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The Atlanta Journal
October 21, 1999
"Waco:" Makes a Good Case that
the Killing of Koresh was Premeditated
Startling story of a fatal siege
By John Beifuss
By the time you finish watching "Waco: The Rules of Engagement,"
even the standard warning at the beginning of the video has become ironic,
if not sinister. "The FBI investigates allegations of copyright abuse,"
it states. What happens if you dupe the tape? Will agents gas you and
torch your home?
The startling and controversial "Waco: The Rules of Engagement", an
Emmy winner for "Outstanding Investigative Journalism" and Academy Award
nominee for best feature documentary in 1997, has been vindicated in
recent weeks, as Congress has released new evidence suggesting a possible
FBI and Justice Department cover-up in the siege that killed more than
80 men, women and children near Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993.
The movie, now available from New Yorker Video, does not whitewash
the strange, elusive character of David Koresh, the so-called "Sinful
Messiah" of the almost 60-year-old Branch Davidian sect that accepted
him as a divinely anointed interpreter of the Book of Revelation.
But — armed with FBI footage, infrared aerial camerawork and even
graphic photos of the corpses — director William Gazecki and his collaborators
ask why a government investigation of alleged illegal arms possession
led to the slaughter of Koresh and his followers.
The footage is examined to refute FBI claims that agents never fired
shots at the Davidian compound and that the fatal fires were set by
the people inside. The impact is as stunning as that of a documentary
about the Holocaust.
©1999 The Atlanta Journal
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