Big Government. Small Missteps. Big Consequences?

(2 of 2)

Paranoia, of course, doesnt mean theyre not out to get you, and when a militiaman in Montana hears about the law-enforcement lineup at Waco, such paranoia isnt hard to understand. The FBI, the ATF and the Texas Rangers are at least domestic agencies, but Delta Force? What, exactly, was the U.S. militarys preeminent commando team - the same crew that went after Noriega in Panama and the warlords in Somalia - doing in Waco, facing down some well-armed wackos and their innocent children? The law says the D-boys can only attend domestic operations in a supervisory capacity. A General Accounting Office study - more feds, for the skeptics - concluded that the U.S. military present had not overstepped its bounds. But as reports, true or not, surface that Delta Force members drove the Bradley transport/assault vehicles used in the final assault, it gets hard to distinguish the "supervisors" from the supervised.

The raid was botched, as one must consider any operation that resulted in the fiery deaths of 80 people, including 25 children. The ATF, which led it, was the first to admit that. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen commissioned an independent and scathing report; lofty heads rolled, and the agency regained most of its credibility, at least with the mainstream. Reno, personally, did the same by taking full responsibility for the disaster. But the report commissioned for the Justice Department and FBI, in contrast to the ATF study, found that officials in those agencies had nothing to apologize for. That report also concluded that the Branch Davidians had set the fire, based on survivors testimony, infrared pictures and the findings of an independent arson investigator. But the report - "I find there is no place in the evaluation for blame and no place for fault," main author Edward Dennis said at the time - was seen as a whitewash. And so the questions remain.

And now we learn that Reno and FBI chief Louis Freeh have assigned 40 FBI agents - the ultimate insiders - to correct that paint job. "Are 40 FBI agents doing interviews really going to restore the attorney generals credibility?" Henry S. Ruth Jr., a former Watergate prosecutor who took part in the Treasury review, asked in the New York Times. "If they dont reopen this thing now and actually use outside investigators, this will be like the Kennedy assassination for the next 50 years," he said. "I live in the West and the Midwest and this issue is keeping the militia groups alive."

Woodbury agrees. "This is fuel for the Timothy McVeighs of the world," he says. If the militia movement isnt organized, its acutely sympathetic. The calendar bears that out. April 19, the day that Waco died, is the day of Lexington and Concord; shots heard round the world. Two years after, two years to the day, McVeigh fought back at another compound, a perceived threat to domestic freedom: the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. "Waco was the first big event, and its been a catalyst," says Woodbury. "Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, McVeigh, the Montana Freemen. Now the suspicions about Waco have been aroused again," he says. "Lets hope its not another activator."