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July 28, 1993 - Bill Cooper
59:10
WACO - The Big Lie
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I want to move you to your heart's content.
You're listening to the Hour of the Time.
I'm your host, William Cooper, and tonight, folks, you're going to hear the verbatim soundtrack from the Linda Thompson Waco tape entitled, Waco, The Big Lie.
You're going to hear it twice, and if you haven't ordered this tape, order it now.
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Don't even get out of your chairs, folks.
You'll regret it if you do.
In 1993, approximately 130 men, women, and children lived in a large house just outside
Waco, Texas on property they called the Mount Carmel Center.
The leader of this group was 33-year-old Vernon Howell, who later changed his name to David
Koresh.
David believed he had been asked by God to deliver the message of the Book of Revelations
in the Bible to the world.
Rachel, David's wife, and their three children also lived at Mount Carmel.
The Mount Carmel property was established as a religious retreat by its founders in
1935.
Followers came to be known as Branch Davidians.
In 60 years, there had been only one incident in an otherwise unblemished record of the Branch Davidians' peaceful existence with their neighbors.
Former leader George Rodin's wife gave leadership of the group to Koresh.
Rodin then unearthed a dead woman in her coffin and challenged Koresh to see who could raise the dead woman.
Koresh called the police who said they needed evidence.
Koresh and several followers went to the ranch to take pictures of the coffin and Rodin opened fire.
Rodin was shot in the finger.
Koresh and seven others were arrested.
All were later acquitted.
Former leader George Rodin also accused David Koresh of getting his 75-year-old mother pregnant.
He raped my mother.
In response, David replied, If I took a seven-year-old woman and got her pregnant, you better watch out.
I'm God.
This statement, obviously said sarcastically, was repeated out of context over and over in the news media and by the
FBI in the next week to portray David Koresh as having claimed he was God.
Many people at Mount Carmel held responsible jobs in the outside community.
Wayne Martin was a well-known and respected Harvard-educated lawyer.
Sherry Jewell was a computer analyst and teacher.
David Jones was a mailman.
Mike Schroeder and Woody Kendrick were craftsmen.
Church services were no different than what you'd expect at any church service.
Kenneth Cone is a pinnable.
So how's God going to talk to me in a latter day?
And who's going to bring that book?
It will be Massachusetts.
The Branch Davidians were well-liked by many of their neighbors.
And the Branch Davidians had some distinguished neighbors over the years.
Texas Governor Ann Richards grew up in Waco.
William Sessoms was the mayor and the judge in Waco before he became director of the FBI.
ATF director Stephen Higgins and FBI spokesman Bob Ricks both attended Baylor University in Waco and President Clinton recently appointed a new commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
She too is from Waco.
The house was built by the labors of the people who lived there.
What happened to target these seemingly peaceful and religious people for the wrath of the United States government?
Around 1987, Mark Brough, a self-proclaimed prophet from Honolulu, Hawaii, joined the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel.
He was asked to leave in 1989 when he tried to take over the leadership of the Mount Carmel Center from David Koresh.
Mark Brough vowed revenge.
They called several international agencies and made allegations against David Koresh of adulterous sex, child abuse, and gun stockpiling.
One of the groups he contacted was Cult Awareness Network, a group that helps to arrange kidnappings and deprogramming of people who join religious groups.
Deprogramming is a form of brainwashing.
Cult Awareness Network pushed for investigations of the Branch Davidians.
In 1992, Mark Brough was provided a golden opportunity to get his revenge when a disc jockey named David Jewell became embroiled in a custody battle with his wife, Sherry Jewell, a branch Davidian who lived at Mount Carmel.
Mark Brough approached David Jewell's mother to tell his sordid tales of sex, abuse, and guns.
He then later testified at the custody hearing.
In an interview with an Australian network in 1991, David Koresh himself answered these claims.
How many wives do you have?
One.
Why one?
One.
Why?
Have you committed adultery?
No, I don't commit adultery.
Are you telling the truth?
I am telling you the truth.
Have you beaten children?
No, I do not beat children.
I think the guilt there was ice.
Yeah, were the parents there?
The parents were there.
Did you do it?
No, I didn't do it.
Nonetheless, these very same allegations made their way into the search warrant affidavit written by alcohol, tobacco, and firearms agent Davey Aguilera on February 25th, 1993.
The ATF is responsible for seeing that taxes are paid on certain types of guns and enforcing federal gun laws.
Why would these allegations be included in an application to search for weapons violations?
The ATF has no authority to investigate child abuse or polygamy.
And these allegations were investigated by the Texas Welfare Department and the McLennan County Sheriff's Department in 1991 and 1992 and were found to be baseless.
Parts of the search warrant affidavit by Agent Aguilera were false.
Here, Agent Aguilera refers to Shotgun News, a national newspaper with a circulation of 150,000 that is sold at newsstands all over the country.
He calls it a clandestine newspaper.
The affidavit describes how an undercover agent had observed the upper and lower receivers of disassembled AK-47s.
The AK-47 has a one-piece receiver.
There are no separate upper and lower receivers on an AK-47.
Obviously, Agent Aguilera didn't have a clue, and Magistrate Green failed to notice.
Ancient Agalera also stated that a neighbor heard machine gun fire.
But he didn't state that the McLennan County Sheriff had already investigated this claim and found that David Koresh had a legal device called a Hellfire Trigger that merely sounds like a machine gun, but is perfectly legal.
Machine gun fire in itself is not evidence of illegal activity.
It is legal to own a machine gun if the owner pays a $200 tax on the gun.
But there was no evidence the Branch Davidians owned any machine gun at all.
So, bottom line, the raid on February 28, 1993 was launched because the ATF merely suspected that the Branch Davidians might have a machine gun that they had failed to pay a $200 tax on.
Branch Davidian Paul Fata, who was responsible for many gun purchases, states categorically, There is no .50 caliber machine gun out there.
There is a .50 caliber gun that's a semi-automatic that was bought perfectly legal.
Aguilera also failed to mention that in July 1992, the ATF had inspected Hewitt Arms, a gun and gun parts store in Waco, where the Branch Davidians had purchased 225 guns.
Henry McMahon, the former owner of Hewitt Arms, told Pete Zorales of the Mobile Press That when the ATF agents visited you at arms in July, 1992, I called David and told him the agents have a problem with you buying so many guns.
He said, tell him to come on out.
The ATF agents declined this offer.
Magistrate Dennis Green, the only U.S.
magistrate in Waco, and himself a former U.S.
attorney, issued the search warrant for the Mount Carmel property.
An article in the August 30, 1992, Waco Tribune-Herald revealed that the small town of Waco had an extraordinarily high rate of federal gun prosecutions, compared to the rest of the nation, under the direction of Bill Johnstone, the U.S.
Attorney in Waco.
This high rate of prosecutions in Waco for gun law violations may well come from the ATF's and Magistrate Greene's ignorance of federal gun laws.
Although Agent Aguilera claims in the affidavit to be experienced and to know about federal firearms laws, he confuses the meanings of the words machine gun, destructive device, explosive, and explosive device, all of which have different, specific meanings in the federal law books.
Magistrate Dennis Green failed to notice.
Nonetheless, reporters at the Waco Tribune-Herald began a scandalous series of articles about the Branch Davidians the day before the ATF raid.
The reporters claimed to have interviewed former cult members.
The allegations sounded amazingly like the allegations of Mark Brough and the Cult Awareness Network members.
This diagram depicts the house at Mount Carmel as it appeared on the day of the raid by ATF on February 28, 1993.
In press accounts, The ATF claimed that the raid was moved up a day after the ATF learned that the Waco Herald Tribune had started its series the day before.
This was the first of many outright lies.
The warrant would expire if it was not served by February 28th, and the raid took place on February 28th.
What you are about to see is the first film footage of the initial raid as it was provided to all the network television feeds.
This film was heavily edited by someone before it was distributed across the networks.
It contains obvious glitches where film has been cut out.
But even this editing wasn't enough to remove the truth.
We'll show these next three scenes three times.
Watch closely.
In the opening scene, agents are in position behind cars, shooting at the front of the house,
as two teams of four agents climb ladders on the side of the house to the roof.
Now we'll replay what you just saw.
Notice that there are no bullets hitting the ground or cars around any of these ATF agents.
The three dark dots low on the horizon are helicopters.
The sound of automatic weapons is coming from the M16 and MP5 machine guns used by the ATF agents.
In the next scene, two teams of four agents were supposed to secure the roof within 30
seconds of arrival.
Notice that no one is shooting at these agents as they climb the ladders.
Several of these agents are carrying fully automatic rifles.
The agent at the top right side just managed to shoot himself in the leg.
Did you see it?
We'll watch that again.
The 9mm pistols carried by the ATF have no safety protection on them.
As the agent climbs the ladder, he reaches for his gun in the holster.
It discharges, wounding him in the leg and causing him to slip.
He is able to continue up the ladder, however.
According to APS spokesman Royster, the raid on Mount Carmel had been planned and rehearsed for months.
They drilled over and over again, and we had our plan down, we had a diversion down, all put into effect, and they were waiting.
Next we see three of the four agents on the roof breaking into the window.
Are you all right?
Let's watch this part again.
No one is shooting at these agents.
The shooting you are hearing is from the agents on the ground in front of the house.
Notice that the agent is carrying two types of grenades on his belt.
He also is carrying a smoke grenade.
Both agents at the window toss in what appear to be smoke grenades.
After these agents get through the window and into the room, you will briefly see the fourth agent on the roof,
followed by one of those badly edited cuts from the film.
you The film picks up with the fourth agent tossing something into the room.
It makes no sense for him to be throwing anything at all into a room where the three ATF agents have just gone, unless he intends to injure his own men.
He also fires a machine gun into the room twice without looking.
We'll watch it at normal speed, then slow it down.
Now let's watch it in slow motion.
Here he tosses something and withdraws his hand from the window.
Next, without looking, he fires a burst from his machine gun into the room.
Someone begins shooting from inside and bullet holes appear in the wall.
In the midst of this gunfire, three holes appear at the same time.
The agent fires his machine gun into the room a second time.
He's been hit by a round.
The bullet strikes him in his helmet on the backside of his head.
He falls to the roof and grabs his head.
.
This agent is not hurt and he later makes it safely down the ladder.
Regardless of who is shooting from inside that room, this agent just threw what appears
to have been a grenade and fired a machine gun, twice, into the room where his three
fellow ATF agents had just gone.
I All three of the agents who were sent into the window were killed.
All three were Bill Clinton's bodyguards during his presidential campaign.
A fourth agent was killed that day before the shooting started, as he exited the cattle car.
We're extremely proud.
Of what happened out there, how our agents conducted themselves under some unbelievable circumstances.
They did a fantastic job.
David Koresh says... They fired on us first, but like I say, they were scared.
They had a plan from us.
So, I don't think there's really anything they did wrong.
Like I said, they had bigger guns than we did.
Notice the MP5 and M16 machine guns and notches on these ATF agents who claim to have been outgunned.
On the day of the raid, 29-year-old Mike Schroeder, a Branch Davidian, had left the Mount Carmel Center that morning to go to work in town.
He learned about the raid on the radio.
His wife, Kathy Schroeder, and their four-year-old son were inside the Mount Carmel Center.
Mike, along with Woody Kendricks and Norman Allison, attempted to go home.
Mike was shot seven times, one through his eye, another through the heart, and five times in the back as he attempted to climb over the fence.
Norman Allison was captured immediately and told the ATF that Mike Schroeder had been killed.
The official lie released to the news media claimed that the men started the shootout as they tried to leave Mount Carmel.
The story appeared on March 1st in the Associated Press and in the Waco Herald Tribune on March 2nd.
But even this March 1st story reported that one of the three men was killed.
Documents filed in Norman Allison's indictment also plainly show that the government knew the men were trying to get into the Mount Carmel Center, not shooting their way out.
These documents also prove that the government knew on February 28, 1993, that Mike Schroeder had been shot.
Yet Mike's body was left hanging on a fence for days.
His family wasn't notified of his death until five days later.
On the fifth day, Mike Schroeder's body, chewed by wild dogs and birds, was picked up on a grappling hook from a helicopter and transported like a side of beef on a meat hook.
His mother was in Waco and she was finally notified of his death by telephone.
His wife inside Mount Carmel was never notified of his death by the FBI.
Peter Gens' body was left atop a water tower.
It fell apart and dropped to the ground when the feds attempted to lift it with a grappling hook.
The Branch Davidians buried what remained of his body.
Two of the ATF's own agents sum up the ATF mentality pretty well.
And the thing that I find totally abhorrent and disgusting is these higher level people took that same oath and they violate the basic principles and tenets of the Constitution and the laws and simple ethics and morality.
That's what disgusts me.
Do you have a career with ATF?
The people that I put in jail have more honor than the top administration in this organization.
I know it's a sad commentary, but that's my experience with ATF.
On the fourth day, Jeff Jamar of the FBI is brought in to be in charge of the operation, replacing the ATF.
From this point on, all news people will be kept three miles away from the Mount Carmel Center.
ATF agents armed with machine guns and state troopers are posted at roadblocks to keep citizens five miles from the Mount Carmel Center.
The only news that anyone in the United States will receive will be the official version told by agent Bob Ricks of the FBI.
It is illegal to use military troops against United States citizens under the Posse Comitatus Act 18 United States Code 1385 But the FBI brings in tanks from nearby Fort Hood, a U.S.
army installation to surround the house.
National Guard troops and military equipment can be used in drug
interdiction activities.
Peace.
Even though there was never any question of drug activity at Mount Karma, as a ploy to avoid criminal penalties imposed by the Posse Comitatus Act, The ATF claims there is a suspected methamphetamine lab.
Yet even after Texas Governor Ann Richards becomes aware that she was deceived by the ATF into consenting to the use of the tanks, she does not order the tanks off the property.
From now on, the Branch Davidians will have no contact with the outside world.
The FBI orders all the utilities, lights, phone, water, gas, and plumbing to the house to be disconnected.
A telephone wired directly to the FBI is put in place.
The FBI sets up a steady stream of torture directed at the Branch Davidians, which included many small children inside the house.
Bright stadium lights keep the house lit up 24 hours a day, as a loudspeaker blares sounds of rabbits being slaughtered, Tibetan monks chant, and Nancy Sinatra's song, These Boots Are Made For Walkin'.
One refrain of that song says, I just found me a brand new box of matches, yeah, and if you play with fire, you know you're gonna get burned.
Whenever a Branch Davidian falls into disfavor with the FBI, the tanks are used to crush the person's car, or in the case of the children, their go-karts, as punishment.
On March 27th, the London Times runs an article describing the equipment used by the FBI.
The British Strategic Air Services sends a specially equipped plane to take thermal images of the insides of the house, allowing the FBI to see everyone who is inside by the heat reflected from their bodies.
The FBI inserts fiber-optic cameras into the walls of the house and into air vents.
The fiber-optic cameras are attached to transmitters that then broadcast the signal to the FBI receiver.
The FBI can now see and hear everyone inside the house At all times.
On April 19, 1993, the entire country saw live coverage of the fire at Mount Carmel.
We were told that the FBI had decided to punch holes to insert a non-flammable CS gas to urge the mothers and children to come out.
We were told this was done out of concern for the children.
Shown here are some training scenes of the impact of CS gas on grown men.
It is important to understand the layout of the Mount Carmel Center.
The underground bunkers were not under the house.
There was a cement tunnel that ran from a trap door in the end of the house out to two main underground shelters out in the yard, one of which was in front of the water tower.
Anyone who was inside either one of the underground bunkers should have been untouched by either fire or smoke.
In this picture, this end of the house is where the trap door to the underground bunker was.
This film was taken long before 6 a.m., the morning before the fire started.
There is a large hole at the base of the building, and the building has already been knocked off its foundation.
There is a round hole in the side of the building.
What appears to be a large blood splatter is visible on a wall on the other side.
Something, perhaps a curtain, flaps from inside the building.
Remember, with the sophisticated bugging and surveillance equipment the FBI used, the FBI knew where all of these people were at all times.
They could see them and hear them.
The underground bunker is in front of the water tower shown here before 6 a.m.
The bunker is located in the center of the city.
you I'm going to go ahead and close this.
This tank was over the tunnel to the underground bunker.
For more than two hours, a tank is over the underground bunker, or at the hole in the corner of the house at the entrance to the tunnel.
Each time the tank opens, agents can be seen getting in or out, and the camera filming it conveniently cuts away.
At approximately 6.10 a.m., smoke begins pouring from the underground bunker.
None of the media mentions the fire in the underground bunker, yet this is when and where the first fire began, and where many people lost their lives.
The official version of when things began starts here around 6 that morning.
There is a flag propped against the door.
The flag is not black, and it is not wedged in the door as the media reported.
It is a red and blue flag.
Whatever it is, it appears to be a flag of a conqueror, not a flag set outside by the Branch Davidians.
The first tank that is sent in is a tank retriever.
It has no apparatus to insert any kind of gas.
It appears at precisely the time the smoke you saw earlier was seen coming from the underground bunker.
It is not making so-called small holes to insert gas.
It is destroying the end of the house over the trap door that leads from the bunker, making sure that no one inside the now-burning bunker can escape.
A second hole is made in the side of the building.
And a third hole is made at the front door.
What these tanks are doing in each picture is collapsing the inside stairwell.
The following footage proves, beyond any doubt, that the tanks intentionally set the house on fire.
It proves that the Branch Davidians were murdered.
Watch carefully as the tank backs out of the house.
You can see that this tank has a gas jet on the front that shoots fire.
You can also see the fire quite plainly.
The tank goes into the house twice, and each time as it backs out, the fire at the gas jet is plainly visible.
In the scenes that were shown throughout the country at the location where the fire supposedly started, smoke comes out a second-story window.
As flames erupt from the second-story window, watch as a tank appears around the corner.
There is an agent on this tank, as if he had just leapt down onto the top of the tank.
It is difficult to see the details on a television because the quality is poor.
But in the studio, he can be seen removing a fireproof-type hood.
Another man is seen on the roof.
The FBI claims that this man is a Branch Davidian.
However, watch as he jumps from the roof and walks away.
The tape quality again is poor when it broadcasts on a television set, but in the studio, while he is on the roof, he appears to take off a jacket.
He jumps and lands on his feet.
He very calmly walks away.
As he walks, he can be seen removing a hood.
He walks away.
He also appears to be carrying a rifle in his right hand.
As the fire burns, helicopters circle over the center with men pointing guns out of the opening doorway.
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Before, during and after the fire, none of the agents involved are at all concerned
that there could be explosions or bullets in the house.
In these next scenes you can plainly see agents walking in and out near the fire.
In any ordinary crime scene great pains are taken to preserve evidence.
Here, tanks methodically push what remains of the house and evidence into the fire.
The fire takes less than an hour to burn down the entire center.
Thanks for watching.
The fire is still smoldering at five that evening as agents walk in and around the fire.
It is obvious that there is no genuine concern over the supposed millions of rounds of ammunition.
Even though the FBI and the media consistently referred to this cement building as the bunker, the real bunkers were underground, as you were shown earlier.
Many of the bodies that were found were found in the underground bunkers, not in a warehouse.
In one final crude and insensitive display, the ATF raised its flag in victory over the ruins of Mount Carmel before the day was over.
One voice was heard that day telling the truth.
Brad Branch, a Branch Davidian, who had left the Mount Carmel Center before the day of the fire.
Now they're destroying, now they're finishing off the job right now.
They're destroying the crime scene.
America, this is the biggest lie that's ever been put before the American public, ever.
They called the Mount Carmel Center.
The leader of this group was 33-year-old Vernon Howell, who later changed his name to David Koresh.
David believed he had been asked by God to deliver the message of the Book of Revelations in the Bible to the world.
Rachel, David's wife, and their three children also lived at Mount Carmel.
The Mount Carmel property was established as a religious retreat by its founders in 1935.
Followers came to be known as Branch Davidians.
In 60 years, there had been only one incident in an otherwise unblemished record of the Branch Davidians' peaceful existence with their neighbors.
Former leader George Roden's wife gave leadership of the group to Koresh.
Roden then unearthed a dead woman in her coffin and challenged Koresh to see who could raise the dead woman.
Koresh called the police who said they needed evidence.
Koresh and several followers went to the ranch to take pictures of the coffin and Rodin opened fire.
Rodin was shot in the finger.
Koresh and seven others were arrested.
All were later acquitted.
Former leader George Rodin also accused David Koresh of getting his 75-year-old mother pregnant.
He raped my mother.
In response, David replied, If I took a seven-year-old woman and got her pregnant, you better watch out.
I'm God.
This statement, obviously said sarcastically, was repeated out of context over and over in the news media and by the FBI in the next week to portray David Koresh as having claimed he was God.
Many people at Mount Carmel held responsible jobs in the outside community.
Wayne Martin was a well-known and respected Harvard-educated lawyer.
Sherry Jewell was a computer analyst and teacher.
David Jones was a mailman.
Mike Schroeder and Woody Kendrick were craftsmen.
Church services were no different than what you'd expect at any church service.
The Branch Davidians were well-liked by many of their neighbors.
And who's going to bring that book?
There will be no excuses!
The Branch Davidians were well liked by many of their neighbors.
And the Branch Davidians had some distinguished neighbors over the years.
Texas Governor Ann Richards grew up in Waco.
William Sessions was the mayor and the judge in Waco before he became director of the FBI.
ATF Director Stephen Higgins and FBI spokesman Bob Ricks both attended Baylor University in Waco.
And President Clinton recently appointed a new commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
She too is from Waco.
The house was built by the labors of the people who lived there.
What happened to target these seemingly peaceful and religious people for the wrath of the United States government?
Around 1987, Mark Brough, a self-proclaimed prophet from Honolulu, Hawaii, joined the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel.
He was asked to leave in 1989 when he tried to take over the leadership of the Mount Carmel Center from David Koresh.
Mark Brough vowed revenge.
He called several international agencies and made allegations against David Koresh of adultery of sex, child abuse, and gun stockpiling.
One of the groups he contacted was Cult Awareness Network, a group that helps to arrange kidnappings and deprogramming of people who join religious groups.
Deprogramming is a form of brainwashing.
Cult Awareness Network pushed for investigations of the Branch Davidians.
In 1992, Mark Brough was provided a golden opportunity to get his revenge when a disc jockey named David Jewell became embroiled in a custody battle with his wife, Sherry Jewell, a branch civilian who lived at Mount Carmel.
Mark Brough approached David Jewell's mother to tell his sordid tales of sex, abuse, and guns.
He then later testified at the custody hearing.
In an interview with an Australian network in 1991, David Koresh himself answered these claims.
How many wives do you have?
One.
One wife?
One wife.
Have you committed adultery?
Have you committed adultery?
No, I don't commit adultery.
Are you telling me the truth?
I am telling you the truth.
Have you beaten children?
No, I did not beat children.
I think the girl with that was Aisha.
Yeah, was her parents there?
Her parents were there.
Did you do it?
No, I didn't do it.
Nonetheless, these very same allegations made their way into the search warrant affidavit written by alcohol, tobacco, and firearms agent Davey Aguilera on February 25, 1993.
The ATF is responsible for seeing that taxes are paid on certain types of guns and enforcing federal gun laws.
Why would these allegations be included in an application to search for weapons violations?
The ATF has no authority to investigate child abuse or polygamy.
And these allegations were investigated by the Texas Welfare Department and the McLennan County Sheriff's Department in 1991 and 1992 and were found to be baseless.
Parts of the search warrant affidavit by Agent Aguilera were false.
Here, Agent Aguilera refers to Shotgun News, a national newspaper with a circulation of 150,000 that is sold at newsstands all over the country.
He calls it a clandestine newspaper.
The affidavit describes how an undercover agent had observed the upper and lower receivers of disassembled AK-47s.
The AK-47 has a one-piece receiver.
There are no separate upper and lower receivers on an AK-47.
Obviously, Agent Aguilera didn't have a clue, and Magistrate Green failed to notice.
Agent Aguilera also stated that a neighbor heard machine gun fire, but he didn't state that the McLennan County Sheriff had already investigated this claim, and found that David Koresh had a legal device called a Hellfire Trigger that merely sounds like a machine gun, but is perfectly legal.
Machine gun fire in itself is not evidence of illegal activity.
It is legal to own a machine gun if the owner pays a $200 tax on the gun.
But there was no evidence the Branch Davidians owned any machine gun at all.
So, bottom line, the raid on February 28, 1993 was launched because the ATF merely suspected that the Branch Davidians might have a machine gun that they had failed to pay a $200 tax on.
Branch Davidian Paul Fata, who was responsible for many gun purchases, states categorically There is no .50 caliber machine gun out there.
There is a .50 caliber gun that's a semi-automatic that was bought perfectly legal.
Aguilera also failed to mention that in July 1992, the ATF had inspected Hewitt Arms, a gun and gun parts store in Waco, where the Branch Davidians had purchased 225 guns.
Henry McMahon, the former owner of Hewitt Arms, told Pete Zorales of the Mobile Press that when the ATF agents visited Hewitt Arms in July 1992, I called David and told him the agents have a problem with you buying so many guns.
He said, tell them to come on out.
The ATF agents declined this offer.
Magistrate Dennis Green, the only U.S.
magistrate in Waco, and himself a former U.S.
attorney, issued the search warrant for the Mount Carmel property.
An article in the August 30, 1992, Waco Tribune Herald revealed that the small town of Waco had an extraordinarily high rate of federal gun prosecutions, compared to the rest of the nation, under the direction of Bill Johnstone, the U.S.
Attorney in Waco.
This high rate of prosecutions in Waco for gun law violations may well come from the APS and Magistrate Greene's ignorance of federal gun laws.
Although Agent Aguilera claims in the affidavit to be experienced and to know about federal firearms laws, he confuses the meanings of the words machine gun, destructive device, explosive, and explosive device, all of which have different, specific meanings in the federal law books.
Magistrate Dennis Green failed to notice.
Nonetheless, reporters at the Waco Tribune-Herald began a scandalous series of articles about the Branch Davidians the day before the ATF raid.
The reporters claimed to have interviewed former cult members.
The allegations sounded amazingly like the allegations of Mark Brough and the Cult Awareness Network members.
This diagram depicts the house at Mount Carmel as it appeared on the day of the raid by ATF on February 28, 1993.
In press accounts, the ATF claimed that the raid was moved up a day after the ATF learned that the Waco Herald Tribune had started its series the day before.
This was the first of many outright lies.
The warrant would expire if it was not served by February 28th, and the raid took place on February 28th.
What you are about to see is the first film footage of the initial raid as it was provided to all the network television feeds.
This film was heavily edited by someone before it was distributed across the networks.
It contains obvious glitches where film has been cut out.
But even this editing wasn't enough to remove the truth.
We'll show these next three scenes three times.
Watch closely.
In the opening scene, agents are in position behind cars, shooting at the front of the house,
as two teams of four agents climb ladders on the side of the house to the roof.
Now, we'll replay what you just saw.
Notice that there are no bullets hitting the ground or cars around any of these ATF agents.
The three dark dots low on the horizon are helicopters.
The sound of automatic weapons is coming from the M16 and MP5 machine guns used by the ATF agents.
In the next scene, two teams of four agents were supposed to secure the roof within 30
seconds of arrival.
Notice that no one is shooting at these agents as they climb the ladders.
Several of these agents are carrying fully automatic rifles.
The agent at the top right side just managed to shoot himself in the leg.
Did you see it?
We'll watch that again.
The 9mm pistols carried by the ATF have no safety protection on them.
As the agent climbs the ladder, he reaches for his gun in the holster.
It discharges, wounding him in the leg and causing him to slip.
He is able to continue up the ladder, however.
According to ATF spokesman Royster, the raid on Mount Carmore had been planned and rehearsed for months.
They drilled over and over again, and we had our plan down, we had a diversion down, all was put into effect, and they were waiting.
Next we see three of the four agents on the roof breaking into the window.
There.
Uh-oh.
Let's watch this part again.
No one is shooting at these agents.
The shooting you were hearing is from the agents on the ground in front of the house.
Notice that the agent is carrying two types of grenades on his belt.
He also is carrying a smoke grenade.
Both agents at the window toss in what appear to be smoke grenades.
After these agents get through the window and into the room, you will briefly see the fourth agent on the roof,
followed by one of those badly edited cuts from the film.
Bye.
The film picks up with the fourth agent tossing something into the room.
It makes no sense for him to be throwing anything at all into a room where the three ATF agents have just gone, unless he intends to injure his own men.
He also fires a machine gun into the room, twice, without looking.
We'll watch it at normal speed, then slow it down.
Now let's watch it in slow motion.
you Here he tosses something and withdraws his hand from the window.
Next, without looking, he fires a burst from his machine gun into the room.
Someone begins shooting from inside and bullet holes appear in the wall.
In the midst of this gunfire, three holes appear at the same time.
The agent fires his machine gun into the room a second time.
He's been hit by a round.
The bullet strikes him in his helmet on the back side of his head.
He falls to the roof and grabs his head.
Thank you.
This agent is not hurt and he later makes it safely down the ladder.
Regardless of who is shooting from inside that room, this agent just threw what appears
to have been a grenade and fired a machine gun, twice, into the room where his three
fellow ATF agents have just gone.
I'm All three of the agents who were sent into the window were killed.
All three were Bill Clinton's bodyguards during his presidential campaign.
A fourth agent was killed that day before the shooting started, as he exited the cattle car.
We're extremely proud.
of what happened out there, how our agents conducted themselves under some unbelievable circumstances.
They did a fantastic job.
David Koresh says... They fired on us first, but like I say, they were scared.
They had it planned from us, so I don't think there's really anything they did wrong.
Like I said, they had bigger guns than we did.
Notice the MP5 and M16 machine guns and knife sheaths on these APF agents who claim to have been outgunned.
On the day of the raid, 29-year-old Mike Schroeder, a Branch Davidian, had left the Mt.
Carmel Center that morning to go to work in town.
He learned about the raid on the radio.
His wife, Kathy Schroeder, and their four-year-old son were inside the Mt.
Carmel Center.
Mike, along with Woody Kendricks and Norman Allison, attempted to go home.
Mike was shot seven times, one through his eye, another through the heart, and five times in the back as he attempted to climb over the fence.
Norman Allison was captured immediately.
He told the ATF that Mike Schroeder had been killed.
The official lie released to the news media claimed that the men started the shootout as they tried to leave Mount Carmel.
The story appeared on March 1st in the Associated Press and in the Waco Herald Tribune on March 2nd.
But even this March 1st story reported that one of the three men was killed.
Documents filed in Norman Allison's indictment also plainly show that the government knew the men were trying to get into the Mount Carmel Center, not shooting their way out.
These documents also prove that the government knew on February 28, 1993, that Mike Schroeder had been shot.
Yet Mike's body was left hanging on a fence for days.
His family wasn't notified of his death until five days later.
On the fifth day, Mike Schroeder's body, chewed by wild dogs and birds, was picked up on a grappling hook from a helicopter and transported like a side of beef on a meat hook.
His mother was in Waco, and she was finally notified of his death by telephone.
His wife inside Mount Carmel was never notified of his death by the FBI.
Peter Gent's body was left atop a water tower.
It fell apart and dropped to the ground when the feds attempted to lift it with a grappling hook.
The Branch Davidians buried what remained of his body.
Two of the ATF's own agents sum up the ATF mentality pretty well.
And the thing that I find totally aberrant and disgusting is these higher level people took that same oath and they violate the basic principles and tenets of the Constitution and the laws and simple ethics and morality.
That's what disgusts me.
In my career with ATF, The people that I put in jail have more honor than the top administration in this organization.
I know it's a sad commentary, but that's my experience with ATF.
On the fourth day, Jeff Jamar of the FBI is brought in to be in charge of the operation, replacing the ATF.
From this point on, all news people will be kept three miles away from the Mount Carmel Center.
ATF agents armed with machine guns and state troopers are posted at roadblocks to keep citizens five miles from the Mount Carmel Center.
The only news that anyone in the United States will receive will be the official version told by agent Bob Ricks of the FBI.
It is illegal to use military troops against United States citizens under the Posse Comitatus Act 18 United States Code 1385 But the FBI brings in tanks from nearby Fort Hood, a U.S.
army installation to surround the house.
National Guard troops and military equipment can be used in drug
interdiction activities.
you Even though there was never any question of drug activity at Mount Carmel, as a ploy to avoid criminal penalties imposed by the Posse Comitatus Act,
The ATF claims there is a suspected methamphetamine lab.
Yet even after Texas Governor Ann Richards becomes aware that she was deceived by the ATF into consenting to the use of the tanks, she does not order the tanks off the property.
From now on, the Branch Davidians will have no contact with the outside world.
The FBI orders all the utilities, lights, phone, water, gas, and plumbing to the house to be disconnected.
A telephone wired directly to the FBI is put in place.
The FBI sets up a steady stream of torture directed at the Branch Davidians, which included many small children inside the house.
Bright stadium lights keep the house lit up 24 hours a day, as a loudspeaker blares sounds of rabbits being slaughtered, Tibetan monks chant, and Nancy Sinatra's song, These Boots Are Made For Walkin'.
One refrain of that song says, I just found me a brand new box of matches, yeah, and if you play with fire, you know you're gonna get burned.
Whenever a Branch Davidian falls into disfavor with the FBI, the tanks are used to crush the person's car, or in the case of the children, their go-karts, as punishment.
On March 27th, the London Times runs an article describing the equipment used by the FBI.
The British Strategic Air Services sends a specially equipped plane to take thermal images of the insides of the house, allowing the FBI to see everyone who is inside by the heat reflected from their bodies.
The FBI inserts fiber-optic cameras into the walls of the house and into air vents.
The fiber-optic cameras are attached to transmitters that then broadcast the signal to the FBI receiver.
The FBI can now see and hear everyone inside the house At all times.
On April 19, 1993, the entire country saw live coverage of the fire at Mount Carmel.
We were told that the FBI had decided to punch holes to insert a non-flammable CS gas to urge the mothers and children to come out.
We were told this was done out of concern for the children.
Shown here are some training scenes of the impact of CS gas on grown men.
It is important to understand the layout of the Mount Carmel Center.
The underground bunkers were not under the house.
There was a cement tunnel that ran from a trap door in the end of the house
out to two main underground shelters out in the yard, one of which was in front of the water tower.
Anyone who was inside either one of the underground bunkers should...
Well, we didn't get to finish the tape the second time, ladies and gentlemen.
You need to order this tape now.
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You have our permission, both Linda Thompson's and mine, to copy this tape and distribute
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to order them. Encourage other people to order them. Good night, and God bless you all.
Now they're destroying, now they're finishing off the job right now.
They're destroying the crime scene.
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