Nothing Radical About New Waco Probe

Nothing Radical About New Waco Probe
by Michael R. Allen

Tuesday, September 14, 1999

The government tells us the Waco raid will finally be investigated in detail. Attorney General Janet Reno has appointed former Senator Jack Danforth to head a committee to investigate the FBI’s use of CS nerve gas, who caused the Branch Davidian compound to burn, and other nagging questions. Danforth “calls them like he sees them.” says former Senator Thomas Eagleton.

But how will he see them?

Danforth was a moderate senator when he served, never imagining that anything was wrong with America except that it had a high deficit. He was not the sort of man who was worried about government tyranny. As head of the committee, he will likely not want to stir up a “rebellion of the radicals.”

But that may be unavoidable now. The radicals know the significance of Waco in American History.

If July 4, 1776, was a celebrated day for the birth of liberty in America, April 19, 1993, is to be remembered as the day that liberty was finally pronounced dead. This date was not chosen by anti-statists; this was the day the government itself chose to show once and for all that freedom was dead.

Surely, there were other instances of federal power usurping the liberty of the American people. Wilson’s sedition trials, the California internment camps during World War II, the Civil War, and the Ruby Ridge affair, all preceded the raid of the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas. The Waco incident, however, was so much more intense than previous events in terms of raw carnage (74 innocent men women and children).

After the initial outrage, and subsequent Justice Department cover-up, news of the incident was only found from dedicated researchers. Yet now, there is a revival of investigating the raid. New FBI revelations have spurred a flurry of anti-government rhetoric from the Right. Even if it is mere partisanship (how many Republicans asked for George Bush to resign after Ruby Ridge?), at least it is directed against the State.

Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), not my idea of an anti-statist politician, has asked Attorney General Janet Reno to resign for her role in the incident. His sentiment is shared by this writer, but expecting Reno to resign is naive. She offered to in 1993 with a grand gesture, but of course President Clinton wouldn’t let her.

Now, Reno’s Justice Department will continue its shameless manipulation of truth. In the current federal government, the department is not looking to protect the people from government but government from public scrutiny. Little wonder then, that it has been the Texas Rangers who have been tireless in obtaining federal documents and protecting FBI agents-turned-informants from harassment and threats by the Justice Department. This is the way federalism should work - the state protecting its citizens from federal power.

However, Texas can’t punish Janet Reno, President Clinton, and the others who commanded the raid. It is Congress who must do that. Unfortunately, one sees Reno and Clinton dancing jigs at the thought of being seriously investigated by this Congress.

Yet, they must be held responsible. As president, Clinton is chief law enforcement officer. He had to sign the waiver that brought Army Delta force to Waco. For having the Army fire upon the citizens it is pledged to protect, execution seems insufficient punishment. Clinton knowingly invited an act of tyranny greater than any committed since the Civil War.

Janet Reno is even more guilty, for approving the standoff, the raid, and asking Bill Clinton for the military. Her impeachment is the basic punishment required if freedom is to be restored. She should be sent to jail, along with FBI Director Louis Freech, and others. She has damaged American justice beyond redemption -- which is good, since it will sap all trust from the federal government.

Impeaching Clinton again, won’t happen. And Reno and Freech won’t likely be in much trouble. The Danforth committee will be muzzled if it even suggests the Waco raid is in the category with the pogroms of Stalin. Likely, Agent Larry Potts might have to go to jail for a few years, although that might even be too far for the Justice Department’s wishes.

After all, Danforth is brought in by Reno. She would not hire her own hitman.

Danforth will see them fairly; he is an honest man. But he would never have been brought in if he sees things with radical vision (otherwise known as "seeing things as they are"). He won’t scratch too far below the surface. If anyone does, it will be the Texas Rangers -- if the Feds don’t crush them first.

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