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jlf1961 -> RE: What the conservative right wants you to forget (4/26/2011 3:09:23 PM)
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There is something rather strange about the breaching operation.
quote:
DEATH IN WACO: The Tear Gas; Chemical Isn't Meant to Cause Fire
The gas used by Federal agents in their attack on the Branch Davidian compound yesterday is not flammable and in the form it was reportedly used could not have ignited the fire that destroyed the compound.
Dr. Jay Young, a chemical consultant in Silver Spring, Md., said that a mixture of the chemical, known as CS, and air could be ignited only if the ratio of the gas and the air was within a very narrow range, and that flames could not spread beyond the small area where such a ratio might exist.
"I cannot conceive of any foreseeable fire hazard posed by use of the gas," said Dr. Young, who is a safety consultant on chemicals.
CS, the Defense Department designation for the chemical o-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile, can be dispensed either in projectiles like hand grenades or shells, or from gas generators of the type used yesterday. Spraying After Ramming
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said that after it rammed holes in the walls of the sprawling compound early yesterday, it used a gas generator mounted on an armored vehicle to turn the white crystalline substance into a fine mist and spray it into the compound.
DEATH IN WACO: The Tear Gas; Chemical Isn't Meant to Cause Fire
Given that the FBI breaching team did not use incendiary grenades or shells, what started the fire?
CS gas is only flammable in a narrow air to gas mixture and does not spread beyond the point where that mixture is found.
And spraying the gas from generators on the vehicle has never caused fires in the past. So, the right is going to say that the FBI started the fires, but that would have involved using cs grenades landing on a highly flammable substance.
And again, why didnt they inspect the weapons before the election? Koresh invited them out to do so.
quote:
Accusations of child abuse and statutory rape
Koresh himself denied all allegations of polygamy and child abuse in public interviews. The popular media, disaffected Davidians, and spokespersons for the US government, however, tell sordid tales of Koresh's personal life.
It has been alleged that Koresh advocated polygamy for himself, and asserted that he was married to several female residents of the small community.[1][6] Some former members of the cult also alleged that Koresh felt he could claim any of the females in the compound as his.[1][6]
The 1993 U.S. Department of Justice report sets out allegations of historical child sexual and physical abuse. ATF Special Agent David Aguilera had interviewed former Branch Davidian Jeannine Bunds, who claimed that Koresh had fathered at least fifteen children with various women and young girls at the compound. According to Bunds, some of the girls who had babies fathered by Koresh were as young as 12 years old. She said she had personally delivered seven of these children. Bunds also claims that Koresh would annul all marriages of couples who joined his cult. He then had exclusive sexual access to the women. He would also have regular sexual relations with young girls.[12] In his book, James Tabor states that Koresh acknowledged on a videotape sent out of the compound during the standoff that he had fathered more than 12 children by several "wives", some of whom were as young as 12 or 13 when they became pregnant.[13] On March 3, 1993, during negotiations to secure the release of the remaining children, Koresh advised the Negotiation Team that: "My children are different than those others," referring to his direct lineage versus those children previously released.
Accusations of child abuse and statutory rape
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One of the issues that received some attention in Congress and the media in the aftermath of the standoff involved allegations of prior and ongoing child physical and sexual abuse inside the compound, and the extent to which those allegations affected the Attorney General's decision to authorize the tear gas action. This inquiry has determined that:
1. Historical evidence suggested that Koresh had engaged in child physical and sexual abuse over a long period of time prior to the ATF shootout on February 28. This evidence was insufficient to establish probable cause to indict or proof beyond a reasonable doubt to convict, but it was sufficient to be relevant to the decision making process involving the proposed tear gas plan. The historical evidence is discussed in more detail below.
2. There was no direct evidence indicating that Koresh engaged in any physical or sexual abuse of children during the standoff. Given that Koresh had been shot and wounded on February 28, he probably lacked the physical ability to continue his abuse. However, there was evidence that sanitary conditions inside the compound, primitive to begin with, had worsened considerably during the standoff. It was unhealthy at best, and potentially life-threatening at worst, for children to continue, to be forced to live in such an environment.
3. The FBI did not exaggerate the child abuse issue when it presented the tear gas option to the Attorney General. The FBI did not try to "sell" the tear gas plan to the Attorney General as a way to save the children. While one of the FBI representatives made one misstatement indicating that Koresh was continuing to beat children during the standoff, that misstatement did not materially influence the Attorney General's decision. Indeed, the FBI included virtually no mention of child abuse in its initial briefing book for the Attorney General. In the final briefing book, prepared on the weekend before April 19, the FBI included the historical evidence of child abuse and in no way indicated that it had any evidence of continuing abuse.
4. The issue of child abuse represented only one of many factors that influenced the Attorney General in her decision to approve the tear gas plan. No single factor was determinative. The Attorney General was more influenced by other significant issues, such as the difficulty in maintaining perimeter security at the compound, the unanimous conclusion of the negotiators and the experts that Koresh was not coming out, the Davidians' plentiful food and water supply, the deteriorating sanitary conditions inside the compound, the safety precautions included in the tear gas plan, and the unanimous agreement of her top advisers in the Justice Department and the FBI that the tear gas plan represented the only viable option left for the government. Ultimately, it made no difference whether the children were undergoing contemporaneous abuse, because the environment inside the compound was intolerable for children in any event.
VII. Child Abuse
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