DATE=7/24/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=FINAL WORD ON WACO
NUMBER=6-11937
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=

INTRO:  One of the most controversial federal law 
enforcement actions in recent years, happened at a 
farm outside Waco, Texas.  A heavily armed religious 
cult, the Branch Dividians, was surrounded by federal 
agents.  The officers were trying to arrest the 
group's leader David Koresh.  A shootout occurred, 
followed by a 51-day standoff.  At the end, the 
complex caught fire, and about 80 people, many of them 
women and children, died.

Now, an interim federal report has exonerated 
government agents from causing the fire or the deaths.  
It has not ended the controversy, at least in the 
press, and we get some samples now from __________ in 
today's U-S Opinion Roundup.   

TEXT:  The report was commissioned by the Justice 
Department, after belated allegations of Federal 
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) misconduct connected to 
the 1993 incident surfaced in the press.   Former 
Missouri Senator John Danforth spent months gathering 
testimony and questioning various officials before 
announcing his findings.

His interim report says the F-B-I did not start the 
fire that roared, unchecked, through the compound, nor 
was it guilty of an extensive cover up of details 
about the standoff. His final report is expected three 
months from now.   

Some U-S newspapers take the report at face value, and 
are glad it has given a final answer to many questions 
about the actions and motivations of the several 
federal agencies involved at Waco. 

In that small, central Texas city itself, The Waco 
Tribune-Herald remains perplexed that so many other 
questions remain unanswered.

      TEXT:  Special Counsel John Danforth believes he 
      has answered "four dark questions."  That leaves 
      dozens that forever may beg for light.  
      Unfortunately, even with a staggering ten 
      million dollar price tag, the Danforth probe 
      into the 1993 events at Mount Carmel [Editors: 
      the name the Branch Dividians gave to their farm 
      complex] was way too limited to put to rest so 
      many concerns and suspicions.  

TEXT:  The Washington Post, which points out Mr. 
Danforth did   not   address the issue of law 
enforcement judgement, which many observers suggest 
was flawed, calls the interim report: "Case Closed.

      VOICE:  Though unsurprising, his conclusions 
      represent a welcome clarification of the record 
      on this seemingly endless saga.  The big 
      picture, according to Mr. Danforth, is that the 
      F-B-I did not start the fire that consumed the 
      Waco compound or shoot at the Branch Davidians; 
      the military was not improperly used; the fire 
      was set, after all, by the Branch Davidians 
      themselves.  "The blame rests squarely on the 
      shoulders of David Koresh," Mr. Danforth said. 
      ... But a judgment can be reached about the F-B-
      I's role ... In the final analysis, [its] record 
      in the Waco raid is not one to be proud of. 

TEXT:  Boston's Christian Science Monitor says:

      VOICE:  The tragedy at the Branch Davidian 
      compound near Waco ... will continue to be one 
      of the darkest episodes in the history of U-S 
      law enforcement.  It should not, however, be 
      recorded as a terrible example of reckless 
      behavior by federal agents.  The [Danforth] 
      report ... directly counters the widespread 
      public perception of police misconduct at Waco. 
      ... [It] comes on the heels of a jury verdict in 
      a wrongful death suit brought by surviving 
      Davidians ... [which] ... said the government 
      was not negligent in its handling of the affair. 

TEXT:  Across town, The Boston Globe takes note of two 
separate verdicts on the tragedy, which essentially 
reached the same conclusion.

      VOICE:  Former Senator ... Danforth, a 
      Republican appointed by Attorney General Janet 
      Reno ... concluded in a preliminary report ... 
      that government agents did not start the fatal 
      fire or shoot at those in the compound. ... His 
      report came just a week after five jurors who 
      heard extensive testimony in a civil case in 
      Waco advised a judge that there was no federal 
      negligence in the deaths of nearly 80 Davidians, 
      including 20 children.  While that judge's 
      ruling and [Mr.] Danforth's final report are 
      still to come, it is clear that wild charges 
      against government agents were based in evidence 
      that was thin to nonexistent. Although the 
      government has been at least preliminarily 
      exonerated of criminal or civil liability, its 
      actions have not been applauded and do not 
      deserve to be.   

TEXT:  The Savannah [Georgia] Morning News on the 
other hand, is "unsatisfied with the conclusions" of 
the report.

      VOICE:  Mr. Danforth said federal agents did not 
      start the fire that consumed the compound nor 
      did they shoot at Davidians ... Forensic 
      evidence can support those conclusions.  But 
      it's much harder to swallow [Editors: slang for 
      "believe"] the preliminary report's approval of 
      the way the government used military force 
      against civilians - - many of them women and 
      children.  ... Indeed, the entire ...standoff 
      resulted from federal agents choosing a gung-ho 
      [Editors: "extremely aggressive"] assault of the 
      compound to arrest sect leaders David Koresh ... 
      when they had numerous opportunities to detain 
      him peacefully off the property. 

TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of 
comment on the newly produced, interim report about 
the Waco religious cult disaster in 1993. 

NEB/ANG/PW





24-Jul-2000 15:41 PM EDT (24-Jul-2000 1941 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.