-Caveat Lector-
<< With the historical perspective of the phony Gulf of Tonkin
incident, let's have another look at the inept, suicidal raid
plan allegedly designed by the ATF and supported by the Special
Forces with "training."
According to the Treasury Report, the ATF had gathered evidence
that:
- The Mt. Carmel Center was a fortress-like compound. (pg. 9)
- David Koresh had a formidable arsenal of firearms, including
many illegal machine-guns and unlawful destructive devices.
(pg. 8).
- David Koresh posted guards at Mt. Carmel (pg. 8)
- David Koresh trained his followers to fire weapons (pg. 8).
- David Koresh believed he would have a violent confrontation
with law enforcement (pg. 8)
- David Koresh was prepared to use the arsenal he was amassing
(pg. 8).
- The people who lived at Mt. Carmel were "fiercely loyal" to
Koresh (pg. 38).
- Of these 75 "fiercely loyal" people, large numbers were women
and children. (pg. 38.)
In order for the raid to fail in a convincing manner, at least
two sets of people had to be fooled in different ways. The
Davidians had to be fooled into thinking they were fighting off a
genuine attack, and the US public, in front of their televisions,
had to be fooled into thinking the raid was planned with sincere
intent.
Therefore, the Davidians had to be covertly tipped off about the
impending "raid," so they could make full preparations. Every
effort, short of a certified letter, was made to alert the
Davidians to the impending attack, and each tip was made to look
like a little snafu that could happen by the operation of
Murphy's law.
- Several months before the raid, the ATF rented the house across
the street from the Davidians and filled it with undercover
agents posing as students. The "students" were old, and drove
late model, mid-sized cars similar to those driven by undercover
agents and plain clothes police. Predictably, David Koresh and
the Branch Davidians had become suspicious of the occupants in
the undercover house.
- In fact, David Koresh told the ATF undercover agents that he had
been watching the "undercover house" with binoculars (Treasury
Report, pg. 54). David Koresh knew he was under suspicion and
surveillance.
- The ATF tipped off the local press to the raid. Such was the
media furor that on the morning of the raid, five media vans were
either stationed at or driving around the roads near Mt. Carmel
(Treasury Report, pg. 84).
- The ATF reserved 153 rooms at three local hotels for the evening
of 28 February, an action that might cause public notice and
comment (Treasury Report, pg. 79).
- On the morning of February 28, the ATF traveled from the military
encampment at Ft. Hood in a huge caravan. The Treasury Report
says: " . . . at Ft. Hood, the 76 agents assigned to the cattle
trailers assembled at 5:00 a.m. They traveled to the staging
area, the Bellmead Civic Center, in an approximately 80-vehicle
convoy with a cattle trailer at each end. Many of the vehicles
bore the telltale signs of government vehicles--four-door,
late-model, American-made vehicles with extra antennas. All the
vehicles had their headlights on. Agents report that, once
underway, the convoy stretched at least a mile." (Treasury
Report, pg. 81.)
- "An ATF agent wearing an ATF raid jacket and local police were in
the street in front of the civic center directing the convoy into
the parking lot. While waiting to be briefed, some of the agents
went inside the center to have coffee and doughnuts; other milled
about outside. A supervisor become concerned about the visibility
of the agents, many of whom wore ATF insignia or were otherwise
unmistakably law enforcement personnel. He ordered everyone to go
inside and remain in the civic center. " (Treasury Report, pgs.
81-82).
- The ATF planned to conduct the "secret" raid in broad daylight,
at 10:00 am.
- The ATF had to know that the Branch Davidians could see out for
miles over the prairies, and given the Davidians' alleged
proclivity for lookout towers and guards, had to be able to see
them coming.
- The almost treeless terrain of the Mt. Carmel Center provided the
ATF with little cover.
- The ATF arrived at the Mt. Carmel Center in noisy cattle cars.
The noisy cattle cars had to go across a pothole-scarred gravel
road outside the Center. The condition of the road would have
amplified the noise of the cattle cars.
- The ATF raiders drove canvas-topped cattle trailers containing
their troops across the front driveway of the Mt. Carmel Center,
and parked the trailers broadside to the windows and the doors of
the building. Had the Davidians opened fire, this maneuver would
have provided them with the best target and the highest possible
number of ATF casualties. The Dallas Morning News diagram of
March 1, 1993 shows how the cattle trailers were positioned (Waco
Tribune-Herald, March 1, 1993). The newspaper drawing is
confirmed by a Treasury Report aerial photograph (pg. 99), in
which the trailers are clearly visible across the front of the
Mt. Carmel Center (the top of this picture).
- The ATF troops were ordered to take position in front of the
house with no cover from possible return fire except the thin
metal of car bodies that happened to be parked there. If the
Davidians had opened fire when the trailers first arrived with
the 50 caliber machine gun they were alleged to possess, many ATF
agents would have died.
--
Copyright 1996 by Carol A. Valentine, on loan to Public Action,
Inc. All commercial rights are reserved. Full statement of terms
and conditions for copying and redistribution is available in the
Museum Library. "Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum," "SkyWriter,"
and the skywriting logo are trademarks of Public Action Inc.
Visit the Museum at
http://www.Public-Action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum
>>
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