-Caveat Lector- http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/195739_waco_20tex.ART.html Dallas Morning News 10/20/2000 Panel Faults Reno, Clinton on Waco Justice Disputes Public Was Misled By Lee Hancock and Michelle Mittelstadt / The Dallas Morning News A congressional report released Thursday alleges that President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno misled the public for years with claims that military experts endorsed the "flawed" FBI tear-gas attack that ended the Branch Davidian siege. Waco Reports: • Committee on Government Reform report on Waco http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/wacoreport1.pdf • Draft minority report by Democrats on the committee http://www.house.gov/waxman/pdf/wacorptviews.pdf (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) "President Clinton and Attorney General Reno have deceived the American people for over seven years by misrepresenting that the military endorsed, sanctioned or otherwise approvingly evaluated the plan," stated the report by the Republican-led House Government Reform Committee. The report also vigorously criticizes the Justice Department's response in the aftermath of the tragedy, contending that the agency's actions "were consistent with an organization that was not eager to learn the full truth about what happened on April 19, 1993." Justice Department officials took issue with the report's main thrusts: That Ms. Reno misled the American people about whether the military had approved the FBI tear-gas plan and that she was less than vigorous in ordering an internal investigation of the Waco tragedy or rushed it for political reasons. "We wish it would have reflected a more balanced and objective view of the facts," said Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin. An opposing report by the committee's Democratic minority also disputed the Republican majority's criticism of Ms. Reno. Committee Democrats contended that the attorney general acted properly during and after the siege and said the committee had wasted more than a year of investigative resources on the Waco tragedy. Democrats said that the committee's findings duplicate earlier investigations or were unsupported. Both reports cap a yearlong investigation by the same committee that conducted highly partisan hearings in 1995 on the Waco tragedy. Inquiry reopened The committee reopened its inquiry in September 1999 after FBI and Justice officials were forced to reverse years of public denials and acknowledge that military pyrotechnic tear-gas grenades had been used at the end of the siege. That admission and a federal prosecutor's warnings to the attorney general of a possible cover-up of the use of pyrotechnic tear gas prompted Ms. Reno to appoint Waco special prosecutor John C. Danforth. Mr. Danforth issued a preliminary report in July exonerating the government of "bad acts" and clearing Ms. Reno of wrongdoing. About 80 Branch Davidians died April 19, 1993, when their compound burned. The fire broke out about six hours after FBI agents began ramming the building with tanks and spraying in tear gas to force an end to a 51-day standoff. The siege began when a gunfight broke out as federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to search the Davidian complex and arrest leader David Koresh on weapons charges. Four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians died. The committee inquiry that led to Thursday's report began with intense partisan sniping. Ranking minority member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chastised chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., in September 1999 after the chairman accused Justice Department officials of withholding from Congress parts of an FBI report that identified one tear gas round used at Waco as a military device. Mr. Waxman's staff discovered last fall that several copies of the report, including the reference to the military rounds, were given to the committee before its 1995 hearings. Probe called flawed On Thursday, Democrats renewed their criticism, charging that the committee's investigation was flawed because of its beginnings with that "false accusation." But the committee's majority noted that those documents were "dumped" on the committee three days before the start of the 1995 hearings "in an apparent hope that ... no one would have the opportunity to find these documents and ask relevant questions." "Justice Department officials were more concerned in 1995 with their own political self- preservation than their duty of full disclosure to the American people and the Congress," the report charges. The report includes accounts from an Army general and colonel of how they refused Ms. Reno's request to evaluate an FBI plan to assault the Davidian compound when FBI officials were seeking her approval for the final tear-gas operation. The two special forces officers, who were never interviewed by Justice officials assigned to review government actions in Waco, said they told Ms. Reno that federal "posse comitatus" limits on military involvement in domestic law enforcement actions prohibited them from offering any critique of the plan to end the siege. 'Is this legal?' At one point in discussing the operation plan, then Deputy Attorney General Webster Hubbell asked one of the officers, "Is this legal?" the report states. "The Army colonel did not answer when Hubbell looked at him, but stated during his interview with committee staff that his private thought at the time was, 'That's your job, not mine.'" The report adds that both officers told congressional investigators that they were stunned when they later learned that the plan had been allowed to go forward. "They were convinced the FBI would never execute the proposed operations plan," the report states. "The Army Colonel stated he believed the Attorney General 'didn't buy the plan being proposed by the FBI.' ... His impression from the meeting was that no one thought it was a smart way to proceed. He went on to state that he was astonished when he saw the fire on TV on April 19, 1993. "General [Peter] Schoomacher ... thought at the time of the meeting with Attorney General Reno was that HRT [Hostage Rescue Team] should have put a fence around the compound and waited until the Branch Davidians came out from hunger, but he did not state this thought openly." Ms. Reno later told Congress that the officers had told her the FBI's plan was "excellent," and President Clinton told reporters that he was told the military officers "were in basic agreement" with the FBI's plan. On Thursday, one Justice official who spoke on condition of anonymity disputed as "fundamentally incorrect" the charges that the officers' views were misrepresented or that they were improperly asked for input. Democrats contend that the officers' statements were misinterpreted and added that Ms. Reno's account of the meeting was supported by three other Justice officials. "The majority grossly exaggerates the significance of what is largely a difference in semantics and subjective impressions," the Democrats' report states. While the committee report diverges from the Danforth report with its intense criticism of the attorney general, its conclusions mirror several key findings of the special counsel. Like Mr. Danforth and a federal court in Waco that recently threw out a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by surviving Davidians, the congressional committee found no evidence that government agents fired at the sect at the end of the siege. But the report notes, "It is extremely unlikely that anyone will ever be able to prove, scientifically, that no government agent ever fired a shot at the Davidians on April 19, 1993." Lawyers criticized The report criticizes Justice Department lawyers who prosecuted Davidians after the siege, contending that lead prosecutors Ray and LeRoy Jahn of San Antonio and former prosecutor Bill Johnston of Waco were told in 1993 that the FBI had used pyrotechnic tear gas. Ray Jahn told Congress in 1995 that only nonpyrotechnic gas was used in Waco, and his wife, LeRoy, signed pleadings during the criminal case that offered similar statements. Records made public last fall included Mrs. Jahn's 1993 notes referring to the FBI's use of military, pyrotechnic rounds. The congressional report notes that recent admissions about the use of pyrotechnic gas were largely due to Mr. Johnston's public warnings to Ms. Reno of a possible cover-up. But it noted that Mr. Johnston withheld personal notes from the committee that show he was told in the fall of 1993 that "incind" or incendiary military gas rounds were fired at a bunker near the compound. "While Johnston deserves credit for his role in bringing to light the use of pyrotechnic devices on April 19, 1993, a secret that lasted for seven years, his record in this matter is a mixed one," the report states. "Johnston performed a public service for which he suffered undeserved reprisals from the Department of Justice. On the other hand, Johnston's apparent decision to withhold his handwritten notes ... cannot be overlooked or excused." A lawyer for the former prosecutor has said that the Waco special counsel has threatened to prosecute Mr. Johnston for withholding the notes. The lawyer has said that Mr. Danforth's office tried to convince Mr. Johnston to plead guilty and testify against the Jahns. Mr. Johnston has refused. Neither Mr. Johnston's lawyer nor the Jahns' attorney could be reached Thursday. Among other findings of the report: • The committee disagreed with a recent court ruling that the FBI did not deviate improperly from a Washington-approved plan. "The plan, as executed, was more aggressive and destructive than the plan that was approved, and resembled closely earlier plans which had not been approved," the report contends. • Ms. Reno failed to explain why she approved the plan after initially rejecting it – a charge that Democrats and Justice officials dispute. • Ms. Reno promised a comprehensive review, but her department's investigation "was negligent and was improperly rushed to its conclusion solely for political purposes." Democrats and Justice officials also dispute that. • Department of Defense officials did not conduct an after-action report to account for assistance that state National Guard units and federal military personnel provided to law enforcement agencies during the incident. This contributed to the failure of both the military and the FBI to account for 250 high-explosive rounds that records indicate were distributed to FBI personnel from Fort Hood during the siege. The report recommends an annual accounting to Congress of all military support of domestic law enforcement as well as notification of Congressional leaders whenever U.S. special forces units are asked to provide equipment, support personnel or advice for law enforcement operations. (c) 2000 The Dallas Morning News ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions 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, CTRLgives 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://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== 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
