Showing posts with label Koresh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Koresh. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Saturday, July 07, 2018
Scoop: ABC News To Air TRUTH AND LIES: WACO Documentary On 7/7 on ABC
The ABC Television Network presents a documentary on the 25th anniversary of the deadly Waco, Texas, raid on the Branch Davidian compound that led to a gunfight killing four ATF agents and six of David Koresh's followers. After a 51-day standoff with FBI agents, the compound burned to the ground, leaving 74 more people dead. The crisis that ignited national outrage and a media firestorm have been described as the worst debacle in federal law enforcement history. The government's misleading disclosure of key facts in the case following the event has given RISE to conspiracy theories from far-right movements that cite this event as a rallying cry for their distrust of the government. The "Truth and Lies" documentary includes new details and interviews with FBI and ATF agents about the tactics they used during the standoff. ABC also interviews survivors of the fire and children of Koresh's followers who talk about how those events changed their lives. "Truth and Lies: Waco" airs Saturday, July 7 (9:00 - 11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (Rebroadcast. ABC OAD: 01/04/18)
Growing up in a troubled household to a teenage mom, Koresh turned to the Bible. He eventually joined the Branch Davidian church, a splinter group of the Seventh Day Adventists, and would proclaim himself to be a prophet and leader of the group. Koresh preached an apocalyptic message: that the end of the world was imminent. He also preached that the United States government was going to fatally attack the Branch Davidians. He maintained absolute authority with draconian rules, and allegedly committed physical and sexual abuse against some members including children.
Koresh began to militarize his followers, calling them soldiers of God. The ATF started an investigation after they received reports that the compound was obtaining deliveries of illegal weapons. When the ATF moved in, followers felt Koresh's prophecy was being fulfilled. The ensuing gun battle resulted in the deaths of four ATF agents and six Davidians. The FBI took over the operation from the ATF in a 51-day siege that seized the attention of the nation, but culminated in disaster. On April 19, the FBI tear-gassed the compound. Soon after, the building burned to the ground causing the deaths of dozens of Davidians.
The documentary on WACO is the fifth installment of the No. 1 rated "Truth and Lies" series. Launched in January 2017, the first four specials were on the Menendez brothers, Charles Manson, Watergate and Laci Peterson.
The special is produced by ABC News. David Sloan is senior executive producer and Muriel Pearson is senior producer.
Source
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Cult leader? ‘Sinful Messiah’? 25 years after Waco, interest in David Koresh still strong
Fire engulfs the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993.
RON HEFLIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOBBY ROSS JR. | RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
2:02 pm EDT April 16, 2018
WACO, Texas (RNS) — The curious keep coming.
They turn onto a gravel road 10 miles east of Waco and pass through a black gate leading to a rural complex where David Koresh — leader of an apocalyptic religious sect known as the Branch Davidians — and 75 followers perished in a firestorm on April 19, 1993.
That came after six Branch Davidians and four federal agents earlier died amid a flurry of gunfire in the government’s initial Feb. 28, 1993, raid on the 77-acre Mount Carmel property.
“I was just really curious about seeing this memorial and seeing what’s out here,” said Eric Williams, a Seattle film producer who made it a point to visit the site during a leisure trip to Texas.
Nearby, a woman snapped a picture of a monument listing the names of Koresh and the other 81 Branch Davidians — including 18 children ages 10 or younger — who lost their lives in the 51-day federal standoff that ended in a nationally televised inferno.
Twenty-five years after the siege, interest in what happened outside Waco — and who’s to blame — remains immense.
Evidence of that can be seen in the spate of recent television specials coinciding with the anniversary — from ABC’s Truth and Lies: Waco to the Paramount Network’s six-part miniseries Waco to the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary Waco: The Longest Siege.
Friday, January 26, 2018
‘Waco’ Actor Talks New Show, Playing FBI Negotiator
Duration: 03:53s - Published: 2 days ago< > Embed
Tonight on the Paramount Network, the first of a six part mini-series called "WACO." The series is based on what happened almost 25 years ago near Waco, Texas.
Joining us is actor Michael Hyland, who plays an FBI negotiator. (3:53) WCCO Mid-Morning – Jan. 24, 2018.
Tonight on the Paramount Network, the first of a six part mini-series called "WACO." The series is based on what happened almost 25 years ago near Waco, Texas.
Joining us is actor Michael Hyland, who plays an FBI negotiator. (3:53) WCCO Mid-Morning – Jan. 24, 2018.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Waco After 20 Years: A Warning Against Unrestrained Government
Written by Thomas R. Eddlem
April 19 marks the 20th anniversary of the Waco, Texas, massacre of Branch Davidian church members at the organization's Mount Carmel compound. Some 82 Davidians (including 26 children) and four ATF agents were killed in two related episodes, a February 28 military-style assault by 100 ATF agents and an April 19 fire after a six-week stand-off provoked by the FBI.
The Waco massacre ranks among the largest mass-killing of American citizens by its own government since 19th century Indian massacres, such as Wounded Knee, the Dakota Sioux War of 1862, and the Trail of Tears.
The massacre began in a February 28 raid by AFT officials on the compound where Davidians lived. The Davidians were ready for the ATF. Four ATF agents were killed and another 16 injured, and the ATF was repulsed from the Mount Carmel Center compound. Six Davidians — a Seventh Day Adventist splinter group — were also reportedly killed in the February 28 melee.
The raid was a result of ATF allegations that the Davidian's leader David Koresh (also known by his birth name Vernon Howell) had modified legally purchased AR-15 military-style rifles to fully automatic status, a federal crime. The FBI later concluded that the Davidians had modified 48 firearms to fire in fully automatic mode, and that they also had 21 silencers and a number of “practice” hand-grenades.
Koresh had been the subject of a series of articles in the Waco Tribune-Herald beginning the day before the February 28 ATF raid. The paper quoted former Davidians who claimed firearms violations as well as polygamy and child molestation by Koresh. The series began with the following allegations:
Waco — If you are a Branch Davidian, Christ lives on a threadbare piece of land 10 miles east of here called Mount Carmel. He has dimples, claims a ninth-grade education, married his legal wife when she was 14, enjoys a beer now and then, plays a mean guitar, reportedly packs a 9mm Glock and keeps an arsenal of military assault rifles, and willingly admits that he is a sinner without equal....
An eight-month Waco Tribune-Herald investigation that involved numerous interviews with Breault and more than 20 other former cult members and a review of court records and statements to law enforcement officials revealed complaints that Howell:
• abused children physically and psychologically;
• boasted of having sex with underage girls in the cult;
• and has had at least 15 so-called “wives.”
The ATF raid was initiated in advance of anticipated annual March budget hearings in Congress, and Mike Wallace of CBS' 60 Minutes noted in a May 23, 1993 broadcast after the end of the siege that “almost all the agents we talked to said they believe the initial attack on that cult in Waco was a publicity stunt — the main goal of which was to improve ATF’s tarnished image.” Indeed, earlier in the year Wallace had aired a program alleging a culture of sexual harassment against women in the agency. The codename for the eventual February 28 military-style assault, deemed a “dynamic entry” by the ATF, was “Showtime.”
And “dynamic entry” was the ATF's first option, not its last option. The U.S. House of Representatives reported on August 2, 1996 after an investigation: “The subcommittees conclude that the ATF was predisposed to using aggressive, military tactics in an attempt to serve the arrest and search warrant. The ATF deliberately choose not to arrest Koresh outside the Davidian residence and instead determined to use a dynamic entry approach. The bias toward the use of force may in large part be explained by a culture within ATF.”
In a phone interview with CNN the evening of the initial ATF raid on February 28, Koresh claimed that the ATF agents had started the shooting:
They started firing at me. And so what happened was is that I fell back at the door, and bullets started coming through the door. And so then what happened was some of the young men with us just started firing on them. And I was already hollering, I was saying “go away.” You know, I was hollering “Go away. There's women and children here. Let's talk.”
Koresh's interview coincided with the experience of Texas law enforcement when he had a run-in with the law several years earlier. Local officials reported no difficulties talking with Koresh, or with arresting him for an alleged crime (which resulted in a hung jury). McClennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell told the Houston Chronicle on March 1, 1993: “We had no problems. We treated them like human beings rather than storm-trooping the place. They were extremely polite people. After the trial, although we didn’t agree with everything they believed or said, many of the staff were pretty sympathetic with them.”
Though the U.S. government has always claimed that the Davidians fired the first shots, even the FBI concluded in its report Project Megiddo that the ATF provoked the Davidians: “The violent tendencies of dangerous cults can be classified into two general categories — defensive violence and offensive violence. Defensive violence is utilized by cults to defend a compound or enclave that was created specifically to eliminate most contact with the dominant culture. The 1993 clash in Waco, Texas at the Branch Davidian complex is an illustration of such defensive violence. History has shown that groups that seek to withdraw from the dominant culture seldom act on their beliefs that the endtime has come unless provoked.”
The federal government clearly also violated the federal Posse Comitatus Act during the six week Waco seige, which bans the use of the military in law enforcement within the territorial United States, since they used military advisors and tanks to distribute a military-style tear-gas round called CS gas. Use of CS gas canisters was later banned even in war by the 1997 International Chemical Weapons Convention, and Davidians later blamed the fire on the use of the combustible gas canisters to end the siege.
While the official government report stressed that none of the victims of the fire was a direct result of the CS gas canisters, the failure to escape the fire may have been partially — or fully — a result of disability from the gas, which stings the eyes, throat, and skin. This may have been particularly the case for the women and children victims, who were in an enclosed area of the compound where the fumes would be slow to disperse.
The Washington Post admitted on September 4, 1999 that the White House's seven years of denying that the government had used military projectiles had proved to be a lie. “The episode has become a painful embarrassment to the FBI, largely because of the bureau's insistence until last week that no military tear gas cartridges or other potentially incendiary weapons were used during the assault.”
The Washington Post also reported of Richard M. Rogers, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team at Waco:
Rogers, the agent who gave the authorization to use the military rounds, also was the Hostage Rescue Team commander during an earlier siege against white separatist Randy Weaver in August 1992 in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in which Weaver's wife, Vicki, was shot and killed by an FBI sniper. "Rules of engagement" drafted by Rogers, which allowed agents to shoot armed suspects on sight, were later deemed illegal by a Justice Department task force. As a result of his role at Ruby Ridge, Rogers was issued a 10-day suspension in 1995 and voluntarily accepted reassignment to a non-tactical management job. He has since retired from the bureau.
Photo of April 19, 1993 fire at Mount Carmel: AP Images
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Branch Davidian seige, 20 years later
Updated 5:59 pm, Tuesday, March 12, 2013
A monument for the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist and Branch Davidian movements and the Branch Davidians who died in 1993 shares the site of the New Mount Carmel Center and the Stone Church outside
Waco. Photo: Photos By Nick De La Torre / Houston Chronicle
WACO — Twenty years after his death, David Koresh still haunts this Bible-conscious town.
At the site of the Branch Davidian compound, where a 51-day standoff between the FBI and Koresh's followers ended in the fiery deaths of 80 people, tourists snap pictures while neo-Davidians debate theology.
In vehement terms, law enforcement officers present at the siege, but now insisting on anonymity, denounce Koresh as a charismatic pied piper in a souped-up Camaro who led his disciples to the grave. Meanwhile, quietly, and generally out of public view, ever-faithful Koreshians await the self-proclaimed messiah's resurrection.
In Waco and the nation, the Branch Davidian tragedy spawned controversies over God and guns that continue to rage and raised concerns over proper government conduct in such crises that not even a congressional investigation could quell.
The group's beliefs, history and legacy again will be scrutinized on April 18 as experts in religion, sociology and law enforcement gather for a symposium sponsored by Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religions.
Among the speakers will be J. Gordon Melton, a Baylor expert on fringe religions; Gary Noesner, retired chief of the FBI's negotiation unit; and Loyola University religious studies Professor Catherine Wessinger, who assisted Branch Davidian survivor Clive Doyle in writing an autobiography.
Deadly encounter
Koresh's Branch Davidians were an apocalyptic splinter of a splinter sect of the Seventh-day Adventists. Although the pre-Koresh Davidians featured charismatic leaders given to prophetic proclamations, Koresh stretched faith to the limit: He claimed to be the flesh-and-blood embodiment of God.
Koresh was rumored to have child wives; his followers, high-powered illegal firearms.
The siege began on Feb. 28, 1993, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents arrived at the cult's Mount Carmel compound about 14 miles east of Waco to search for weapons. A gunfight left four agents and six cult members dead and launched the standoff that ended on April 19 with efforts to inject tear gas into the structure.
Shortly after noon on that day, the building, a makeshift sprawl of scrap lumber, burst into flames in multiple locations. Eighty people, about 20 of them children, perished in the fire or from gunshot or knife wounds. Koresh, 33, was among them.
Historian Philip Jenkins, also a member of the Baptist university's religious studies institute, said the siege helped sow national discord over guns and religion.
“Waco is the gift that keeps on giving,” he said.
Controversial legacy
Reviews of police action at Mount Carmel found that FBI negotiators and tactical commanders sometimes were at odds, and in the tragedy's aftermath, ATF and FBI protocols for such incidents were revised.
“Waco was enormously important,” said Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks American hate groups. “It was viewed by a huge segment of the American population as evidence of what the government was willing to do to politically heterodox groups. Virtually all the groups on the radical right saw the confrontation as heralding an upcoming battle between the government and its citizens.”
Today, the Mount Carmel site, with its ruined Koresh compound, rebuilt Davidian chapel and commemorative monuments to the dead, has become a tourist attraction. Many residents of Waco, a Baptist stronghold, find the attention disconcerting.
“I think most people want to forget about it,” said county historical commission chairman Van Massirer, who adds that his group passed on the idea of erecting a plaque at the site.
One recent afternoon two Plano women, both in their early 20s, prowled Mount Carmel, cameras at the ready.
“It's like walking in a battleground,” said Linzie Moss, 20. “You know so much happened. You can just feel something.”
Nearby in a small box at the reconstructed chapel, a flier addresses the legacy of “Waco — one of those things that EVERY one remembers seeing on television.”
The lessons of the tragedy, it asserts, are twofold.
“We have a government that has gone awry ... (and) God is here in judgment — to judge the denominations and nations.”
It is tantalizing to ponder how Koresh would respond to his cult's notoriety.
Born Vernon Howell to a 14-year-old unwed Houston woman, the future Koresh moved to Waco in 1981. Soon, he joined the Davidians, playing guitar at the cult's chapel, wooing the group's 77-year-old leader and claiming the gift of prophecy.
Along the way to power, he challenged the leader's son to a corpse-reviving contest, then to a shootout.
Charles Pace, the current president of the Branch Davidian congregation, watched Koresh's rise with alarm.
“Just like Adam and Eve, they were duped,” he said of Koresh's followers. “Lucifer put a spin on God's word ... Adam and Eve made a choice and so did these people. I didn't have to go along with David, and I didn't.”
Survivor's story
Clive Doyle did.
Now 72, Doyle was among the Davidians who escaped from the burning compound. His 18-year-old daughter, one of Koresh's wives, died in the building.
“I still believe he was led by God,” Doyle said. “I didn't join David because of his charisma or because he was a good speaker. I accepted him because I thought he had a message from God.”
He acknowledges that many were repelled by the cult's sex and guns.
But, he said, “Every religion has its horror stories.”
allan.turner@chron.com
WACO — Twenty years after his death, David Koresh still haunts this Bible-conscious town.
At the site of the Branch Davidian compound, where a 51-day standoff between the FBI and Koresh's followers ended in the fiery deaths of 80 people, tourists snap pictures while neo-Davidians debate theology.
In vehement terms, law enforcement officers present at the siege, but now insisting on anonymity, denounce Koresh as a charismatic pied piper in a souped-up Camaro who led his disciples to the grave. Meanwhile, quietly, and generally out of public view, ever-faithful Koreshians await the self-proclaimed messiah's resurrection.
In Waco and the nation, the Branch Davidian tragedy spawned controversies over God and guns that continue to rage and raised concerns over proper government conduct in such crises that not even a congressional investigation could quell.
The group's beliefs, history and legacy again will be scrutinized on April 18 as experts in religion, sociology and law enforcement gather for a symposium sponsored by Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religions.
Among the speakers will be J. Gordon Melton, a Baylor expert on fringe religions; Gary Noesner, retired chief of the FBI's negotiation unit; and Loyola University religious studies Professor Catherine Wessinger, who assisted Branch Davidian survivor Clive Doyle in writing an autobiography.
Deadly encounter
Koresh's Branch Davidians were an apocalyptic splinter of a splinter sect of the Seventh-day Adventists. Although the pre-Koresh Davidians featured charismatic leaders given to prophetic proclamations, Koresh stretched faith to the limit: He claimed to be the flesh-and-blood embodiment of God.
Koresh was rumored to have child wives; his followers, high-powered illegal firearms.
The siege began on Feb. 28, 1993, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents arrived at the cult's Mount Carmel compound about 14 miles east of Waco to search for weapons. A gunfight left four agents and six cult members dead and launched the standoff that ended on April 19 with efforts to inject tear gas into the structure.
Shortly after noon on that day, the building, a makeshift sprawl of scrap lumber, burst into flames in multiple locations. Eighty people, about 20 of them children, perished in the fire or from gunshot or knife wounds. Koresh, 33, was among them.
Historian Philip Jenkins, also a member of the Baptist university's religious studies institute, said the siege helped sow national discord over guns and religion.
“Waco is the gift that keeps on giving,” he said.
Controversial legacy
Reviews of police action at Mount Carmel found that FBI negotiators and tactical commanders sometimes were at odds, and in the tragedy's aftermath, ATF and FBI protocols for such incidents were revised.
“Waco was enormously important,” said Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks American hate groups. “It was viewed by a huge segment of the American population as evidence of what the government was willing to do to politically heterodox groups. Virtually all the groups on the radical right saw the confrontation as heralding an upcoming battle between the government and its citizens.”
Today, the Mount Carmel site, with its ruined Koresh compound, rebuilt Davidian chapel and commemorative monuments to the dead, has become a tourist attraction. Many residents of Waco, a Baptist stronghold, find the attention disconcerting.
“I think most people want to forget about it,” said county historical commission chairman Van Massirer, who adds that his group passed on the idea of erecting a plaque at the site.
One recent afternoon two Plano women, both in their early 20s, prowled Mount Carmel, cameras at the ready.
“It's like walking in a battleground,” said Linzie Moss, 20. “You know so much happened. You can just feel something.”
Nearby in a small box at the reconstructed chapel, a flier addresses the legacy of “Waco — one of those things that EVERY one remembers seeing on television.”
The lessons of the tragedy, it asserts, are twofold.
“We have a government that has gone awry ... (and) God is here in judgment — to judge the denominations and nations.”
It is tantalizing to ponder how Koresh would respond to his cult's notoriety.
Born Vernon Howell to a 14-year-old unwed Houston woman, the future Koresh moved to Waco in 1981. Soon, he joined the Davidians, playing guitar at the cult's chapel, wooing the group's 77-year-old leader and claiming the gift of prophecy.
Along the way to power, he challenged the leader's son to a corpse-reviving contest, then to a shootout.
Charles Pace, the current president of the Branch Davidian congregation, watched Koresh's rise with alarm.
“Just like Adam and Eve, they were duped,” he said of Koresh's followers. “Lucifer put a spin on God's word ... Adam and Eve made a choice and so did these people. I didn't have to go along with David, and I didn't.”
Survivor's story
Clive Doyle did.
Now 72, Doyle was among the Davidians who escaped from the burning compound. His 18-year-old daughter, one of Koresh's wives, died in the building.
“I still believe he was led by God,” Doyle said. “I didn't join David because of his charisma or because he was a good speaker. I accepted him because I thought he had a message from God.”
He acknowledges that many were repelled by the cult's sex and guns.
But, he said, “Every religion has its horror stories.”
allan.turner@chron.com
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Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Remember Waco?
It was 18 years ago that the ATF and the FBI brutally assaulted and slaughtered a religious group called the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.
Here's an article I'd like to share; Let's examine the facts surrounding that memorable day:
The Waco Massacre
Many people believe that David Koresh (or the Branch Davidians) were responsible for the deaths of the 74 men, women and children who died in the inferno at Waco on April 19, 1993. This is the story that the FBI put out. It is a lie. The guns they had were legal. The local sheriff investigated and found no basis for complaints against them. These were law-abiding American citizens, even if they thought differently to most other folks. They trusted the U.S. Constitution to ensure their political rights, but they were murdered by agents acting under the authority of the U.S. government. Read this page if you believe otherwise. If you still have doubts, get the video Rules of Engagement for visual evidence. Or read the book Armageddon in Waco. Or see the film Waco: A New Revelation.
Many people believe that David Koresh (or the Branch Davidians) were responsible for the deaths of the 74 men, women and children who died in the inferno at Waco on April 19, 1993. This is the story that the FBI put out. It is a lie. The guns they had were legal. The local sheriff investigated and found no basis for complaints against them. These were law-abiding American citizens, even if they thought differently to most other folks. They trusted the U.S. Constitution to ensure their political rights, but they were murdered by agents acting under the authority of the U.S. government. Read this page if you believe otherwise. If you still have doubts, get the video Rules of Engagement for visual evidence. Or read the book Armageddon in Waco. Or see the film Waco: A New Revelation.
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