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by Tamara Baker

Monday, Sept. 6, 1999 -- ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA -- Pity the poor Republicans.

Just as their phony "ChinaGate" scandal did nothing but ruin the reputation of a good man, Wen Ho Lee, and expose the horribly lax security practices of the Reagan years (not to mention resulting in the Cox Report, a widely-distributed document that has been criticized in print by at least one major scientist for releasing pretty color diagrams of highly classified bomb information, a security breach far worse than anything Mr. Lee was accused of doing), the GOP attempt to revive Waco will not only wind up absolving Janet Reno once and for all, but will also raise questions about then-FBI director (and Reagan appointee) William Sessions and his strategy -- which was very similar to the disastrous path he took with the Weaver family at Ruby Ridge during the Bush administration.

Let's start with the absolution of Reno, or any other government agent, for setting the Waco blaze.

Michelle Mittelstadt's September 2 article for the Associated Press contains all the information needed to thoroughly debunk the GOP's latest attempt to pin the Waco "blame" on Reno.

Here are the relevant paragraphs:

The FBI, meanwhile, made public an aerial infrared videotape that runs from just before 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on April 19, 1993 -- covering the period during which the FBI assault on the Davidian compound began and capturing radio traffic related to the use of combustible tear gas canisters.

That footage, which FBI officials said was discovered at the FBI Hostage Rescue Team's offices in Quantico, Va., this week, was seized by federal marshals Wednesday at the direction of senior Justice officials. The Hostage Rescue Team was in charge of operations during the 51-day siege and the final tear-gas assault.

A transcript of the radio traffic, released by the FBI, includes a conversation in which an FBI field commander granted permission for an agent to lob military incendiary tear-gas canisters at a concrete bunker 40 yards from the Davidians' wooden compound near Waco, Texas.

"He can try it?" asked HRT supervisory special agent Stephen P. McGavin, after describing an agent's desire to use military canisters to inject tear gas into the bunker.

"Yeah, that's affirmative," answered Richard M. Rogers, the HRT's assistant special agent in charge.

The FBI said the conversation took place at 7:49 a.m. -- nearly two hours after the tear-gas assault began but hours before flames began racing through the Davidians' wooden home at 12:07 p.m.

a) the "combustible" tear gas canisters were fired into a concrete bunker 40 yards (120 feet) away from where the fires started in the wooden part of the compound, and:

b) it was well over two hours from the time the "combustible" (as opposed to the earlier, non-combustible) canisters were launched, to the time when the first flames broke out.

Remember how fast that fire moved?

I do. I watched it on TV, like everyone else.

It took 45 minutes, from the first sightings of the flames, for the wooden portion of the compound to be reduced to a heap of ashes.

If the canisters had indeed (from 120 feet away, in a concrete bunker, no less!) started the fire, they would have started when the canisters hit, well over TWO HOURS before they actually did.

Furthermore, it was common knowledge at the time, but not widely reported now, that Koresh -- who constantly predicted a fiery end of the world, and often threatened it for his own flock -- had enough arms and gasoline to fuel an Army depot. Surveillance tapes of meetings between him and his lieutenants show him to have planned to set several fires using said gasoline so they could go out in a blaze of glory, should William Sessions' FBI and the BATF move in.

Now that we have dispensed with the Republican slur attempt against Reno concerning how the blaze started, let's look at the real scandal behind the GOP's rallying behind a madman and impregnator of 12-year-old girls.

The following is taken from a 1997 article by David B. Kopel for The Akron Law Review, and describes the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team's (HRT's) attitudes at the time of the Waco disaster:

The HRT began with an anti-negotiation bias. Jeffrey Jamar, the Special Agent in Charge of the San Antonio FBI office, was commander of the entire operation at Waco, and of sorting out the conflicting views of the HRT and the FBI negotiation team. Jamar's immediate superior was Larry Potts, the Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigation Section. Jamar personally had no training in negotiations; he "left that to the experts." The advice of negotiators generally was ignored in favor the HRT's position to steadily increase pressure on the Branch Davidians. This proved to be a fatal error.

After Koresh and the Davidians broke a promise to come out on March 2 FBI tactical commander Jeffrey Jamar viewed all statements of Koresh with extreme skepticism and thought the chances of a negotiated surrender remote. While chief negotiator Byron Sage may have held out hope longer, FBI officials on the ground had effectively ruled out a negotiated end long before April 19 and had closed minds when presented with evidence of a possible negotiated end following completion of Koresh's work on interpreting the Seven Seals of the Bible.

The FBI should have sought and accepted more expert advice on the Branch Davidians and their religious views and been more open-minded to the advice of the FBI's own experts.

FBI tactical commander Jeffrey Jamar and senior FBI and Justice Department officials advising the Attorney General knew or should have known that none of the reasons given to end negotiations and go forward with the plan to end the stand-off on April 19 had merit. To urge these as an excuse to act was wrong and highly irresponsible.

During a briefing by the FBI on April 12th, Reno was told that the plan was tentatively scheduled for April 14th. Reno asked the question that President Clinton would late ask her: "Why now?" The FBI officials, led by then Director William Sessions (whose job was under attack, and who desperately needed to save his career), argued that Koresh's surrender seemed unlikely any time soon. Reno did not approve the plan.

On April 16th, Hubbell reported a decision: Reno's answer to the FBI's gas plan was no. But, instead of accepting her decision, Sessions and his two top deputies, Floyd Clarke and Larry Potts, came to the Justice Building, and Sessions asked to see Reno personally. Reno, still unconvinced of the urgency, asked for a documented statement outlining the plan, the current state of negotiations, and the situation inside the compound. By the next day--a Saturday--Reno had received the documentation. She then reversed herself, and approved the plan. The tanks moved in on Monday.

The shooting of Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, during a standoff with her white-separatist husband, became the source of much internal investigation and embarrassment for the FBI. The bottom line is this: A high-ranking FBI official, E. Michael Kahoe, admitted covering up the truth about Vicki Weaver's death. He tried to rewrite history by destroying documents.

Ruby Ridge and Waco had the same players, including Larry Potts, who was instrumental in decision-making during both incidents, and who has been suspended while officials probe his role at Ruby Ridge. Kahoe, who briefed Reno during the Waco siege, last year pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with Ruby Ridge.

The FBI learned its lesson. When confronted with a group of militants in Montana a year ago, the Hostage Rescue Team brought in outside negotiators and emphasized patience over confrontation.

If the GOP Congress realized what they're going to be finding, they'll also soon realize that it is not to their benefit to go digging up Waco again.

Once again, the stick they wanted to use to beat up the Clinton administration has turned out to be yet another stick of dynamite, stuck fast to their own GOP fingers.