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: [waco-group] The Watchdogs of Waco: Defenders of State
Terror
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Waco Tragedy News
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(8/25/01)
Hello folks,
I just wanted to say, quite a few of you
have
written letters to me in the last month and I wanted
to apologize
for not replying right away. Things have
been hectic around here.
I will be working on that portion
of the mail really soon. Sorry
about the delay.
~Sharlene~
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495&article=7601
The Watchdogs of Waco: Defenders of State Terror
by
Cletus Nelson
To best understand why agents of the federal government
massacred the
members of a small Texas church, it behooves the conscientious
WACO
historian to closely examine the social forces lurking behind this
unprecedented disaster. If there is one sustaining thread which runs
throughout this deadly exercise of state power, it is an endless pattern of
deception.
From the very outset, the public was falsely led to
believe a multiracial
spiritual community was largely comprised of
gun-running "rednecks"
steeped in violent apocalypse theology and martial
rhetoric. As if to further
darken the picture, thinly veiled allegations of
child abuse and cultic
phenomenon were widely circulated on television and
in the mainstream
press. This egregious use of what media analysts refer to
as "negative
framing" would seal the fate of the controversial 7th Day
Adventist sect
when it was deemed politically expendable by Washington
officials. Evidence
suggests that these unsubstantiated claims which
continue to shade our
perception of the events at Mt. Carmel can be
attributed to a small cadre of
para-political "watchdog" groups.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with citizens banding together to
expose
government waste, combat police brutality, or warn the public of
faulty or
dangerous products. However, in the lucrative realm of public
policy activism
lurk a number of pro-government advocacy groups whose very
existence
rests upon the notion that cult activities, political extremism or
some other
unnamed evil constitutes a dangerous threat to state power. In
order to
identify the alleged thought criminals in our midst, operatives
aligned with
these private surveillance networks infiltrate unconventional
spiritual or
religious movements, maintain files on American citizens, and
work closely
with both media and law enforcement to target individuals and
organizations
whose beliefs run counter to establishmentarian beliefs. In
essence, these
ersatz defenders of human rights act as de facto spokesmen
for our
emergent surveillance society. It’s COINTELPRO redux, only this time
with
help from a network of dubious, yet-well compensated agents.
One such organization is the Cult Awareness Network (CAN). Although the
legendary cult-busters have since disappeared from the public spotlight
after
suffering a ruinous civil judgement, the once prominent watchdog group
still
enjoy an infamous place among WACO researchers. Indeed, the first
stirrings of the Koresh investigation began when a CAN affiliate named Rick
Ross allegedly "deprogrammed" various former Davidians and contacted
BATF officials with lurid tales of child abuse and illegal machine guns.
CAN officials would subsequently advise BATF officials prior to the
ill-fated
February raid and act as flacks for the state once the lengthy
standoff began.
"Ross and CAN officials…helped shape the public image of the
Davidians
during the siege, presenting their theories on doomsday cults to a
baffled
public through the corporate media" writes author Jim Redden (Snitch
Culture, 2001). This would include CAN President Patricia Ryan’s suggestion
to the Houston Chronicle that trigger-happy federal cops should use any
means including "lethal force" to arrest David Koresh.
Few bothered
to question the credibility of an organization which has flung
the "cult"
smear at Catholic monasteries, yoga groups, and even Karate
classes!
Instead, the public recoiled at the stunning accusations leveled
against the
besieged religious group. Meanwhile, far below the media radar,
longtime
critics of CAN noticed a familiar modus operandi. Citing outspoken
CAN
opponent Dr. Gordon Melton, Carol Moore notes that the organization
"has
found two successful methods of disrupting groups: first, false
anonymous
charges of child abuse and second, kidnapping and
‘deprogramming’ members."
(The Davidian Massacre, 1995).
In the aftermath of the tragic
conflagration, Ross would justify the fatal
tank
attack in a
self-serving letter to former Attorney General Janet Reno. "One
thing is
sure, David Koresh was an absolute authoritarian cult leader who
exercised
total control over his followers/victims. In the final analysis, he
decided
to end the conflict." However, Ross would later be subjected to the
withering cricism of Princeton University religious scholar Nancy T.
Ammerman in a report prepared for the Department of Justice which
challenged CAN's ersatz expertise:
"Although these people often call
themselves ‘cult experts,’ they are
certainly not recognized as such by the
academic community. The activities
of CAN are seen…as a danger to religious
liberty, and deprogramming tactics
have been increasingly found to fall
outside the law. At the very least, Mr.
Ross and any ex-members he
associated with should have been seen as
questionable sources of
information."
Despite this scathing (and authoritative) analysis, CAN
refused to back down
from its initial findings. Nevertheless, by 1994 the
organization was forced
to
relinquish its assets after a bungled
deprogramming attempt resulted in a
costly civil judgement. This unexpected
reversal of fortune served as a
welcome end to a group of power-hungry
individuals who had long lost their
ethical compass. Unfortunately, CAN
weren’t the only quasi-governmental
group willing to justify the militarized
assault.
With the Justice Department facing a myriad of difficult
questions relating to
the inexplicable "disappearance" of key pieces of
evidence and conflicting
testimony undermining many claims made by the FBI
as to whether its
agents fired on the Davidians, another set of watchdog
groups stepped
forward to wholeheartedly endorse the state-sponsored death
of over six
dozen men, women, and children. At the vanguard of this
misinformation
campaign was the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC)
whose spokesmen equated principled opposition to the government’s
actions
at WACO to "anti-government extremism."
Utilizing its
formidable propaganda apparatus and impeccable media
credentials, the
multimillion dollar non-profit adeptly cast a dark shadow on
those willing
to decry the ignominious body count incurred during the 1993
tank assault.
"Nothing shows the federal agents murdered those people and
set the fire (at
Waco). I think it's a disaster that they (filmmakers) have
gained a lot of
credibility," SPLC spokesperson Mark Potok whined to Susan
Aschoff of the
St. Petersburg Times in an attempt to downplay producer
Mike McNulty’s
award-winning investigative documentary Waco: The Rules
of Engagement.
When the award-winning producer later unearthed evidence proving that
the FBI fired highly-incendiary pyrotechnic rounds into the Mt. Carmel
structure, Potok lamented this monumental find. Apparently "the
anti-government movement" and its affiliates were "going to get a boost out
of this" and for this reason he deemed the discovery "a tragedy." This
sentiment was echoed by his colleague Mark Pitcavage, a self-styled
anti-racist activist who uses his "Militia Watchdog" web page to question
the
supposedly sinister agenda of determined Waco investigators. "These guys
have ulterior motives" complained the pro-government activist to New York
Times reporter Jim Yardley.
Needless to say, few members of the
press have bothered to question the
"ulterior motives" of organizations like
CAN, the SPLC and Militia Watchdog.
Indeed, in light of the sustained media
blackout which has greeted
well-substantiated allegations of official
malfeasance in regards to the
Office
of Special Counsel’s flawed (and
possibly corrupt) WACO investigation, it
would seem the watchdog offensive
has not been unsuccessful. Although the
highly dubious "mass suicide" theory
has become factually untenable in the
intervening years, these seasoned
political operatives remain determined to
consign this disturbing series of
events to the public's collective "memory
hole."
Thus it is
imperative that we closely scrutinize the information disseminated
by the
watchdog element and its relationship with government agencies –
lest we
witness further atrocities (and the ensuing cover-ups) on American
soil.
August 25, 2001
Cletus Nelson [send him mail] is a journalist in
Los Angeles. -
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/nelson2.html
"I know the battle is uphill...
But if we believe the
battle for our nation is lost,
do we have to believe that the battle
or
the ideals which birthed our Constitution
and our nation is also lost?
I do not think so. I must not think so.
Even if only a small
band of believers remains
amidst a populace pacified by bread and circus,
they cannot help but do service to those around them."
Jefferson
Redux - 1999'"
Mount Carmel Survivors
Rebuilding/Memorial Fund
Box 120
Axtell, TX 76624
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards
of men."
Abraham Lincoln
My Waco website:
Please take a moment to picture
this...
http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/picturethis.html
Hey! What's New?
http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/whatsnew.html
April 19, 2001 Memorial Pictures! **Just
Added**
http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/4-19-2001.html
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