Once the raid occurred, however, Howell milked it for all it was worth. He had prepared his people for an "Armageddon," and this was his chance.
Howell played the FBI like a violin, stringing them along with promises, then reneging.
He made all the children who were not his, or somehow attached to one of his many wives, leave.
The FBI was clearly embarrassed. They knew that, had they chosen to wait him out, that could have taken a very long time, since Howell had stockpiled supplies for just such an occasion.
Using tear gas, tearing down walls, etc. on that final day gave Howell the cue he needed, and he burnt the place to ground, shooting many of the people inside before they could be consumed by fire.
Lessons were learned, however. The Montana militiamen standoff ended peacefully, and these guys likely had all kinds of weapons as well. But the FBI was patient, shut off power and took the story out of the headlines.
Had the FBI done the same at Waco, and that should have included telling the press that this would be a long-term deal so that the press would have lost interest and left thus depriving Howell of something he really wanted, the incineration would have been avoided.
The only idiots who have attempted anything in the intervening ten years close to this was that Beck character out in California who shot a cop or two, then sat in his house while it burned down, and the Republic of Texas standoff, which the FBI wisely left to the Texas Rangers, who played mind games with Richard McLaren and ended the standoff peacefully.
Get rid of the publicity, and these situations can be defused pretty quickly, because megalomaniacs like Howell can't stand being ignored.
Nor, frankly, can some in the FBI, and those people should be run out of law enforcement.