Waco: The Big Lie

Thompson argues convincingly that the ATF's initial assault on Mt. Carmel was legally grounded on nothing more than a $200 weapons surchage that Koresh had failed to pay. With proof of that in their back pocket, the ATF called out U.S. Army gunships, and attacked the compound with dozens of stoked, reckless agents employing massive gunpower. The footage on this video demonstrates that the Branch Davidians did not meet the ATF with "a hail of gunfire." You'll see unthreatened ATF agents riddling the front of the compound with gunfire, fully aware that inside were dozens of women and children. The ATF had plenty of time to shoot not only the house; they fired on themselves, other agents, children playing outside, long before a Branch Davidian fired a single shot in self defense. The video also details the FBI's effective bamboozlement of a compliant press, but the most controversial part of the tape comes at the end, when Thompson provides footage allegedly showing government tanks with flamethrowers that she contends set the fire that killed all 89 people inside. You may (and should) question some of what this video contends, but it does contain actual footage of a government attacking its own citizens. Not that that hasn't happened before. But now it's on videotape.

The above characterization was provided by the person who originally posted the video. The Vehmgericht believes that the depiction of Koresh in the video my gloss over some of his eccentricities. Nonetheless, it is beyond dispute that the lesser of two evils was on the inside of the Mt. Carmel compound during the siege and subsequent massacre. The video provides much additional insight to the already damning indictment rendered in Waco: The Rules of Engagement, which the audience is advised to take into consideration along with the video above.