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by Tony Clark CNN National Correspondent

Case puts government handling of Waco on trial

April 21, 2000
Web posted at: 8:09 a.m. EST (1209 GMT)

On the open, wind-swept land east of Waco, Texas, volunteers are finishing work on a new chapel to replace the one that burned to the ground on that same spot seven years ago.

Across the dirt road that runs in front of the chapel is a grove of trees -- one tree planted for each person who died here.

This is Mount Carmel, the former home of members of a religious sect known as the Branch Davidians.

It was here on February 28, 1993 that agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms fought a deadly gun battle with the Davidians while trying to execute a search warrant. It was here that the Davidians remained cloistered throughout a 51-day siege by the FBI. It was here that more than 80 men, women and children died when their wooden building burned down, after being gassed for nearly six hours.

"It's somewhat of a statement, you know," according to Clive Doyle, who stayed in Mount Carmel throughout the FBI's siege and escaped the fire that destroyed the compound. " We're back," Doyle said, " and we mean to stay."

Like the chapel, questions about what happened seven years ago continue rising out of the ashes.

In the years since the raid and siege, there have been investigations by the Justice Department, the Treasury Department and Congress, as well as a criminal trial in which eight Davidians were convicted. Yet the debate over the government's actions and honesty simply has not gone away.

This June, in a Waco courtroom, that debate should get even hotter. The federal government will go on trial for the wrongful death of the Davidians at Mount Carmel.

Attorneys for surviving Davidians and relatives of those who died claim the government is liable for those deaths because of the tactics used to get the people inside Mount Carmel to leave.

According to Michael Caddell, lead attorney for the families of the Davidians, "They basically mounted an armed assault on Mount Carmel."

Caddell plans to argue that federal agents were frustrated by their inability to get the Davidians to surrender throughout the 51-day siege.

Caddell said, "They were motivated by revenge and they were motivated, in part, by a notion that they were not going to let David Koresh (the leader of the Davidians) and a bunch of strange people upstage the United States government or the FBI and they were going to show them who was boss."

It is a trial that will attempt to raise the central question of how far the government can go when faced with a challenge to its authority. Images not only of Waco but of Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma City bombing form the backdrop for this case.

Federal officials consistently have denied that agents used excessive force against the Davidians. They say they never fired a single shot throughout the siege.

In a recent deposition, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said the on-site commanders acted within their authority in an effort to get the Davidians to surrender.

Yet from the start, the government's credibility has been a serious issue.

On the final day of the siege, while FBI negotiator Byron Sage was telling the Davidians, "This is not an assault. We are not entering the building," armored combat engineering vehicles were smashing holes in the wooden compound, injecting gas and firing ferret rounds of gas through the windows.

"We've come to the point where we don't trust much of what they're doing and what they're saying," Clive Doyle said.

Government officials now admitted that some pyrotechnic tear gas rounds, which could potentially start a fire, were used against the Davidians, despite years of denials.

There are also questions about flashes of light seen on infrared video of the final hours of the siege. The plaintiffs attorneys suggest the flashes show federal agents shooting into the compound. Government lawyers say the flashes are simply reflections of light.

A recent test of the infrared camera so far has failed to resolve the gunfire issue.

According to U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford, "there's a great potential that this (gunfire issue) could go on for many years."

In fact, it is likely that the debate over what happened at Waco will never be settled, regardless of the outcome of this summer's non-jury trial or a new independent probe by former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo. Views about the government's use or misuse of its power are too firmly held.

What the tragedy has done is change the way the federal government deals with potentially deadly confrontations.

When faced with a similar standoff in Montana with a group known as the Freemen, federal agents opted to wait them out. The standoff ended peacefully.

Even the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez showed a Justice Department more willing to negotiate than to use force.

Regardless of the outcome of this summer's trial, that new attitude by the government may be the most profound and lasting impact of Waco.

CNN national correspondent Tony Clark covered the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in 1993 and will be reporting on the wrongful-death trial this summer.