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On February 28, 1993, a team of over 100 members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) staged a "dynamic entry" assault at the Mt. Carmel Center near Waco, Texas. This first phase of the Branch Davidian tragedy concluded on April 19, 1993, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the BATF, in the course of systematically crushing the building beneath the treads of tanks, burned the complex to the ground. Seventeen little children burned to death. The final toll of dead and injured as a result of this action is estimated now to be seventy-six. While the fires raged in Waco, government agents continued to pile the debris of the Mt. Carmel Center into a great funeral pyre. Once they had concluded their investigation, they bulldozed the entire site. Dissatisfied with this first bulldozing, they later returned and scraped off the topsoil down as much as five feet and carted the soil, debris, and whatever human remains were still at the site to an unknown garbage dump, where they were unceremoniously discarded.

Waco burns April 19, 1993.

Your rights and your home next?

The government's actions were reminiscent of the World War II liquidation of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, where the entire town was obliterated: the men were executed, the women and children were deported, the town was razed, and the terrain bulldozed. All this was done to prove to the Czechs the futility of resisting the military occupation. In Waco, the government had an expression for this kind of behavior. It is called "Shermanizing" a site. Obviously this behavior on the part of the government makes independent investigation of what actually happened at Waco ever more difficult. Equally obvious, this can only have been the intention of such a massive effort. It was more than a "coverup", it was a "cartaway." As at Lidice, Reno's Rangers have forever altered the landscape, scarring it as they have so many lives.

Full Responsibility

Attorney General Janet Reno stated to the press immediately after embers cooled that she took "full responsibility" for what happened. Yet this was not followed by her resignation. Indeed, it was not followed by any significant house cleaning by either the BATF or the FBI. Two BATF agents who were fired for misconduct were rehired after they threatened to name names: Phillip Chojnacki and Charles Sarabyn - commanders of the raid. They are now back at work at their full salaries with all benefits returned. As is well known, the acting Deputy Director of the FBI, Larry A. Potts, was "censured" for his failures at Waco and the Vicki Weaver killing at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. "Taking responsibility" for Mr. Potts meant being elevated by Director Louis Freeh to be full deputy director of the FBI.

CAUSE Foundation has filed suit on behalf of surviving Branch Davidians and the next of kin of many of those burned alive by the government at Waco naming as defendants Janet Reno, Louis Freeh, former BATF director Stephen Higgins, and a number of the BATF and FBI agents in charge of the two abortive assaults. These suits are "civil action" seeking to vindicate the rights of the Davidians and through them all Americans from the unconstitutional and outrageously excessive force deployed against the Davidians by government. These operations were more interested in showy news footage than the Bill of Rights. Indeed, it has been reported that the BATF originally referred to the assault as "Operation Showtime"; later the BATF stated that they deployed over on hundred agents and law enforcement personnel without a written plan!

The CAUSE Waco lawsuit against the government is important to all Americans for a number of reasons: (1) As Americans, we need to know what actually went on at Waco and whether or not government actions were justifiable. A civil lawsuit is the only way in which this can be done. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) has proposed conducting hearings on Waco. While normally this would be cause for relief, Senator Specter is not one to inspire confidence. Many recollect that Senator Specter, while a staffer for the Warren Commission, was the very man who invented the notorious "magic bullet" theory to explain the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Certainly Congressional hearings may find a nugget of truth, but it will almost certainly be surrounded by a phalanx of fibs. In any event, the senate on May 11, voted to indefinitely postpone Waco hearings. (2) Evidence in a civil trial can be compelled by the power of a subpoena backed up by the threat of jail. Questioning of witnesses will be done by lawyers seeking to get to the heart of the matter rather than politicians seeking to play by the "rules of the game" of the "good-old-boy network." (3) A jury of twelve American citizens will eventually be em-paneled to hear the evidence and render their verdict. This verdict will not be the accommodation and compromise reached by politicians seeking a political goal or foisting some kind of a new "magic bullet theory" to explain misconduct and mayhem. Yes, we believe in helping Janet Reno and her friends keep their promise to take "full responsibility" for their actions of February 28, 1993, and April 19, 1993. It's the least we can do.

What Have We Already Learned In The Lawsuits?

The ongoing cases have already disclosed a number of important subjects, which the national news media is either incapable of or unwilling to attempt to understand and communicate to the people. The government has heavily censored many of the reports prepared by the FBI and the BATF agents. Shortly after the smoke cleared at Mt. Carmel, a great deal of important material emerged (and continues to emerge) to paint a clearer picture of chaos, confusion, incompetence, illegality, and hostility on the part of government agents which led directly to the tragic conflagration.

However, the government has refused to cooperate in some respects in release of information both by blotting out portions of reports, turning over video tapes that have mysterious deletions in them, and failing to make available other information, which is known to be in their possession. Additionally, despite the original assurances of the government attorneys that all witnesses would be made available, such important political poobahs as Janet Reno are now not cooperating in having their depositions taken.

This kind of government intransigence is, naturally enough, very dangerous. Who is to say that the tragic and brutal Oklahoma City bombing was not hatched in the feverish minds of people who felt that they could never get justice from the United States Justice Department? If Janet Reno and Bill Clinton had "taken responsibility" as they promised to do back in April of 1993, some 150 Oklahomans might be alive today. It is a lack of faith that justice can be done through the legal system which will drive marginal personalities to violent retribution.

What Is CAUSE Foundation?

CAUSE is a non-political, civil rights legal organization dedicated to the preservation of international human and civil rights. CAUSE has been active in a number of lawsuits against the Federal Government and Federal agents where the government had gotten out of control. CAUSE believes in the rule of law being essential to a civilized state and believes deeply that those who enforce the laws must obey the law themselves. To do otherwise will change our governmental structure. The Jeffersonian vision that our government derives its just authority from the consent of the governed is in danger of being changed to the more ancient and despotic relationship between masters and salves.

CAUSE has taken the lead since the beginning in the Waco case and were the first attorneys to arrive in Waco advocating for the rights of the Branch Davidians. CAUSE brought high profile attorneys Dick DeGuerin and Jack Zimmerman in to represent Branch Davidian leaders On March 9, CAUSE filed an application for temporary restraining order with the United States District Court, stating in part: "Your applicants aver and verily believe it is the intention of the United States of America, by and through its aforementioned agencies, to prevent outside independent observation of its actions and to assault or otherwise attach or kill your Applicants without due process of law. . . "The application was denied by Federal Judge Walter Smith on March 11. On March 12, CAUSE held a press conference which stated in part: "All the federal documents, which would normally be public record, are secret and sealed, most important of which is the initial probable cause upon which the government based its attack on Mt. Carmel."

"It is our position that independent negotiators could bring a speedy and peaceful resolution to this situation. In every Federal standoff since Wounded Knee, those which used outside, neutral negotiators entered into peaceful solutions; those that have not and in which the government retained control, have ended in injury and death, mostly by fire [emphasis added]."

When this tragically prophetic statement was recalled after April 19, 1993, many of the relatives of the Davidians contacted CAUSE and asked CAUSE to represent their interest in this disaster. Believing deeply that the government's actions showed an indifference to the rights of the Davidians, many of whom were elderly or infants, CAUSE has entered the case.

CAUSE was the first to file suit against the perpetrators of the heinous Waco tragedy. Suit was filed in the Western District of Texas on behalf of Aisha Gyarfas Summers and her year old daughter Startle Summers. Aisha was 18 years old and eight months pregnant when the fire swept through the church on April 19, 1993. Both died as a result of the conflagration. Other lawsuits followed on behalf of the families of twenty-three incinerated branch Davidians, three survivors, (two of whom were horribly burned), and five children. These lawsuits name as defendants Attorney General Janet Reno,the FBI, BATF, former BATF director Stephen Higgins and numerous BATF and FBI agents. They charged the BATF with unconstitutional use of excessive force in the February 28, raid that resulted in deaths of four BATF agents and six Branch Davidians. CAUSE charges the BATF had no probable cause to support the search warrant for the initial raid and provided the court with false information to secure the warrant, and the BATF fired indiscriminately and killed innocent citizens. The lawsuit alleges that the BATF and FBI are engaging in a conspiracy to deprive citizens of their constitutional rights, privileges, and immunities, including those under the Second Amendments to the United States Constitution.

After the first lawsuit was filed, the government issued its initial reports through the Justice Department and Treausury Department. When the Treasury Department report was released on September 30, 1993, BATF director Stephen E. Higgins was discharged. Five other agents were suspended. The Justice Department report was released on October 8, 1993. Both reports are "redacted." This means it had been edited so that the full information is not made available to the public. Naturally, based on these edited and partial reports, the government blamed everything on the Davidians. The reports themselves are entertaining reading, as they are often contradictory to each other and contain valuable information to be used in our lawsuit.

Many Americans are doubtless familiar with Special Agent Lon T. Horiuchi, the elite FBI hostage rescue team sniper. Horiuchi has testified in the past as to the great accuracy with which he can place his bullets. However, in his first tactical employment he placed a bullet through Vicki Weaver's head and neck, causeing her to bleed to death while she was standing in the doorway holding her 10-month-old daughter in her arms. As is well known, Mrs. Weaver was not an authorized target. After this feat of marksmanship, Horiuchi was decorated and sent to Waco. When tanks were driven into the Mt. Carmel Center on April 19, 1993, Horiuchi had found a new line of work. Now the expert sniper was employed driving one of the tanks. In discovery, the following has been learned: As the tanks were smashing into the Mt. Carmel Center at approximately 12:00 noon, the government had a forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera mounted on an aircraft high above the Center. (It's often interesting to note that it is referred to as "compound" by the news media and the government. A better comparison would be a packing crate, as the building was not constructed to any kind of code standard, was composed of a large quantity of lumber, hay, kerosene heaters and lantern, paint cans, and other flammable objects strewn throughout the building). As the tanks proceeded to batter the building apart, the infrared camera picked up heat from the vary areas where the tanks were smashing through the building.. . Further discovery will be needed from the government to determine exactly what went on, but it seems fairly evident that as the building was literally battered to pieces by tanks, a kerosene heater or lantern knocked over and started the blaze. Many of the women and children were found covered by water soaked blankets, seeking shelter from the blaze. In other words: There was no suicide of the Branch Davidians, as federal agents would have you believe.

Once the fire had started, the FBI, as mentioned above, spent its time pushing debris into the flame, helping to build the flames, while telling the fire departments that they were not permitted to come on the scene because of the danger that they could be shot by Davidians! At this same time, Government agents were photographed leisurely strolling around the grounds.

What Is To Be Done?

The answer is that the government must be controlled by its citizens. This is what our founding fathers intended. It is not "hate" to demand the government answer for its actions in a court of law. It is not "divisive" to question whether or not the BATF and the FBI bungled their mission in Waco. We, as citizens, have a right to ask these questions of our government. Some would go further and state it is our obligation to ask these questions when the government refuses to answer to mend its ways, it opens the door for irresponsible, violent elements to feel that no justice can be obtained in America's courtrooms. CAUSE is completely committed to seeing that justice is done in the American way. That is why the suits have been filed against the government and its agents. The President of the United States has used the bombing in Oklahoma City as an ex post facto excuse for the BATF and FBI assaults on the Branch Davidian Mt. Carmel home in 1993. This is just as unjustifiable as the terrorists who bombed Oklahoma City would be in using the bloody federal assault in Waco as an excuse for taking innocent lives. The appropriate and civilized forum for resolving these kinds of conflicts is the American court system.

The next of kin and the Waco survivors we represent are seeking to find justice in the court system of the US. They have faith in America, despite the events at Waco. As Americans, our duty lies in ensuring that the civil and criminal justice system, as guaranteed under our Constitution, is maintained inviolate. This is the best and surest defense against violence, whether perpetrated against the citizens by the government or nameless, faceless terrorists against the citizens. Our constitutional compact guaranteeing liberty and safety is threatened whether it comes from terrorism imposed upon the citizens by the state or against the citizens by individuals.

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