At this point, the back of the gym had been destroyed. Derek heard someone scream that a fire had started above, and as he could not reach the stairwell in the front, as the tank had come in there, he ran for the stairwell in the back, thinking of the kids he d come to known and loved. He reached the top of the stairs and made his way across a catwalk that stretched above the church area. He got to a blanket, and as he opened the blanket up, a wall of flames shot from the end of the hall directly in front of him, to the other end, right in front of his eyes. (Waco: Rules Of Engagement, SP01:58:00)
When the firefighters arrived, they were held back from helping fight the fire so that there was no chance of them being hit by a stray bullet.
The remaining Dividians were located in the kitchen/dining room area. The area surrounding them was engulfed in flames. There may have been a way out, but something must have been blocking the path. The heat was so extreme that the children s hands literally melted into those of their mothers, and when the bodies were recovered, had become permanently attached.
The burning of the gas created the cyanide mentioned earlier, which is used in prison gas chambers. The effects of the gas can be seen in the corpse of an eight year-old girl recovered from the fire, in which it seriously looks as though she is bent backwards with her head turned 180 degrees! It makes the muscles contract so wildly, it can actually break bones. When it is used on convicts in prisons, the convict is strapped down extremely tightly. This is not to keep the convict from escaping, but to keep the individuals witnessing the execution from being forced to observe the horrifying effects of hydrogen cyanide upon the human body.
This is a quote from David Thibodeau, one of the only survivors of the inferno. It is the story of his harrowing escape from the fate so many others were forced to live, as he told Congress during the Joint Sub-Committee hearings.
There came a point in my rolling on the floor, trying to protect myself from the heat, in the pitch black, unable to see, that the voices of those behind me screaming, kinda got through to me. . . I recognized who they were, placed the voices. And I got to my feet and jumped, or dived in the direction I thought the hole was, and when I stood up, the skin was rolling off my hands, my coat was all melted on my back and smoking, and as I looked back over my shoulder, the hole I had just jumped through was covered in flames, and the first though that came to me was
I m the only one . (Waco: Rules Of Engagement, SP02:06:45)
As the tattered Branch Dividian flag was fluttering to the ground, and the fires were settling down, the ATF raised their flag high up on the flagpole, replacing the one that now lay smoldering in the dirt.
One of the survivors had managed to save something. It was a stack of papers, titled THE DECODED MESSAGE OF THE SEVEN SEALS OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION by David Koresh. The writing that David Koresh had promised to give himself up non-violently after it s completion, which Janet Reno, the Butcher of Waco, as she has come to be called by some members of the press, had dismissed as a lie and a stalling technique. It had truly existed. Reno was wrong.
This incident lead to many debates, arguments, and controversies. One of the earlier debates to raise it s ugly head was that of who fired the first shot? , the ATF, or the Dividians. The ATF fiercely denied having fired upon the Dividian s first, saying that there had been no reason for them to want to. However, the Dividian s denied the charges just as ferociously. In a 911 call placed by a Dividian member by the name of Wayne Martin on Feb. 28, during the siege, he screamed that they fired on us first, we re going to fight back! One Dividian defense rested upon the fact that the majority of holes in the metal front door were punched inward, showing that the shots had come from the outside. However, that makes sense, as Dividians who were behind those doors would not sensibly fire directly through them, but would crack them open and fire through at the ATF agents they could see. Thus, the point was moot.
However, another Dividian defense was that, had the Dividians planned to ambush the ATF, and the ATF approached the front door in unarmored cattle cars, covered only by thin blue tarp, the Dividians would have opened fire long before the ATF had time to take cover.
One formerly popular train of thought was that an ATF agent who shot a dog could have been responsible for the firefight. If the agent who shot the malamutes had shot them before the firefight had begun, the sound of the gun going off could have lead either side to believe they were in danger, and lead to the volley of bullets. This way, the ATF could not be held fully responsible. However, in a semi-recently recovered video of the raid, we can hear the dogs holler minutes after the fight had begun, meaning that the dog s death could not be associated with the first shot.
All this controversy over the ATF s plan falling through lead to the examination of the ATF s warrant and plan.
First, two thirds of the warrant concerned the lack of moral decency involved with numerous reasons to suspect Koresh of statuary rape. However, the ATF has no jurisdiction over such matters, so their being included within the warrant downplays its legality. And, secondly, the other part of the warrant dealt with the ATF s finding of gun parts within the compound. However, it was the ATF s duty to prove that those gun parts were owned with the intent to convert them into illegal weapons. This duty was never carried out.
Also, as witnesses testified, it was put together in a prejudicial and inflammatory manner. And it clearly misstates the US statute number for the offense charge.
This would make it appear that the ATF had thrown this plan together hastily. After some research, it was found that the ATF was in a hurry to make a big splash. At one time, David Koresh, upon learning he was being investigated, invited the ATF, through his gun dealer, to come to his church and inspect it themselves. This offer was never followed, nor did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms even try to pursue it, which would suggest the ATF wanted to conduct a raid, not make an arrest or conduct a search. (Waco: Rules Of Engagement, SP00:42:00) Also, a public relations worker for the Bureau called a reporter the day before the raid in order to let him know that something big was going to be going down in Waco, Texas tomorrow. But why did they need this publicity?
The answer is this: With the Ruby Ridge hearings a week away, a large successful raid would produce numerous positive headlines which would help counter the ATF s reputation as a rogue agency whose debacles blackened the reputation of other agencies. It would also bring them into favor with the new, young, strongly anti-gun president, Bill Clinton, and scare Congress enough about fringe groups to convince them to increase the ATF s meager and non-substantial budget.
Next, the conversation moved on to the truth on what really happened on April 19, the day of the gassing and the fire. And of course, the first thing the conversation came to was what started the fire? As mentioned above, the house had been turned into a giant potbelly stove. Oxygen was being provided to the fire via the thirty-one-mph winds that were blowing through Mount Caramel s building of salvaged wood, soaked in Methalyne Chloride, which made the structure extremely volatile. The FBI came to embrace the story that the Dividian s had started the fire themselves. The survivors who had exited the building smelled of diesel fuel, gasoline, and lighter fluid, and tests proved that traces of all were within the fibers of their clothing. However, key information was left out, mainly that of how the survivors had to walk through an area that was largely contaminated with spilled tank fuel, which would explain all of that. The government did admit to, however, throwing in flashbangs during the gassing, which very easily could have set off the fire.
The next flaw in the government story came after the autopsy reports were completed. After a non-jurisdictional autopsy on the bodies at Waco was completed, it was the coroner s opinion that the majority of the bodies were victims of homicide. The FBI claimed that at no point did they fire automatic weapons at the Dividians, nor deliberately try to mortally wound anyone. Yet firefighters were kept away from the compound to protect them from gunfire and a large portion of the victims had gun wounds. Could these all have been self-inflicted? Not likely, due to other evidence.
The western portion of the gym had been utterly demolished by the tanks. All five of the bodies found within had extensive body mutilation.
Dividian Steven Henry had a gun shot wound through his chest. Jim Riddle had been shot as well, but a large circular portion had been ripped out of the right side of his chest. Riddle s red shirt was dangling from his wrist, and his nearby coat had a red lining. About ten minutes after some gun-fire is believed to have been seen nearby the gym, something got caught in one of the tank s left wheel, causing the tread to come off. That something was mostly red. It is believed to have been Jim Riddle s body.
In order to look into the suspected gun-fire, the Judicial Committee had a look at the FLIR(Forward-Looking-Infra-Red) tapes taken by government planes overhead. What they found was, to say the least, shocking.
FLIR works differently than, say, ordinary film. Despite the fact that when viewed it does resemble a black and white film, it photographs heat, instead of light. Fire would show up as bright white on the film, and it is believed gun shots should easily produce the heat needed to register on the film. They appear to register as small, sharp bursts, and will appear in succession when fired rapidly, such as when the trigger is depressed and the gun on full automatic. Unfortunately, there are many spots on this video where we can see these gunshots. The shot that may have killed Jim Riddle is shown on these tapes.
As a tank is knocking down the western wall of the gym, there was gunfire visible to the rear of the tank, being fired inward, into the building, from two different positions, with automatic weapons. There is nothing in nature which could duplicate these thermal signals.
There was also evidence of fire in the courtyard nearby the dining room area, firing in the direction of the dining room/kitchen area, where the women and children were taking shelter from the gas, once again from two positions.
These accounts were verified by the FLIR experts at The Introspection Institute. They agree that it is obviously gunfire seen on the tape on several occasions, coming from automatic weapons, fired into the building. Unfortunately, due to the sensitive nature of the material, and fear of repercussion, Intraspection declined to make any further comments. (Waco: The Rules Of Engagement, SP01:47:47) However, they did also mention that there were incidents on the tape in which it appeared people were entering, exiting, or being run over by an armored vehicle.
And possibly the worst thing that was found on the FLIR tape came after the fire had begun. For, even though it is hard to make out due to the fire, automatic weapon fire can be identified directly outside the only exit from the concrete room in the kitchen/dining room area. That was the something that had kept those people inside the burning building. They were forced back into the flames by machine gun fire as they tried to escape from the building.
Let me be clear,
this investigation has not uncovered any evidence of political corruption,
or influences,
we have not found any of that.
There was no conspiracy to kill Branch Dividians.
The record of the Waco incident documents mistakes,
but the record from Waco does not evidence, however,
any improper motive or intent on the part of law enforcement.
David Koresh and the Dividians set fire to themselves.
They committed suicide.
The Government did not do that.
–Orrin G. Hatch–
–U.S. Senate Utah (R)–
(Waco: Rules Of Engagement; SP02:17:00)