Waco Inquiry

* It is a sad day for sanity when Robert Scheer joins the rabid band of gnats attacking Atty. Gen. Janet Reno (“She Blew the Waco Probe; She Must Go,” Commentary, Sept. 7). Until the investigation of the Waco tragedy is concluded, neither Scheer nor Reno’s enemies can know much about her motives. But I do not believe this strong and ethical woman is morally capable of “covering up” for anyone, including the Republican poster boy, FBI Director Louis Freeh.

JUNE MAGUIRE

Mission Viejo

*

Scheer, in saying that Reno should be fired as a consequence of her position on the FBI attack at Waco, didn’t spread the blame far enough. Not only should Reno go, but so should President Clinton and most of the people in the U.S. Congress, because they were largely submissive to Reno’s stance. Of course, anyone who had anything to do with carrying out the attack should be long gone. No matter how Reno et al try to justify what happened there, absolutely no reason can overcome the attackers’ reckless disregard for the safety of the innocent children caught between the warring factions.

JERRY CHANEY

Long Beach

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When questioning the role of the federal government in the deaths of over 80 men, women and children, it is unfortunate to see Alan Wolfe and others preoccupy themselves with political tradition (Opinion, Sept. 5). Libertarian, Green, Democrat, Republican--all affiliations are irrelevant to people who have attempted to see the tragedy at Waco from a different perspective. The shocking, Oscar-nominated documentary, “Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” and recent revelations concerning the FBI’s conduct are enough to make any reasonable person think twice about the events that took place.

Wolfe may truly believe that the tragedy can be chalked up to nothing more than “clumsy tactics” on the FBI’s part. A growing number of inquisitive people, however, may choose to disagree.

PAUL MARSDEN

Garden Grove

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Re “Waco Wrongful Death Case on Fast Track,” Sept. 4:

Cult members willingly follow a megalomaniac who openly espouses a fiery confrontation with the federal government and now, six years after said apocalypse, the survivors are going to court to determine who is responsible for the tragic deaths of the 80 others dragged into this fiasco. Add two dud canisters fired at a concrete bunker 100 yards from the compound and we have a recipe for an open-and-shut case for a wrongful death suit against the government.

The return of Waco really adds up to the FBI using a couple of “hot” tear gas canisters that didn’t even work, four hours before the inferno raged, but not bothering to tell anyone about them. With this onerous “discovery” comes the intergovernmental squabbling between Congress, the Justice Department and the FBI. A bizarrely amusing development that most surely will not quiet the suspicions of viscerally anti-fed militias everywhere. This confluence of events is enough to make me feel sorry for the underdog . . . the FBI.

MARIS BELLAMY

Northridge