Waco InncodentEssay Preview: Waco InncodentReport this essayMy name is Jim, just Jim its easier this way, and I was one of the nine survivors in the Waco compound standoff. Before I go into what I think went wrong to our religious sanctuary, let me tell you how I met David and a little about our great deciple.
Back in the early 90s I had been drumming in a nowhere rock band when I met and befriended David Koresh. I needed some new drum sticks, and on the way to a gig stopped in at a local music shop. Seeing the sticks in my hand the two strangers introduced themselves and asked if I was playing in a band right now. The two were David Koresh and his right man Steve Schneider. They gave their card and I promptly handed it back. The backside was full of Bible verses. “You guys are a Christian rock band,” and I really dont get into the whole god thing, really never have. Which was true, I had never been religious in my life, and though I sometimes found myself asking God for a little, I couldnt remember the last time I had been in a church, let alone seriously prayed. But I did have a spiritual curiosity; there were questions I had and answers that I wanted to know. Neither of them tried to push me into coming and praying with mainly they were looking for some one to beat the skins so that they could jam. Since my band was in the dumps I took back his card and said that I would call him.
Over the next couple weeks I hung out with them. I got to know Koresh and some of the other musicians in the band and all and all I was impressed. The more I hung out with them the more things I did with them I even sat in on one of their church sessions. I couldnt believe how much of the stuff that David was talking about had relevance to my life. I finally went out to their community to play a live concert; I couldnt believe my eyes. All people of all ages were extremely enthused about the scripture. I was fascinated with their spiritual search, and I began, for the first time in my life, to really read the bible and understand the words in it. I really liked listening to Koreshs way of explaining the scriptures. He was clearly a serious religious scholar and I wanted to understand what he was saying. So I stayed.
One of the other things I loved about the “community” was the fact that all the people in the community came from many backgrounds. I met folks who hadnt finished high school and others with degrees from places like Harvard Law school. I spent time with African Americans, Australians, Black Britons, Mexican Americans, and many others. One irony of the Waco disaster, is that the right wing extremists and racists looked to Mount Caramel as a beacon; if they realized that so many of us were Black, Asian, and Latino, and that we despised their hateful politics and anger, they would probably feel bitterly betrayed. It was as if the community was an isolated bubble of a perfect world, where all races, colors, and creeds, lived and worshiped God together in perfect harmony, and I was glad to be a part of it.
Now that is how I met my best friend, and the man who turned my life around and directed me toward God. Many a times he told me stories of his life before, his talks with God, and before becoming a deciphile of Jesus Christ. David was born in 1955 in a small town on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, to a single mother. Never knowing his father and his mother not wanting the responsibility he was mainly raised by his grandparents. He said his childhood was lonely, greatly contributed from the fact that he dropped out of high school at a very early age. Most of his days were of studying music and the Bible by himself. At the age of 20, he started going to different churches speaking his mind, which was slightly different than what these churches were used to, and was eventually asked to leave. After this he roamed, taking spot jobs for cash to get him to Hollywood so that he could become a rock star, but this also failed. He drifted back to Texas, where he became a Branch Davidian, a religious sect, which settled 10 miles outside of Waco, Texas. There, Koresh had and affair with then-prophetess Lois Roden who was in her sixties. She took him to Israel and other religious cities, teaching him the word of God. When she died the throne as head prophet became a power struggle between Koresh and Loiss son George. Koresh left with his followers but soon returned and brought with him a gunfight. Once David won the battle, a trial for attempted murder was brought up and was later acquitted to a mistrial. David told me, that George was suspected of corpse abuse, and that his shots were aimed at a tree. So of course I believed him, he could not hurt a soul; he was a kind, God fearing man if I ever met one. David later became the leader of the Branch Davidians, and this is when he changed his name to David Koresh. Koresh is Hebrew meaning Cyrus, the name of the Persian king who allowed the Jews held captive in Babylon to return to Israel. How could you not follow this man, he made so much sense to everyday problems and he had helped me so much. Plus he was a prophet, how much plainer could it be, just compare David to Jesus.
Both had fathers who were carpenters, both had fathers who left at very early stages in their lives, both showed remarkable knowledge of the scriptures at a very early age. Both preached their messages in an area called Palestine, both had their messages rejected by religious leaders of the day. Also they both were betrayed by Judas; prosecuted, imprisoned, and killed. Both had authorities come to arrest them, and they both were wounded in the hands and the side. Both were 33 when they died, and both believed in coming back. Maybe Jesus could not come back but God sent us David, the second prophet, a god within himself. And I loved spending everyday with him and our community.
I have read the justice department reports of what happened in Waco, and this is what they say, and I quote,“At about 9:30 a.m. agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms attempt to execute, arrest, and search warrants against David Koresh and the Branch Davidian compound. Gunfire erupts. Four ATF agents are killed and 16 are wounded. An undetermined number of Davidians are killed and injured. Within a few hours the FBI becomes the lead agency for resolving the standoff. Jeff Jamar is named the on site commander. By the afternoon, advance units of the FBIs hostage rescue team(HRT) arrive, and telephone conversations are under way between Koresh, Steve Schneider, and Wayne Martin on one side, and the ATFs Jim Savanaugh and Waco police Lt. Larry Lynch on the other. Koresh disclose that he has been wounded in the hip and left wrist, Koresh is allowed to broadcast his religious teachings on Dallas radio, KLRD, and does
Sutherland’s book claims that the FBI and B-team were “trying to find evidence of imminent drug trafficking from the South of the U.S.” which has been discovered “in an abandoned warehouse in a vacant lot north of the site.” In other words, a well protected warehouse with a safe from the elements.
This is not the first time the FBI has taken part in the standoff between South Texas residents and the FBI. This year the FBI opened a small operation at his place near Texas and placed a stop sign on his vehicle. This incident led to public concern before. In November 1999, a man on a warrant was convicted for murder in the Las Vegas suburb of Clark Co. The FBI then arrested a fellow agent who was the second person to receive a gun and ammunition. In July 2000, the Texas Legislature gave local citizens a chance to vote, as they did several times in June 1999. The FBI has a “brief history” of conducting SWAT-style operations at these events, among them, the April 19 mass shooting in Las Vegas, in which one suspect was killed. The FBI then conducted a similar operation at the same facility after the Columbine mass. After that, the agency “surveys all aspects of how the police work and evaluates resources when they decide to take action. Some of these strategies are discussed in this book. In its history one of the most radical programs of the National Bureau of Investigation is the ‘torture-detective program’ which investigates people suspected of being ‘agents of the state’ before handing them over to the public. This process, known as the Department of Justice’s Office of the Special Counsel, was created following the 1998 massacre at Columbine where a judge issued an order which prevented anyone from being arrested or tried for the murders. The CIA also uses this system to target its community for its targeting of individuals suspected of having ties to the Drug Enforcement Administration. This includes using the T-Bombs that can be dropped from police armored vehicles in conjunction with the taser. The ATF has no idea of how some of these agents are trained, including how to operate them when equipped with automatic weaponry. The law enforcement community then believes that the ‘torture-detective’ approach is just a diversionary process which is all about the police using the T-Bombs and using the public as agents of the state. Unfortunately, in August 2002, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations) passed an act which was opposed by several members of Congress. The legislation was opposed by all concerned, who expressed their disappointment in FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s failure to address the issue adequately. In early 2003, the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism (the subcommittee on Public Safety and Crime Prevention) unanimously voted to override this Senate action. The Act, which failed to make it to the Committee on Rules (the subcommittee on Federal Judicial Administration (the subcommittee on State and Local Government or the subcommittee on the Governmental Organization of High Places)). In October 2003, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform approved the act, which included amendments to the Judiciary subcommittee bill. In a statement that has not been available, the Commission on Lawful Federal Practice concluded, “this report provides evidence that the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] has acted well since it’s inception to combat and dismantle illegal immigrant crime wherever and whenever it happens. It provides a great deal more detail about the procedures we go through to enforce the laws of the U.S. and provides more details on our legal system.” In fact,