Is a Bradley fighting vehicle the best tool for delivering a search or arrest warrant to the pastor of a church? "Military armored vehicles are parked Monday [March 1] at Texas State Technical College, ready to roll" (Image: The Dallas Morning News, March 1, 1993, pg. 13A: Cached).

Introduction

"A Texas National Guard armored personnel carrier heads toward the Mount Carmel compound of the Branch Davidian sect Sunday. " (Image: Associated Press via Waco Tribune-Herald, March 1, 1993: Cached)

The words on the plane body tell it all. "Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms prepare to board a cargo plan Wednesday [April 21] ." (Image: The Dallas Morning News, April 22, 1993 pg. A27: Cached)

“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."  Operation Trojan Horse—the code name for the Waco operation—was planned and executed from beginning to end as a military action, not a civilian action.  That is, from February 28, 1993, to the final day on April 19, 1993, "Operation Trojan Horse" was a military action conducted with military or quasi-military personnel using military equipment and serving a military purpose.

Within hours, military track-mounted combat vehicles were brought into the scene. (Source: Waco Tribune-Herald, March 1, 1993).

On April 21, two days after the inferno at the Mt. Carmel Center, an Air Force cargo plane transported the ATF agents from Waco.  Thus we see that the civilian law enforcement facade in the Waco action was thick in rhetoric but thin in fact; from beginning to end, the US military presence was dominant.

Difference Between War and Law Enforcement

War and law enforcement have different goals.  The purpose of law enforcement is to enforce the law.  Alleged violators of the law are apprehended with only the force necessary to arrest and deliver them to the judicial system for trial.

The purpose of war, on the other hand, is the domination of the target.  The job of the war machine is to kill, to maim, and to destroy.  The war machine must also create terror to convince potential opponents to submit on command.  Therefore, the war machine not only inflicts maximum death and suffering on its victims, but also broadcasts its achievements to terrorize others.

Such is the story of the attack on the Branch Davidians.

For reasons that are not clear at this time, a military and intelligence operation, with a civilian law enforcement facade, was planned against the Branch Davidians.  The complex details of the Davidians' history and lives were woven into this facade.  And the details and subplots serve to direct attention away from the fact that the attack and extermination of the Branch Davidians was essentially military.

Directory of Exhibits

The War Gallery is organized into exhibits, each dealing with a distinct topic, designed for a sequential tour.  To make a sequential tour as simple as possible, each page includes a link to the next.

To explain the attack on the Davidians, we must introduce something known to very few Americans:

  1. The New Military and the New Paradigm
  2. The Black Army
    • Operational Philosophy
    • Training Ruse
    • Mind Set of Secret Commandos
    • Murder and Torture of Civilians
    • The Making of a Commando
    • Lying and Secrecy — Standard Operating Procedure
    • Special Ops Commandos Wear Civilian Disguises
    • "Retired" from the Military
    • Smear Jobs and Character Assassination
    • Surprise — No Congressional Oversight
  3. A Death Cult Wears Black
    • The Night Stalkers Bring Death in the Dark
    • Body Mutilation and Drug Use
    • Body Laundering
  4. HRT: Rescue Team or Death Squad?
    • Melissa Morrison before the HRT
    • Melissa Morrison after the HRT
    • Peas in a Pod
    • Dirty Harry with a Vengeance

Now back to our story

  1. The Stage
    • Where the Branch Davidians Lived
    • Aerial Photos of the Mt. Carmel Center
    • Dumb Diagrams of the Mt. Carmel Center (Diagrams)
    • Smart Diagrams of the Mt. Carmel Center (Diagrams)
    • Ham Radio Tower
    • Illustrations

The script

  1. Psychological Operations and the Verbiage of War
    • Redefinition of Words
    • Everybody's Satan: How Political Opposition Was Neutralized
  2. War Fever

The actors and the victims

  1. Trojan Horses and Branch Davidians
    • They called it "Operation Trojan Horse"
    • The Davidians — How Many, and Who?

More actors

  1. The Soldiers, How Many and Who?
    • Did Special Ops Take Part in February 28 Raid?

The law enforcement facade

  1. The Pretext

The agenda

  1. Waco: National Testbed Center
    • Purpose of National Response Plan
    • National Military/Police Take-over Plan
    • How the Plan Was Tested
    • Delta Force Founder on Hand to Critique
    • Military Occupation of Local College
    • And How Did the Test Come Off?
    • And the Tests Go On …
  2. Designed to Fail
    • Gulf of Tonkin Precedent
    • The Secret Raid That Lacked a Marching Band
    • That's Not Murphy's Law
    • Illustrations
      1. Figure W12-1: The Assault Plan
      2. Figure W12-2: Map of the Area
      3. Figure W12-3: Map of the Mt. Carmel Property

The action, February 28, 1993

  1. Who Struck John?
    • Not an Ambush
    • Blind Fire
    • Entry of Agents into Second Story Window
    • Killed by Expert Marksmen
    • Death of ATF Agents Necessary
    • Illustrations
  2. Helicopter Attack
    • Eyewitness Statements
    • Death of Jaydean Wendel
    • Attorney Inspection of Building
    • Unmarked US Army Helicopters Used
    • Historical Perspective
  3. The First Death Count

The siege

  1. What's To Negotiate?
    • Communications Cut
    • Davidians Prevented from Leaving — Tanks and Grenades Used
    • Electricity Turned Off
    • Morse Code Signals Jammed
    • Mind Manipulation Experiments
    • Acoustic Psycho-Correction Technology
    • Illustrations

Next: The New Military and the New Paradigm
Next Gallery: Fire
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