Date: Thu Oct 7 01:05:58 1999 From: murphy@MYBLUEHEAVEN.COM (Phil Murphy) Subject: Post/Fox/AP all jump on FLIR report! To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
As you read this -- and you really *should* read this -- just remember one thing:
Brassroots, Inc., through attorney David Hardy's investigative revelations, distributed this exact same FBI FLIR videotape evidence to over one hundred news organizations back in February of 1995. None of them bothered to report on it.
And remember this, too:
All this report is talking about is the FBI's murderous spree. It mentions nothing about the sad involvement of U. S. Army Special Forces (aka. "Delta") who were firing on the "reverse side" of the church. That shoe has yet to drop.
Enjoy the loud "thud" when it finally does.
Phil Murphy Co-Founder and former president, Brassroots, Inc. --
Report: Expert Believes FBI Fired Shots at Branch Davidians Updated 11.20 a.m. ET (1520 GMT) October 6, 1999
An expert in thermal imaging and videotape analysis, hired by the House Government Reform Committee, believes that an FBI agent fired shots during the bureau's 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.
That opinion, published in a report in Wednesday's editions of the Washington Post, stands in contrast with what the FBI has maintained: None of its agents fired shots during the siege in which about 80 people died.
Basing his conclusions on the hundreds of hours of tape he has screened — including a recently subpoenaed videotape containing revealing audio — expert Carlos Ghigliotti, who has worked for the FBI in the past, believes the evidence is there.
"I conclude that the FBI fired shots on that day," Ghigliotti told the Post in an interview that took place on Tuesday. "I conclude this based on the ground-view videotapes taken from several different angles simultaneously and based on the overheard thermal tape. The gunfire from the ground is there, without a doubt."
But retired FBI agent Byron Sage, who was a lead negotiator during the 51-day standoff at Waco, says the expert's conclusions are simply wrong. "It simply did not happen," he said of the shots. "I was there. I would have heard shots fired if they were fired. I heard a lot of shots that day but they were all coming in my direction."
Ghigliotti, owner of Infrared Technologies Corp., in Laurel, Md., did say that the tapes also confirm that the Davidians fired at FBI agents repeatedly during the assault.
Sage said intermittent reports like Ghigliotti's are troubling in that tey do not represent the entire body of evidence, including witness testimony and still photography, collected from the day of the assault. "I am concerned that (these reports) are not only misleading, but might be intentionally misleading to the American public," Sage said.
Although FBI agents were operating under rules that allowed them to return fire, bureau officials have maintained that no agents fired any shots on April 19.
Ghigliotti is not asserting, however, that any injuries or deaths were caused by FBI gunshots.
Calling Ghigliotti's findings "troubling," Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., chairman of the committee that retained Ghigliotti said "we think it is premature to make any final determination."
"We don't want to go off half-cocked," Burton told the Post. "As soon as we get all the necessary information, we will hold hearings and present the information to the American people."
The theory that shots were fired at the Branch Davidian compound on April 19, 1993, has been asserted by survivors of the fire, including David Thibodeau, who recently released his book A Place Called Waco.
In a recent interview, Thibodeau said he was certain that shots were being fired at the Branch Davidians. He said that he feared he was going to get shot as he fled the burning building. "I have seen the evidence, and I think a lot of deviant things happened there," he said.
Former Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo., has been appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate FBI actions at Waco. And a $100 million wrongful-death suit brought on by the families of those lost in the Branch Davidian siege has been put off indefinitely, pending further investigation.
— AP contributed to this report. --
...And people wondered why Clinton brought up Waco in his unprecedented public tirade against "Investors Business Daily" Washington bureau chief, Paul Sperry, the other day. He *knows* he'll be pursued to the gates of hell by Larry Klamann, of Judicial Watch, as they attempt to secure "Accessory to Murder" charges (a the bare minimum) even after he leaves office.
************************************** Phil Murphy Brassroots, Inc. PMB #246 9420 E. Golf Links Tucson, AZ 85730-1340 Phone: (520) 750-1292 Fax: (520) 750-0716 http://www.brassroots.org murphy@brassroots.org murphy@myblueheaven.com
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