What Led to the Loss of Many lives During the Waco Siege - Research Paper Example

What Led to the Loss of Many lives During the Waco Siege? The February 28th 1993 raid on the premises of the Branch Davidian by the ATF and federal agents resulted in one of the bloodiest massacres involving a religious cult on American soil. What started as an execution of a search and Arrest warrant on the compound of the sect and its leader David Koresh will end up being a siege that lasted for more than 51 days. The result of the 51-day siege resulted in the deaths of more than 80 people including 4 ATF agents. The 4 agents died due to gunfire exchange with the members of the Cult on the first day of the raid. The agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had waited until the last day of the expiry of the warrant issued by a Texas judge on the Mount Carmel establishment. Surviving members of the Koresh organization have always blamed the ATF and the federal officials for the handling of the situation. The justice department, which came under fire after the events have always pointed the finger at the Branch Davidian’s and their suicidal attempts for the massacre. Attempts to unearth the truth behind the massacre that occurred in Waco have led to formation of a number of commissions but a conclusive and acceptable answer has never been reached. This research will try to ascertain what led to the loss of many lives at Waco, Texas during the 51-day Davidian cult siege by the ATF and federal officers. According to Tausch (53), The ATF raided the Branch Davidian compound in order to serve an arrest and search warrants due to reports that the Koresh organizations were having illegal firearms. At the same time, the court memorandum during the 1995 hearing indicates that the person who fired the first shot on February 28th 1992 morning has never been identified. While the ATF agents who participated in the raid claim the branch Davidian’s as having started the firefight, some of his colleagues had stated immediately that the first gunshot was from their side. In addition to this, the court established that the members of the Branch Davidian cult who survived insist that it was the ATF who shot first. The justice department also accused Koresh of abusing children in a report filed in 1993 after the massacre. The report suggests that Koresh had wives who were in teen years and the raid was carried out in order to save the young children. Evidence also suggests that Koresh punished the children in the compound and told them it was a privilege for them to have sex with him. Food was also withheld from children who went against his orders. The assumption by the department according to the report does not indicate if the abuse continued even during the 51-day siege, in which the Justice department authorized the use of CS gas in order to stop the siege. However, Tausch (33) argues that the real reason for the raid as indicated by the warrant was to confiscate the weapons held by the Branch Davidian’s because of failing to pay a small fee. Tausch further argues that the reason unearthed by the justice department after the raid were fabricated to show that the ATF, the FBI and the Justice Department were right to invade the private Christian commune (72). Reavis (1o7), supports Tausch argument that the ATF and the justice department are to blame for the loss of the many lives at Waco. He argues that the ATF and the local police unit were much disorganized and no one was in total command during the raid on the first day. He argues that the loss of 4 officers and 16 others who were hurt could have been avoided if there was good communications. He further argues that Koresh was intimidated by the ATF and the other agents involved in the raid because they came guns blazing. Reavis also argues that the ATF did not walk to the doors of the Koresh establishment to serve him the warrant but instead, they went for a firefight. This prompted Koresh to fight back. In addition to this, the FBI who took over the running of the mission after the first day, kept communication with Koresh while at the same time they kept firing into the premises. Reavis states that the negotiation could not bare fruit because as the FBI kept negotiating with Koresh, they also shot at him (117). It was impossible for Koresh to surrender because he was not sure that he would live. Lastly, he argues that the use of CS gas as permitted by attorney general Reno was ill informed and at the same time, the main cause for the death of all the people holed up in the Mount Carmel establishment on April 19th 1993. CS gas was used against children; this might also have led to the fire that engulfed the premise killing more than eighty children, women, and men at the Davidian branch headquarters. If they needed to arrest Koresh, the ATF could have waylaid him during one of his daily jogs, which would have made it easy to capture him away from innocent children and women. The sight of ATF officers jumping through windows and helicopters in the air was intimidating to the Davidian’s who decided to fight back (Reavis 82). The branch Davidian’s has always considered themselves a legal Christian denomination. Based on the cult comparison chart, it is clear that the Davidian’s to be a cult which was not only dangerous to the masses it controlled but also to the public. From the chart, the branch Davidian’s practiced the doctrinal errors practiced and identifiable amongst cults. The branch Davidian’s under their leader, David Koresh believed that the end of the world was near and hence they were prepared for any apocalyptic eventualities. The practices of cults as identified from the chart include the presence of a leader who claimed to speak from god because he was an angel. From the chart, it is evident that the doctrinal practices such as polygamy as practiced by David Koresh are errors that are commonly associated with cult groupings. From the chart, it can be argued that the TAF and the Justice department were justified to attack the branch Davidian’s as they posed a security risk to themselves and to the people around them. Furthermore, it is clear that the Davidian’s were a dangerous cult basing on the accumulation of weapons and explosives in their possession. Some of the firearms were illegal while many of the firearm’s that were found in their possession had been reassembled into automatic killer weapons. The intention to use these weapons was also very high due to the previous altercations that Koresh had been involved with when he was fighting with David Roden, the founder and leader of the Davidian’s (Cults Comparison Chart). A photo showing the jonestown massacre of 1968 in Guyana (Jonestown Massacre, The Peoples Temple Photos) The 1968 Jonestown massacre, which left more than 900 people dead, was a strong factor in making the ATF to try to stop the continued stockpiling of weapons in Waco. The Jonestown cult massacre, which was considered as a mass suicide, is one of history’s worst killings. The US government was geared towards a repeat of the same. Like the peoples temple, the branch Davidian has had suicidal doctrines based on the apocalyptic end of the world. Freedom of worship is enshrined in the US constitution and it would have been illegal for the ATF to stop the accumulation of weapons. With the Jonestown massacre, the commune which had gone to hide in the remote forests of the small American country of Guyana. The message on the apocalyptic end of the world had led to the mass suicides and murders by the cult. The ATF had to use trivial excuse to stop Koresh and the growth of the Davidian Branch cult. However, a massacre is what resulted in the siege (Eovaldi 47). Jenkins (21), blames the Clinton administration for being intolerant to religion. The freedom of worship is an important aspect of the American constitution. The decision to attack the Mount Carmel establishment was a clear indication of the way the government treats people who practice their religion differently. He further states that American history has always been subject of religious fanatics. This has resulted on numerous deaths due to religious fanatics. Jenkins argues that the steps taken by the US government in containing the Davidian Sect at Mt Carmel were based on religious intolerance (45). Violent opposition by religious groups had always been a thorn to the US administrations since the time of independence. The US government and the Judiciary that the government and the judiciary have always been ill prepared and in most cases, they have resulted in casualties and trampling of religious freedom. The Waco siege according to the author broke all the rights to religious freedom. The article further states that the government should have opted for other means of taking down Koresh. Instead, the justice department trampled on every law on the book to try to show that the government could not tolerate religious freedom. The article tries to point out that all the blame was on the government (Jenkins 75). A congressional hearing in 1995 established that the probable cause warrant, which had been issued against Koresh, was based on evidence that weapons worth more than one hundred thousand dollars were being delivered at the Branch Davidian warehouse. The investigations also established that hand grenades were among the assortments of weapons, which were in the hands of David Koresh. This led to the ATF to investigate using spies, which established a weapons cache with more than three hundred weapons including machine guns. A treasury department review panel criticized the execution of the warrant. The panel suggested that there was no effort made to ensure that Koresh was arrested away from the premises or even ask him to voluntarily honor the warrants. The ATFs armed raid was meant to be a surprise attack but later on, the ATF commanders discovered that they had lost this advantage. However, they went ahead with the raid even considering that Koresh was better armed and he had numbers on his side. The Armed ATF commandos were unable to pursued Koresh and when they went through the windows, four of them died. It has never been clear who shot first. The FBI took control of the operation. Through negotiations, Koresh released a number of children. However, By March 9th, the FBI changed tact and started to engage Koresh in the hope of making the people inside the premises to abandon him. This led to Koresh get angrier and at the end of it, he decides to drop the negotiations. On April 18th, Janet Reno, the US attorney general authorized the use of CS gas and on 19th, of April, the FBI moved in on the compound. The report established that the fire that razed the compound was apocalyptic and it led to the deaths of the many people inside the compound. From the events during the congressional hearing, it is clear that individuals inside the building started the fire that led to the deaths of the Davidian’s (Wright 34-46). In conclusion, it is clear from the above research it is clear those systematic failures in leadership and lack of enough preparation for the raid on the first day on February 28th was a key reason to the many deaths. In addition, the handling of the siege by FBI and the authorization of CS gas during the operation were mistakes that made Koresh to get angry and convince his people to die. The branch Davidian’s and Koresh, had suicidal tendencies but the handling of the whole operation was one of the major reasons that propelled the Davidian’s to an apocalyptic end. Gun violence in the cults is a problem that may result to the loss of many lives as evidenced by the Waco Texas siege and massacre. Works Cited Cults Comparison Chart. retrieved, 13th April 2013 from http://wcc.faithsite.com/uploads/147/83656.pdf Eovaldi, Suzanne. Waco a stark reminder of the murderous intent of dictatorial administrations. Coach Is Right Blog. On March 24th, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.coachisright.com/waco-a-stark-reminder-of-the-murderous-intent-of- dictatorial-administrations/ Jenkins, Philip. “Waco's Assault on Religious Toleration.” The Wall Street Journal. February 21, 2013, Jonestown Massacre, The Peoples Temple Photos. retrieved, 13th April 2013 from http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f237/jonestown-massacre-photos-18- november-1978-a-11317/ Reavis. Dick J. “The Ashes of Waco. An Investigation.” Syracuse University Press, 1998 Tausch, Egon, R. The Branch Davidian Trial. 1998, retrieved from http://www.constitution.org/waco/ertausch.htm Wright, Stuart, A. Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995 Read More