Ex-FBI Negotiator Says Agency Faced Hopeless Situation at Waco
Blaming his former colleagues and another law enforcement agency for the disaster, a former FBI negotiator told senators Wednesday that the 1993 Waco siege was “almost beyond repair” when the bureau got involved.
“The American people have the right to expect better,” said Clint Van Zandt, who was on the FBI team that negotiated with members of the Branch Davidian cult during the 51-day standoff in Texas.
For its part, the FBI acknowledged it made mistakes in the siege and explained the changes it has made since then as the Senate Judiciary Committee completed two days of Waco hearings.
Cult leader David A. Koresh and about 80 followers died as their compound burned on April 19, 1993, after FBI agents used a tank to punch holes in the building and insert tear gas.
The standoff had begun Feb. 28 after four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were killed and more than a dozen others wounded when they tried to serve a search warrant as part of a firearms investigation. Six Branch Davidians also died in the shootout.
The ATF agents “should never have been ordered into such a confrontation,” said Van Zandt, who retired from the FBI in the last year.
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