CYBERDAWG BARKING: Waco: The Rules of Engagement A review by Jon Lebkowsky Copyright <c> 1997 by Jon Lebkowsky Feel free to distribute without change or abridgement. Attached below is a piece I wrote for Fringe Ware Review #8, published in May 1995. Having acknowledged that something bad happened at Waco and that the "proper authorities" certainly lied about it, I filed my memories of Waco away and got on with other stuff which is to say, I never really got it. Today, that changed. I saw William Gazecki's documentary film "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," and got it like a jackboot in the jaw. As we left the theatre my wife Marsha, in tears, said "They were doing just what we wanted to do [recounting a 60s dream of ours to start a child-oriented communal family] how could this have happened?" "This" is the raid on the compound that resulted in the deaths of 76 men, women, and children who lived there, members of a Christian sect that was a little strange, but certainly not a cult. If you think that David Koresh was a whacky megalomaniac who abused children and led a mindless band of followers to commit ritual apocalyptic suicide rather than surrender to the FBI, don't feel too weird: somebody wanted you to believe that characterization. And you don't have to believe me when I tell you it was very wrong, all you have to do is see this film (if it finds general release; there's currently no distribution deal). After you've seen the film, you'll have a better sense who Koresh was, and who the Branch Davidians were, and you'll know that you were fed a pile of complete bullshit by government and media sources…unless you were reading alternative accounts and histories, many of which were posted online, or unless you had the opportunity, as Monte McCarter and I did, to talk to survivors and assess their credibility face to face. Even though I was the author of one of those alternate histories, and even though the piece below is somewhat better than the lazy reportage found in national press at the time, I didn't get it…it didn't hit me how bad this really was. This is the most terrible, most disturbing film I have ever seen, all the more so because it is real. After you have seen the film, seen and heard the evidence presented there, you will find it easier to believe that David Koresh was a cool guy with a mission, that the Branch Davidians were dedicated Christians but certainly not loony. You will get the uncomfortable feeling that the FBI and the ATF lied repeatedly in explaining after the fact what happened. You will see chilling evidence that the destruction of the "compound" and the deaths -- murder? -- of [198 lines left ... full text available at <url:http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/go?choice=message&table=05_1997&mid=2356238&hilit=CONSPIRACY+MEDIA> ] -------------------------------- Article-ID: 05_1997&2400862 Score: 82 Subject: MENA: (SECRET) HEARTBEAT OF AMERICA, Pt. 1