July 19 - Waco hearings full of surprises

A former FBI negotiator said the FBI stepped into a situation "almost beyond repair" during a 51-day standoff with Branch Davidians in 1993 near Waco, Texas. The siege came to a fiery conclusion on April 19, 1993, after the FBI stormed the cult's compound with tanks and tear gas. Eighty-two people were killed as the entire compound went up in flames.

The federal government said that Davidians started the fire. But Davidians who survived, as well as other advocates, believe that the destruction was sparked by an overzealous FBI.

Hearings began on July 19 in Washington to determine what went wrong during the standoff.

Bitter accusations were hurled from the beginning. The two Republicans overseeing the panel insisted the hearings were motivated not by partisan politics, but by a search for an untold truth. "The deadly mishandling of the crisis and the ensuing mistrust is why Congress must independently investigate all the events surrounding Waco," said Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Florida. "Once and for all, these hearings are not about the Oklahoma City bombing, the Brady Bill, the militias, gun control, or any other issue. They are about constitutional oversight," said Rep. Bill Zeliff, R-New Hampshire.

But Democrats scoffed, claiming the hearings were largely orchestrated by the National Rifle Association and its GOP allies. "Frankly, I don't think that the NRA gives a damn about the tragedy of Waco," said Rep. Charles Schumer, D-New York," but rather wants to destroy the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms), because they enforce the laws that the NRA despises."

However, the NRA and others were suddenly silenced when a 14-year-old girl who once lived in the Davidian compound testified. She revealed that she had been sexually molested by Branch Davidian leader David Koresh when she 10.

Her stunning testimony put Republicans on the defensive. They had to make sure that criticisms of the ATF did not make them look sympathetic to Koresh. The men involved in the ATF raid appeared to gain further sympathy when the ATF agent who had tried to negotiate with Koresh recalled amid tears the moment the agents were ambushed. "The Davidians opened fire, and I am sickened by any other assertion," said Jim Cavanaugh, ATF negotiator. "I sat there and I watched it."

But the ATF could not escape harsh criticism on one point: They had failed to call off the initial raid after their own undercover agent raced out of the compound to tell raid commander Chuck Sarabyn the element of surprise had been lost. "The first thing that came out of my mouth ... (was) 'They know, Chuck ... they know we're coming," said Robert Rodriguez, ATF special agent. And Sarabyn admitted, "We had heard this over and over again, 'They're coming to get you' or whatever, so ... the words didn't mean what they should have meant."

The raid was ordered. Four ATF agents died, and soon the FBI took over. In the hearings, as the FBI took center stage, the inquiry focused on a supposed offer from Koresh to surrender, and the FBI's rejection of it as just one more stall. "We told them on the 14th they were coming out; we told them it would take another 10 to 12 days," said Branch Davidian Jack Zimmerman. FBI negotiator Byron Sage responded, "He would get us in a position where we thought there was a major break at hand, and then pull the rug out from under us."

There also was criticism over the decision to set off tear gas in the compound despite the children inside. But Attorney General Janet Reno, who had approved that decision, said she had experts' assurance it would cause no harm. "This was the hardest decision I have ever had to make," Reno testified. "Probably one of the hardest decisions that anybody could have to make. It will live with me for the rest of my life."

Just as she had done two years earlier, Reno appeared to disarm her critics by accepting final responsibility. With that, 10 days of hearings ended with little consensus, but with the promise of a committee report.

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July 19 - Waco hearings full of surprises

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