Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid the Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas, prompting a gun battle in which four agents and six cult members are killed. The federal agents were attempting to arrest the leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh, on information that the religious sect was stockpiling weapons. A nearly two-month standoff ensued after the unsuccessful raid.
The roots of the confrontation between the federal government and the Branch Davidians went back 10 years before the Waco siege. In 1983, a young man named Vernon Howell showed up at the Mt. Carmel headquarters of the sect. Lois Roden and her son, George, were competing for leadership of the commune at the time. Lois had an affair with Howell, but died shortly thereafter. George Roden attempted to take charge of Mt. Carmel, but Howell challenged his leadership, claiming that he was the Lamb from Revelation, and that his children would be descended from God.
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Roden responded by posing a contest to Howell: Whoever could resurrect an exhumed corpse would prove their worthiness to rule the cult. Howell declined the challenge, going instead to the sheriff to have Roden arrested for illegally digging up a body. When the police wanted no part of it, Howell and Roden ended up in a gunfight that left Roden injured. While Howell was awaiting trial for attempted murder, Roden was jailed for contempt for filing “the most obscene and profane motions that probably have ever been filed in a federal courthouse” in an unrelated case.Howell took over the cult and the Mt. Carmel compound in Roden’s absence, and later got a mistrial on the attempted murder charge.
Soon, Howell started his own harem, declaring himself the only one allowed to have wives. Reportedly his many wives included girls as young as 12. Howell changed his name to David Koresh in 1990. Not long after, he began filling the cult member’s heads with apocalyptic warnings and insisting that they arm themselves. In 1992, a deliveryman accidentally dropped a package and saw that it was filled with grenades.
It was against this background that the federal government obtained a warrant for Koresh’s arrest. To Koresh, the failed raid served as proof that he really was being persecuted. When federal agents moved in to end the siege on April 19 with tear gas, a fire broke out. Koresh and about two dozen others shot themselves to death or were shot before the fire engulfed the entire compound. Others died in the fire orthe rubble of collapsing buildings, bringing the death toll to 80 Branch Davidians. Only11 Branch Davidians escaped with their lives. Ultimately, eight cult members were convicted of charges ranging from manslaughter to weapons violations.
I will say it til the day I die.My older family members(parents/grandparents/uncles/aunts ect.)all told me about their “Kennedy moment”.Waco was my Kennedy moment when my huge distrust of govt. was laid out for me in that insane tragedy,that and the Weaver family incident opened my eyes wide,sad it took folks dying to do it.Was in me late 20’s when this went,a lot of insanity in the news around then and then the inevitable but equal insanity of Oklahoma.
Back in the day when they did investigative journalism and had guts PBS’s show Frontline did a excellent show on the Waco tragedy,also,a year later did another entitled Waco Revisited,can be found on net and highly recommend giving em a watch.
A lot of Waco’s still happening in country under the guise of legality,watch your back and be prepared reasonably.
The congressional hearings were sickening too. I remember seeing Chuckie Schumer sneering at the people who were testifying and deciding right then that if he ever got within arm’s reach of me I would punch him in the adam’s apple.
Yes, and I notice that the author fails to mention that the “tear gas” used was famed for two things. Causing severe pneumonia in children and being an extreme fire hazard.
With the compound full of children and using open flame lights I have always thought the government got exactly what they wanted.
I saw the raid and sat through the investigations. It was a planned, deliberate murder.
Sometimes you have to torch a few kids to make the other disruptive sheep get in line.
to arrest one man, the state will kill 100.. nope nothing broken there…
Exactly. I remember hearing that David Koresh used to walk to a local record store very regularly. I remember thinking, though I was young at the time, “Why couldn’t they just pick him up one morning while he walked to the record store?”. Apparently that was way to much logic for Government. Nope, instead we have to have a “siege”, and then kill a bunch of innocents because some dickheads in government don’t like there “authority” questioned.
Yes, they were religious nuts, but there are a lot of them, in fact it has been US policy to welcome them with open arms for about a decade now…..
All this for one guy. That is government efficiency for you….
The government attacked without warning, they never actually tried to just serve a search warrant.
It’s become standard procedure for them since, SWAT teams kicking in doors in the middle of the night without any actual regard to that 4th Amendment part of the Constitution.
The government is the aggressor here, they initiated it, and the aggressor is responsible for the outcome.
Worth watching.
At least Congress held hearings after the BATF and Delta Force massacred almost 100 people per agreement of Harpy and Reno; fair and honest open hearings just like the Warren Commission.
Don’t forget they forgot to subpoena the foreign military members involved, including British SAS ‘observers’ and Dutch surveillance pilots (based on film stamps).
One of the good things to come from this was the Knob Creek Resolution.
No More Free Wacos.
Many, many more deaths tied to Clinton besides these. Indeed, this was a message being sent regarding the un-opposable force of the federal government. Nothing more. No different from the entrapment of Randy Weaver. To keep 300,000,000 citizens in line, occasionally the government feels it needs to publicly murder one or many of them.
It was said a few threw up after seeing what Hillary ordered.Hillary was stone cold