Team Atomic: Eat Crow!

And that period sped up the development of the TCAS system that keeps us safer in the air now. There have been MANY MANY mid-air collisions avoided due to TCAS requirements on ALL commercial aircraft.

 

I'm not sure, but I think some are still on trial. (I could be wrong, I haven't been wrong yet today, so I'm due! )

Regadless if you are guilty or not, you do not open fire on cops and then barricade yourself in, IMO. You let the courts sort it out. Had they not fired, none of them would be dead (from that anyhow) and if they were innocent, then they most likely would be back at their compound. I'll not disagree that they may have gotten heavy-handed a bit, but the fault of the event lies with the Branch Davidians.

 

That's easy to say, sitting here all safe and sound. It's entirely another when an armed thug busts down your door with a machine gun. And that's all those guys were: armed thugs. The fact that they had badges doesn't make their conduct acceptable in the slightest. The Branch Davidians, like all Americans, are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. David Koresh went to town every morning for breakfast at the same restaurant. They could have picked him up there with no drama and shooting, but instead chose to perform a no-knock commando raid on the compound. They also saw fit to have a dozen media outlets on hand for the raid, but no medical personnel. They also had a large PR office set up in the area as well, ready to field press inquiries. This all took place at a time when the BATF was getting a lot of bad press and was looking for some positive media exposure.

I've also read some Supreme Court cites in which the Justices noted that you have no obligation whatsoever to cooperate with an unlawful arrest, up to an including deadly force. Now I'll grant you that is a dangerous game to play and will undoubtedly result in a large pile of legal fees, but it's a fact none the less. A cop operating outside the law is just another criminal to be dealt with.

In addition, that in no way, shape, or form made it acceptable for the government to use CS gas on women & children, particularly when that agent was known to be potentially fatal to small children. Janet Reno was told that, flat out, and she ordered it's use anyway.

Most telling is the fact that the steel front door ended up missing after the final assault. Since a steel door will clearly show the direction of flight of any bullets punching holes in it, this was a key piece of evidence. One that the government destroyed.

You might want to rent the movie "Waco: The Rules of Engagement." It's a documentary on the siege and it points out a bunch of holes in the government's story. My personal favorite was the line about how the repeated flashes from the helicopter were sunlight glinting off of glass and not the muzzle flash of machine gun fire. Even though these flashes come in a clearly
even, mechanical interval (just like machine gun fire).

As for the ongoing legal issues (if any) of the Branch Davidians, I know that a bunch of them were aquitted of all charges not too long after it happened. If the government is still trying to put them through the ringer over ten years after the fact, it doesn't say much as to the strength of their case. With a bunch of dead cops on the ground it shouldn't take over a decade to get a conviction. Unless, of course, you don't have a case to begin with and are just throwing mud at the wall in an effort to see what will stick.

 

Except for the fact that the flashes stop and start in a manner inconsistent with the rotor blades breaking sunlight. Flashes from that source would be continuous; muzzle flashes from controlled bursts, on the other hand, are not. It's also backed up by the 911 tapes of people inside the compound claiming they're being fired upon from above. The long and the short of it is that the government's case didn't add up, in a bunch of different ways, and more importantly that key evidence which would prove the innocence of the Davidians all managed to get destroyed. The whole purpose of the raid was supposedly due to illegal machine guns (which is a tax violation, I might add, and nothing more) and yet these weapons were never produced. Oh, unless you count the testimony of a government weapons expert who claimed they were illegal full-auto conversions. Funny that the weapons could not be produced for outside expert review. Nor could the front door. Or a bunch of other key bits of evidence. When examined as a whole, the entire situation stinks.

As for Koresh being a whacko who deserved to die, well, it must be nice being omnipotent. I didn't know the man but the last time I checked, in the USA we're all free to pursue happiness in whatever manner we see fit, as long as it doesn't hurt someone else. The Branch Davidians were doing just that and the government executed a bunch of them without the slightest hint of Due Process. If anyone thinks that is acceptable behavior by government agents, we've got bigger problems in this nation.

 

Blame it all on Clinton - it was his fault.

See Ya,

Darrin Talbott

 

Perhaps I will watch the documentary someday, but your above recollection is incorrect: as of now, there are still SEVEN of them still in prison serving 15 year terms (they were reduced from 40). Charges include weapons charges (including unlawful possession of machine guns) and voluntary manslaughter. 1 has been release after serving 5 years on weapon charges. One of the 7 confessed to firing at the ATF agents who were killed on the roof (his buddies say it wasn't him, but pick who you want to believe).

Yes, the ATF, FBI, etc. botched the raid, but these folks weren't "saints" One special I saw a few years indicated that some of the Davidians (or perhaps it was friends of the Davidians) were in town and saw the ATF and police massing and then ran and warned Koresh. He knew they were coming and he knew why. They were waiting on the police when they showed up.

I'm not defending everything the goverment did, but these people were breaking the law and they did fire on the officers. It was not an illegal arrest.

 

Curious, throw some facts into the mix, and nobody has anything else to say!