-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- From: http://dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/28995_WACO09.html Judge seeks final plan for Davidian field tests Secrecy of procedures, results likely to be issue 02/09/2000 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News Both sides in the Branch Davidian lawsuit and the federal judge hearing the case will gather in St. Louis next week to finalize plans for field tests aimed at resolving key questions about government gunfire. An order issued late Monday by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith announced the Feb. 16 meeting at the office of Waco special counsel John C. Danforth. The order indicated that lawyers for the sect and the government and their scientific experts will discuss proposed protocols for the field test. The judge dictated that specifics of the test, outlined by a court-appointed expert, must be kept secret, and he threatened to impose sanctions against anyone who revealed them "to the press or the public." The order does not specify where the test will take place. But officials recently told parties for both sides that the Defense Department has given clearance for the test to be conducted at Fort Hood, Texas, in the latter part of March. Two lawyers representing the sect said Tuesday that they are concerned that the imposition of strict secrecy will be extended to the test. They predicted Tuesday that such a move would further inflame public doubts about the controversial Branch Davidian case. "I'm sure that the Justice Department opposes any participation by the press in the demonstration," said Mike Caddell, lead lawyer for the sect. "Our concern is, rightly or wrongly, by excluding the press, you're confirming the fears of some people about the integrity of the test." He and other lawyers for the sect said they plan to argue for media coverage of the test "so there can be an independent report back to the American people about how thorough and fair this demonstration is." Officials with the special counsel's office and the Justice Department have declined to comment on the matter. "We'll let our views be known to the judge," a Justice Department spokesman said Tuesday evening. The question of whether government agents fired guns at the Branch Davidian compound on April 19, 1993, has become a pivotal issue in the Branch Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit. Government officials have long denied that anyone from their side fired a shot that day, when FBI agents bashed the sect's embattled compound with tanks and sprayed in tear gas to force a surrender. More than 80 Branch Davidians died in a fire that began six hours into the FBI tear-gas assault. Government arson investigators ruled that the sect deliberately set the building on fire. But lawyers for the sect contend that government gunfire kept innocent people from escaping the inferno. The cornerstone of their argument is a videotape shot by an FBI airplane circling the compound on April 19. The plane's infrared camera, designed to detect and create images from differences in temperatures of objects on the ground, recorded repeated, rhythmic white blips that appeared to emanate from government positions in the last hour before the fire. Retired Defense Department experts hired by the sect have said those flashes are distinctive heat signatures of gunfire. Their analysis has been echoed by some independent experts and a scientist who recently evaluated the recording for the House Government Reform Committee. But government experts have contended that the camera was too far away to capture the tiny blips of heat generated from gunshots. They contend the flashes are sunlight glint or electronic glitches. But they have refused to discuss general information about the camera's capabilities or even its manufacturer, contending that such information is classified. Mr. Danforth's office jumped into the fray last fall, asking Judge Smith for a court-supervised field test to resolve whether the FBI's camera could detect gunfire and whether the Waco flashes came from gunshots. The court ordered a test using the FBI's camera and airplane and a similar, borrowed camera system to record test shots from guns like those carried by government agents and Branch Davidians. A spokesman with the British Defence Ministry said the American investigators recently requested the use of a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter outfitted with a near-identical infrared camera for the Texas test. The camera is a GEC-Marconi "Sea Owl," and the Lynx helicopter that carries it is flown by a two-member crew from British frigates and destroyers, the British military spokesman said. It is commonly used to monitor shipping and sea traffic. The British government has been asked to provide the aircraft and a crew for a week of U.S. operations, the spokesman said. But left unresolved is the question of who will pay to get the helicopter to Texas, which could cost $250,000 or more. Mr. Caddell said that will be explored at next week's meeting in St. Louis. James Brannon, another lawyer for the sect, said he also will use the meeting to air his concern that secret protocols proposed for the test lack "enough checks and balances to completely allay my fears of a stacked deck." "I am very concerned about what controls we're going to have, or be given, to make certain that the FBI, if it's going to put its own plane up there, is not going to be in a position to cheat," Mr. Brannon said. Independent experts in infrared technology say that ensuring accuracy will require careful calibration of the British and FBI cameras before and after their deployment at Fort Hood. They said they would expect such calibration to include thorough pre-test examination to ensure that each camera's internal processing system matches the manufacturer's original design specifications. Both cameras also should be subjected to lab tests aimed at ensuring they do not contain optical filters that could hamper their ability to capture the relatively short detectable energy bursts or "spectral wavelengths" of gunfire, the experts said. Such filters are sometimes used in infrared cameras to eliminate unwanted images, and they could be hard to detect without specific spectral sensitivity tests, experts said. Flying each of the cameras over a small, known heat source, such as a burning trash can, before and after the gunshot tests also would be an easy way to confirm their reliability, said one expert who spoke on condition on anonymity. "If they run a test of its ability to see small hot spots and then fly the test, and then re-verify its ability to detect those same hot spots, I think you are pretty safe," the expert said. It also will be necessary to include relatively large samplings of gunfire from each weapon being tested, because the British infrared technology, known as SPRITE Forward Looking Infrared, is capable of capturing only a fraction of such small thermal signatures, he and other experts said. "It is difficult to see gun flash with a SPRITE FLIR. Since it is difficult to see them, there must be many gun flashes in any test," said the expert. He added that the difficulty precludes the probability that some gunshots can be detected. "A short test is therefore likely to favor the FBI," he said. 1999 The Dallas Morning News ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! 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 credence 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
