Nexus - 0220 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

WACO (Editor's Note: The following extract is from i er and is an excellent description of what is on the video, Waco: The Big Lie.) This stunning video documentary gives a totally different picture of what really happened. lhe first part of the video presents information about the Branch Davidians which seems to contradict what the media have told us about them. The media gave the impression that the Branch Davidians were a bunch of suicidal apocalyptic psy- chopaths. The Thompson video shows them as pretty normal human beings, seriously devoted to a charismatic teacher, living peacefully in communal style at their Mt Carmel centre. The sect, founded in 1935, is an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventist church, There have been many such unorthodox religious sects and communities in America, none of which have ever suffered a military-style assault by the US government. But what drew the ire of the federal government to the Branch Davidians was the fact that they bought and sold guns, which is perfectly legal. Buying and selling guns in Texas and elsewhere is one way in which many people earn money. None of the Branch Davidians had been convicted of a violation of any of the gun laws on the statute books. The second part of the video deals with the legal preparations made by the government to justify its planned assault on the Branch Davidians' compound. Mrs Thompson points out the blatant irregularities in the search warrant issued by the federal judge. This stunning video The third part shows the unprovoked military assault on the Branch Davidians on Sunday moming, 28th February 1993. ATF troops are shown firing at the front of the compound with automatic weapons with no fire being returned. In addition, it shows three helicopters flying overhead. It then shows two teams of ATF men in black uniforms at the side of the house with automatic weapons climbing onto the first-floor roof by lad- ders, The group at the right is comprised of four men, three of whom smash their way into a second-floor window after throwing a smoke grenade into the room. The fourth man on the roof is lying prone with a machine gun, covering his buddies as they enter the building. No one is firing at them. The fourth man then goes to the window and throws a grenade into the room his buddies have just entered. He then fires the machine gun into the room, Why is he firing at his own men? As he fires into the room, we see three shots fired from inside the room piercing the outside wall. Did those shots come from the three ATF agents in the room who realised they were being shot at from the outside? Undaunted, the fourth man then fires into the room once more. A bullet hits his helmet and the impact knocks him down, but he is unhurt. He scurries to the edge of the roof and quickly goes down the ladder to the ground. Who is that fourth man, and why did he fire into the room where he knew his own men had entered? We are told that the ATF had rehearsed the attack over and over again. Had that fourth man been given special instructions? The three men who had entered that room were the three men killed in the assault, and they have all been identified as Bill Clinton's bodyguards during the election campaign. Why was an investigation not made into the circumstances of the deaths of the three ATE agents? Why was the blame immediately placed on the Branch Davidians who suf- fered six deaths in the assault? The circumstances of the death of the fourth ATF man have never been satisfactorily explained. Supposedly he was killed before the shooting even started. Was it an accident? But if it is true that one or more of the agents were from Samuel L, Blumenfeld Extracted with permission from The Blumenfeld Education Letter (vol. 9, no. 1, January 1994) PO Box 45161, Boise, Idaho 83711 USA Phone: (208) 322 4440 JUNE - JULY 1994 16¢NEXUS THE FIRST ASSAULT