-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- From: http://dallasnews.com/waco/32319_WACO17.html Lawyer for U.S. says Waco test may show shots Government fears shown, sect says 02/17/2000 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News One of the government's lead lawyers in the Branch Davidian case said for the first time Wednesday that an upcoming test could capture flashes of gunfire on the type of infrared camera used by the FBI on the last day of the siege. Lawyers for the sect said that concession by U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford, offered after a day of private negotiations on protocols for the test, indicates that the Justice Department fears the upcoming field test will prove allegations that the FBI's camera recorded government gunfire in Waco on April 19, 1993. "We're stunned," said Mike Caddell, lead lawyer for the Branch Davidians. "This is a complete about-face for the government, and coming on the eve of the demonstration, it's very telling. It can only mean that they realize that this demonstration is going to prove what we've said all along: that the flashes on the April 19 videotape are gunfire from government positions." At key moments in its defense in the Branch Davidian case, the government has dismissed its own experts' recommendation that field tests were needed to resolve the gunfire issue. It also has tried to discredit calls by the sect's lawyers for such tests, arguing to a federal judge that such experiments would be confusing at best and scientifically invalid. As recently as last November, government lawyers argued that testing would be able to address only the theoretical issue of whether "gunfire can be seen by FLIR [Forward Looking Infrared Camera] technology in a specified spectral range, and if so, what it looks like." But on Wednesday, Mr. Bradford said: "It's not our position, it's never been our position, that it is impossible under any circumstance to capture gunfire on FLIR technology. We don't know whether gunfire will or will not appear on this test. We have consistently said that the flashes on the April 19 tape are not gunfire." Mr. Bradford said the Justice Department still believes that proper data analysis from the March field trials at Fort Hood will support the government's longheld position that the repeated, rhythmic flashes on the 1993 videotape did not come from gunfire. Call for analysis "It doesn't just boil down simply to whether a glint might appear from one of these weapons. It's still going to require an analysis," he said. "The only concern that we have is that this not be simply reduced to that one simple question." The tests could be pivotal to the Branch Davidians' upcoming wrongful-death lawsuit, which alleges that government negligence and wrongdoing led to the deaths of more than 80 sect members. The followers died in a fire on the last day of the siege, six hours after FBI agents began assaulting the compound with tanks and tear gas to end the 51-day standoff. Lawyers for the sect have argued that government gunfire in the last hour of the siege kept women and children from fleeing the fire. Government officials have insisted for years that no one from their side fired a shot on April 19. They have argued that the government bears no responsibility for the tragedy because a government arson investigation ruled that sect members deliberately set the fire instead of surrendering. The main evidence in the sect's gunfire allegations is the infrared videotape recorded by an airborne FBI camera on the day of the siege. Disputes between experts on both sides about what caused the flashes led Waco special counsel John C. Danforth to ask the federal judge in the Waco case to order court-supervised field tests to resolve the issue. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith ordered the tests late last fall, turning aside government objections that they would be confusing and scientifically invalid. After Wednesday's meeting at Mr. Danforth's office, both sides agreed to the public release of a full set of plans for the tests. The release was in itself a reversal. For months last fall, government lawyers fought proposals for field tests, in part, with arguments that even basic information about the FBI camera - including even its manufacturer and the altitude at which it was flown - was should be kept secret. But during the meeting, attended by lawyers and experts for both sides and the judge hearing the case, representatives from the Pentagon announced that basic performance data about the British-made GEC-Marconi camera had been declassified and could be released. Radical shift Mr. Bradford's public statements after the meeting also appeared to be a major shift from earlier arguments by FBI officials and the FBI agents assigned to operate the camera in Waco that the device was probably not capable of detecting gunfire. In court pleadings last fall aimed at blocking an infrared test, government lawyers argued that the only type of scientific study that the government could accept would involve trying to determine whether it was possible for the camera to capture any kind of gunfire. Some of the FBI's most experienced infrared camera operators said in depositions late last year that they did not believe their camera in Waco could detect flashes from any gunfire. "By its nature, it was not suited to pick them up," one agent testified. Senior FBI officials have also long said privately that they do not believe the camera was capable of "seeing" and recording gun flashes. Mr. Bradford said Wednesday that the sworn statements of the bureau's infrared operators did not represent the government's official position on the matter. Details of tests The tests hammered out on Wednesday will be conducted in the last half of March, using a British Royal Navy Lynx Mk 8 helicopter outfitted with a Sea Owl camera, a system similar to that flown by the FBI in Waco. The FBI also will fly its camera on its "Nightstalker" fixed-wing aircraft. The camera is the same GEC-Marconi used in Waco but has been significantly upgraded since the 1993 siege. Each aircraft will record two separate test sequences in which U.S. Army personnel will fire weapons carried by both sides during the Waco seige. Weapons will include a sniper rifle, one regular MP-5 machine gun and another equipped with a silencer, an automatic shotgun, an M-16 rifle, an M-60 machine gun and M-79 grenade launchers outfitted with both non-burning "ferret" tear-gas rounds and military-issue, pyrotechnic gas grenades. The cameras also will record footage of fields of debris, including aluminum and glass, as well as containers of water. Some of those test recordings will include exercises in which combat engineering vehicles and Bradley fighting vehicles - armored tanks used by the FBI in Waco - are driven over the debris fields. Recording the debris and water will provide comparative data that could help resolve the government's claim that sunlight reflections or flashes generated by actions of the tanks caused the blips of light on the April l9 video. The two cameras also will record footage of personnel running, crouching, firing weapons and maneuvering while wearing fire-resistant "Nomex" flight suits and body armor like that worn by the FBI's hostage rescue team in Waco. Other personnel will be photographed in black raid gear, sniper camouflage suits and camouflage rain gear. The protocol signed by all sides in the case on Wednesday includes no provision for allowing the media to cover the test. But both Mr. Bradford and lawyers for the sect said it remains undecided whether some form of media coverage will be allowed. The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press filed a motion Tuesday asking Judge Smith to allow media to be present at Fort Hood. Mr. Bradford said the Justice Department will not object to having reporters attend but will defer to the judgment of the court and the Waco special counsel. Mr. Caddell said the matter remains "an open issue. I think it's more likely today than yesterday because we reached agreement to eliminate any national-security or classification issues. The government and the FBI basically acknowledged that there were no real issues with regard to classified secrets." ©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! 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