The Mammoth Book of Cover-Ups

On 28 February 1993 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided the ranch compound of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel, near Waco, Texas. Led by self-appointed Messiah David Koresh, the Branch Davidians were an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists and had been based at Mount Carmel since the 1950s. More recently, Texan newspapers had rumoured that Koresh was a polygamist and even a child-abuser; the BATF had become interested in him and his sect for firearms violations, including the converting of semi-automatics to full automatics and the manufacture of grenades. Since the Branch Davidians were legal dealers of weaponry (indeed, gun-dealing was one of the sect’s most significant money-making activities), the violations were relatively minor infractions.

Koresh could easily have been arrested on one of his weekly visits to Waco, but the BATF chose instead to launch a full-scale raid on the sect’s compound. On the morning of Sunday 28 February 1993, BATF agents moseyed up to the compound, hiding in cattle trailers. Unfortunately, the element of surprise was lost thanks to a large black BATF helicopter circling overhead, not to mention the accidental discharge of a gun by a BATF agent which killed a fellow BATF besieger. Believing themselves under fire, the Branch Davidians returned fire. In the ensuing gun battle, five Branch Davidians died, as did four BATF agents — all of the latter probably victims of «friendly fire» — before the government agency beat a hasty retreat. To the embarrassment of the BATF and the White House, the whole fiasco had been caught by news cameras.

Pride dictated that the falling low of the US government be made good. The Waco operation was handed over to the FBI, who settled down to besiege the Branch Davidian compound with the methods of psych-warfare. Bradley fighting vehicles and helicopters endlessly encircled the compound, while taped loops — which included the sound of rabbits dying, Tibetan chants, bagpipes and Nancy Sinatra singing «These Boots are Made for Walking» — were broadcast at deafening volume. Noise torture had worked to flush out Panamanian leader General Noriega some years before, but the Koresh sect were made of tougher stuff. For 51 days the Branch Davidians withstood the governmental goliath, until Attorney General Janet Reno approved a final, all-out assault after being told of child abuse in the compound.

On the morning of Monday 19 April the Feds smashed into the compound with Bradley fighting vehicles and M-60 tanks. Still Koresh and his followers refused to surrender. Suddenly, at around noon, the compound erupted into flames. Nine occupants emerged alive. The body of David Koresh and 79 other Branch Davidians, including 23 children, were found in the smouldering ashes. Koresh and many of the others had been shot in the head.

Much of the subsequent controversy over Waco hinges on responsibility for the fatal fire at high noon. In October 1993 the Justice Department determined from its investigation that Koresh had ordered the fire in order to facilitate a mass suicide à la Jonestown; bugging devices planted by the FBI in the compound recorded cult members spreading fuel around. According to the Justice Department, Koresh was a brainwashing, sex-addicted guru who wanted martyrdom. The Wacko from Waco.

To this day, the FBI continues to blame Koresh for the conflagration. It’s not a claim that has stood the test of time unscathed. As the Academy Award-nominated Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997) by maverick film-maker William Gazecki forced the FBI to admit, they fired and sprayed CS tear-gas into the compound for six hours. CS gas is highly flammable, frequently containing kerosene or methyl chloride. A bullet is sufficient to ignite dense CS vapour in a confined space, and the FBI’s own aerial infrared recordings seemingly confirm that the Bureau fired weapons into the compound after the CS barrage. The FBI also fired pyrotechnic grenades at Waco, though the Bureau adds that the grenades were launched «in a direction far away from the compound» — which has caused critics to wonder why they were fired at all. Some of the dead children at Waco were found in postures strongly suggestive of cyanide poisoning caused by ignited CS gas. Even if the Bureau did not deliberately set Waco alight, it may have caused the fire by accident; according to surviving Branch Davidians, the FBI’s tanks knocked over the kerosene lamps the sect was using for lighting after the G-men had cut off their electricity supply.