>

Waco Archive - The articles

I am compiling an archive of articles found on the internet - hopefully when enough material is archived a comprehensive view of this disaster can be established.

Waco Details May Have Been Kept From Reno Says Report http://foxnews.com/news/national/0831/d_rt_0831_66.sml 8-31-99 DALLAS - Evidence about the FBI's use of potentially flammable tear gas grenades during the fatal 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, may have been withheld from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday. The newspaper said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston has written to Reno to say evidence that the FBI used pyrotechnic CS tear gas grenades the morning of the April 19, 1993 siege may have been kept under wraps by "individuals or components within the Department of Justice.'' The FBI last week reversed six years of denials and acknowledged its agents had used the potentially flammable tear gas grenades just hours before a fire erupted, killing 80 people in the central Texas religious compound. Previously the government had said no such devices were used at Waco. Reno has said she was angry to learn at such a late date that the devices were used and pledged to investigate the siege. But she continued to maintain the FBI's actions did not cause the fatal blaze. Johnston told the Dallas Morning News he felt compelled to warn Reno after he was given a 5-year-old document last week that discusses the use of "military gas'' by the FBI on the last day of the 51-day standoff at Waco. The newspaper said the reference appeared to be shorthand for pyrotechnic tear gas grenades. Johnston said he was concerned because the document, a three-page set of notes detailing an interview with members of the FBI's hostage rescue team, included handwritten notations suggesting that it be kept from anyone outside the department's legal staff. "There are handwritten notes on the documents discussing whether or not they should be disclosed, and, obviously, they have not been,'' Johnston said. "I am very concerned,'' Johnston told the Morning News. "I would rather not discuss the details of my letter to the AG, but I can certainly tell you that I'm very concerned that information which should've been made known to her and to the public has not been.'' Johnston was not immediately available to comment on the newspaper story. Johnston, with the U.S. Attorney General's Western District of Texas office in Waco, has been involved in an inventory since June of evidence collected after the siege by Texas Rangers probing how the blaze started. Johnston and the Rangers have been subpoenaed by the U.S. House Government Reform Committee, which has launched a new investigation into the Branch Davidian siege, to present all their records concerning the use of pyrotechnic tear gas by the FBI. According to the Morning News, Johnston said the document in question was a three-page set of notes taken by a paralegal working for the U.S. attorney's office in preparation for the 1994 federal prosecution of surviving Branch Davidians. The paralegal was interviewing members of the FBI's hostage rescue team, which was involved in the final assault on the Branch Davidian compound. Johnston told the newspaper the notes also indicate that he may have been present during the interviews. He said he did not recall the interviews and said the term "military gas'' did not register with him. "While I don't recall it, I can say the term 'military gas round' meant little or nothing to me, because I am unfamiliar with military ordnance,'' he said. The Waco standoff began on Feb. 28, 1993, when federal agents trying to search the compound and arrest Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges engaged in a shootout with sect members. Four federal agents were killed. Agents set up outside the compound for weeks, until April 19, when the structure burst into flames after government tanks moved in to break down its walls. Investigators determined that the fire began simultaneously in three separate spots, after Davidians spread gasoline and other accelerants inside the compound.