get for following orders for 30 goddamn years?
Is this it? A fuckin' pardon? And disgrace? Shit!
Look, I tried to give them their dirty little war in Chile.
[Chuckling]
Did you know...
that that Allende...
was a worse whoremonger...
than you-know-who?
[Chuckling]

[Henry Kissinger]

[President Richard Nixon] You see...
they didn't have to kill him like that.
Not like that, they didn't.

But, look, I could have hung tough.
I could have called on my political base like de Gaulle.
I could have called out Main Street against Wall Street, but I didn't.
I said, "I'll go!" I did it for ev -- For Christ's --
I did it for the little people, for Maggie and Jiggs...
for my people...
for all the failed ranchers and farmers -- people just like my old man.
I did it for the goddamn cab drivers and the fuckin' grocery store clerks...
and the cockroach capitalists and the traveling salesmen, I --
For the forgotten American. For the silent majority.
In their name I said, screw all the wise men...
all the tough guys who've sold us out and stabbed us in the --

Look, I was not elected president on some other planet.
I'm America!
I am a winner who lost every battle up to and including the war.
I am not the American nightmare!
I am the American dream. Period!
And that is why the system works --
because I am the system.
Period!
So what I did was, I talked and I stalled...
and then I finally unleashed Haig...
and that provoked the Saturday Night Massacre.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You see? This --
This is before I went crazy...
and they had to bring in the army...
to shoot me down on the floor of the Oval Office because I was nuts.
Oh, yeah. They would've done that, all right.
You see, there was a sinister force loose in the White House, all right...
but it sure as hell was not me.

Look, in the end, I was just a --
I was just an unindicted coconspirator...
like everybody else...
in the United States of America.
[Muttering] Yes, that's right, goddamn it!
[Slams Mother’s piano]
[Dissonant Chord]
Yes... Mother.
You were right.
There never was...
a "new Nixon."
I am a square...
and I always have been.
But I believed in the system.
And that's all I did.
I got out to protect the system.
And look, I did not invent the system, Mother.
I did. I got out to protect the presidency.
[Wheezing Laughter]
My God, my God, my God, my God...
how I used to love being president!
[Continues Laughing] I used to enjoy that so much.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it.
I used to love to sit in the Lincoln study...
with the fireplace going...
and the air conditioning on.
I used to love to sit in there and think about...
Lincoln and, uh, Washington.
[Chuckling]
What a liar he was, huh? That fuckin' Washington!
[Chuckles]
I had -- The Rose Garden was so fragrant.
Oh! The yacht.
Sequoia.
I used to love to sit topside on the fantail of the Sequoia.
Down the Potomac, back to the navy yard...
sipping drinks with a friend...
[Charles Gregory Bebe Rebozo]
and talking geopolitics.
[Chuckling]
Oh, yes, and the, uh -- the jiga -- jiga – th – th -- the nigger --
t-t-t-t -- the colored waiters bringing up steaks from the galley.
[Laughing]
You know what I really used to enjoy?
I used to get a kick out of calling in coaching plays...
to the Redskin coaching staff on the white phone...
and going over the bombing targets in Cambodia with Henry on the red phone...
at the same time!
That's fun! [Laughing]
Oh, we were just rolling along up there, you know.
Everything was just going along so --
But you know what happened? The goddamn press and the liberals, they had --

[TV Monitors: Static]

[President Richard Nixon]Shit! Fuck!

[Clock Chiming 11:00]
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