Talking Points – Inside Waco
Channel 4, 1 February 2007, 9.00pm
Vote 1 > – Should the FBI have negotiated further with David Koresh or were they justified in ending the siege by force?and
Vote 2 > – Can a church still be called a church if it has weapons?
How in the world did we get to a position where we have tanks driving around a church on the high plains of Texas? How could that possibly happen in the United States of America?
Byron Sage, FBI Lead Negotiator
In February 1993, the world watched with bated breath as the biggest armed siege in modern American history unfolded in a heavily armed property in Texas. The bungled raid, on the headquarters of an extreme religious group led by David Koresh, culminated in the deaths of 84 men, women and children.
Now, using dramatic reconstruction, first person testimony, FBI recordings and home video footage, Inside Waco reveals what really happened during the bloody 51-day siege which shocked the world.
With first-hand accounts from those closest to the action including Byron Sage, the FBI's lead negotiator; Jeff Jarmer, who led the FBI operation; and undercover ATF agent Robert Rodriguez; the film also features British Branch Davidian Derek Lovelock and Natalie Norbrega, who was twelve years old at the time and travelled to Waco from England with her mother. Both are speaking on television for the first time.
Now, using dramatic reconstruction, first person testimony, FBI recordings and home video footage, Inside Waco reveals what really happened during the bloody 51-day siege which shocked the world.
With first-hand accounts from those closest to the action including Byron Sage, the FBI's lead negotiator; Jeff Jarmer, who led the FBI operation; and undercover ATF agent Robert Rodriguez; the film also features British Branch Davidian Derek Lovelock and Natalie Norbrega, who was twelve years old at the time and travelled to Waco from England with her mother. Both are speaking on television for the first time.
The handful of survivors of the Waco siege are soon to be released from prison. Their testimony and recordings of FBI negotiatons reveal for the first time the truth about the siege that gripped the world in 1993:
• Mt Carmel, eight miles outside of Waco, Texas, had been in existence since 1934. By 1993, 130 people lived there, 30 from Britain.
• The leader of the Branch Davidians was 33 year old David Koresh whose radical teachings had attracted former Seventh Day Adventists and other christians from around the world. Whole families had joined his community.
• The Branch Davidians was a breakway sect from the Seventh Day Adventists Church. Koresh had been their leader for five years by the time of the siege. For many of his followers, Koresh was a messianic figure with real insight into the Bible and Christianity as a whole: He knew the Bible backwards and forwards... it was like he wrote it.
• They believed that the world would end and that only they – as God's chosen people – would survive. Koresh had predicted that the end would come within their lifetime, based on a section of the Book of Revelation known as the Seven Seals. These Seals predict a series of apocalyptic events leading to the end of the world. The Davidians believed that the Seals were given to Christ to reveal to mankind. Koresh believed he was the second coming of Christ. He declared that the raid was an enactment of one of the Seals and the end of the world would follow. He also preached that the US government was a force for evil and must be resisted.
• Koresh told his followers that God had instructed him to take multiple wives and father an army of special children called the 'House of David'. He ordered all existing marriages to end and that only he could have sexual relations with the women. Koresh had also fathered children with girls under the age of 16.
• Mt Carmel was a close and unusual religious community with a difference. It had a gun collection and a firing range. Indeed, it was the sound of regular automatic gunfire that attracted the attention of the local police force – after all, why would a church needs guns?
• Mt Carmel, eight miles outside of Waco, Texas, had been in existence since 1934. By 1993, 130 people lived there, 30 from Britain.
• The leader of the Branch Davidians was 33 year old David Koresh whose radical teachings had attracted former Seventh Day Adventists and other christians from around the world. Whole families had joined his community.
• The Branch Davidians was a breakway sect from the Seventh Day Adventists Church. Koresh had been their leader for five years by the time of the siege. For many of his followers, Koresh was a messianic figure with real insight into the Bible and Christianity as a whole: He knew the Bible backwards and forwards... it was like he wrote it.
• They believed that the world would end and that only they – as God's chosen people – would survive. Koresh had predicted that the end would come within their lifetime, based on a section of the Book of Revelation known as the Seven Seals. These Seals predict a series of apocalyptic events leading to the end of the world. The Davidians believed that the Seals were given to Christ to reveal to mankind. Koresh believed he was the second coming of Christ. He declared that the raid was an enactment of one of the Seals and the end of the world would follow. He also preached that the US government was a force for evil and must be resisted.
• Koresh told his followers that God had instructed him to take multiple wives and father an army of special children called the 'House of David'. He ordered all existing marriages to end and that only he could have sexual relations with the women. Koresh had also fathered children with girls under the age of 16.
• Mt Carmel was a close and unusual religious community with a difference. It had a gun collection and a firing range. Indeed, it was the sound of regular automatic gunfire that attracted the attention of the local police force – after all, why would a church needs guns?
• Koresh was suspected of illegally converting semi-automatic guns into fully automatic machine guns capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute – illegal in the USA under federal law.
• With a huge amount of evidence after six months or police investigation and surveillance, the authorities decide to raid Mt Carmel and arrest Koresh in Feb 1993.
• As the Davidians had over 150 automatic weapons and explosive devices, plus over 8,000 rounds of ammunition – enough to equip a small army. To counter this, it was decided to mount a military-style operation.
• Inadvertently tipped off and heavily armed, Koresh and the Davidians prepared to defend their community.
• It has never been established who fired the first shot...
• 90 minutes after the battle had begun the Waco Sherriff finally managed to broker a ceasefire. The day ended with the ATF suffering its largest casualty toll in a single operation. Four agents were dead and 22 seriously injured, whilst six Davidians had been killed in the battle and three more injured including Koresh.
• What was a planned as a secret mission was now a very public event as the world's media descended on Mt Carmel.
• As the siege progressed and the days passed, the FBI negotiation team, led by Byron Sage, tried various strategies to persuade the Davidians to leave the compound including appealing to Koresh's ego by allowing him to record a radio message that was subseqently broadcast nationally in return for their surrender (Koresh decided NOT to surrender because God told him to wait). What was clear was that the Davidians were under the total control of Koresh and would not surrender without his agreement. There was some limited success – some of the children were allowed to leave – but the negotiations ultimately failed.
• The FBI became divided on what the best course of action was: further negotation or increased force.
• With a growing fear that the Davidians would commit mass suicide, the FBI decided to forcibly end the siege with a huge tear gas assault.
• The assault damaged the building and it caught fire. Only nine people escaped the blaze.
• At 51 days, Waco was the longest siege in modern American history.
• 84 people lost their lives in the siege, including 22 Britons, 2 pregnant women and 21 children.
• All that remains at Mt Carmel is a small chapel for the few remaining Branch Davidians.
• With a huge amount of evidence after six months or police investigation and surveillance, the authorities decide to raid Mt Carmel and arrest Koresh in Feb 1993.
• As the Davidians had over 150 automatic weapons and explosive devices, plus over 8,000 rounds of ammunition – enough to equip a small army. To counter this, it was decided to mount a military-style operation.
• Inadvertently tipped off and heavily armed, Koresh and the Davidians prepared to defend their community.
• It has never been established who fired the first shot...
• 90 minutes after the battle had begun the Waco Sherriff finally managed to broker a ceasefire. The day ended with the ATF suffering its largest casualty toll in a single operation. Four agents were dead and 22 seriously injured, whilst six Davidians had been killed in the battle and three more injured including Koresh.
• What was a planned as a secret mission was now a very public event as the world's media descended on Mt Carmel.
• As the siege progressed and the days passed, the FBI negotiation team, led by Byron Sage, tried various strategies to persuade the Davidians to leave the compound including appealing to Koresh's ego by allowing him to record a radio message that was subseqently broadcast nationally in return for their surrender (Koresh decided NOT to surrender because God told him to wait). What was clear was that the Davidians were under the total control of Koresh and would not surrender without his agreement. There was some limited success – some of the children were allowed to leave – but the negotiations ultimately failed.
• The FBI became divided on what the best course of action was: further negotation or increased force.
• With a growing fear that the Davidians would commit mass suicide, the FBI decided to forcibly end the siege with a huge tear gas assault.
• The assault damaged the building and it caught fire. Only nine people escaped the blaze.
• At 51 days, Waco was the longest siege in modern American history.
• 84 people lost their lives in the siege, including 22 Britons, 2 pregnant women and 21 children.
• All that remains at Mt Carmel is a small chapel for the few remaining Branch Davidians.
A day that had begun with the aim of arresting one man – David Koresh – ended with the longest siege in modern American history played out minute-by-minute on the world's media; the FBI's 'psychological warfare' tactics seriously scrutinised as events got rapidly out of hand; and the deaths of 84 men, women and children.
You've read the issues so here's your chance to say what you think about the FBI's attempts to end the Waco siege.
Should the FBI have negotiated further with David Koresh – even though numerous attempts had failed – or were they right to end the siege by force, especially given the weaponry the Davidians had at their disposal?
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Interested in finding out more?
Then check out:
Faith & Belief - personal belief, religion and spirituality meet head-on >
The Book of Revelation and the end of the world >
Discuss the siege >
Then check out:
Faith & Belief - personal belief, religion and spirituality meet head-on >
The Book of Revelation and the end of the world >
Discuss the siege >
Inside Waco will be shown on C4: Thursday, 1st February 2007 at 9.00pm.