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Lawson Spence

Tim Robbins

FUSE 102

5 May 2020

Government Intentions of Waco Siege

In 1993, a small compound near the border of Waco, Texas became the site of a long 51

day standoff between a group that was known as the “Branch Davidians” and the Federal Bureau

of Investigation. This standoff began when the ATF began a siege attempt on the Branch

Davidian’s compound. The ATF began this siege because they suspected the group was

stockpiling illegal weapons. Because of this, a search warrant was issued along with a warrant

for the arrest of the group’s most prominent members. It is well known that it “is illegal for law

enforcement agents to fire blindly into a residence” (Reavis, 1995). However, it is factually

unclear which group fired the first shots, many believe that it was the ATF who began to fire the

first rounds. It is important to note that the bullet holes found in the house pointed inwards which

showed it was likely the ATF that began firing. The ATF had also been found to be lying about

the use of a helicopter during the siege. This was proven by finding inward pointing bullet holes

from the ceiling.

The FBI later gained leadership of the operation and the ATF was sent home. The FBI

used ongoing negotiations for weeks following the initial siege to attempt to convince David

Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians, to send out as many people as possible. The people

inside of the Branch Davidian’s compound were not hostages, instead, they were a group of

people all of whom were religiously motivated. These people believed that this standoff between

them and their government was all a part of God’s plan. This standoff later became what is now
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known as the largest loss of life due to law enforcement’s actions in United States history. 76

people were killed in this event, which included 25 children and David Koresh, and there is still

some speculation as to what really happened at the Branch Davidian’s compound in Waco.

According to the FBI, here is a recollection of how the events unfolded. The FBI had

designated the incident WACMUR, the “Waco Murder” case (Wessinger, 2014). It was

designated this because of the fact that four Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents were

killed in a shootout with the Branch Davidians on February 28th, 1993. This acronym is not a

result from the fact that six Branch Davidians were also killed on this day. 50 days later and

many of the Branch Davidians still had not come out of the building.

The FBI soon began to plan an assault on the building. In this assault, the FBI planned to

use non-lethal tear gas, which has been known in the past to start fires. The WACMUR log

showed that FBI agents knew a fire was the likely outcome of an assault (Wessinger, 2014). The

assault was still put to action through the use of tanks and CS gas. It was this use of CS gas that

was thought to catch fire to the building and kill many of the remaining Branch Davidians that

were still inside. Obviously, mistakes had been made by not only the ATF but the FBI as well.

These mistakes ended up costing people their lives. However, it is unclear whether or not these

truly were mistakes, or rather intentional violence against what the government may see as

unruly citizens to send a message. Many conspiracies have been made regarding the entire Waco,

Texas incident. However, there is one that has become more prominent that stems from a

documentary titled Waco, The Big Lie which was directed by Linda Thompson.

In this documentary, one of the most famous claims was that the FBI intentionally started

these fires that ended up killing many of the remaining Branch Davidians. This claim was made

by showing footage of an armored vehicle breaking through the outer walls of the compound.
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Thompson stated that this footage showed a flamethrower attached to the vehicle setting fire to

the building. The link to this footage will be cited in the bibliography. Many followers of the

conspiracy also claim that the government attempts to squash any sort of prepper or

constitutionalist. These claims allude to the fact that we truly do not have a second amendment,

instead, the government only wants to make us think that we do. The followers support this claim

by showing the similarities between this incident and other government incidents that killed

many citizens. These followers say the same government intervention was present in events like

the Oklahoma City bombing and even 9/11. Although there is a large group that believes these

claims, many people recognize the counterclaims. One counter by filmmaker Michael McNulky

shows footage where he tries to show that the tank does not have a flamethrower attached, and

instead what is being seen was light from a “reflection on aluminized insulation that was torn

from the wall and snagged on the vehicle” (McNulky, 1997).

These conspiracy theory claims originated from Linda Thompson’s claims in her

documentary Waco, The Big Lie. This documentary has been extremely popular over the years

and was even used as evidence in a court case. The documentary was viewed during the trial of

American domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh. As part of the defense, McVeigh's lawyers

showed Waco, the Big Lie to the jury. Timothy McVeigh attempted to get revenge against the

federal government for the 1993 Waco siege by committing the Oklahoma City bombing that

killed 168 people and injured over 680 others. McVeigh later told a student reporter: “The

government is afraid of the guns people have because they have to have control of the people at

all times. Once you take away the guns, you can do anything to the people. You give them an

inch and they take a mile. I believe we are slowly turning into a socialist government. The

government is continually growing bigger and more powerful, and the people need to prepare to
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defend themselves against government control.” This shows us the kind of people that may be

giving attention towards the anti-government beliefs of some of the Waco conspiracies.

There are many errors in logic that have been made by these theorists and anti-

government individuals. For example, as Thompson shows in her documentary Waco, The Big

Lie the footage and her beliefs about how it is a flamethrower, she is ignoring the fact that many

of the Branch Davidians have given their own recollection of the events. Specifically

remembering gas being sprayed through the walls, not flames. This error in logic shows us a

Texas Sharpshooter fallacy, in which Thompson only pays attention to facts that she wants to

give her attention to. This also shows a psychological bias known as self-deception. Self-

deception is a process of denying away relevant facts that give opposing evidence and logical

argument. Another claim that was made was that all events that killed Americans, such as the

Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 are all just ways that the government has tried to squash

oppositionists. This idea is a composition or division fallacy, where since one part of something

has to be applied to all, or other, parts of it; or that the whole must apply to its parts. This also

shows representativeness heuristic bias, where an example must belong to a certain class or

group because of how similar it is to other examples in that class or group. Just because there

may be similarities between all of these examples, does not mean that each of them had the same

causes. Lastly, the conspiracy, along with its followers, showed their use of an appeal to emotion

by stating that “If you build up a force, the government will come after you” trying to convey the

idea that they are always watching. This appeals to emotion by trying to invoke fear in the

reader. This is used so that the reader will also believe that opposing the government is the right

thing to do. Using fear tactics like this can be seen as a herd mentality bias, where followers have

the tendency to mimic the actions of the larger group. All of these examples can also be known
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as confirmation bias, where these individuals have intentionally tried to seek out only

information that will agree with their own preconceived notions of how the government operates.

It is likely that the government, specifically the ATF and FBI made poor decisions and

mishandled the situation. However, the conspiracy claims that the FBI used flamethrowers is

likely false, since it ignored many other facts including the recollection of the surviving Branch

Davidians. It is always important to stay critical of how the government is operating, but it is just

as important to be critical of what people are saying about how certain events unfolded.

Recognizing that every individual comes along with their own preconceived notions of how

things operate is important when listening to others ideas. Although it may be important to be

critical of these ideas, it is also important to hear them out, as there may be truth in what they are

saying. Also, simply because someone has bias or commits a logical fallacy, does not mean that

their argument is false at its core. This is why we must look at every idea critically and come to

our own well thought out conclusions.

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Bibliography

Thompson, Linda, director. Bill Hicks Waco Bradley Tank Setting Fire To The Compound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKlsThwd75w.

CNN, Cable News Network, edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/pitn.00.html.

Gazecki, William, Michael McNulty, Dan Gifford, Rick Nyburg, and David Hamilton. Waco:
The Rules of Engagement. San Francisco: Video Project, 2000

Reavis, Dick J. The Ashes of Waco: an Investigation. Syracuse Univ. Press, 1998.

United States, Congress, Shariat, Sheryll. “Oklahoma City Bombing Injuries.” Oklahoma
City Bombing Injuries, Injury Prevention Service, 1998.

Thomas, Jo. “Jury Hears of McVeigh Remarks About Nichols and Bomb Making.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 14 Nov. 1997, www.nytimes.com/1997/11/14/us/jury-
hears-of-mcveigh-remarks-about-nichols-and-bomb-making.html.

Thompson, Linda. “Waco, The Big Lie.” YouTube, 1993, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=23cZdSvi8Ao.

Wessinger, Catherine. “The FBI’s ‘Cult War’ against the Branch Davidians.” FBI and
Religion, July 2017, doi:10.1525/california/9780520287273.003.0013.

Wessinger, Catherine, and H. James Yamauchi. “The Deaths of 76 Branch Davidians in April
1993 Could Have Been Avoided – so Why Didn't Anyone Care?” The Conversation, 16
May 2019, theconversation.com/the-deaths-of-76-branch-davidians-in-april-1993-could-
have-been-avoided-so-why-didnt-anyone-care-90816.