I'm not defending the Wacko from Waco and maybe he did torch the place after the Clinton/Reno people started breaking in the doors but why did they choose to crash the doors in after 55 days? Those people weren't going anywhere and they had no place to go. Sooner or later they would have run out of food. It they had waited it out maybe the wacko would have surrendered or maybe he would have done a Jim Jones mass suicide thing but either way it would have been on Koresh's head and not the governments.
DO NOT buy into the liberal crap. JD and his ilk paint it as "You're either for Koresh or for Clinton" No one supports Koresh, bu the FACT is the way that Clinton/Reno haphazardly pursued the Waco situation was <pathetic> and unjust and resulted in needless AMERICAN deaths.
It's Funny. In spite of the Libs screaming about civil liberties under Bush, under CLINTON were more unprovoked acts of violence against AMERICAN CITIZENS than in at least a decade. Waco, Ruby Ridge, Elian Gonzales....any others?
Waco? The government did what was necessary in Waco. I was in Waco in college when that went down. Koresh was a bad dude, and he was brainwashing people, abusing women and children, and illegally stockpiling arms. there was going to be no easy solution to Waco because Koresh would not allow one. He could have easily gave up and served a little time in the pen saving many lives. Instead he set fire to his own compound, killed government officials in the process, and, IMO, got what he deserved in the end. The government gave him more than enough time to surrender peacefully, and he chose not to. That was not a good example.
They could have pursued other routes than the OK Corral with 200 news cameras filming. I don't believe that was the best way to resolve the situation. They forced Koresh's hand.
Yes, Koresh was a bad dude and he led his followers to their deaths. On the other hand the govenment agents were well aware of his activities and were tracking his movements before the attempted arrested at the compound. Koresh made frequent trips to town either alone or accompanied by only 3 or 4 of his followers. He could have easily been apprehended during any one of those trips and the Clinton/Reno mass murder of his mostly niave and brainwashed flock would have never occured. If the government had followed that procedure we would have all forgotten about it by now and Koresh would probably be getting close to being paroled from prison or already a free man. As sad as that thought is that Koresh would be danger to society again upon his release if they really felt that way at the time they had ample opportunities to "Terminate him with Extreme Predjudice" and spare the eventual loss of life. Not that I shed a tear over Koresh but even worse was the Clinton/Reno Gestapo handling of the Elian Gonzales situation.
when you are in a standoff for 60 days or so, there are going to be cameras around anyway. They could have stormed the compound with nothing but ATF agents, not tanks, and you would have seen the same thing. Also, I have read that many of the victims were found to have died from gunshot wounds, not the fire. Koresh was an evil man and was not going to be taken alive. It is ashame it was caught on camera that way, but it is what needed to be done. It has no reflection on Clinton, because Reno pulled the trigger on the raid and accepted responsability. Don't forget about the ATF agents that lost their lives there as well.
Yes Reno pulled the trigger. If Jimbo Fisher calls a bad play who is ultimately responsible? Fisher or Saban?
On April 18, tanks continued to remove vehicles from the front of the compound. Tension was high, and it was clear that Koresh was upset, especially when they moved his black Camaro. He called the command center and said, "If you don't stop what you're doing, this could be the worst day in law enforcement history." A sniper with a good view of the compound reported that someone from inside had hung a sign on a window that read, "Flames await." It was an ominous message. The negotiators weren't sure what it meant but they suspected that Koresh had a plan. They were soon to find out. from this website, which goes to both sides of the Waco argument. http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/not_guilty/koresh/1.html?sect=14
I know the abilities of our elite special forces teams in situations a lot hairier than Waco. Koresh and his top dogs could have been taken out of the picture without the big news confrontation and the inferno...Trust me.
