A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

J

Jeff Thomas

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See more info at Amazon.Com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891620428/qid=941391980/sr=1-1/002-9685536-6093051

A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story
by David Thibodeau, Leon Whiteson

Hardcover - 384 pages 1 edition (October 1999)
Public Affairs; ISBN: 1891620428

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Reviews
Amazon.com
Anyone fascinated or horrified by the story of the Branch Davidian sect and the storming of their Waco, Texas, compound by law enforcement authorities in April 1993 will want to read David Thibodeau's compelling first-person account. Thibodeau, one of only nine Branch Davidian survivors of the attack (in which 74 people--including several children--were killed), begins by telling readers what brought him to Waco. We meet David Koresh as Thibodeau first met him: a fellow rock musician, an abused child from a troubled family who didn't finish high school and was fond of guns but loved to talk about the Bible. The memoir offers what appears to be an honest portrayal of life among the Branch Davidians, including the sham marriages in which men were expected to be celibate while Koresh had sex with most of the women--and girls as young as 12 years old. Thibodeau strongly denies other charges of child abuse within the community; children were punished and spanked, he says, but not beaten.

The second half of the book details the Branch Davidians' dealings with federal agents. In light of subsequent government admissions, including a partial recantation in 1999 of previous denials that the tear gas used in the assault could have been incendiary, Thibodeau's detailed account of the storming of the compound and the fire that followed is chilling. Why did people follow Koresh? As Thibodeau remembers an early conversation with one of his followers, previously a theology student in England, "He has the answers to my questions." But A Place Called Waco ends with more questions than answers. --Linda Killian
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I saw Thibodeau being interviewed on C-Span, and he comes across as credible and intelligent. I didn't catch the entire interview, but in the portions I saw he did not address the issue of their weapons. Sounds like an interesting book. FYI.
 
Yes, Clay Douglas had him on his shortwave show recently. I havent read the book,but i better not because it will just upset me more. And we see the damned Congress,with all the evidence piling up showing the murderous intent of feds and delta force, still Stonewalling around. There will be no justice for the 86 victims in this once free nation. JUstice must come from a much higher Authority. You would be surprised how many of the sheeple believe even the children deserved to die. it makes me sick to think how dumbed down the average american is today. Or is it Drugged down?
 
Don`t blame Delta.They bailed out early when they saw thatit was going bad and that they were dealing with idiots.What they were doing may not have been unlawfull,up to that point.
 
Yeah don't blame the soldiers... don't blame anyone who was :"just doing thier jobs"

Posse Commitatus was GROSSLY violated by the US Delta force even BEING there (not to mention the Bitish SAS observers they brought with them.

An unlaw command SHOULD NOT be Obeyed. When is the last time one of our super-shooters DISOBEYED an unlawful order? I'd certainly like to know.

Funny now that the THIRD Fourth FIFTH?? investigation of waco is coming up there are FINALLY people second guessing and saying well I told you so... there were mistakes.. errors, etc.

I also found it refreshing that janet reno said "the buck stops here" when it first happened... now it seems to be ANYONE's buck but hers. Can someone PLEASE get this woman out of office?? PLEASE??? (i see no need for an investigation into chinese spying/.campaign reform/waco/etc etc etc at this time.. but HEY that bin laden guy sure is evil huh???)

If ANY investigation has demanded an INDEPENDANT Counsel its this one. LOTS of people had this screwed up from the get go.. from the no knock SEARCH warrant executed in broad daylight to the fires that ended it... and the people inside weren't entirely innocent either.

If we ever get to the bottom of this I'll be suprised. The real questions aren't so much who did what when.. which are important, however but the POLICIES and practices that were put into place should really be in question.

In being "tough on crime" we have allowed as a society an erosion of our basic rights in our fear of drugs and our "war" on them, waco is symptomatic as to this practice.

1. no-knock raids (usually done on crackhouses in the dead of night)

2. military forces and euipment (already being done by the coast guard, navy and army here and abroad to do drug interdiction roles) The NATIONAL GUARD is doing street patrols in DC?????

3. Demonization of fellow citizen in the media WITHOUT trial. (ok this may be a stretch.. but drug dealers went from being "pushers" (ever sell a joint in high school?) to evil "predators" on america's youth.) similarly.. this group of harmless nieghborly christians (by all accounts from their nieghbors) was suddenly portrayed as a compound of psychopatic child abusing terrorists armed to the teeth religious fanatics, by our media AND by the spokespeople for the atf, fbi, and reno herself.

4. Charging property with a crime. If your boat was stolen and used in a drug crime IT can be charged with a crime, impounded and sold at auction to OTHER gov't agencies and individuals. You aren't even nbamed in the warrant. Similarly, the "guns" the ATF was looking for WERE NOT named by make, type or model, nor was any PERSON mentioned in the warrant. if no one was there to arm themselves WITH the guns would the ATF still bring a truckload of rambos to do the job??

5. Overtraining of "special units" EVERY agency has a "counterterrorist squad, a drug task force a hostage rescue team or swat squad. Too many agencies get to act in secret, in the dark and without civilan review, add the military into the mix and you see why every agency BUT the "little old ladies quilting circle speacial unit PTA swat team" was in attendance at Wco. EVERYONE wanted a piece of this CT/Swat/Siege action.

Anyway.. the point is sometimes in wanting to do the RIGHT thing we go TOO FAR, reps and dems and conservatives and liberals alike. We end up in places we NEVER forsaw, we end up in places like Waco.


off my soapbox,

Dr.Rob
 
Dr. Rob, you are not on a soap box. You are stating the facts. Maybe if we had millions of people "on theirsoapboxes" something could be accomplished. worse than the average American not caring about our loss of freedom is the fact that our leaders like preachers, businessmen, rporters and newespapers editors all have failed being the "watchmen on the wall" that we once had in the early part of our century.
 
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