Posted on 04/19/2003 2:05:26 PM PDT by ASTM366
Your arrogance is really showing.
I can't comment. Never read it. Though I suppose you wished I had, so you could paint me into some sort of lumped catagory to bolster your frail pro-jack-boot arguements.
nice try...but I'm nobody's shill...unlike others here..._Jim.
I think the point many are missing here is that a bunch of Seal wannabes in The BATF and some hotshot cowboys in The FBI "Hostage Rescue Team" were let loose without proper supervison for a media show.
Vernon Howell was certainly no saint, but did the ends of The Waco raid justify the means?
And before anyone jumps on me about being anti law enforcement my dad was a Deputy Sheriff.
Do you even know what case law is, how it relates to statute law and how to go about determining what the case law is on a particulay subject?
If you did you wouldn't go blithering on about a subject of which you only have the haziest of understandings.
What else in the Constitution besides the 1st Amendment do you have big problems with, too?
Video evidence proves that some federal agents entered the window, and only after, fire came
from that window, killing the four remaining outside.
Way, way back at the beginning of this fiasco, Koresh sent ATF the paperwork for several class 3 weapons over a very short period of time. Although not illegal, it raised a huge red flag with the JBT's.
Since Koresh had not done anything illegal, the JBT' couldn't show probable cause for a search warrant. (or any other warrant) In the minds of the govt idiots, no one needs class 3 stuff, especially not a bunch at one time.
So, the govt did a little asking around and found that there had been some child abuse allegations by parents of some of the teenagers living at the compound. The ATF recruited a Texas child protective services investigator,(who doesn't need a warrant) to get inside the compound and have a look around. She found no evidence of child abuse, but she did see a firearm propped against a wall of the gym, and it was as she put it "unsupervised".
Although this gave no probable cause for a warrant, the govt found a compliant judge and lied, variously claiming firearms violations, that a drug lab was inside, kidnapping, etc, etc. Information from one of the clerks in the court indicates that not only did the govt goons get the warrant, they got it with many of the spaces blank to be filled in later.
The ATF was under seige by the beancounters in the GOA, as redundant, and were determined to put on a show that would be used to justify their existence. Koresh was just the right guy, in the right place, at the right time.
BTW, many are wondering why the govt goons shot Koresh from the cattle car when he opened the front door, and prior to trying to serve any warrant. I would remind Freepers of the ROE (Rules of Engagement) at Ruby Ridge. Ie: shoot on sight. While those rules would later be repudiated by the govt, that repudiation had not yet happened by the time of Waco.
The JBT in charge of the Waco shooters was the same murderer who killed Weaver's wife....Lon Horiuchi. Perhaps he was still operating under the assumption that he had the power to kill on sight.
You laid in a censiderable store of ammunition, Spam, Kraft Dinner, bottled water, toilet paper and other stuff for Y2K, didn't you?
Did you bunker up too?
I can believe Koresh was bad, but not nearly bad enough to justify many of the things done by the Federal agencies involved. And I DON'T beleive he set the fires.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.