alternative politics

Next wave

by Benedict D. LaRosa



                  NO SMOKING CANNON AT MT. CARMEL



Last September we reported, according to news video of the last day of the 

Branch Davidian siege provided by Indianapolis attorney Linda Thompson, that 

it appeared one of the tanks spouted flames from the muzzle of its cannon as 

it moved in and out of a building at Mt. Carmel, apparently setting the 

complex ablaze. Unfortunately, the video we received from Ms. Thompson was 

not an original and had been edited to only show certain scenes. 

Subsequently, the California Organization for Public Safety (COPS), a 

private watchdog group, obtained the original CBS footage as well as footage 

from other sources covering much more of the final moments of the siege. It 

released its version late last year.



Although both versions show what appear to be flames coming from the cannon 

of a tank backing out of a building, the COPS video continues for a crucial 

1.5 minutes and clearly shows that what at first appears to be flames is a 

piece of shiny building material, triangular in shape, reflecting sunlight. 

As the camera pans back to the hole created by the tank, there is no smoke 

or other evidence of fire. In a separate frame, a similar piece of material 

falls to the ground as another tank pulls away from a different section of 

wall.



It is not clear whether Linda Thompson had sufficient footage from her 

source to see the entire event. Her misinterpretation may have been an 

honest mistake. She disputes the COPS version alleging that COPS is a 

government front and its video part of a conspiracy to cover up the truth. 

At this point, there is no evidence to support her allegations. The FBI and 

officials at Ft. Hood were unable to provide an adequate explanation for the 

scene, but that may have been more a result of bewilderment than of a 

coverup. Nevertheless, the COPS version successfully refutes the 

"flamethrower tank" theory propounded by Linda Thompson and others.



The same video, while exonerating the FBI from the charge of using flame 

throwing tanks to torch the Davidian complex, shows that their men may have 

inadvertently started the first fire at Mt. Carmel by causing the collapse 

of the gymnasium roof. The FBI's report to the Attorney General admits that 

several Branch Davidians -- 30 or so including women and children -- 

suffered "blunt trauma injuries" as the gymnasium roof fell upon them. The 

news footage shows tanks knocking down the walls of the gymnasium thereby 

causing the roof to collapse. The FBI's photo from Forward Looking Infrared 

Radar (FLIR) published in the Justice Department's report indicates an 

intense heat signature coming from the rubble of the collapsed gymnasium 

some 8 minutes before the FBI contends the fire started in another part of 

the complex. Subsequent FLIR photos show an expanding infrared plume 

spreading from the original source. Since the FBI had turned off all power 

to Mt. Carmel weeks earlier, it is reasonable to assume that collapsing 

portions of the gymnasium walls and roof overturned kerosene lanterns, gas 

stoves, and other fuel carrying appliances used by the Davidians for 

heating, lighting, and cooking.



Even after the trial of 11 surviving Branch Davidians, there is still no 

clear indication of who started the fires which consumed the Mt. Carmel 

center on April 19. The Thompson and COPS videos do not answer that 

question. They do, however, provide a clearer view of what happened. They 

also serve as a warning to those who presume to know more than the facts 

dictate, or who read their own prejudices into events. The truth will 

eventually manifest and damage their credibility.



But to exonerate the FBI in one instance is not to exonerate it in another. 

Its conduct of the siege makes Santa Ana's investment of the Alamo in 1836 

appear honorable. Santa Ana's band serenaded the Alamo defenders with 

lively, stirring music only in the evenings. The FBI kept the Branch 

Davidians awake many nights with the cries of dying rabbits, dentists' 

drills, and other disturbing noises. When he sounded the "Deguello," Santa 

Ana made his intentions clear. It was surrender or die. The FBI often misled 

the Branch Davidians, their attorney Dick DeGuerin, and the press as to its 

intentions. On April 19, its spokesman told the besieged Davidians via 

loudspeakers that "This is not an assault" as tanks crashed through the 

walls of their complex. Santa Ana spared the women, children, and servants. 

He didn't bum down the Alamo. Almost half of those who perished at Mt. 

Carmel were women and children. Americans then and now consider Santa Ana's 

Texas campaign barbaric. What does that make the FBI's Mt. Carmel siege?



Next issue we will bring some final comments on the Branch Davidian jury, 

plus some other related news items.