Documents released to Cox Newspapers on Friday by the FBI indicate that Col. William Boykin, then Delta Force commander, and Brig. Gen. Peter Schoomaker, then the assistant division commander of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, were the previously unidentified officers who told Reno use of CS gas, a potent form of tear gas, would make the compound "untenable."
Tear gas and the manner in which it was used at Waco have become an issue in recent days with the disclosure that what the FBI describes as "a very limited number" of military-issue pyrotechnic gas grenades were used in the final assault on the compound.
This revelation, contrary to Reno's repeated assertion during recent years, has led to renewed calls by members of Congress for committee investigations.
On Friday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) called for a Senate Judiciary Committee probe of the pyrotechnic grenades, and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said his House Government Reform Committee would hold hearings on the matter in the fall.
Reno said Thursday she was "upset" to learn that assurances to her by the FBI that incendiary tear gas grenades were not used at Waco were untrue.
In addition to the controversy over the tear gas canisters, The Dallas Morning News reported that a "former CIA officer" had said he was told that three or four Army Special Forces troops at Waco had taken an active role in the Davidian assault.
That would be illegal under federal laws that prohibit use of military force against American civilians without a special presidential waiver.
Although it has been reported that military officers were at a meeting at which Reno was advised to approve the use of CS gas at Waco, the names of Boykin and Schoomaker were deleted from an Army memorandum describing the meeting. Both men were among the original Delta Force officers when it was established by the late Army Col. Charlie Beckwith, and both participated in the failed mission to rescue U.S. hostages from Iran in 1980.
Maj. Gen. William G. Boykin presents
an American Flag to Joshua Miller in
honor of his father, Command Sgt. Maj.
Franklin D. Miller.
15. Officers of the Chinese People's Liberation
Army, Senior Col. Chen Kai and Capt. Jin Luo,
present plaques to Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker
and Brig. Gen. Jack R. Holbein.
