Waco: National Testbed Center

On July 30, 1992, one of David Koresh's business associates, Henry McMahon, received a visit from several ATF agents. The subject of the inquiry was recent gun purchases made by David Koresh. McMahon, himself a gun dealer, phoned David Koresh while the agents stood in front of him, and told Koresh about the ATF inquiries. Koresh invited the ATF out to inspect his premises and his guns.

According to Mr. McMahon's testimony in the 1995 Congressional hearings, when he relayed Koresh's invitation, the ATF agents declined to accept the invitation. The legality of David Koresh's guns were, then, never the issue. They could have gone out and inspected the guns at any time.

Had the ATF not wanted to accept Koresh's invitation to come out to inspect the guns, and had the simply wanted to arrest him on some pretext, they could have apprehended him when he was out of the Mt. Carmel Center. But ATF claimed that David Koresh never left the property, and therefore a raid was necessary to apprehend him.

In an article entitled: "Residents, businessmen say Howell not a recluse," which appeared in the Waco Tribune-Herald, March 4, 1993, one Waco resident was quoted:

"To say that he never leaves that place is ridiculous. He is always out everywhere. Everybody and their dog see him and many of the people out there. But I guess they are just trying to cover themselves because they are going to be in big trouble--hopefully," she said.

David Koresh used to like to work on car engines at a repair shop owned by the Davidians, which was about five miles from the Mt. Carmel Center. He was also "seen dining and drinking at Chelsea Street Pub, a popular West Waco eatery, at least twice in the past six weeks," according to the paper. There was no need for an assault, no need to endanger ATF agents, and no need to endanger peaceful civilians.

What was at issue? The issue seems to be that the February 28, 1993 raid and ensuing siege provided the US the opportunity to test, for the first time, the "National Response Plan." (Treasury Report, pg. 152 for description).

Purpose of National Response Plan

A chart of the National Response Plan's organization appears on Treasury Report, pg. 63. At the top of the chart, we see that control of the plan is vested in the "National Command Center," which was ostensibly under the command of an ATF agent (Treasury Report, pg. 152). At the bottom of the chart, we see other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense (DoD National Guard Support). Thus we are asked to believe that an ATF agent sits at the top of the organization board (in command) and that the Department of Defense is at the bottom of the organization board.

It is of course unbelievable that an ATF employee would be taken seriously if he tried to issue directives to the Pentagon concerning the deployment of Pentagon troops. The picture of a four star general, having climbed to the top of the military chain of command by decades of careful politics, taking orders from Treasury Department functionaries is not credible. Had this organizational chart borne semblance to reality, we surely would have seen "DoD" box at the top of the chart.

National Military/Police Take-over Plan

But the ATF is essentially a tax-collecting agency. What "situations" could exceed the capabilities of an ATF field division to collect taxes? Clearly any situation that required the power of the DoD National Guard would be a major civil upheaval. The NRP is a preparation for armed confrontation between the military/police forces in the US government and US citizens.

Since the US citizenry is not preparing a massed attack against the military/police combine, we can only conclude this National Response Plan is a plan for military/police occupation of civilian society.

How the Plan Was Tested

• The ATF chose the Texas State Technical College (TSTC) as site for the command post of the operation. The sheriff's department had previously gotten cooperation from the airport manager. (Treasury Report, pg. 55).
• At the suggestion of the local police, the planners chose Bellmead Civic Center as the staging area because it was large enough to accommodate the agents, it was close to Mt. Carmel Center, and had ample parking. (Treasury Report, pg. 56)
• The Texas Rangers were lined up to surround the Mt. Carmel Center and prevent anyone from leaving (Treasury Report, pg. 79)
• The McLennan County sheriff's department was lined up to "provide other support functions." (Treasury Report, pg. 79).
• When the raid "failed," Mt. Carmel Center was cut off from its neighbors through the efforts of local law enforcement personnel and SWAT teams, including:
• the Austin Police Department,
• the McLennan County Sheriff's Department, and, for federal balance,
• the US Marshall's Service (Treasury Report, pg. 112).
• By March 2, 1993, 400 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers had converged on Waco, according to the Dallas Morning News of March 3, 1993.
• During the 51 days of the siege, the FBI sent 668 people to Waco. Each day an average of 217 agents and 41 support people were present. The DoJ Report, pg. 10, states that other military/law enforcement personnel on site were:
• ATF -- 136
• Customs -- 6
• Waco Police Department 18
• McLennan County Sheriff's Office -- 17
• Department of Public Safety (Texas Rangers) -- 31
• Department of Public Safety (Patrol) -- 131
• US Army -- 15
• Texas National Guard -- 13.

• ATF officials conducted a briefing at the Best Western Hotel. Attending were members of the arrest and support teams, National Guard members, explosives specialists, dog handlers, and laboratory technicians.
• Local merchants were lined up to supply the raiders with:
• ambulance services,
• portable toilets, and
• doughnuts.
• The sheriff's department saw to it that coffee would be ready for the raiders at the staging center on the morning of the raid (Treasury Report, pg. 79).

Delta Force Founder on Hand to Critique

The Treasury Report says, "Colonel Charlie Beckwith, U.S.A. Ret., on assignment for Soldier of Fortune magazine, claims that he managed to advance on foot to within less than a mile of the Compound without being challenged." (Treasury Report, pg. 112). "Note: Beckwith was within one mile of the Mt. Carmel Center during hostilities, and he was not arrested--yet, several days after the fire in April--reporters from the Associated Press and Houston Chronicle were arrested for getting within two miles of the complex (see Inside the Concrete Room in the Death Gallery)".

In an article appearing in the Soldier of Fortune, July 1993, Col. Beckwith also criticized the ATF's handling of the media. "It was not until the FBI arrived on 29 February (sic) that the media was put under control and moved outside the target area," he lamented.

Military Occupation of Local College

"Just before 11 a.m., a number of buses and heavily armed ATF agents carrying plastic flex-cuffs left the base for the compound. Dozens of agents began carrying tables, chairs and stenography machines into the hangar, students and instructors at the college said.

"Then ATF agents began evacuating the campus. Students said armed officers entered classrooms and told them to leave."

-- This from the Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1993, pg. 14A.

And How Did The Test Come Off?

1. State and local police, from the Texas Rangers to the local county sheriff's department cooperated with the federal government.
2. The local merchants enjoyed the business opportunity afforded by visitors to Waco,
3. The news services conducted almost no independent investigation whatsoever, and faithfully relayed the government propaganda line. In other words, the media covered Waco in the same way they covered the Gulf War (see Veracity of Contemporaneous News Coverage).
4. Civic organizations--from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Southern Baptist Conference, barely made a whisper of protest or opposition.
5. The politicians in Washington DC conducted cover-up Congressional investigations (see Burial Gallery).

 

In the military takeover of a country, paradigms must be established, from which the people can learn that resistance to the new order can only result in annihilation. With the practical details embodied in the National Response Plan, the new paradigm was established in Waco, Texas, in 1993. 

Update, June 7, 1995:

And the Tests Go On . . .

Most recently, Special Ops exercises in Pittsburgh provoked considerable negative public reaction. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report, between midnight and 2 a.m. on June 4th, 200 Special Ops commandos buzzed the city with Black Hawk helicopters, slid down ropes to the streets, and landed in the Brighton Heights area. They fired loud explosions and fired blank bullets for sound effects, and set off small explosions to breach doors in an abandoned building. Department of Defense Spokesmen said they were simulating a "rescue."

Notice the same Orwellian rhetoric used in Waco: This is not an assault, this is a rescue.

According to another report, one startled resident said, "If I had been up on my third floor, I could have touched it "the helicopter" with a broom handle. That's how close it came."

The 911 emergency operators were given handouts instructing them to tell panicked callers they were witnessing "training" exercises. Callers who would not be placated were to be given another telephone number which connected them to the DoD.

Some local officials had been warned of the exercises, and indeed helped in setting them up. But the public had deliberately not been warned, ostensibly to avoid the public safety issues created by curious onlookers.

These exercises are, in part, mass desensitization sessions, the object of which is to dull public reaction to the sights and sounds of military takeover of urban areas. See "The Making of a Commando" in The Black Army for a description of desensitization programs.

Visitors who have read The Boy Who Cried Wolf may remember what the young shepherd with a warped sense of humor learned: If you fake a wolf alert too often, people stop coming when you cry wolf. Now the wolf has learned the trick: Its only a drill, a practice session, I'm here to rescue you. Go back to sleep.

These practice sessions will enable the Pentagon to send a flotilla of military helicopters over any major city, day or night, land soldiers in the streets, set off guns and explosions, breach doors with grenades--and people will ignore them.

Paul Revere may ride, but we will ignore him, too. We all know the British are just maneuvering and practicing their skills--they are just here to rescue us.

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Many people who distrust the mainstream media have turned to alternate news sources, some of which are Internet based.  Unfortunately, many of these alternate sources of news simply promote an alternate series of lies.  These alternate lies are of course dressed up as "exposés."  But you can easily tell the phonies from the real thing.  The information in the Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum is an acid test.

Does your news source promote Mike McNulty's video, Waco: The Rules of Engagement or wring its hands because the Davidian law suit against the government failed?  (See Waco Documentary Is A Hoax! and Waco Suits for Waco Suckers.) Does your alternate news source carry promotional pieces about rebuilding the Davidian church in Waco and mouth nice words about "healing"?  (See The Cover-up Church.)

Remember, since ancient times, inquiries into questionable deaths have started with the bodies of the victims.  If your news source won't give you an honest and full account of the forensic information on Waco, or if it does not have a link to the Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum ... your alternate news has failed a fundamental acid test.   

http://www.Public-Action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum
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All original material is copyright 1996-2000 by Carol A. Valentine, on loan to Public Action, Inc.
Postal Address: Carol A. Valentine, PO Box 10933, Burke, VA 22009

This page last updated February 28, 2001.