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Waco
There have been a few comments about the Waco tragedy, in 1993. Just thought I'd mention that I have a raher large webpage on the subject, based on three years of Freedom of Information Act suits to get information relating to it.
Just one sample: the raid and initial shootout were supposedly justified because Koresh was a reclusive paranoid who never left the building and thus could not be arrested without a major invasion.
I got the ATF reports that showed what the ATF undercover agents in the "undercover house" (across the street from the Davidian place) had done on February 19, nine days before the raid.
They went shooting.
With David Koresh.
He carried the ammo, they had the guns (until they loaned him a .38 Super). Then they went back home to plan the raid on the fellow who never left the building.
I am not kidding....
[UPDATES:
1. I haven't had time to update the page in a year or so. The audio .ra files aren't working, and when I have a chance I'll figure out why. I also want to insert larger video files (the page was created years back, when EVERYONE had dial-up, and a 500 meg file was enormous).
2. On prying for the Feb. 28 videos ... after literally years of courtroom work, here are the results from the ground-based cameras:
a. Camera on tripod near the "radio van." Finally got it, but it shows nothing but a blurry image of a building maybe 300 yards away.
b. Camera mounted on telephone pole: ATF claims they can't find the tape.
c. Camera in undercover house: ATF claims it failed for mysterious reasons. Officially, it kept ejecting the tapes (apparently it was a videocam linked to a VCR) rather than recording, due to radio interference from radio van. Problems: (i) VCR remotes work on infrared, not radio signals; (ii) ATF tried to duplicate the event with potent radio signals and couldn't do so. My guess is that someone just removed the tape and "vanished" it.
d. On the side: still camera carried by ATF's PR officer. She claims she put it on a table in raid HQ and it vanished, together with the film. Gad -- a room full of law enforcement, and a thief sneaks in and takes it? Pretty brazen.... Assuming that the story is true, it'd be apparent that ATF realized, during and right after the raid, that evidence had better start disappearing, period.
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A gun rights case, Wonschik v. U.S., was before the U.S. Supreme Court and here are quotes from the attorney writing in an Amicus Brief and a motion for recusal in that case:
http://rexcurry.net/guncom.html
"The National Socialist German Workers' Party killed 21 million; the People's Republic of China killed 35 million; the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics killed 62 million. As an attorney, I represented people facing the death penalty for murder. I never defended anyone as murderous as governments and government officials. Self-defense against socialist mass slaughter is a reason for not infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms (including homemade machine guns as alleged in Wonschik's Commerce Clause argument)." for more details on the case see http://rexcurry.net/pledgewonschik.html
Another quote: "The violent aftermath of the Gobitas Pledge of Allegiance case is the reason for not infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms (including homemade machine guns as alleged in Wonschik's Commerce Clause argument): self-defense against mob violence inspired by government schools, by the Pledge of Allegiance, and by cases such as Gobitas." See http://rexcurry.net/pledgewonschik.html
"The criminal charge in Wonschik had no allegation of violence and is a classic example of how the federal government is taking over criminal prosecutions from states and doing so by manufacturing jurisdiction with charges that do not address any actual act(s) of violence, nor any acts that are the actual origin of the case, but do so by criminalizing non-violent aspects in ways that arguably violate the 2nd amendment and the right to keep and bear arms (and the Commerce Clause), instead of leaving the state to pursue the intelligent charges involving any actual violence. The federal criminal charge in Wonschik involves the non-violent act of possession of gun parts. If the government’s antidisestablishmentarianism does not end, then we will be living in an even bigger police state."
yours in liberty,
Rex Curry
Attorney At Law
While perusing your Waco pages, I noticed that on the 'hardylaw.net/ATF.html' page, the HQ520.mov is the only complete link. The HeliMC5.mov stops at the point of the person giving a thumbsup.
NONE of the *.ra links work. They all return a 'Page cannot be found' error.
I have not yet gone further into your presentation, as I feel I need to see and understand what is on THIS page before I continue.
If this is a limitation of IE Explorer (6sp2), pleaselet me know.
Whatever became of your FOIA attempt to pry away from the ATF their videotapes of their February 28th 1993 raid on Waco?
I know the Feds played a game of keep away by claiming different branches of the government had possession of the tapes. But now that both the ATF and the FBI are under the Department of Justice, due to the reorginization forced by the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, maybe another FOIA action is in order?
We all know the MSM is preoccupied with the Bush lied meme, so this is just going to have to be passed by. Didn't you know only Republicans are corrupt liars -- read it in the NY Times, so it must be true.