NRA-ILA FAXLINE NRA Institute for Legislative Action 11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 1-800-392-8683 * Fax: 703-267-3918 8/1/95 NRA-ILA Special Report THE WACO HEARINGS: DAY TEN Attorney General Finds No Wrongdoing At Waco Attorney General Janet Reno made it a point to say that she has been questioned over and over again as to why no disciplinary actions were taken as a result of the raid at Waco. She said, "I didn't find what I perceive to be any negligence, I didn't find any misconduct, I didn't find any basis for disciplining somebody." Rep. Zeliff was quick to respond, " Well, obstruction of justice in some cases and rearranging the crime scene, you don't think anything was done wrong?" Unfortunately, Rep. Zeliff was informed by the chairman that his time had run out. Reno made it clear that she and other officials are willing to take responsibility for their actions, but they are still not willing to concede that they did anything wrong or that they should be held accountable for their actions that left over 80 people dead. Reno Chose to Proceed... When questioned as to why officials went ahead with the raid on April 19, Reno explained that no one was voluntarily exiting the complex, negotiations appeared to be at a standstill, the Davidians had a large food and water supply so they wouldn't be forced out by lack of supplies, the safety of the children was at risk, and officials were faced with the best opportunity to effectively control the situation at that point. Reno was also assured that the CS gas would not cause permanent harm to anyone inside the complex. Another concern of the Attorney General, that she brought up several times throughout the day, was that Koresh had talked about strapping explosives onto himself and walking outside in an attempt to blow up himself and other agents. This information was brought to light for the first time today, but Ms. Reno never said who gave her those alleged facts. The Attorney General also said the FBI Hostage Rescue Team told her that the agents would begin to lose their "state of readiness" if the standoff continued much longer. The following was an exchange between Rep. Hyde and Attorney General Reno: Rep. Hyde: "In other words, the fatigue -- and I mean that not pejoratively -- of the hostage rescue team, drove you to say it's now or never, so let's do it?" Atty. Gen. Reno: "They did not characterize it as fatigue, they characterized is a need to retrain in terms of the skills and they characterized it as a diminution in terms of skills of judgment, of being on the front line for 51 days. And it was that discussion and the recognition that if I waited 10 days he might carry out what he had threatened to do on March the 2nd, and we would be far less prepared to deal with that than if we did it under our own terms." Saving the Children... Getting the children out of the abusive situation they were in was supposed to be one of the main concerns for the negotiators at Waco, yet the Attorney General testified today that she would have waited a year for the Davidians to come out if she really thought there was a chance Koresh would surrender. Information concerning the fact that Koresh was indeed working on his interpretation of the Seven Seals was either not received or not acknowledged to be truthful by Attorney General Reno. Dr. James Tabor, Associated Professor of Religious Studies at UNC- Charlotte, had testified previously that Koresh was working, as promised, on his interpretation of the Seals. During a news interview today, Tabor also said that Koresh was preparing the information on a disk to send out to federal officials. Had this information been presented to Reno or had she taken Koresh seriously, perhaps the tragic conclusion to the standoff would not have taken place. Rep. Sonny Bono stated today that he agreed with earlier statements of the Attorney General that her number one concern should be the welfare of innocent children. However, he challenged the Attorney General on her statements that she had done everything she could to ensure that the gas would not produce permanent harm to children or the elderly. He pointed out that in just one day of research with two of his staff members, he uncovered a Journal of the American Medical Association report, published August 4, 1989, that revealed evidence that the death of children could result when exposed to high concentrations of CS gas for as little as ten minutes. Rep. Bono stated today that he found it impossible to believe that with the most powerful law firm in the country, the Department of Justice, at her disposal she could not find the information out that he had found out in one day with two staff members. Unprecedented Use of CS Gas Rep. Schiff: "And I asked the witnesses, did they know of any precedent anywhere in the world for the deliberate insertion of CS gas into a building for any length of time in which there were children, and particularly infants, present, and they said no. And I'm wondering if, when you were being advised about CS gas, if you asked that question about `Has this been done before as the FBI wishes to do it in this case?'" Atty. Gen. Reno: "We explored it because I was trying to see whether there were other circumstances. I don't think that I learned of any other circumstances in which a similar situation was involved. And so I don't think that we were able to find any precedent for it." Rep. Schiff: "Wouldn't that kind of indicate that there could be a problem with that plan if you can't find any precedent for it?" Rep. Schiff closed his remarks by saying, "I just want to say it's more than interesting to me that we asked the British, who use CS gas, their view of this plan by the FBI, and they've never done this plan in their history of using CS gas." Reno responded that she took "everything into consideration ... consulted with Dr. Salem [Defense Department toxicologist] ... [and] brought in the British experts ... " The National Rifle Association retained Failure Analysis Associates, Inc., (FaAA) a nationally renown firm specializing in analyzing failures from a strict scientific and engineering perspective. The FaAA analysis found that, in the first of four gas assaults, from the Model Five delivery systems on the tanks alone, the CS gas concentration in some rooms of the Branch Davidian Center ranged from two to ninety times that required to deter trained soldiers. Anyone hit directly by spray from the Model Five system would be affected immediately and potentially receive a dose resulting in systemic shock and conceivably death. The methylene chloride used as a solvent in the gas reached 1.8 times the level immediately dangerous to life and health. FaAA was not called as a witness. "We will continue ... to review all non-lethal capacity to end situations like this in the most peaceful manner possible," Reno concluded. Reno Surviving Waco Trial By Fire Most media accounts have supported the Justice Department's Waco role, while faulting other government agencies and their critics alike, according to an ongoing study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). Two out of three comments have backed Attorney General Janet Reno, but other comments on the government's actions are running 2 to 1 negative, the study found. The media covered Day 9 of the Waco hearings mainly as a prelude to Janet Reno's upcoming testimony. The day's witnesses got short shrift, as most press accounts reprised conflicts over Reno's and Bill Clinton's respective decision-making roles. For the second straight day, only CBS broadcast a full-length story; even MacNeil/Lehrer passed on yesterday's hearings. The Attorney General's media offensive has paid dividends. The Justice Department has gotten 57% positive evaluations for its handling of Waco, -- including 67% positive for Ms. Reno. The department's best press has come on TV news (67% positive), which gave heavy play to Reno's July 27 press conference, and in USA Today (69%), which today published her op-ed justifying her decision to launch the April 19 FBI assault. The Attorney General's harshest critic has been the Washington Post (67% negative comments), which today ran a front-page profile and an editorial critical of her Waco decision. BATF, FBI, NRA and GOP Burned By Media After yesterday's hearings, comment on government agencies involved in Waco were balanced, while criticism of Congressional Republicans and the National Rifle Association increased (a combined 79% negative evaluations.) Since the hearings began on July 19, however, the Clinton administration's negative media profile on Waco has been exceeded only by the bad press meted out to its partisan critics. Typically, each side is quoted criticizing the other, leaving little praise to go around. Journalists' comments have also been critical. Overall, the FBI has gotten twice as much bad press as good press, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) has received nearly 3 to 1 negative evaluations. But the other side has fared even worse -- a 4 to 1 negative margin of comments on Congress and 6 to 1 negative toward NRA. Coverage of the administration's handling of Waco has been most favorable in USA Today -- 44% positive evaluations -- and most unfavorable in the Washington Post -- only 20% positive. The New York Times has been the most critical of the Congress, with only 14% supportive comments, while MacNeil/Lehrer has been least critical though with only 28% positive comments. News Fit to Print, But Not To Watch The Waco hearings have become a print story, with television showing less interest as time goes on. NBC Nightly News in particular signed off on the hearings after Day 4, devoting just one minute of airtime to Waco since July 25. The Washington Post alone has run more stories (30) than all three commercial network evening news shows combined (25 stories, many of them brief in- studio summaries). The Washington Post has also run nearly twice as many column inches on Waco as its prestige press competitor, the New York Times (736 vs. 393 inches of newsprint). The Washington Post's coverage total nearly 30,000 words of Waco-related news. EVEN LOWER MEMBER DISCOUNT ON TRANSCRIPTS!! Complete transcripts of the hearings are available to NRA members for an even LOWER DISCOUNT RATE of $9.95 a day!! Call Jack Graeme at the Federal News Service at 1-800-969-3677 to receive a daily transcript. Be sure to mention that you're an NRA member to secure the incredible discount rate. Hearing quotes excerpted from Federal News Service transcripts. =+=+=+=+ This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA. This and other information on the Second Amendment and the NRA is available at any of the following URL's: http://WWW.NRA.Org, gopher://GOPHER.NRA.Org, wais://WAIS.NRA.Org, ftp://FTP.NRA.Org, mailto:LISTPROC@NRA.Org (Send the word help as the body of a message) Information may also be obtained by connecting directly to the NRA-ILA GUN-TALK Bulletin Board System at (703) 934-2121.