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The Washington Times
August 27, 1999
White House blamed for secret unit at Waco
By Rowan Scarborough
The three Delta Force commandoes at the Branch Davidian compound in April 1993 were part of an elite unit the military secretly founded in 1977 to combat world terrorism.
While their use as on-scene observers was legal, a military expert is faulting the Clinton administration for putting the soldiers in a domestic law enforcement setting where innocent people died in a horrible blaze.
Said Al Santoli, a House national security aide, "Delta Force is our most sophisticated task force against terrorists and to think that Delta would be used is an abuse of their power and an abuse of their mandate. What happened in Waco was strictly a law enforcement matter."
"Delta Force is not hostage negotiating. They are action guys against terrorists," said Mr. Santoli, an aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican. "They are experts who deal with the most violent and sophisticated international terrorist forces."
A Pentagon spokesman said Thursday the three special forces soldiers were at Waco strictly as observers in hopes of learning something new on hostage rescue.
For years, the Pentagon refused to acknowledge Delta Force's existence, even as such public failures as Desert One and Somalia came to light. Now, the military admits there is such a 400-man unit trained in a fenced area of Fort Bragg, N.C., home to the Joint Special Operations Command. But its work still remains top secret.
Delta Force was the brainchild of two hardened Vietnam warriors, Col. Charles Beckwith and Maj. Richard Meadows. They recognized that the growing threat of global terrorism heightened the prospect that Americans would be taken hostage overseas. A special unit was needed, they argued, to rescue them.
Unfortunately, Delta Force's first notoriety stemmed from failure. Some of its members participated in the botched Desert One operation in 1979 to free 66 American hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Bad publicity struck again in 1993 when the ill-conceived manhunt for Somalia warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid ended in the ambush of a U.S. special forces unit and the death of 18 soldiers.
Many successes remain secret. In any conflict involving American troops, Delta Force is on the scene prepared for a hostage situation. They also perform reconnaissance deep inside enemy lines and join with other commando units, such as Navy Seals, on special missions.
Delta Force members were believed to have penetrated Iraqi territory during the 1991 Persian Gulf war in a hunt for ballistic missile launchers.
"They have also advised and worked with people like the Israelis who have been successful to varying degrees," Mr. Santoli said. "The reason they keep their identities secret is to protect Americans from the world's most dangerous terrorists."
The issue of Delta Force aiding the FBI at Waco is not new. Attorney General Janet Reno testified before congressional committees that she sought the unit's advice before approving the April 1993 assault. A joint congressional committee investigated the commandoes' role in both open and closed hearings.
But their presence does take on new importance this week with the FBI's admission that it did, despite previous denials, use incendiary devices on the same day the compound erupted in flames.
A 1878 law called Posse Comitatus forbids the military from enforcing civilian laws.
But legal experts said Thursday the law does not ban the armed forces from advising law enforcement officials or observing hostage situations.
"There's a lot of things they can do 'in support of,'" said a former Army lawyer. "But what they do not have the authority to do is go out and actually enforce."
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