branch daividian cover up
...onal attention as a protracted confrontation between the Branch Davidians and federal law enforcement agents ultimately resulted in the tragic destruction of the Mt. Carmel community. A huge concentration of resources-taxpayers’ money, government personnel and time, not to mention lives-were expended on the social problem allegedly taking place in Waco. According to some news sources, the planned raid of the Mt. Carmel Davidians’ property by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) was one of the largest civilian law enforcement actions in U.S. history. The original operation involved eighty federal agents, armed with semiautomatic and automatic weapons, who were just sent to execute a single search and arrest warrant. After the failed siege and the fifty-one day stand off were both over the final toll included the deaths of eighty-four people, and cost the tax payers over 100 million dollars (Wright 75-6). The entire raid never needed to happen in the first place. The U.S. Treasury Department report, which reviewed the BATF’s actions in Waco, later revealed gross errors of judgment by federal officials. The agency also failed to investigate sufficiently the possibility of serving the warrants to David Koresh while he was away from the church’s property, which would have avoided the bloodshed altogether. BATF agents claim that Koresh never left the grounds in the preceding months before the raid, but the Treasury Department’s report exposed this claim as a cover up (Reavis 40). After the February raid by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms of David Koresh's rebellious religious community at Waco, Texas, the FBI and the U.S. Ar...