They say that history repeats itself.
Often, that leads to an unbroken circle of tragedy.
What marks our spiritual growth, individually and as a
society, is our willingness to address our mistakes and profit from our
experience.
When Navy Seal John Kerrey led his squad into the Mekong
River town of Thanh Phong about 35 years ago, anywhere from12 to 21 innocent
Vietnamese civilians, including women and children were wrongly put to
death.
We are not here to dispute the circumstances under which
Kerrey acted. The narratives of Kerrey and at least one member of his squad
simply don’t jibe. Did the young Navy Lt. order his men to kill the
townsfolk at close range, or at the distance of 100 yards?
We may never know, for sure.
One must ask why it took three and a half decades, virtually
his entire adult life, for Kerrey to confess his role in the killings and
come clean. The admissions and apologies were made only after his career as
a Democratic Senator from Nebraska had come to a close and he was pressured
into it by a pending media expose.
Nevertheless, the admissions and apologies were made.
Which brings us to another military action in which the
lives of 25 innocent civilians were taken, this time on American soil.
How is it that so much media attention can be focused on a
1966 wartime atrocity staged halfway around the world while reporters are
willing to pile an official layer of silence atop the graves of those killed
in a homegrown holocaust.
At Waco, no admissions or apologies have been offered.
Despite numerous government investigations, no public official has ever
claimed responsibility for planning or staging the fatal raid on the Branch
Davidian religious retreat.
We cannot ignore the most recent findings of a federal
"whitewash" panel, chaired by former Republican Senator John
Danforth.
The bologna was thickly sliced.
Danforth’s bogus findings encase top FBI and Justice
Department officials in a bullet-proof vest of deniability. Attorney General
Janet Reno had claimed the raid was being staged to save the lives of the
women and children hiding within the Koresh compound.
Listening devices planted on the Davidians’ property
indicated the Branch Davidians were discussing plans to torch their
buildings and perish in the flames.
Why then did the FBI risk the lives of the innocents by
staging its assault on the compound, if they believed a fiery suicide could
result?
Danforth had a footnote explanation that dealt with that
objection. He claimed the discussions of the Davidians were hard to decipher
and could only be understood by audio enhancement after the buildings went
up in smoke.
Yet, an Army Colonel Roberts, serving as military liaison to
the FBI, claims the Davidian threats to torch their property were clearly
heard at the FBI command center BEFORE the assault began.
If the FBI had no clue that Koresh and crew might strike the
match, why did they contact Waco area hospital burn units for bed
availabilities on the afternoon of April 18th, 1993, just hours
before the inferno began.
Like I said…bologna.
At Waco, the FBI could not abide by its own rules of
engagement.
If saving the lives of the innocents was "job 1,"
why did the "bureau" insist on pumping potentially lethal CS gas
into the Davidian headquarters for six hours straight on the morning of the
blaze. The gas was intended for dispersal a few minutes at a time over a
48-hour period to allow Davidian deserters safe passage from the building.
If the FBI wanted a peaceful end to the standoff, why were
former Green Beret Col. Bo Gritz and former lawman Jack McLamb not allowed
to attempt hostage negotiations at Waco? Their efforts had paid off at Ruby
Ridge, Idaho when they successfully talked Randy Weaver and surviving
members of his family into giving up and coming out. We have learned both
Gritz and McLamb were willing to parachute onto the Koresh property but high
winds prevented their dispatch on the morning of April 19th.
So why were Washington authorities unwilling to delay long
enough to "give peace a chance?"
Let’s not forget the government lies arising from the FLIR
or Forward Looking Infrared Radar tapes recorded by government helicopters
during the assault. They showed FBI agents firing into the buildings as they
were burning.
The government said, "Not so fast. Let’s recreate the
conditions and see what really caused those flashes of light from the agents’
gun barrels."
You can guess the rest of the story. The tests were staged
by the British subsidiary of a major US government contractor. So much for
an independent, unbiased recreation. The guns used by the re-enactors had
longer barrels to suppress gunfire flashes. The terrain used in the
recreation differed from the original. And by the time the final report was
issued, the gunfire was explained away as sunlight shining on broken pieces
of glass.
Never in recent memory has 19 million dollars so poorly
served the American taxpayer as the money budgeted for the Danforth Waco
investigation.
Now, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, just days from
his slated execution has admitted his offensive act against a U.S.
government command control structure was inspired by the federal attack that
killed the 25 innocents at Waco.
There’s a high probability that the Waco tragedy caused
the Oklahoma City tragedy. 25 deaths lead to 168 more.
History repeating itself.
Before we go, I must touch on another debacle caused by the
FBI that left an innocent man imprisoned for 30 years. Rather than
compromise their mob sources in Boston, the FBI knowingly allowed Joseph
Salvati to go to prison. During a Congressional investigation, former FBI
Agent H. Paul Rico issued his official response to the false conviction,
"Remorse…for what? What do you want, tears? I believe the FBI handled
it properly."
With apologies to that old Ali McGraw movie, Love Story, it
appears that serving the FBI means "never having to say you’re
sorry."