waco headlines and editorial in boston globe boston globe wednesday april col bodies found in ruins as fbi defends raid on cult ranch col clinton blames koresh orders probe of siege col the children panws in a horrifying game pg col editorial page judgment at waco now the scientific and political scrutiny of the horror show in waco begins though nothing can undo the tragedy that might have been prevented there forensic experts will study the rubble and ashes of the branch davidian compound where at least people including children perished in smoke and fire caused by theapocalyptic visions of a manipulative madman and a stunning lapse in judgment by federal law enforcement officials emphasis added by me investigators will re create conditions at the compound and identify accelerants and other fac tors fueling the inferno that is their strong suit but the public must question why agents of the federal bureau of investigation lacked the oper ational skill and teh behavioral insight to resolve the day standoff free of flames and fury the loss of life most clearly reflects the demen tia of cult leader david koresh whose personal delusiosn are now seared on the public conscious ness his assembly of davidians had stockpiles of arms and had used them little in the way of rationality could be expected from koresh a self confsesed sinner without equal what continues to mystify are th eactions of federal agents who bungled the case from the start the misadventure began on feb when agents of the federal bureau of alcohol to bacco and firearms storemd the compound intent on seizing koresh and a cache of automatic weap ons four agents and an estimated six cult mem bers died inteh ensuing gun battle earlier oppor tunities to isolate and arrest koresh outside the complex had not been adequately explored authorities prepared a siege and resolved that those deaths would be the last fifty one days into the siege there was no public outcry to storm the compound it had been correctly perceived that the chil dren inside rancho apocalypse were essentially hostages with their lives at stake there was no reason for the government to be impatient the government s superior firepower control of water and utilities and freedom of movement created the conditions for a belated but bloodless resolution neither attorney general janet reno nor the fbi has provided a sigle compelling reason for abandondoning the course of patience if intelligence was accurate and koresh was growing increasingly violent and bizarre it is diffi cult to see how a tear gas attack launched by an m combat vehicle would clear his mind if re ports of escalating child abuse were accurate they would have to be weighted against the potential for eve ngreated hamr etc etc tec paragraphs paragraphs deleted but some of the responsibility rests with clinton and inexperienced president who did not pay enough attention to the life and death decisions being made on waco if reno is to be faulted for anything ti would be for her overreliance on the judgment of law en forcement officers a common problem among prosecutors full investigations into th ewaco tragedy must be conducted by both the executive and legislative branches the first step is to verify how the blaze started though apportioning blame will play a role it is of greater importnace to find strategies to elude the fire next time end of editorial j case kim kim husc harvard edu
