Around the Nation

Around the Nation

Lawyers request Waco scene recreated

The government long has insisted FBI agents did not fire any shots during the 51-day siege, which ended in a fiery inferno. Some 80 Davidians died on the final day, some from the fire, others from gunshot wounds.

Government officials concluded the gunshot victims killed themselves or died at the hands of armed sect members intent on fulfilling a prophecy of mass suicide.

But lawyers who have filed a wrongful-death suit against the government contend infrared surveillance footage recorded by an FBI plane that flew over the Texas compound offers "irrefutable" proof that federal forces fired into the building on April 19, 1993.

The lead attorney, Michael Caddell, posed a demonstration that would be attended by experts for the government, Congress and the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the siege.

He made the offer in a letter to Justice's Civil Division, the government's legal team in the case which is expected to go to trial next spring.

"The results of this demonstration will prove conclusively that the only possible explanation for the flashes seen on the FBI (infrared) tapes from April 19, 1993 is government gunfire," Caddell wrote. "We will then seek appropriate sanctions against the persons responsible for perpetrating this massive lie on the court."

The Justice Department will "have to review the letter," spokesman Myron Marlin said.

But an FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would be "near impossible" to recreate the exact conditions present that day - particularly since the plaintiffs haven't gotten access to information about the plane's altitude, film speed and camera specifications.

In recent weeks, Justice lawyers have refused to provide specifications for the FBI's infrared camera, contending in pre-trial motions that details are classified. Caddell is seeking confirmation that an infrared camera in the plaintiffs' possession is similar to the one the FBI used.

With such confirmation, Caddell proposed to use a plane similar to the FBI's "Nightstalker" aircraft to fly over a Dallas area firing range, recording infrared images of gunfire from weapons types carried by Davidians and federal agents.

The FBI source said details of the infrared equipment, used in sensitive law enforcement cases, must be shielded to keep the technology viable. "The assumption would be (the lawyers) are trying to use the media to force what they could not get" through discovery, the official said.

While the FBI questioned the value of a demonstration, the House Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the gunfire issue, would "welcome a scientific test that would enable us to do a side-by-side analysis with the FBI (infrared) tape," spokesman Mark Corallo said. "The more information the better."

An infrared expert retained by the committee as well as others consulted by the plaintiffs and several media organizations have concluded that bursts of light on the FBI's infrared tapes represent gunfire from government positions, Caddell said.

"The only 'experts' who dispute these conclusions are on the government's payroll," he said, taking issue with government theories that the light flashes represent sunlight glinting off water puddles, shards of metal or debris.

But a laboratory chief to whom FBI officials have steered reporters repeated his lab's view - held since its experts first examined the tapes in 1997 at a newspaper's request - that the flashes do not represent gunfire.

"If we had thought it was gunfire, I can guarantee you without any question we would have said it's gunfire," said Norris J. Krone Jr., president of the Maryland Advanced Development Laboratory.

Krone declined to discuss whether the FBI or Justice Department has hired his lab for Waco-related work.

FBI to warn police about Y2K attacks

"There are no specific threats, but we often alert law enforcement agencies about impending dates with significance for potential terrorists," FBI spokesperson Bill Carter said yesterday.

Each year, the FBI reminds state and local law enforcement of the April 19 anniversary of the 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building and the 1993 federal assault on the Branch Davidian sect outside Waco, Texas.

The bureau intends to distribute a 40-page research report, titled Project Megiddo, named after an ancient battleground in Israel cited in the Bible's New Testament as the site of a millennial battle between forces of good and evil.

The FBI report analyzes "the potential for extremist criminal activity in the United States by individuals or domestic groups who attach special significance to the year 2000," the bureau said in a written statement. "The significance is based primarily upon apocalyptic religious beliefs or political beliefs concerning the New World Order conspiracy theory."

"Such ideologies motivate violent white supremacists who seek to initiate a race war; apocalyptic cults which anticipate a violent Armageddon; radical elements of private citizen militias who fear that the United Nations will initiate an armed takeover of the United States and subsequently establish a One World Government, and other groups or individuals which promote violent millennial agendas," the FBI said.

"Our concern is with fringe, hate or apocalyptic groups or lone wolf members of them who may pose a threat," Carter said. "We're not focusing on militias."

In fact, ever since the Oklahoma City bombing, the FBI has asked its 56 field offices to meet with militia groups in their regions periodically to foster better communication and explain that the FBI is not targeting "the majority of militia members (who) engage in law abiding activities," the bureau statement said.

The FBI said some militias "have taken positive steps toward ridding themselves of violent extremist elements."

"These extreme members will splinter from more established groups and engage in violence autonomously," the bureau said. "More mainstream militia groups have been helpful in identifying the more extremist elements of the militia who may resort to acts of violence."

Some militia figures have been brought in to help the FBI negotiate with the Freemen group under siege in Montana and to help try to locate accused Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.

The lone wolf threat was exemplified by Buford Furrow Jr., who surrendered in August to face charges of killing a Filipine-American mail carrier and wounding four children and woman at Jewish community center in California. Furrow has ties to anti-Semitic hate groups in the Pacific Northwest. He was a member of the Aryan Nations; had a relationship with the widow of the founder of The Order; and subscribes to the Christian Identity religious movement, which considers whites a superior race.

FBI officials will distribute copies of the report and discuss it at a meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police later this month in Charlotte, N.C. Later, copies will be sent to state and local law enforcement agencies, Carter said. At some point, a version might be made public.

Clinton asks for AmeriCorps support

"After years of fights over funding and purpose in AmeriCorps, peace is breaking out all over in Washington," Clinton told hundreds of people celebrating the anniversary at a ceremony under a large tent on the White House lawn.

Clinton assembled members of the current AmeriCorps class and had them recite a pledge to serve the nation.

"Faced with apathy, I will take action. Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground. Faced with adversity, I will persevere," the volunteers promised.

Clinton led the crowd in a rendition of "America the Beautiful," singing loudly, with his head held high, on the first verse and following printed lyrics he shared with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for subsequent verses.

AmeriCorps is essentially an at-home version of the Peace Corps. Participants work with nonprofit groups in areas such as education, health and human needs, the environment and public safety. For their effort, they get $4,725 each to put toward their education.

After five years, 150,000 people have taken part in AmeriCorps, spending a year building houses for the poor, teaching children to read, working with police on domestic violence and gang intervention in exchange for a few thousand dollars to pay for college or student loans.

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