What exactly was the Waco debacle that Janet Reno is known for?

Question

What exactly was the Waco debacle that Janet Reno is known for?

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_Siege

Note the date.  This was left over from the first Bush administration and Janet Reno was newly appointed and merely allowed plans already in place to proceed.  She took the blame for it.  

Just like the first WTC bombing which happened less than a month after Clinton took office and not nine months later like Bush II and 9/11/01.   No one took a month long vacation before the incident, either.  In fact, Clinton and his people were all overachievers who rarely took vacation.

Republicans are good at shifting the blame for their failures.  The current economy and the attempt to pin it on Democrats even though repugs had six years of unobstructed rule to do whatever they wanted and broke the fillibuster record in the first year of Democrat's slim majority.

Answer 2

She ordered the ATF / FBI into a stand-off at a compound.  Shots were fired, and 4 ATF agents were killed.  They attempted a raid, and flash bang grenades lit the place on fire, killing 76 people inside, including 19 kids.

Answer 3

A government massacre, similar to what you would see in countries like China and the USSR.

Answer 4

David Koresh ran a religious organization, many referring to it as a cult.  

This started because Koresh was storing fully automatic weapons in his vault for a firearms dealer who was licensed to own and sell them.  

The ATF overreacted and began the seige, and the FBI took over later in the event, and took steps that resulted in the deaths of nearly everyone involved.  

Before the smoke cleared, Janet Reno stated on national TV that the reason the FBI was involved was because there were allegations of child abuse.  This was not repeated as it was quickly pointed out that child abuse is not within the FBI's jurisdiction.  The allegations have not been repeated by government sources since.  

Eighty people died, and eight survived.  The eight were tried, but the most salient fact in my view is that the government was totally unable to present any evidence suggesting that there was a warrant, valid or otherwise, permitting their actions.  

The government had no authority to be there, regardless of any other facts.  It was not an "emergency", because there was an interview of the local sherrif, not aired since the day of the fire, where he stated that David was in town every day, and would have come to his office had the sherrif called him and asked him to.

Basically, Waco was the USA's Tienamin Square.

Answer 5

Davids group of people on the compound where attacked

and killed by the tabacco and firearms per Janet reno

There could have been a better way

Answer 6

You have to know the Seventh Day Adventist, which has a pretty big seminary in Fort Worth. Core to the SDA is the End of Times is eminent. From time to time a "prophet" will gain influence that amounts to momentum of the collective.

Within this church are many splinter counter-cultures. One such isolated cell was called the Branch-Davidians. Preacher man named David Koresh taught the American government was the enemy. The Waco newspaper took notice and started writing expose claiming child abuse. When the government came to investigate, they chose the worst possible way to handle the issue.

I'll never forget the video of the ATF tank crushing the wall to get into the church compound.

The event marked the re-armament of the Dept. of Treasury as a paramilitary force. The Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco -- ATF -- was a potent anti-Mafia police force from the days of Prohibition that had languished their fighting capabilities to the FBI prior to the 1980s. Today, the ATF is almost a rouge, roving federal SWAT team. I mention that aspect about why the ATF might have tried a little too hard.

Today, that raid would never have happened. The church is located too close by to Dubya's ranch.

The follow up investigation of the siege and raid on the church was a total government whitewash.

Answer 7

the way the gov handled the situation with the branch dividens (SP) they set the place on fire and killed ppl just over a warrent for guns.

Answer 8

Some crazy guy in Waco said he was the Messiah. Got a whole bunch of people to believe him, including women and children. ATF agents afraid they may do something crazy, raid the place. Nobody's sure who fired the first shot, but lots of the people in the compound died in a fire. Janet Reno ordered the raid, I believe. The End.

Answer 9

It was a state sponsored terrorism under the leadership of Janet Reno.

Answer 10

there was a religious sect, the Branch Davidians, holed up in a compound near Waco.  The FBI felt that some children were at risk in the compound since the leader was acting increasingly irrationally, and moved in.  In the ensuing assault and fire many of the inhabitants of the compound died.  There was some feeling that the whole thing could have been handled better. Janet Reno apparently gave the OK for the assault.