There are two
very important incidences in recent American history where our federal
government intentionally killed innocent civilians without justification.
The first was RUBY
RIDGE
In October 1989, the ATF
claims that Weaver sold an informant two sawed-off shotguns, with the barrels
shortened beyond the legal limit set by federal law. Weaver denied this, claiming agents purchased
legal shotguns from Weaver and later shortened the barrels themselves. In November 1989 Weaver accused the informant
of being police; the informant's ATF handler ordered him to have no further
contact with Weaver. In June 1990, ATF
agents attempted to have Weaver act as an informant for their investigation
into the Aryan Nations organization. When
Weaver refused, the ATF filed charges in June 1990 falsely accusing Weaver of
being a bank robber with criminal convictions. A federal grand jury later indicted him in
December 1990 for making and possessing, but not for selling, illegal weapons
in October 1989.
Perhaps it was
inevitable that the longest federal trial in Idaho history would be followed by the longest
jury deliberation in such a trial–a 20-day marathon that had news people joking
about whether the jury planned to put in for retirement benefits. The
eight-week trial of Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris grew out of such a bizarre
set of circumstances that it’s not surprising it took a while for the jurors to
sort things out. It probably also took them a while to come to grips with
the idea that government agencies could so blatantly engage in entrapment,
lying, cover-ups, and the killing of innocent people. As one alternate
juror, excused before deliberations were completed, put it: "I felt like a
little kid that finds out there is no Santa Claus"...
The second was the Waco Texas Tragedy
On February 28th
1993, the federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) launched an assault on the Branch Davidian
religious compound just outside Waco,
Texas. The resulting siege ended more than seven weeks
later, on April 19, but not before claiming the lives of 80 men, women and
children -- many burned to death in the final inferno that destroyed the
compound.
Even today, videos of the burning buildings
remain vivid reminders of an assault gone horribly wrong, from start to finish;
and, lessons from what has become known as the “Waco Tragedy” should be borne
in mind by all Americans lest a similar tragedy occur in the future.
The government claimed it possessed pre-raid evidence that Koresh and his followers were stockpiling illegal, automatic firearms, and was manufacturing illicit drugs within the compound’s several buildings. Ultimately, no evidence was ever revealed establishing that any automatic firearms were located, or being produced, at the Waco compound although this provided the legal basis for the ATF investigation and initial raid.
Similarly, despite government assertions that Koresh and his followers were manufacturing illicit drugs within the compound, no evidence was ever found to support such allegations. As was revealed during the 1995 congressional hearings, assertions that the Branch Davidians were engaged in the manufacture of methamphetamine and possibly other controlled substances provided justification for the FBI to request and obtain assistance from the U.S. military; assistance that would have been prohibited under the Posse Comitatus law without such evidence.
The manner in which the government used the flimsiest of evidence to justify, and then broaden, the assault on the Davidian compound, and the overall manner in which a massive assault was carried out against a religious group -- albeit not a mainstream one -- led many Americans to lose faith in, or at least question, their confidence in federal government power. This always should be of concern to citizens and government officials alike. Actions tending to undermine that relationship should be addressed openly and vigorously by both groups, but especially by the government, which depends on the confidence of the People for its proper functioning, and ultimately for the success of its programs.
The lack of concern for the human cost of the Waco Siege reflected in the refusal by the Clinton Administration ultimately to account for the conduct of the operation, however, is perhaps the darkest and most tragic aftermath of the siege. The government used armored tank-like vehicles to break down walls of the building in which dozens of men, women, children and infants were known to be huddling, then injected massive quantities of tear gas (known to be highly flammable) into that structure. Witnessing the not-unexpected resulting deadly fire seared in the minds of many good, law-abiding Americans the true human cost of unfettered and unaccountable government power.
What do these two tragedies have in common? They both happened under Bill Clinton’s watch. In the immediate aftermath of the 1993 Waco siege, then-President Bill Clinton, through Attorney General Janet Reno, accepted “responsibility” for the results of the raid on the Branch Davidian compound. However it now appears that it was none other than Hillary that was responsible.
Here are two links on this:
That makes me wonder if
Hillary was also involved in the Ruby Ridge incident. It is no secret that she was always trying to
be the “co-President”.
One more comment: Some people
may not know this, but the reason Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bombed the
Oklahoma City Federal building; it was a stupid attempt to kill the federal
agents who were involved in the Waco incident. Instead,
they killed more innocent civilians than the federal agents did.
Why do I bring these
tragedies up after all these years? Because I am very concerned about what kind of
similar tragedies will occur if Hillary ever becomes President.
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