-Caveat Lector- Texas Says Waco Report Contains Secrets - Paper 5.43 p.m. ET (2148 GMT) September 11, 1999 AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials said a new report on evidence collected at the Branch Davidian compound could not be made public because it contained military secrets, a newspaper reported Saturday. The Austin American-Statesman said the claim was made during a Friday court hearing at which the paper tried unsuccessfully to have the report ordered released. Attorneys for the Texas Department of Public Safety argued that the report, completed Thursday by the Texas Rangers, needed to be reviewed by other agencies before being released, the American-Statesman said. The nature of the military secrets was not disclosed, but recent reports have indicated that military personnel were present at the siege and that classified technical gear may have been provided to the FBI. The report is a 13-page narrative with 200 pages of exhibits about evidence the Texas police agency has held since the Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, burned to the ground on April 19, 1993, killing 80 people. In Dallas, the Morning News reported Saturday that lawyers from the U.S. Justice Department knew just months after the Waco siege that military gas grenades had been fired at the Branch Davidian compound. But lawyers for the Justice Department, as well as attorneys for Branch Davidian survivors, apparently failed to recognize that the term "military gas rounds'' meant grenades whose explosion could start a fire, the newspaper said. The newspaper said its latest information came from Justice Department and FBI documents submitted this week to the Senate Judiciary Committee for a renewed probe of how the 51-day siege came to end in a deadly blaze at the rural compound. FBI ABOUT-FACE The Dallas Morning News last month broke the story that FBI agents had fired two exploding gas grenades, prompting the FBI to back down from six years of denying that any incendiary devices had been used. Attorney General Janet Reno says the government did not cause the fatal fire but has appointed an independent investigator, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, to probe whether there was a cover-up. The newspaper said the documents it was able to view included notes by Justice Department lawyers on interviews with FBI agents after the siege, as well as an FBI laboratory report detailing significant evidence collected at the site. "The documents also indicate that FBI agents involved in the final tear gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound freely discussed firing several military CS tear gas devices when questioned by Justice Department lawyers,'' the paper said. But the fact that explosive grenades were used may not have been recognized by those lawyers because they were unfamiliar with ordnance, unnamed federal officials told the newspaper. "The line attorneys here didn't understand the significance of that phrase,'' one official said. Lawyers for Branch Davidian survivors suing the government over the siege were given the same documents by the Justice Department, but they too did not recognize the significance of ''military gas rounds,'' the newspaper said. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
