On July 30, Aguilera joined ATF compliance officer Jimmy Ray Skinner to conduct a compliance inspection of the premises of Henry McMahon, proprietor of Hewitt Hand Guns. The inspection revealed that certain AR- 15 lower receivers supposedly in McMahon's inventory were neither on the premises nor listed in his records as sold.\6\ McMahon indicated that they were in the possession of David Koresh. McMahon then called Koresh, who offered to allow the agents to inspect for possible firearms violations. The agents declined the invitation.\7\ Shortly thereafter, McMahon told Koresh that he was suspicious that an investigation of Koresh and his followers was underway.\8\

It is unclear why the ATF did not accept the offer to do a compliance inspection of Koresh's firearms. Importantly, the Treasury Report fails to mention that Aguilera had an opportunity at the time of the compliance inspection to inspect Koresh's firearms. Wade Ishimoto, a reviewer of the Treasury Department Report, indicated to the subcommittees that he had not been made aware of the McMahon compliance visit by the Department of Treasury during his review.\9\ Mr. Ishimoto maintained that Koresh's offer should have been accepted, presenting an invaluable opportunity to gather critical intelligence.\10\ The agents'
decline of the Koresh offer was a serious mistake.

The House Appropriations subcommittee investigating the Branch Davidian tragedy in Waco (see March 1, 1993 and April 19, 1993) releases heavily edited excerpts from 911 call conversations between federal agents and Davidian members made during the February 1993 raid on the Davidian compound by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF—see 5:00 A.M. - 9:30 A.M. February 28, 1993).

The McLennan County, Texas, Police Department releases unedited versions of the tapes shortly after the House subcommittee makes its tapes public; federal prosecutors who intend to prosecute some of the surviving Davidians (see August 7, 1993) had intended to keep the tapes secret until the trial. Senator Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) asks Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the tape’s initial release, saying: “Who edited the version of the tape given to the House in the first place, and why, in that version, are conversations with David Koresh out of order? Is there a reason why the FBI, for training purposes, would leave out the threatening statements made by the Branch Davidians on the actual tape?”

The House subcommittee was told that the tape was an accurate recording of the first half-hour of local police negotiations with Davidian Wayne Martin. “The release of altered tapes that are evidence before a grand jury is an assault on the department’s integrity,” DeConcini writes. “It is essential that this matter be investigated thoroughly and that the individuals responsible receive the most severe penalties available under the law.” The edited tape makes it appear that the 911 call center could not reach BATF agents for almost an hour after the 911 calls commenced. The police tapes feature two unedited hours of conversation between Martin and local law enforcement officials, and show that 911 operators made contact with BATF raid commanders within a half-hour of the first call to the hotline by Martin. The police tapes also indicate that BATF officials worked closely with the 911 call center to negotiate a cease-fire and evacuation of wounded federal agents.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by texasgirl

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Well, first, to your point of the chaos of the initial raid that started it.....Don't expect to ever hear me say a single word...not one...to defend the ATF cowboy crusade here that started a siege which never had to happen. There damn sure should have been some ATF agents lose careers and pensions over it. David Koresh was known to go into town regular enough and could EASILY have been arrested on the street. No fuss...no muss...no hassles. No dead kids.

However, your account here is missing something enormous. As the world learned later, ATS had an informant inside the compound and far from being shocked the ATF arrived, they were waiting on them and armed to the teeth. I don't doubt the 911 call, as panic was surely the rule once the shooting started. However, one of the BIG points of the entire post-incident investigation was WHY the ATF went ahead with a raid they knew the compound had been warned of and was expecting.

No....My debate on facts of Waco don't start with the raid. I think I agree with everyone else that ATF created a catastrophe where a routine arrest on a public street should have been what happened. I just disagree with the wild theories of how it ended.



What do you think happened in the end? Are you saying the Davidians shot their own children before the fires broke out? This is something I have not heard or read anywhere. The survivors that were interviewed said their religion did not believe in suicide so murder seems unlikely as well. I am not calling you out on this, just curious.

Davidian Jimmy Riddle's autopsy showed a single gunshot to the head, from a distance, and his right arm had been torn off, as if run over by a tank. His body was found under some burned floor boards amid ashes and yet his clothes were intact and barely burned. There were suspicions that his body was moved there, implying a cover-up.

I will have to read Whitcomb's book, as it sounds very interesting. He was an FBI agent at that time so I am a little leery of what he claims to be true.

Q: In your analysis of cause of death, what did you find?

A: We had a total of 33 bodies from within the bunker. There were 25 children, and the remaining were adults, mostly women, I remember there was one or two adults -- young adults, males, there. Most of them had died as a result of smoke inhalation or suffocation. And a couple of them had died as a result of blunt trauma due to collapsing debris. There was this young Jane Doe who had a fractured neck, a cervical fracture. She probably died quickly as a result of that. But there were at least three kids who had been shot to death. And one was stabbed to death. The remaining, of course, died of suffocation or smoke inhalation.

Q: Were you able to determine how many, if any of them, died prior to the fire?

A: We did discover the presence of carbon monoxide as well as evidence of inhalation in at least 50 of the victims throughout the compound. Now, remember there were some 75 bodies left in the compound, that died as a result of the 19th of April disaster. Of these, there were 50 we could document presence of carbon monoxide as well as some evidence of smoke inhalation.

Q: There were a number of adult males that you determined died of gunshot wounds. Could you describe those bodies, where they were found and the cause of death?

A: David Koresh and Schneider were lying next to each other in their little room, which we call the communication room. And David Koresh had a single gunshot wound up his forehead. Schneider was shot once in the mouth -- the bullet entered the upper palate and also had -- exited in the back -- also had a high velocity gunshot wound. The question is: Did David Koresh shoot himself and Schneider shoot himself? Or did Schneider shoot David Koresh and then turn around and shoot himself? Certainly both are possible. We cannot be certain as to what really transpired.

Q: You did pick up cyanide though on 40 victims?

A: Yes.

Q: And there's no way to tell if in fact the cyanide that was produced in the process of gassing had any role in the deaths of the victims?

A: Let's put it this way. We did not attribute CS gas as a cause of death in any of those cases.

Q: Were there weapons to be seen?

A: There were weapons everywhere. I don't remember moving a body that didn't have a gun melted to it, intertwined with it, between the legs, under the arm or in close proximity. And I'd say 18 inches to 20 inches would be close proximity.

Q: Including the women?

A: The women were probably more immersed in the weapons than anyone else, because there was so much weaponry inside the bunker. It was like sea shells on a beach, but they were spent casings and spent bullets.

Q: Now that was the bunker?

A: That's the bunker. They stored the weapons in the safest place. Then on top of the bunker is where the 50-caliber was found.

Q: Could you describe their cause of death?

A: A lot of gunshot wounds there. My theory is there was a lot of euthanasia and mercy killing. That group probably were just about as active as anywhere in the compound, mercifully putting each other out of misery in the last moments.

I just won't stand to hear someone say Feds executed kids without SOLID evidence. No way. It simply never happened.

Coroner Would Welcome Waco Inquiry

'There is a Feeling That One Should Go Back and Reevaluate'

.c The Associated Press WACO, Texas (Sept 11) - As an independent probe prepares to look into the government's role in the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff, a medical examiner says he'd like to look again into the deaths of sect members who died from gunshot wounds. '

'There is a feeling that one should go back and reevaluate,'' said Dr. Nizam Peerwani, the Tarrant County medical examiner. ''The focus at the time was not whether the FBI was doing the shooting.''

FBI Aware Early of Waco Tear Gas

1993 Lab Report Shows FBI Knew of Military Tear Gas Projectiles By JOHN SOLOMON

.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (Sept. 10) - A lab document that the Justice Department failed to give Congress discloses that the FBI knew within eight months of the fiery end of the Branch Davidian siege that military tear gas projectiles were used, The Associated Press has learned.

A key final page from a 49-page FBI lab report was turned over to the House Government Reform Committee this week, along with an internal Justice Department memo acknowledging it ''was not produced to Congress'' during the 1995 investigations into the tragedy near Waco, Texas.

The first 48 pages of the lab report, dated Dec. 6, 1993, had been turned over to lawmakers years ago, absent the mention of the military-style tear gas that government officials for years had denied using.

..........

The government continues to maintain that religious sect members set the fire, and federal agents did not contribute to it. They have said the tear gas canisters bounced off a roof of a concrete bunker and into a field. Sect leader David Koresh and some 80 followers perished during a later blaze in a wooden structure away from the bunker.

Justice spokesman Myron Marlin said Friday night that former Republican Sen. John Danforth, who is heading an independent inquiry into Waco, will have to examine why the crucial page of the report did not reach Congress earlier. Marlin noted, however, that the page was properly turned over to lawyers in criminal and civil cases involving Waco survivors.

''Whether it was an adminstrative error is something that the special counsel will have to look at,'' he said. ''But we know that the plaintiff and defendants counsel received it.''

The lab report does not specifically state whether the gas in the shells was incendiary or when they had been fired. But the potentially flammable M651 tear gas canisters that the FBI belatedly acknowledged using on the final day of the siege are 40mm military shells like those described in the lab report.