There is a fine line between each extreme and quite often, we are left toying with the same. Scenarios in life throw us into a moral dilemma where we need to choose whether we are willing to cross that line and venture into the dark side of things. The siege of the WACO compound by American law enforcement managed to bring the extremism of 2 different topics to the forefront of the public.
The event was yet another dark chapter of the 90s and was heavily scrutinised by the public and media. In fact, the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995, two years later, is said to have been instigated by the poor handling of the WACO situation by the FBI and ATF.
The episode was a 51-day siege by the FBI, ATF and Texas rangers on the Mount Carmel Centre which was being used as a compound by the religious group of Branch Davidians. This group was said to be an offshoot of another congregation called the Shepherd’s Rod who were a product of the Seventh-day Adventists. The Branch Davidians were led by a controversial, self-proclaimed prophet called David Koresh who had twisted the ideals of Christian teachings to form his own sect and brainwashed his congregation with far-fetched claims.
He had got the entire church to move into the Mount Carmel Centre where they would live together and prepare for the second coming of Christ. Law enforcement first got involved when they got tipped off that David was illegally stockpiling weapons in the compound. Apart from this, David Koresh had sexual relations with many minor girls of his congregation and bore multiple children with them. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives(ATF) would then begin an inquest after multiple complaints and after getting a variety of testimonies, they obtained a warrant for the search of the compound and the arrest of David Koresh.
On the 28th of February 1993, the ATF planned the raid of Mount Carmel with the strongly-ironic name of “Showtime”. The ATF officials were surely in for a show, just not the kind they would enjoy. When the officials proceeded to attempt to search the compound, the Branch Davidians opened fire on them. This lead to 4 ATF agents being killed and another 16 were wounded. This attack on the ATF prompted the FBI to get involved, especially with the news of child abuse coming out of the compound.
On April 19, 1993, hundreds of FBI agents, ATF personnel and Texas Rangers surrounded the compound and commanded the Branch Davidians to surrender and David Koresh to submit himself for arrest. Eventually, the FBI launched and assault and tear-gassed the compound in order to smoke out the Davidians. But soon enough, the Mount Carmel Centre was engulfed in flames and this fire resulted in the deaths of 76 Branch Davidians including 25 children, two pregnant women and David Koresh himself.
The killing of civilians and the army-like tactics that were employed in this case drew widespread criticism. Media and the public were crying for the heads of law enforcement for this unjust strategy. The use of incendiary tear gas were labelled as the match to the flame and the FBI should never have been authorised to use a weapon that is not allowed to be used in war according to the Geneva Convention.
The Justice Department of America then launched an internal investigation that was concluded many years later in 2000. The panel of investigators concluded that the Davidians were responsible for starting the fire, contrary to popular belief. The intense tactics employed by law enforcement like ramming the building with tanks and a tear-gas assault can still not be overlooked, despite the panel’s report. Tear gas launched at women and children and using aggressive negotiation techniques while having the knowledge of civilians in the compound could never be endorsed by the public.
The other evil that this story exposed was the dark side of religion.The girls were being abused by David Koresh illegal weapons were being assembled for the “second coming of Christ”. These practices were normalised by David Koresh who passed himself off as a prophet of God who would lead them out of suffering. His charismatic demeanour and powerful public speaking ability helped him ingrain these twisted ideals into gullible men, women and children. He managed to take the most followed religion on the planet and create a sect of his own where he was the messiah and parents were to consent the abuse of their children at his hands.
The undeniable grossness of David Koresh has still not been dismissed as the ramblings of a madman. Instead an altar has been erected in his honour in Waco, Texas with a wooden cross beside it. His deranged preachings that he was the messiah sent by God still lives on in the minds of the survivors of the cult. The preachings of the man who was labelled as a mocked-child-turned-manipulative-adult still live on today in his followers and the power he weirded in controlling the way these people thought is truly terrifying. The real question is, if not stopped in 1993, would he have gone on to wreck even more havoc?
We Need To Talk 