Official Waco Thread

I watched the first episode like Sunday or Monday. Interesting take - basically the compound is told from Thibs' perspective and the FBI side is told from Noesner's perspective.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the entire thing has a significantly anti-government tone and is sympathetic to the Davidians (and, in the first episode, Weaver), without completely whitewashing the problems with those characters, or their actions/beliefs.

(ETA: Bottom line, the ATF and HRT are the antagonists - the Davidians and FBI negotiator are the protagonists.)

I enjoyed it. Fascinating stuff. It's crazy how the survivors who got out still believe Koresh was the chosen one and will come back one day.

The kids dying at the end in the burning building was super sad.

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With that said, the govt did screw this thing up big time along with Ruby Ridge.

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I DGAF, generally, about any of the adults. My sympathies were always with the kids.

However, folks have the right to have different, strange beliefs. And the government doesn't have the right to just kill them to either justify their budget or cover up some pretty bad mistakes (essentially both of those things are at play in Waco).

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With all those weapons and that alone could have gotten him some serious prison time

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The Davidians insist that their weapons were legal prior to the raid - they modified some during the raid. That is - at least - their position.

And, regardless of the sincerity of belief there was wrongdoing, and perhaps the evidence was there, you don't hit an extended family home, with dozens of children, on Sunday morning with a 100+ man SWAT team unless you have no other choice. The sheriff said something to the effect of, "Why didn't they ask me to serve the warrant?" He'd successfully done it on the child abuse charges. "Or why not take David when he was out jogging, which he often did alone? Away from the families. Certainly would have defused the situation - they would not felt like they had to defend their leader to the death at that point."

They wanted to show off their strike team. Either:

1. To intimidate folks who were choosing to arm up at that time (gun rights were under heavy assault during that era, particularly under HW Bush and later, Clinton),

2. To demonstrate their budgetary "needs" and their militaristic equipment demands.

Or some combination of the two.

No way you can convince me that rational Federal law enforcement officers thought that raid was anything like good police work. Impossible to pull that argument off, convincingly.

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I know some will never accept that it wasn't the feds that lit the fire.

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It literally doesn't matter if the feds lit the fire or not. "You break it? You bought it."

Koresh led a cult where he preached that the government was going to come and get them all and they had to prepare.

The government (meaning, collectively all of us), made him "right" to his followers. Regardless of whether they intentionally lit the fire, the feds did it (and this is what I believe, although it was largely unintentional - they were filling the place up with toxic, potentially fatal gas, and crushing walls with an armored vehicle - in addition, there was some indication the Davidians were stockpiling lantern fuel - whether they used it to start the fire themselves, or the feds inadvertently spread it with the assault is likewise of no moment - children were killed due to bureaucratic malfeasance - at all levels.)

But, I concede the possibility the Davidians killed themselves. Obviously, that makes it an act of suicide on the part of the adults (or some of them), but the children remain innocent. And government forces did little to save them.

The siege should have been de-escalated and resolved without additional violence. But you can't have that and not admit you were wrong in the assault in the first place. That was the ATF and their cousins, the FBI's predicament. This predicament was fatal to the Davidians (and it didn't have to be).

Good show so far. Outside the big actors, acting is a little sketchy. But liking the story. Hoping they paint both sides as wrong. Koresh was a crazy MF’r. The government and media response was way overblown. Really easy to tie with Ruby Ridge. Wondering if they tie in OKC.

Agreed. Kitsch has never impressed me as an actor but never shown he’s shite. He’s definitely made some bad choices. But he’s killing it here.

I highly suggest watching the 2 part documentary, A&E maybe? They are two hours apiece & have tons of homemade videos from in the compound, it feels like you’re right there as it happens. As a bonus, Tim McVeigh made an appearance when the antigovernment protests started outside the camp

I enjoyed it. I was a kid when it all went down and didn't know all the details. Amazing that some guy can stir up that kind of devotion in people.
Government did screw the whole deal up but those people were crazy. Not necessarily dangerous crazy, just crazy.

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So, if you have a situation with crazy parents, law enforcement is justified in just spraying the place with machine gun fire and say, "Moonbat parents. Nothing to see here, folks."?

We don't do that shite to known terrorists overseas, baw.

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You seem unwilling to acknowledge gray area in your painting of blame.