Free Republic

Clint Van Zandt served in the FBI for 25 years, including about six as the agency's chief hostage negotiator. He was involved in many major negotiations, including with David Koresh, the leader of the so-called Branch Davidians, whose compound near Waco, Texas, was the focus of a 1993 siege by federal agents, which ended in the deaths of more than 80 people. Since retiring from the FBI, Van Zandt has run a corporate security firm. He spoke to High Country News by telephone from Virginia on Wednesday and Thursday. As of early Thursday, the FBI had arrested 11 people and...

A network of political groups from across the Northwest issued a call Thursday morning for supporters to flood into Burns. The request for help came on the heels of the Wednesday night arrest of Jason Patrick, a Georgia roofer who had emerged as a leader among the remaining occupiers to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after the takeover's key planners including Ammon Bundy and Ryan Payne, were taken into law-enforcement custody. Bundy, Payne and several others were arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop in which occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was killed. The deadly confrontation happened as Bundy and the others...