From the Ashes
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From the Ashes Making Sense of Waco / James R. Lewis, Editor Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. t,ua'1v ROWMAN & LfITLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. q16. ~22 l) Contents Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. r q3 t Acknowledgments ix 4 720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706 Introduction: Responses to the Branch Davidian Tragedy 3 Henrietta Street, London WC2E SLU, England xi Introductory Essays: Copyright © 1994 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Chapter 1 The Crime of Piety: Wounded Knee to Waco 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may Chas S. Clifton be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, Chapter 2 Misinterpreting Religious Commitment 7 photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior Timothy Miller permission of the publisher. Chapter 3 Tailhook and Waco: A Commentary 11 British Cataloging in Publication Information Available Franklin H. Littell Understanding the Branch Davidians Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chapter 4 The Waco Tragedy: An Autobiographical Account From the ashes : making sense of Waco I James R. Lewis, of One Attempt to Avert Disaster 13 editor. James D. Tabor p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Chapter 5 The Davidian Dilemma-To Obey God or Man? 23 1. Waco Branch Davidian Disaster, Tex., 1993. 2. Branch J. Phillip Arnold Davidians. 3. Koresh, David, 1959-1993. BP605.B72F76 1994 976.4'284063-dc20 93-48400 CIP Chapter 6 The Davidian Tradition 33 Bill Pitts ISBN 0-8476-7914-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8476-7915-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) Millennialism and the Waco Confrontation Chapter 7 Reflections after Waco: Millennialists and the State 41 Michael Barkun Chapter 8 The Millennial Dream 51 Jeffrey Kaplan Chapter 9 Varieties of Millennialism and the Issue of Authority 55 Catherine Wessinger Law Enforcement and Tactical Assessments Printed in the United States of America Chapter 10 Cult Label Made Waco Violence Inevitable 63 Robert C. Hicks r::::;:;., TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of Chapter 11 What Went Wrong in Waco? Poor Planning, 'CJ American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Bad Tactics Result in Botched Raid Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. 67 Col. Charlie Beckwith Contents Contents Chapter 23 Waco and the War of the Worlds: Chapter 12 Killed by Semantics: Or Was It a Keystone Kop Kaleidoscope Kaper? 71 Media Fantasy and Modern Reality 157 Moorman Oliver, Jr. I. Lamar Maffett Chapter 13 Showdown at the Waco Corral: A TF Cowboys Polygamy and Accusations of Child Abuse Shoot Themselves in the Foot 87 James R. Lewis Chapter 24 A More Righteous Seed: A Comparison of Polygamy among the Branch Davidians and the Misguided Tactics Contributed to Chapter 14 Fundamentalist Mormons 165 Apocalypse in Waco 95 Martha Sonntag Bradley Stuart A. Wright Chapter 25 Who Committed Child Abuse at Waco? 169 Mass Suicide? Larry Lilliston Chapter 15 Excavating Waco 99 Susan J. Palmer Chapter 26 Suffer the Little Children 175 George Robertson Chapter 16 Who Started the Fires? Mass Murder, American Style 111 Academic Reflections R. W. Bradford Chapter 27 Lessons from Waco: When Will We Ever Learn? 181 Chapter 17 Fanning the Flames of Suspicion: James T. Richardson The Case against Mass Suicide at Waco 115 James R. Lewis Chapter 28 Why Did Waco Happen? 185 Larry D. Shinn The Role of the Anti-cult Movement Chapter 29 Reflections on the Waco Disaster: Trying to Make The Mythology of Cults 121 Chapter 18 Sense of Insane Events 189 David G. Bromley --- Charles L. Harper Chapter 19 "Cults," "Mind Control," and the State 125 Chapter 30 Deconstructing Waco 197 Thomas Robbins and Dick Anthony -,-. Michael York Chapter 20 The Cult Awareness Network: Chapter 31 Did the G-men Sleep through SOC 100? 201 Its Role in the Waco Tragedy 137 William H. Swatos, Jr. Andrew Milne Chapter 32 Reflections on the Tragedy at Waco 205 Dynamics and Impact of the Media Thomas McGowan Chapter 21 The Media and New Religious Movements 143 Chapter 33 How Future Wacos Might Be Avoided: James A. Beckford Two Proposals 209 Chapter 22 Television and Metaphysics at Waco 150 Phillip Lucas Constance A. Jones and George Baker 'f.' Chapter 34 Sticks'n Stones May Break Your Bones but Words CAN Really Hurt You 213 Evelyn Dorothy Oliver VI VII 111 i,1 Contents Selected Responses ! Chapter 35 Christian Holocaust 215 The Family of Floyd Houtman, Branch Davidian I Chapter 36 Open Season on Messiahs? 217 Dean M. Kelley ·l 1 Chapter 37 Waco Probe Should Not Be Used to Define Religion 221 11 Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs ~ ·11 Chapter 38 A New Religious Movement's Response Acknowledgments 111. J to the Waco Tragedy 223 The Family 111I l1 Chapter 39 Church Universal and Triumphant Not Like Branch Davidians 225 if Many thanks to my wife and partner, Eve, without whose support this Murray Steinman, Press Release project might never have been completed, to Cosby Steuart, who typed most of the final manuscript, and, of course, to the contributors, who trusted me I. I 1!1· Chapter 40 FBI Uses "Cults" as Bait 229 I. Phyllis Goldberg with the fruit of their labors. I am also grateful to Maureen Muncaster and i Jonathan Sisk at Rowman & Littlefield Publishers who went out of their way Chapter 41 Waco: Bill Clinton's Bay of Pigs 235 to accommodate this project. ~ Eldridge Cleaver My understanding of the Davidians has been shaped by conversations 1 Selected Letters to Public Officials with several people. I would particularly like to express gratitude to Stan Silva, who gave me many invaluable insights into his community and who ~ Chapter 42 Letter James Dunn and Dean M. Kelly supplied the "Christian Holocaust" piece included in the present volume. I to President Clinton __2~7 _ ~ am indebted to Jesse Amen-one of the outsiders to cross FBI lines and 1 11 Chapter 43 Letter from Dean M. Kelly enter Mt .. Carmel during the siege-for the information with which he ~ to Donald Edwards 241 provided me. Also, a special word of thanks to Jim Tabor and Phil Arnold I (contributors to this anthology), with whom I have had lengthy telephone Chapter 44 Letter from Laura Murphy Lee .· conversations regarding their personal involvement in the Davidian drama. to Jack Brooks 245 I " My understanding of the assault and siege has been shaped by Chapter 45 Letter from Edward C. Lehman, Jr. information from sources not normally consulted by academics. Chief to Janet Reno 247 among these was an informative series of articles by James L. Pate published ::: in Soldier of Fortune magazine (June-November 1993), and I would like to Chapter 46 Letter from Larry Shinn ., thank Lynne Robertson of SOF for her assistance. Information on the to Donald Edwards 251 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was obtained from the Epilogue: A Fiery Ending 253 information and research library of the National Rifle Association, and I J. Gordon Melton would like to thank Robert Nagle for his assistance. Finally, I would like to thank Linda Thompson for a copy of her revealing videotape, Waco-The Index 261 Big Lie, which, though I disagreed with certain of her interpretations, provided vivid images for some of our worst suspicions. vm ix 111 II 1·, ,1, I' 11 I 11 Introduction Responses to the Branch Davidian Tragedy In its May 24, 1993 issue, Time magazine printed a selection of responses to the Waco holocaust in its letters section. While some readers expressed outrage at the FBI attack, others supported the agency's efforts to blame the Branch Davidians: The standoff may have come to a devastating end, but the responsibility for 11'1 the slaughter of innocent children remains with the deluded megalomaniac ~ who wanted to retain the upper hand at any cost, not with the FBI agents, II! wh<;>se main goal was to give the Davidians safe passage. 1•'111' 11'1! Other readers expressed support for the assault, at the same time expressing iI i dissatisfaction that it had not been staged sooner: ~ i\] Not only do I support Attorney General Janet Reno's decision to use teargas and attack Koresh's Waco complex, but I feel the action was long II overdue. 1.1 Finally, Time reprinted a statement from one reader who was not just angry that the FBI had wasted so much time negotiatingwith Koresh, but was also angry about the further "waste" that was to be incurred by the government's investigation of the fiasco. Koresh and his followers are responsible for their own untimely death. I fault the FBI for not concluding the ridiculous situation in seven days rather xi iil1i I xii From the Ashes Responses to the Branch Davidian Tragedy xiii than seven weeks, for they have only encouraged other two-bit lunatics who an enemy one can portray as evil and perverse also provides support for the may believe they can use women and children as hostages. Now I fear more normative values and institutions of one's society: "They" are communists; taxpayers' money will be spent investigating what should be a closed book. ''we" are capitalists. "They" are totalitarian; "we" are democratic. And so forth. This strange and frighteningly brutal statement apparently represents the One of the more interesting corollaries of this general line of thinking opinion of many otherwise well-meaning Americans. is that in situations where external enemies no longer threaten, a society will In America, conflicts and tragedies quickly find expression as slogans in find groups or individuals within itself that it can construe as threatening bumper stickers and on T-shirts.