THE FIRST TRAGEDY OF WACO
On February 28, 1993, the Federal Government's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) conducted an armed raid on a Branch Davidian Church and residential complex at Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas. The raid was prompted by a search warrant for illegal firearms and an arrest warrant for Vernon Howell (David Koresh), leader of the religious group.
The armed raid resulted in the deaths of four Federal employees (Conway LeBleu, Todd McKeeham, Robert Williams, and Steven Willis) and four civilians (Winston Blake, Peter Gent, Michael Schroeder, and Jaydean Wendel). Michael Schroeder was killed as he tried to return to Mount Carmel.
On April 19th, 1993, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assaulted the church complex with combat engineering vehicles capable of spraying CS gas (a riot-control agent). During the assault, fires broke out, the buildings burned to the ground, and over 70 Christians perished in the blaze.
This loss of life was the first tragedy of Waco.
THE SECOND TRAGEDY OF WACO
On June 16th & 17th, 1994, following an investigation and a trial by jury, nine convicted Branch Davidians were sentenced by Federal Judge Walter Smith. Five of the convicted Christians received sentences of 40 years in prison plus fines.
However, as of now, more than three years later, the U.S. criminal justice system has not been applied equally to both the Branch Davidians and the Federal employees who participated in the conflict near Waco, Texas in early 1993. This is the second tragedy of Waco.
For some reason, citizens of the U.S. have difficulty focusing their attention on a proper resolution of the second tragedy of Waco. Whenever the topic of a fair application of the criminal justice system at Waco comes up, people usually get sidetracked on tactical questions such as: "Who fired first?", "Were the Christians who perished nice people?", "Who acted irresponsibly?", "Who set the fires?", etc. These questions belong in a courtroom.
At another level, calls for fair application of the criminal justice system are diverted by comments like: The government did two internal reviews; isn't that enough? Congress has already held hearings on the subject; what else is needed?
To place these comments in perspective, let us suppose that a beer-truck driver runs a stop sign and kills a friend of yours who is driving home from work. Under normal circumstances, the beer company would conduct an in-house review in order to check out its employment, training, and vehicle-maintenance policies. On rare occasion, the safety committee of city council would hold a hearing to see if the speed-limit-setting and stop-sign-location policies were followed correctly. Last, but not least, you would expect the criminal justice system to conduct an investigation that would lead to a trial by jury for the truck driver who ran the stop sign.
In the case of the Waco incident, the employer conducted two in-house reviews and the U.S. Congress held two sets of hearings. However, to date there has not been an independent investigation and a follow-on trial by jury of the government employees who played a role the 1993 Waco incident.
THE THIRD TRAGEDY OF WACO
Traditionally, perceived abuses by the executive branch of the Federal Government are held in check by the legislative branch or the judicial branch. However, so far not one of the 535 Representatives and Senators in Congress has introduced a resolution calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the actions (and inactions) of government employees involved in the 1993 Waco incident. This is the third tragedy of Waco.
The purpose of this brief paper is to motivate individual voters to ask the following questions of each of the candidates running for the U.S. Congress in their area.
If elected (reelected), would you introduce (or support) the following resolution?
Healing the national wound of Waco seems so simple, yet so elusive. Here is one instance where a single voter's direct action will give the massive Federal government one small nudge in the right direction.
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