Below The Beltway

Fifteen years ago today, the FBI’s 51 day siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco ended in disaster:

The FBI voiced concern that the Davidians might commit mass suicide, as had happened at Jonestown where 900 people killed themselves at their leader’s behest. The newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved recommendations by the FBI to mount an assault after being told that conditions were deteriorating and children were being abused inside the compound. Because the Davidians were heavily armed, the FBI’s arms included .50 caliber guns and armored vehicles (CEVs).

Combat Engineering tanks used bombs to puncture holes in the walls of buildings of the compound so as to pump in CS gas (”tear gas”) and try to flush out the Davidians without harming them. The stated plan called for increasing amounts of gas to be pumped in over two days to increase pressure. Officially, no armed assault was to be made, and loudspeakers were used to tell the Davidians that there would be no armed assault and to ask them not to fire on the vehicles. When several Davidians allegedly opened fire, the FBI’s response was to increase the amount of gas being used.

After more than six hours no Davidians had left the building, sheltering instead in a cinder block room within the building or using gas masks. The official FBI claim is that CEVs were used to punch large holes in the building to provide exits for those inside. Most Davidians dispute this claim because the “exits” were blocked by debris, structurally unstable, elevated and largely inaccessible due to smoke and large quanitities of tear gas. Several Davidians were blocked when a floor above collapsed, and nearly all Davidians said they feared being shot were they to leave.

At around noon, three fires started almost simultaneously in different parts of the building. Even then, as the fire spread, only nine people left the building. Most Davidians attest that those remaining had no opportunity for escape.

The remaining Davidians burned to death as fire engulfed the building, with footage being broadcast worldwide by television. In all, 74 died

And here’s video of that day:

Regardless of what the truth might be the Waco Siege and it’s aftermath, along with Ruby Ridge, were fodder for the more extreme elements of the anti-government movement that was growing in the 1990s.

Two years later to the day, two of those men drove a Ryder truck filled with home-made explosives up to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, resulting in the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history.