This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Waco tragedy. Years back, I filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for information relating to that event, and after 2-3 years of fighting, got a huge amount. From time to time, I’ll blog some of the finds. The one discussed here was one of many shockers.

At the outset many people asked, why didn’t ATF arrest David Koresh peacefully? The official line was that Koresh was a paranoid recluse who rarely, if ever, left the Davidian residence at Mt. Carmel. The only way to arrest him was a dramatic raid featuring 80+ armed agents and three military helicopters. One of the documents I obtained blew that argument to bits.

ATF had installed undercover agents in a house across the street from the Davidians, to observe them. This is the agents’ report for Feb. 19, nine days before the ATF raid and initial gunfight, describing what they did that day.

They went shooting.

With David Koresh.

The same David Koresh that they supposedly couldn’t arrest peacefully because he never left the building.

Click here for the pdf

ATF needed the publicity; that was the purpose of the dramatic raid. A quiet arrest by a handful of agents wouldn’t have made headlines.