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N0KFQ > TODAY 28.02.13 18:08l 92 Lines 4650 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 36618_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 28
Path: IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130228/1455Z 36618@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
...
Feb 28, 1993:
ATF raids Branch Davidian compound
At Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas, agents of the U.S. Treasury
Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF)
launch a raid against the Branch Davidian compound as part of an
investigation into illegal possession of firearms and explosives
by the Christian cult. As the agents attempted to penetrate the
complex, gunfire erupted, beginning an extended gun battle that
left four ATF agents dead and 15 wounded. Six Branch Davidians
were fatally wounded, and several more were injured, including
David Koresh, the cult's founder and leader. After 45 minutes of
shooting, the ATF agents withdrew, and a cease-fire was
negotiated over the telephone. The operation, which involved more
than 100 ATF agents, was the one of the largest ever mounted by
the bureau and resulted in the highest casualties of any ATF
operation.
David Koresh was born Vernon Wayne Howell in Houston, Texas, in
1959. In 1981, he joined the Branch Davidians, a sect of the
Seventh Day Adventist Church founded in 1934 by a Bulgarian
immigrant named Victor Houteff. Koresh, who possessed an
exhaustive knowledge of the Bible, rapidly rose in the hierarchy
of the small religious community, eventually entering into a
power struggle with the Davidians' leader, George Roden.
For a short time, Koresh retreated with his followers to eastern
Texas, but in late 1987 he returned to Mount Carmel with seven
armed followers and raided the compound, severely wounding Roden.
Koresh went on trial for attempted murder, but the charge was
dropped after his case was declared a mistrial. By 1990, he was
the leader of the Branch Davidians and legally changed his name
to David Koresh, with David representing his status as head of
the biblical House of David, and Koresh standing for the Hebrew
name for Cyrus, the Persian king who allowed the Jews held
captive in Babylon to return to Israel.
Koresh took several wives at Mount Carmel and fathered at least
12 children from these women, several of whom were as young as 12
or 13 when they became pregnant. There is also evidence that
Koresh may have harshly disciplined some of the 100 or so Branch
Davidians living inside the compound, particularly his children.
A central aspect of Koresh's religious teachings was his
assertion that the apocalyptic events predicted in the Bible's
book of Revelation were imminent, making it necessary, he
asserted, for the Davidians to stockpile weapons and explosives
in preparation.
Following the unsuccessful ATF raid, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) took over the situation. A standoff with the
Branch Davidians stretched into seven weeks, and little progress
was made in the telephone negotiations as the Davidians had
stockpiled years of food and other necessities before the raid.
On April 18, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved a tear-gas
assault on the compound, and at approximately 6:00 a.m. on April
19 the Branch Davidians were informed of the imminent attack and
asked to surrender, which they did not. A few minutes later, two
FBI combat vehicles began inserting gas into the building and
were joined by Bradley tanks, which fired tear-gas canisters
through the compound's windows. The Branch Davidians, many with
gas masks on, refused to evacuate, and by 11:40 a.m. the last of
some 100 tear-gas canisters was fired into the compound. Just
after noon, a fire erupted at one or more locations on the
compound, and minutes later nine Davidians fled the rapidly
spreading blaze. Gunfire was reported but ceased as the compound
was completely engulfed by the flames.
Koresh and at least 80 of his followers, including 22 children,
died during the federal government's second disastrous assault on
Mount Carmel. The FBI and Justice Department maintained there was
conclusive evidence that the Branch Davidian members ignited the
fire, citing an eyewitness account and various forensic data. Of
the gunfire reported during the fire, the government argued that
the Davidians were either killing each other as part of a suicide
pact or were killing dissenters who attempted to escape the
Koresh-ordered suicide by fire. Most of the surviving Branch
Davidians contested this official position, as do some critics in
the press and elsewhere, whose charges against the ATF and FBI's
handling of the Waco standoff ranged from incompetence to
premeditated murder. In 1999, the FBI admitted that they used
tear-gas grenades in the assault, which have been known to cause
fires because of their incendiary properties.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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