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Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 20:32:26 -0800
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: GAO to Investigate ATF over WACO (fwd)
<snip>
>
>>> Questions arise over cult siege - Military vehicles'use investigated
>>>
>>> 12/08/97
>>>
>>> Associated Press
>>>
>>> WACO - Investigators with the General Accounting Office want to determine
>>> whether federal agents improperly used military equipment during the 1993
>>> Branch Davidian standoff, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Sunday.
>>>
>>> GAO officials will visit Waco this week to find out how the Bureau of
>>> Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms obtained Texas National Guard helicopters
and
>>> other military vehicles for the assault on cult leader David Koresh's
>>> compound.
>>>
>>> Two House subcommittees asked for an investigation by the accounting
>>> office - an independent auditing arm of Congress - after two weeks of
>>> hearings on the siege in July 1995.
>>>
>>> A staff member of the House Subcommittee on National Security,
>International
>>> Affairs and Criminal Justice told the newspaper that the GAO investigation
>>> would examine whether the ATF rightfully acquired the military equipment
>and
>>> whether it should reimburse the Pentagon for the assistance.
>>>
>>> Four ATF agents and six cult members died in a Feb. 28, 1993, shootout at
>>> the Branch Davidian compound. After a 51-day standoff, Mr. Koresh and
about
>>> 80 followers died in a fire that swept through the building after the FBI
>>> rammed it with military vehicles and injected gas to force the Branch
>>> Davidians to surrender.
>>>
>>> "The image of Bradley fighting vehicles and M1 tanks set against the
>burning
>>> Mount Carmel compound calls into question the role of the military at
>Waco,"
>>> U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., said during the House hearings two years
>ago.
>>>
>>> Michael Reyes, a special agent in the ATF's Houston office, declined to
>>> comment on the inquiry but said the agency intended to cooperate.
>>>
>>> Members of Congress questioned whether the ATF lied about a possible drug
>>> lab at the compound to secure the helicopters. The choppers served as a
>>> distraction while about 100 agents rolled up in front of the cult's home.
>>>
>>> Republicans on the subcommittee charged that the drug allegations were a
>>> ruse to draw in military help.
>>>
>>> The military role in the botched raid remains a question because of an
1878
>>> statute called the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits use of the Army to
>>> enforce laws except in specific circumstances outlined by Congress -
>such as
>>> in the war on illegal drugs.
>>>
>>> Assistant Secretary of Defense Allen Holmes testified at the hearings that
>>> even without proof of a drug lab, the military legally could have assisted
>>> the ATF. However, the agency was not required to pay for the assistance by
>>> including the possibility of the drug lab.
>>>
>>> --------------
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Monday December 8 8:59 AM EST
>>> GAO to investigate Waco standoff
>>>
>>> WACO, Texas, Dec. 8 (UPI) _ The General Accounting Office will
>>> investigate the use of military equipment during the Branch Davidian
>>> standoff near Waco in 1993.
>>>
>>> The Waco Tribune-Herald reports today that GAO investigators will be in
>>> Texas this week to review the use of Texas National Guard aircraft and
>>> armored vehicles during the 51-day siege.
>>>
>>> The investigation was requested by two House committees because an 1878
>>> federal law prohibits the military from enforcing laws except in certain
>>> circumstances allowed by Congress, such as drug enforcement.
>>>
>>> Texas National Guard helicopters were used in the initial raid on the
>>> Branch Davidian compound on Feb. 28, 1993. Four agents of the Bureau of
>>> Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and six Davidians died in the initial
>>> raid.
>>>
>>> Armored vehicles were used during the 51-day siege, and when the FBI
>>> tried to force leader David Koresh to surrender on April 19, they used
>>> armored vehicles to inject tear gas into the buildings. A fire killed
>>> Koresh and more than 80 of his followers.
>>>
>>> The committees want to know if the equipment was properly used, and if
>>> it was, whether the Defense Department should be reimbursed. Some
>>> members of Congress say the ATF's explanation that they suspected a drug
>>> lab was in the Davidian compound was a ruse to use the military
>>> hardware.
>>>
>>> _-
>>>
>>> Copyright 1997 by United Press International.
>>>
>>> All rights reserved.
>
<snip>
===========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris : Counselor at Law, federal witness 01
B.A.: Political Science, UCLA; M.S.: Public Administration, U.C.Irvine 02
tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night 03
email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU 04
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_____________________________________: Law is authority in written words 09
As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall 10
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. 11
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