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                     NRA-ILA Special Report
                  THE WACO HEARINGS: DAY THREE

                    Rep. Brewster Says Treasury Secretary 
                    Asked For No Embarrassing Questions 

               "I was called by a very high-up official in the
               administration before (the hearings) started,
               asking me to not ask any questions that would make
               the administration look bad," Brewster told The
               Daily Oklahoman's Washington bureau. "I couldn't
               believe it."  He later identified the official as
               Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.
        
               -- Oklahoma City, AP, July 21, 1995

Plan?  What Plan?  Conflicting Opinions Among Treasury Officials

Just two days prior to the 1993 raid on Mount Carmel, Treasury
officials admitted that they thought it would be wise to call off
plans for the incursion.  However, former BATF Director Steve
Higgins disagreed.  He called for the plan to proceed as scheduled,
as long as the undercover agent in the house reported that nothing
out of the ordinary was going on.  Mr. Higgins believed that that
was going to be their last opportunity to arrest Koresh. 

Undercover agent Rodriguez reported that the Davidians knew the
BATF was coming, a circumstance that is certainly not ordinary. 
Phillip Chojnacki, former BATF special agent in charge in Houston,
and Chuck Sarabyn, former BATF ASAC in Houston, testified that they
never knew there was a plan to abort.  In addition, they claimed
that they did not even know that the element of surprise was gone. 
Lewis Merletti, deputy director of the Treasury Department review
team, however, stated that everyone he interviewed after the raid
said they knew they were to abort if the Davidians were aware of
the plans.  Regardless of the orders, BATF agents were apparently
set on carrying off the raid.

             The Ends Don't Always Justify the Means

Reps. Schiff and Buyer concurred today that certain Committee
members are using Koresh's actions as a smokescreen for the
hearings.  The hearings are to uncover any abuse of power by BATF
and other government officials, not to question Koresh's actions. 
Because Koresh broke a law, he should not be denied due process. 
Schiff stated, "Koresh's depravity doesn't excuse law enforcement
errors."  Rep. Buyer pointed out that it is wrong to believe that
the ends justified the means in a situation like Waco, where many
innocent lives were lost.  The day in America when we refuse to
look into law enforcement activities because the parties are
guilty, is the day that tyranny rules America, according to Rep.
Shadegg.

                     "You Want Taint ...?!"

Rep. Barr emphasized the fact that we've heard a "great deal about
taint," and he had the documents to prove it today.  Barr displayed
big blow-ups of a Treasury Department inter-office memo that placed
serious constraints on the investigation into the Waco incidents. 
The following are excerpts from that memo:

"DOJ does not want Treasury to conduct any interviews or have
discussions with any of the participants, who may be potential
witnesses; the prosecutors do not want us to generate additional
Jencks, Brady or Giglio material or oral statements which could be
used for impeachment.

"...at some point we are going to have to interview the crucial
witnesses and perhaps may have to take statements; while we may be
able to wait for some of them to have testified in the criminal
trial, the passage of time will dim memories;... DOJ does not want
us to make any findings or draw any conclusions from what we
review; the prosecutors are concerned that anything negative, even
preliminary, could be grist for the defense mill."

                     Back to the Warrant...

Steve Higgins and other BATF officials stated that after February
12, 1993, all methods of entry into the house were abandoned, with
the exception of a dynamic entry.  Yet former Secretary Bentsen
continues to say that their mission was to peacefully serve the
warrant.  However, he claims that sending an agent to the door
would have been a death wish.  Never mind the fact that people from
the Sheriff's Department had been out to see Koresh several times. 
According to Bentsen, there was just no way to serve the warrant in
a safe and peaceful manner.  Perhaps he forgot that the agents were
even INVITED into the house by Koresh himself!

                    What About the Children?

Rep. Mark Souder questioned Joyce Sparks, an agent of the Texas
Protective Services who worked on abuse cases involving Davidian
children, about the planned raid.  Rep. Souder pointed out that
Attorney General Janet Reno went ahead with the raid "because of
the children."  When Sparks was asked her feelings about the raid,
she said, "Well, we recovered an arsenal of weapons, but we lost 20
children.  I'd say there was a flaw in that plan."
 
                       Line of the Day...

Several Committee members have claimed that the hearings are a
waste of taxpayers' money and that no new facts are being
presented.  NOT TRUE!!  The American public is only now able to
hear many of the facts for the first time -- facts that perhaps
only the Congress has heard before:

* BATF used a non-existent drug lab to summon military aid.
* Some Treasury officials wanted to call off the raid.
* The raid should have been called off since the element of
surprise was gone, yet the orders were ignored.
* There appears to have been an attempt by DOJ officials to delay
the investigatory process into Waco.

Former Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen even claimed that no new
facts were being uncovered, yet when questioned with regard to his
viewing of the last two days of hearings, he admitted that he had
not seen very much of the hearings.

           EVEN LOWER MEMBER DISCOUNT ON TRANSCRIPTS!!

Complete transcripts of the hearings are available to NRA members
for an even LOWER DISCOUNT RATE of $9.95 a day!!  Call Jack Graeme
at the Federal News Service at 1-800-969-3677 to receive a daily
transcript.  Be sure to mention that you're an NRA member to secure
the incredible discount rate. Hearing quotes excerpted from Federal
News Service transcripts. 

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