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Fw: Waco: The Rules of Engagement- A Review By Jon LebkowskyCYBERDAWG: Waco: The Rules of Engagement




CYBERDAWG BARKING:
Waco: The Rules of Engagement
A review by Jon Lebkowsky
Copyright <c> 1997 by Jon Lebkowsky
Feel free to distribute without change or abridgement.

Attached below is a piece I wrote for Fringe Ware Review #8, published in
May 1995.  Having acknowledged that something bad happened at Waco and that
the "proper authorities" certainly lied about it, I filed my memories of
Waco away and got on with other stuff which is to say, I never really got
it.  Today, that changed. I saw William Gazecki's documentary film "Waco:
The Rules of Engagement," and got it like a jackboot in the jaw.  As we
left the theatre my wife Marsha, in tears, said "They were doing just what
we wanted to do [recounting a 60s dream of ours to start a child-oriented
communal family] how could this have happened?"

"This" is the raid on the compound that resulted in the deaths of 76 men,
women, and children who lived there, members of a Christian sect that was a
little strange, but certainly not a cult.  If you think that David Koresh
was a whacky megalomaniac who abused children and led a mindless band of
followers to commit ritual apocalyptic suicide rather than surrender to the
FBI, don't feel too weird: somebody wanted you to believe that
characterization.  And you don't have to believe me when I tell you it was
very wrong, all you have to do is see this film (if it finds general
release; there's currently no distribution deal).

After you've seen the film, you'll have a better sense who Koresh was, and
who the Branch Davidians were, and you'll know that you were fed a pile of
complete bullshit by government and media sources…unless you were reading
alternative accounts and histories, many of which were posted online, or
unless you had the opportunity, as Monte McCarter and I did, to talk to
survivors and assess their credibility face to face.

Even though I was the author of one of those alternate histories, and even
though the piece below is somewhat better than the lazy reportage found in
national press at the time, I didn't get it…it didn't hit me how bad this
really was.

This is the most terrible, most disturbing film I have ever seen, all the
more so because it is real.  After you have seen the film, seen and heard
the evidence presented there, you will find it easier to believe that David
Koresh was a cool guy with a mission, that the Branch Davidians were
dedicated Christians but certainly not loony.  You will get the
uncomfortable feeling that the FBI and the ATF lied repeatedly in
explaining after the fact what happened. You will see chilling evidence
that the destruction of the "compound" and the deaths -- murder? -- of

[198 lines left ... full text available at <url:http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/go?choice=message&table=05_1997&mid=2356238&hilit=CONSPIRACY+MEDIA> ]
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Article-ID: 05_1997&2400862
Score: 82
Subject: MENA: (SECRET) HEARTBEAT OF AMERICA, Pt. 1