Reno Planned Final Waco Assault With Delta Forces - FOIA Documents

By Betsy Gibson WorldNetDaily.com http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19990828_xex_reno_planned.shtml

8-28-99

Contrary to public statements made in recent days, Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI officials planned the final deadly assault on the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas, with top officers of the Delta Force, according to classified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and Special Forces sources.

The FBI actually requested that Special Forces Delta Force operatives consult with them, be present on the scene and maintain equipment in preparation for a resolution of the 1993 51-day standoff that resulted in a fire that killed 80 civilians including many children, according to the documents and a knowledgeable military source.

Despite this powerful evidence, as of yesterday an FBI spokesman, Tron Brekke, was still telling the Dallas Morning News that he could not say whether Delta Force might have actively assisted the FBI in any way in Waco "because I don't think anybody knows. ... That's part of the reason that the attorney general and the director are, in a very expeditious manner, going to have 40 assistant inspectors and whoever is chosen to lead them come down and find out definitively what did happen," he said. "I don't know what was done or wasn't done down there."

Meanwhile, the documented information WorldNetDaily has obtained reveals that not only did Reno actively seek involvement by Delta Force, but she was warned at one meeting she attended with the FBI, Delta Force Colonel John Boykin and Webster Hubbell that the use of CS tear gas would have a variety of effects, one of which would be "Some people would panic, Quote: "mothers may run off and leave infants."

The FBI's admission just days ago that pyrotechnic tear-gas canisters "may have been used" was an abrupt reversal of a six-year denial that its agents used anything capable of sparking a fire at the compound. The Delta Force document detailing the Delta Force/Reno/FBI meeting notes that when Reno asked Delta Force officers for their "assessment" of the plan, she was told: "This was not a military operation and could not be assessed as such. We explained that the situation was not one that we had ever encountered and that the Rules of Engagement for the FBI were substantially different than for a military operation. [name redacted] stated, "We can't grade your paper," as a way of explaining our position."

A WorldNetDaily Special Forces source who analyzed this and other statements says Delta Force was clearly uncomfortable with any association with the FBI's plans at Waco.

In another section of the document, a Delta Force colonel writes: "My final comments were that I believed that the HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) should consider pulling their people off the target for a short period to retrain and polish some of the perishable(WND: difficult to read, looks like "perishable") skills. I made it clear that I was not encouraging an immediate execution of the operation. My exact words were, "I don't have a dog in this fight."

WorldNetDaily's source says he believes that statement shows again how Delta Force cringed over getting involved at WACO, "I believe he (the Delta Force colonel) meant that he didn't want to be directly involved in it, and did not want to be dragged into it. Delta Force operators, and Task Force 160 operators continually cautioned the FBI against attempting an "open air assault" on the target, and stated emphatically that they did not want to be involved in firing on or assaulting American civilians, according to a source. These official and unofficial comments went ignored and, in fact, one Special Operations Officer was threatened with court-martial if he continued to protest, the source said. At another point in the document, Delta Force personnel explain to Reno that Special Forces encounters are almost always militaristic and involve outright enemies who are often heavily armed. Delta Force explains that in its standard modus operandi it was, "The principles of surprise, speed and violence of action [that] were essential to any operation. [redacted] stated that momentum should be maintained and that ground gained should not be relinquished." A WND military source says "violence of action" usually refers to killing the "hostiles."

A former Special Forces commando says he spoke yesterday to a Delta Force commando who was present at the final tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound. Keith Idema, who was a member of Special Forces and Special Operations units from 1975 to 1992 and helped to train hostage rescue team personnel for both Delta Force and the FBI, says pictures from Waco released this week by the Texas Department of Public Safety have been mistakenly identified by the department as gun silencers and suppressors belonging to David Koresh and his followers which were found inside the compound after the fire. Idema says they are actually concussion grenades manufactured by a company, Defense Technology, and purchased by the FBI.

Idema also says the bright light seen on video footage as flashing inside the building moments before the fire broke out have been misidentified as a fire started by Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, when, in fact, to the trained eye of a Special Forces explosive expert it is unmistakably the flash caused by a "concussion grenade" that has been lobbed inside the compound. A concussion grenade uses a brilliant flash and loud bang to render an enemy in its vicinity blind, deaf and immobile for a brief period during which commandos can overpower them. Such grenades should be used only for military purposes and were wholly inappropriate, if not illegal to be used in a situation involving women and children -- and any situation where potentially inflammable tear gas was still hanging in the air, the former Special Forces operative said.

Charges that the FBI used incendiary grenades which may have caused the fire were dismissed by Reno. For six years, since the assault on April 19, 1993, until six days ago, Reno maintained that no military weapons were used. When a report from Texas DPS forced her to admit that some might have been used, she still dismissed any possibility that they could have caused the fire, stating that they were used in the early morning hours before the fire began. According to Idema, the FBI was taking an ill-advised chance using a military CS tear gas grenade at any time knowing that, unlike the kind of tear gas used in civilian situations, this type leaves a vapor that hangs in the air for a longer period of time and can ignite under certain circumstances.

The concussion grenades and military fuses he says were used moments before the fire broke out could have ignited the lingering tear gas vapors and started the fire. Idema also points out that other photographs released clearly show an FBI agent with a .50-caliber Browning machine gun next to his leg.

Such weapons are to be used only against armored equipment and weapons, certainly not civilians, says Idema.

"Why were they there?" he asks. "Koresh didn't have any tanks or helicopters, or APCs. The Geneva Convention states that these weapons are never to be used in an anti-personnel role."

The bureau's admission that such devices "may have been used" marked an abrupt reversal of a long-standing denial that its agents used anything capable of sparking a fire at the church.

Bureau and Justice Department officials have maintained that the devices could not have played a role in the fire because they were used hours before the blaze and were fired at an underground bunker adjacent to the wooden church compound.

A pending wrongful-death suit filed by surviving Branch Davidians and families of the dead has alleged that agents launched pyrotechnic devices into the compound and fired into the building. The government vehemently denies those charges.

Federal officials from President Clinton down have staunchly maintained in the six years since the tragedy that FBI agents did not fire a single shot during the entire 51-day siege.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 29, 1999

Answers

Evans & Novak report Delta Force deployed in forward trigger position in major firefight at rear of compound!

Multiple flash-bang pyros (capable of igniting gas and/or causing fires) inflicted on main compound.

Snipers taking care of those leaping from flames.

Texas Rangers blowing whistle.......

IMPEACH IMPEACH IMPEACH!!!!!!!

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 29, 1999.

And since that event, this Administration has been under a curse...the WACO standoff was seen as distracting from The AGENDA (health care, education, etc, etc, etc.)

Oh! What might have been...

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), August 29, 1999.

This Administration has BEEN a curse.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), August 29, 1999.

Anyone who can confidently believe that Y2K is going to be a bump in the road because the government SAYS so, is an absolute fool. The spin on the Navy report publicized by Jim Lord is but ONE OF MANY such examples.

Lies, lies, and more lies. And when caught in a lie, yet another lie. ("Well, OK, so we DID use pyrotechnic devices after all, in spite of six years worth of denial. But, they were used EARLY, so really and truly, it didn't cause any fires." "Well, OK, the Navy report IS genuine and DOES contain a scary assessment as of June 1999, the same time period that we were telling you that Y2K is no big deal. But, the August report looks A LOT better, so really and truly, its no big deal." "You are getting sleepy ... this time you can trust us ... you are getting sleepy....")

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 29, 1999.

Come on Will, this administration hasn't been all that bad.

They've given us Waco, Ruby Ridge, the air stikes in Afganistan and Sudan, and that Kosovo thing. They have taught us that more police and less guns are good for us, bigger Government will solve all our problems, BJ's in the White House are National Security issues, and it is allright to lie.

This is a God fearing, family oriented administrtion, they feel you pain.

-- CT (ct@no.yr), August 29, 1999.

Since Andy's assertion that snipers were "firing on those leaping from the flames" might sound inflammatory or unbelievable to many reading this, I'd just like to say that this would have been my response before I saw the Academy Award-nominated video "Waco: The Rules of Engagement."

Sorry for repeating this, but some folks are new, and not everyone reads all the posts. I really don't think Waco is going to be understood until this film is widely viewed.

There's a sequel coming in September, reportedly called "The Final Prophecy."

God bless the Texas Rangers! (for keeping this evidence safe)

Liberty

-- Liberty (liberty@theready.now), August 29, 1999.

I believe the revelations to come regarding this Adinistrations activities over the last seven years will boggle even the most Liberal minds !!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 29, 1999.

Heard tonight on Drudge that McNulty (producer of "Rules of Engagement") will reveal evidence in "The Final Prophecy" that Hilary Clinton's office was receiving memos about Waco during the stand-off...

-- Listenin' to Matt (He@rd_It_On.Drudge), August 30, 1999.

I applaud the Texas Rangers for keeping the evidence. I just wonder why it took them 6 years to decide to use it??

-- T the C (tricia_canuck@hotmail.com), August 30, 1999.

Liberty - this post from saint Francis seems to back up my assertion of a firefight, and snipers taking out Davidians fleeing the burning ranch - remember in the movie there is a chunk of "missing time" before the final conflagration, and we do see the infra-red images from the helicopter showing bullets and flash bangs being fired into the compound...

[snip]

OT: CNN interview with the maker of the Waco movie

"Just watching cnn interviewing the maker of the Waco movie. During the interview he revealed that there was a massive firefight about an hour before the compound went up in flames. Also that they have infrared images of troops departing from a helicopter. He also said that the Delta Force Troops were involved in this particular firefight.

Has anyone ever heard about this before...?

Also some mentioning about Greenspan's comments that the market could go down in a hurry.

It's getting stranger every day...."

-- STFrancis (STFrancis@heaven.com), August 29, 1999

[end snip]

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 30, 1999.

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUNDAY, AUGUST 29, 1999 18:02:51 ET XXXXX

FILMMAKER: TRAIL OF WACO DOCUMENTS LEADS TO FIRST LADY'S OFFICE

Hillary Clinton's office was on the receiving end of documents relating to April 1993 siege at Waco!

That was the startling claim made by WACO filmmaker Michael McNulty this weekend.

"Let's look at the chain of command in the series of events [on April 19th]," McNulty said during an interview aired this weekend on FOX NEWS CHANNEL's DRUDGE.

"And the trail goes from Waco to the Justice Department. Well, actually, first to the FBI headquarters, and then from there, across the street, literally across the street to the Justice Department into Mr. Webb Hubbell's ears and out Mr. Hubbell's mouth to Mr. Foster in the White House.

McNulty, whose first film WACO: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, continued: "And then we find the trail of documents that we'll be talking about more later that leads to one place, and that's the first lady's office."

Why would Hillary Rodham Clinton's office have been on the receiving end of documents relating to the Waco siege?

What was First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's role in Waco, if any?

McNulty refused to elaborate on his discovery.

[One source close to the situation tells the DRUDGE REPORT that at least 3 documents removed from Vince Foster's office the night he died pertained to Waco.]

For years, McNulty accused the government of lying about its actions during the seven-week confrontation with Branch Davidians that ended in fiery tragedy.

Finally last week, after years of denials, McNulty was vindicated when the government admitted that it did use pyrotechnic devices the day the compound burned down, killing David Koresh and about 80 followers.

The Justice Department was forced to modify its claims after McNulty found physical evidence to the contrary.

The evidence -- one pyrotechnic shell and a photograph of another shell that had been misidentified -- will be featured in the Fort Collins, Colo., resident's second film WACO: A NEW REVELATION, to be released this fall.

"Getting answers is satisfying, but it will be much more satisfying when the people who are responsible are in prison," McNulty told the ASSOCIATED PRESS in an interview. "All of this is not about Mike McNulty, or the films that have been done, or about selling the films. It's about finding the truth."

X X X X X

-- old (battle@ax.wh), August 30, 1999.

"NOVAK: Mr. McNulty, I'm not quite sure I understood your answer to my last question. Do you think that these weapons were fired inside the compound or outside of the compound? I understand your description of the Justice Department's spin, but from your film, do you have an answer to that question? ...

MCNULTY: Pyrotechnic devices. OK. There were hand-held pyrotechnic devices that were thrown into the building...

NOVAK: Into the building?

MCNULTY: ... from the outside during the course of the day of the April the 19th fire. There were also pyrotechnic 40-millimeter rounds other than the two rounds being described by the Justice Department currently as the CS gas rounds.

These are additional rounds, and I might add, sir, we're in the process of running a very lengthy critical analysis -- scientific analysis -- of the contents of the submunitions of those projectiles in order to determine their exact function. But at this point, that's not quite complete. However, the gentleman that's heading up our scientific team is none other than Dr. Frederick Whitehurst, the renowned scientist from the FBI crime lab who blew the whistle on their practices.

EVANS: Mr. McNulty, we have to go."

complete transcript at:

http://cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/9908/28/en.00.html

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 30, 1999.