WACO

History 4 Minutes

The Waco Siege began in early 1993, when a government raid on a compound in Axtell, Texas, led to a 51-day standoff between federal agents and members of a millennial Christian sect called the Branch Davidians. The siege ended dramatically on April 19, 1993, when fires consumed the compound, leaving some 75 people dead, including 25 children.

David Koresh

On February 28, 1993, some 80 agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) raided a religious compound at Mount Carmel, near Waco, Texas, after receiving reports that the Branch Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, were violating federal firearms regulations.

After four ATF agents and six Davidians were killed in the gun battle that followed, a cease-fire was arranged, and nearly 900 law enforcement officials eventually surrounded the compound, including hostage negotiators and rescue teams from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Reporters soon arrived on the scene as well, and the 51-day siege that followed would play out on TV screens and in newspaper headlines around the world. Despite some early negotiating successes—the Davidians sent about 2 dozen children out in exchange for food and other supplies—numerous children remained among those inside, many of them Koresh’s children with various women.

Branch Davidians

In the 1930s, a disgruntled member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church named Victor Houteff had broken away and founded the Davidian movement. After Houteff’s death, Ben Roden led an offshoot of the movement known as the Branch Davidians, who took control of Houteff’s original settlement at Mount Carmel, near Waco, by 1962.

Believing the Bible is literally the word of God, the Branch Davidians looked to it for clues about the end of the world and Christ’s Second Coming, as told in the Book of Revelation.

Roden died in 1978, leaving his wife, Lois, as head prophetess of the sect. In 1981, a 22-year-old convert named Vernon Wayne Howell arrived at Mount Carmel; he became involved with Lois Roden, and after her death clashed with her son, George, over control.

In a gun battle in late 1987, George Roden was shot in the head and chest, and Howell and seven followers went on trial for attempted murder. The seven other men were acquitted, and Howell’s case ended in a mistrial.

By 1990, having asserted control over the Branch Davidians, Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh. (“Koresh” is the Hebrew translation of Cyrus, the ancient Persian king who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Israel.)

Koresh and the FBI

In his negotiations with the FBI during the Waco siege, Koresh claimed he was a messianic figure prophesied in the Bible and that God had given him his surname. He threatened violence against those who would attack him and his family, but asserted that the Davidians weren’t planning a mass suicide.

To the Branch Davidians, Koresh was “the Lamb,” the only one (according to the Book of Revelation) worthy of unlocking the Seven Seals and revealing to the world the entirety of the Bible’s teachings. This identification allowed Koresh to justify some of his controversial (even within the sect) practices, including taking various “spiritual wives,” some reportedly as young as 11 years old.

As time wore on, the negotiators and the Hostage Rescue Team, which handled all the tactical maneuvers, disagreed on how to handle the siege. The latter team, frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations, employed aggressive tactics like playing ear-splitting music or crushing the Davidians’ cars—disrupting often-delicate negotiation efforts.

Fire Engulfs Waco Compound

In mid-April, after religious scholars reached out to Koresh through a radio discussion of the teachings of Revelation, Koresh sent a message through his lawyer announcing he had received word from God and was writing his message on the Seven Seals; he would come out with his followers when he was finished.

The FBI, unconvinced, decided to act to end the siege. Though initially reluctant, Attorney General Janet Reno ended up approving a plan to fire CS gas (a form of tear gas) into the Mount Carmel compound to try and force out the Davidians. Just after 6 a.m. on April 19, 1993, FBI agents used two specially equipped tanks to penetrate the compound and deposit some 400 containers of gas inside.

Soon after the attack ended, around 12 pm, several fires simultaneously broke out around the compound, and gunfire was heard inside. Safety concerns prevented firefighters from entering Mount Carmel immediately, and the flames spread quickly and engulfed the property.

Though nine Davidians were able to escape, investigators later found 76 bodies inside the compound, including 25 children. Some of them, including Koresh, had fatal gunshot wounds, suggesting suicide or murder-suicide.

Legacy of the Waco Siege 

From the beginning, the government’s handling of the Waco siege (which played out in the national and international media) was heavily criticized. Reno took responsibility for the botched raid, later admitting there was no evidence of ongoing child abuse within the compound (which had been one of the justifications for ordering the gas attack).

Though the government long maintained that its actions played no role in starting the fires at the Waco compound, in 1999 it was revealed that some of the gas the FBI used was flammable under certain conditions.

Reno subsequently appointed the lawyer and former senator John Danforth to lead an investigation into the siege’s end. In 2000, he concluded that government agents did not start the fires or shoot at the compound.

Despite this conclusion, resentment lingered about the government’s handling of the situation, which partially fueled the growth of homegrown militias in the United States. The Waco siege and the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho are often cited by government critics as examples of overreach and intrusion by federal officials.

In April 1995, on the second anniversary of the Waco siege’s end, a militant named Timothy McVeigh used a truck loaded with 4,800 pounds of fuel oil and aluminum nitrate to attack the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. With a total of 168 people killed and some 850 wounded, the Oklahoma City bombing was by far the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States to that date.

Source: History.com

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130 thoughts on “WACO”

  3. good for Nebraska?
    FTA
    LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Nebraska’s permitless concealed carry bill will be heading to Gov. Jim Pillen’s desk.

    On Wednesday, state senators voted 33-14 to pass Legislative Bill 77, which would allow Nebraskans to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.

    State Sen. Tom Brewer, who introduced the bill, says the measure guarantees the right to bear arms in Nebraska.
    “What we do in this body sometimes is trying to follow through with the will of the people and give them the rights that they have in the Constitution,” Brewer said. “And sometimes we go out of the way and twist those rights and keep people from having them, and I think this is a case of that.”

    In previous legislative sessions, Brewer has made the bill a top priority.

    Early on in the final reading, State Sen. Jane Raybould filed a motion in an attempt to place the measure back into the Judiciary Committee. That motion failed 5-40.

    “This bill is not ready for us to pass or approve,” she said. “There is way too much at stake.”

    Opponents of the bill, including Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins, said the proposed law could put lives at risk.
    “You have heard from law enforcement, and the chiefs of police on how insistent they are to keep concealed carry permits in place for the protection of their officers and communities, and how important it is to kill this bill,” Raybould said.

    After passing three rounds of debate, the bill will go to Pillen, who decides whether or not to sign it into state law.

    If signed, Nebraska would become the 26th state that allows people to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.

    https://www.klkntv.com/nebraska-legislature-passes-permitless-concealed-carry-bill/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_Channel8ABC

    Liked by 1 person

  5. ccp uses sister cities in infiltrate america
    FTA
    China has built these networks by exploiting the United States’ sister city initiative, a nationwide program that teams up American communities with foreign partners to promote cultural exchange and increase diplomacy. But China, which maintains 157 of these partnerships, is using the network to groom young American political leaders, push propaganda, and embed its spy apparatus in local governments, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) told the Washington Free Beacon.

    “They have used the sister city programs as a way to target local leaders in communities around the globe,” Blackburn told the Free Beacon. “We know this is part of the way they use their spy network, working at the local level, so that they’re building those relationships and friendships with people they deem as future leaders. They want to have that toehold with local individuals.”

    To combat these efforts and expose the Communist Party’s propaganda machine, Blackburn and several of her Republican colleagues are pushing legislation that would give the federal government greater oversight over these sister city partnerships. The legislation, introduced in the House and Senate on Wednesday, would force the federal government to begin investigating these relationships to determine how deep the CCP’s spy networks run throughout America. The legislation has broad Republican support in both chambers, and Blackburn said she is working to onboard Democratic supporters.

    The legislation comes on the heels of a Justice Department investigation into a nationwide Chinese-run spy network targeting dissidents and other CCP critics. More than 42 Chinese nationals were charged in the espionage ring, which included individuals tied to China’s Ministry of Public Security. A separate investigation also revealed this week resulted in charges against two Chinese government officials who were running a secret Communist Party police station in New York City. The operations shed light on China’s ability to infiltrate American communities and establish clandestine CCP outposts.

    While the federal government has long been on high-alert about China’s spy schemes—which include hack attacks on various agencies—smaller American communities have proven to be a softer target. Local officials from small towns are feted by the Chinese government as part of these programs and fed what Blackburn termed “soft propaganda.” In one of the most high-profile examples, Fang Fang, an alleged agent of China’s domestic spy service, developed a years-long relationship with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) and helped raise money for Swalwell’s campaign in 2014. The FBI warned Swalwell about Fang in 2015 after he joined the House Intelligence Committee.

    “What we have to realize is that sister city programs, like Confucius Institutes, are a big part of the soft propaganda that the CCP exercises,” Blackburn said, referring to a network of U.S.-based Chinese cultural centers that claim to promote diplomacy. “We also know the CCP claims soft propaganda is a big part of their initiative and push to global domination.”

    https://freebeacon.com/national-security/how-the-ccp-is-embedding-itself-in-american-cities/

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  7. YA THINK???? army using solar panels from chyna most likely…
    FTA
    Army secretary Christine Wormuth made the shocking admission during a Wednesday House Armed Services Committee hearing. While the Biden nominee said she did not know exactly where a solar panel system installed last year at Fort Bragg came from, she assumed the panels came from China, because “many solar panels” are made there. “I would imagine, given that most solar panels are made in China, there’s a good chance that those panels were made in China,” Wormuth said. “Since most panels are made in China, they’re probably made in China.”

    The revelation comes as the U.S. Army touts its first-ever climate strategy, which the military branch says will help it attain “net-zero” emissions by 2050. As part of that strategy, the Army last summer installed a floating solar power panel at Fort Bragg, which it said would provide “energy security.”

    Florida Republican congressman Mike Waltz, whose line of questioning led to Wormuth’s comments, expressed bewilderment over the Army’s apparent use of Chinese solar panels during the Wednesday hearing.

    “I find that just jaw dropping,” Waltz said. “To drive our military into greater dependency on our greatest adversary to power our bases, much less our fighting vehicles, in the future—to me, [it’s] a huge problem.”

    https://freebeacon.com/energy/army-secretary-says-solar-panels-at-fort-bragg-were-probably-made-in-china/

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

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