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04/20/93
Sect members often frustrated agents; Criticism of standoff methods resurfaces
By Ed Timms / The Dallas Morning News
From the start, the feds never had it their way.
When a small army of agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms assaulted the compound of apocalyptic religious leader David Koresh, they suffered a rout. Four agents died and 16 more were wounded in a raid that went awry Feb. 28.
The Branch Davidians remained inside, reneging on promises to leave while defiantly flying their flags and cryptic banners during a 51-day standoff.
On Monday, federal authorities tried to force them to surrender by smashing holes in the walls of their compound with armored vehicles and spewing tear gas inside. Once again, plans went awry, and the compound became a funeral pyre for the cult members-including several children.
And once again, federal officials endured a barrage of criticism for an operation that began and ended violently.
Attorney General Janet Reno on Monday defended the FBI for using "remarkable restraint and patience' after taking over negotiations at the besieged compound near Waco.
"Obviously, if I thought the chances were great of a mass suicide, I would not have approved the plan,' she said. "Everything that we were told, every indication-reactions to the pressure up to that point- was that that would not occur.'
It may take months before exactly what happened Monday is known.
But renewed questions were fast in coming as some lawmakers demanded answers.
State Rep. Betty Denton, D-Waco, called for an immediate congressional investigation.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jack Brooks, D-Beaumont, said he wanted to know "whether steps could have been taken to minimize the loss of human lives.'
Rep. Don Edwards, D-Calif., chairman of a subcommittee that oversees FBI operations, vowed to "find all about the decision-making issues.'
At a briefing, FBI Agent Bob Ricks said the cultists started the fire and that the continued fortification of the compound justified the actions Monday.
The sight of the inferno, he said, was met with "shock and horror' among law officers.
He placed the blame on Mr. Koresh.
"David Koresh, we believe, gave the order to commit suicide, and
they all followed willingly his order,' Mr. Ricks said.
After the abortive Feb. 28 raid, complaints had been limited to the ATF, which had sought to arrest Mr. Koresh on weapons charges.
From the first day, how the compound was approached has been debated.
Some law enforcement experts questioned why no attempt apparently was made to arrest Mr. Koresh away from the compound and most of his followers, why the compound was not under closer surveillance and why the ATF apparently had not sought to have his telephone line monitored.
At first, an ATF spokesman said agents were outgunned. Then some agents said that Mr. Koresh seldom ventured from the compound and suggested that the raid failed because the Branch Davidians had advance warning.
Others point the finger elsewhere.
"The first second I saw the assault going off, I said this violates
what your drill instructor tells you the first week in basic training,' said Austin Bay, a military analyst and author.
"They were moving too slowly,' he said. "It almost looked like a camera shot for a war movie where they bunch the squad up so you can see everybody. If you do that in combat, you're a dead duck.'
On several occasions, federal agents stated that they did not believe that those inside the compound might participate in a suicide pact rather than come out.
But many who have studied the Branch Davidians and their deadly encounter with federal law enforcement say they were not surprised at Monday's outcome.
The Branch Davidians, they note, sometimes referred to the rural compound as "Ranch Apocalypse.' And there have been precedents of such messianic cults self-destructing in a mass suicide or preparing followers for that possibility.
Often "cult members feel they have special knowledge and an inside line to God, so when they die, they're not dying-they're going to a far, far better place and leaving the rest of us to our wretched existence,' said Dr. Ray Eve, a University of Texas at Arlington sociologist.
In published accounts, a former sect member, Robyn Bunds, warned that she thought Mr. Koresh wanted to die-and that federal authorities had failed to understand his apocalyptic vision.
Dr. Eve said the sight of heavily armed federal agents approaching the compound may have only reinforced that vision for cult members. At the very least, he said, "external threat creates internal cohesion in any crowd.'
Later, as the standoff ground on, other groups that had little in common joined in the criticism: religious conservatives, white supremacists, civil rights proponents, Libertarians and those advocating more liberal laws on gun ownership.
The Associated Conservatives of Texas, a political group based in Dallas, warned Monday that the media should not believe that the fire was set from within, just because federal authorities said so, claiming that "the government has historically blamed everyone else but themselves for its own screw-ups.'
Dr. Bay was not critical of Monday's actions.
"I think that the FBI had, from what I could see, a reasonable
plan, a reasonably humane plan, for dealing with deadly fanatics. What happened was their choice.'
Dr. Bay said the tragedy "illustrates how dangerous religious absolutism is.'
Some criminal justice experts theorized that political and financial pressure may have influenced the decision to mount Monday's operation-allegations denied by senior federal officials.
The ATF alone has estimated spending about $500,000 a week since the siege began.
The FBI, too, is a "political agency whether they like it or not and they can't wait forever without losing credibility-not only with the public but with the people who control the purse strings,' Dr. Eve said.
Also, Dr. Eve said, "law enforcement agencies are pretty jealous of their image as being highly effective and highly potent.' He said that in his criminal justice classes, he teaches that police shouldn't "try to cowboy on through.'
" "Cowboy on through' is just what it sounds like,' he said. "Don't try to do something by force and machismo and don't try to "teach them a lesson.' Just get the job done with the least loss of life and most effectively as possible.'
Dr. Tony Cooper, a University of Texas at Dallas professor who trains police officers, said he detected recently a "lack of patience on the part of authorities, almost a calculated, acted-out petulance.'
Dr. Cooper said he believed that there was a "clear miscalculation.'
"I think it was believed that by giving him a heavy dose of reality therapy, he could be made to see reason and be forced to "come out with his hands up.' I think that was unrealistic.'
Dr. Eve suggested that mistakes made when the ATF first tried to arrest Mr. Koresh may have set in motion events "like a train running down a mountain toward a crash, without anybody able to stop it.'
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