Date: Sat, 6 May 1995 20:57:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brad Dolan <[b--ol--n] at [use.usit.net]>
Subject: Re: Comments on Nightline Waco Fire Story (fwd)

From: [K S RN 17 A] at [prodigy.com] (Thomas Bearden)
>Like every other news organization on the planet, the MacNeil-Lehrer 
>NewsHour is researching followups on the Oklahoma City tragedy.  One 
>question keeps turning up:  why do so many people who are concerned about 
>government intrusion in their lives see the shootout between the BATF and 
>the Branch Davidians as such a pivotal event?  We are seeking comments 
>and possible on-camera interview subjects for an upcoming story.  Please 
>respond by E-mail, and include your telephone number if you're willing to 
>let us call you.
> 
>Tom Bearden
>Correspondent
>  TOM BEARDEN  [K S RN 17 A] at [prodigy.com]


If you look in the 4/20/94 _Washington Times_, you will see a photo of
my wife and me in front of the J. Edgar Hoover building, protesting
the Waco fiasco and coverup. [Interestingly, the message on my sign
marks me as un-American, according to President Clinton's speech 
yesterday.]  That was the first and only protest my wife and I have ever 
participated in.  Normally, we are too busy working, paying bills, and 
taking care of our three children.

Why did we do it?  Why do we care about what happened at Waco?  Stripped
to its essence, the Waco fiasco looks to us like an application of
massive force by paramilitary government agents to crush a group of 
relatively strange but harmless people.  We find that disturbing, and
worry that we or our relatively strange but harmless friends could be
next.

Further, there are many questions of fact about the fiasco that have
been ignored or not well answered.  Some points may prove to be easily
explainable, others I suspect will not.  For instance:  Why did the 
BATF choose to conduct the raid?  Was the basis for the warrant against 
Koresh valid?  Did the BATF properly serve its warrant on Koresh?   
How was the posse comitatus act sidestepped to obtain military support 
for the raid?  Why was important evidence lost or destroyed?  Why were 
only shallow investigations conducted into the Waco fiasco?  Why were 
culpable federal personnel punished very little or not at all?  Why were 
the surviving Davidians treated so badly in court that the jury forewoman 
became radicalized by the experience?

I could go on, but there are others who have already compiled extensive 
lists of questions that should be answered.  Carol Moore, 
[c--oo--e] at [capaccess.org], would be a good place to start.

We see the Waco fiasco as emblematic of a larger problem:  government
out of control.  Until government is brought under control or attains
sufficient power to completely stifle dissent, this complaint will not
go away.

I would be happy to correspond by e-mail with you further on this 
topic.  I don't think I present well on television, so I would rather
not be interviewed on camera.

Brad Dolan