Truth From Feds Is Hard to Find

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 27, 1999 | by Jennifer G. Hickey

After years of denials, the FBI has said it used flammable tear gas during the siege of the Branch Davidian compound. What does that say about government by the people, for the people?

Throughout the course of American history, many worthy individuals have spoken eloquently and wisely on the importance of public trust in a democratic republic. Indeed, it was Al Gore who, not renowned for his stirring oratory, addressed the concept with clarity in a 1994 commencement speech at Harvard University. "Democracy stands or falls upon a mutual trust -- government's trust of the people and the people's trust of the government they elect," he said. But in this age of 30-second sound bites and trendy catchphrases, perhaps it is best to take the path of least mental resistance and express it as James Carville might have said in George Washington's 1789 campaign: "It's the cherry tree, stupid."

As the firestorm about Waco flared again, America learned two things: How the government can take a chain saw to the cherry tree and maintain an "inaccurate" story for six years, and how corrosive the effect can be of consistently clouding the truth. Since April 19, 1993, the FBI has clung to the claim that no pyrotechnic devices were used in the federal storming of the Branch Davidian compound, an assault which resulted in a conflagration that killed more than 80 people, including women and children (for more on Waco, see "When Truth Deferred Is Truth Denied," p. 44).

Reporting by the Dallas Morning News forced the FBI to admit on Aug. 25 that "a further search of their files" indicated that federal law enforcement "may have used a very limited number of military-type CS gas canisters," which are designed to disperse gas using a pyrotechnic mixture.

Attorney General Janet Reno reacted to the revelations with restrained shock. "I'm not embarrassed; I'm very, very upset," she said. And she quickly passed the buck back to the FBI. "If anybody says they've never relied on information that proves to be inaccurate, I'd like to meet them."

"She said she was responsible and that the buck stopped with her," said House Government Reform and Oversight Committee spokesman Mark Corallo. "The Justice Department has lost all credibility when it comes to this investigation. And Janet Reno is the chief over there." Several members of Congress, such as Texas Republican Sen. Phil Gramm, since have called for Reno's resignation. Democrats also had doubts, resulting in bipartisan calls for an investigation. New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, no less, said, "The FBI had its chance to do this investigation on its own and they clearly muffed it." Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee said, "We must bring Americans the truth."

The network-TV talk shows and the cable airwaves were filled with statements of disbelief, outrage at the apparent duplicity of the FBI and calls for an investigation. By the end of the first week of September, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton of Indiana had fired off more than 20 subpoenas to the Clinton-Gore White House, the Justice Department, the Texas Rangers, the CIA and the Department of Defense. The Defense Department is being asked for information about the presence of members of the Army's elite Delta Force and possible violations of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which forbids the use of the military in domestic situations.

By the Labor Day weekend, yet more details emerged. On orders of Justice, the U.S. Marshals Service had taken custody of new information found in the FBI's hostage-rescue-team files at Quantico, Va. -- further complicating the already-tense relationship between Justice and the FBI. Subsequently, the Dallas Morning News and the New York Times reported that the search unearthed Forward-Looking Infrared Radar, or FLIR, tapes which picked up the voice of an agent asking for permission to launch incendiary tear-gas grenades at the Davidians' bunker on the morning of April 19, 1993.

This discovery pushed Reno into announcing just before the holiday that she was looking for an independent investigator who "has the confidence and faith of the American people."

There certainly is no need to adopt the proviso of TV's X-Files, namely, "Trust no one." A healthy dose of skepticism is one requirement for a thriving democracy. Everyone got the point when Mark Twain wrote that Congress is the only native American criminal class.

Now the latest revelations have prompted a new skepticism about the government's actions at Waco -- one that was absent within weeks of the 1993 events and in the House hearings of 1995. True, at the end of the 51-day standoff, public opinion initially was not with the federal government. According to Justice, phone calls and faxes ran 10-to-1 against the attorney general and the FBI. But after several days of news articles and official statements about alleged Branch Davidian child abuse, weapon stockpiling and the proliferation of cults in America, opinion switched and polls showed that a clear majority of Americans gave their post-hoc blessings to the operation and its outcome.