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Pastimes : The Truth about Waco -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (852)	9/11/1999 3:41:00 PM
From: c.horn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1449

U.S. Lawyers Knew Of Waco Gas Grenades -Report Waco Investigation DALLAS (Reuters) - Lawyers from the U.S. Justice Department knew just months after the 1993 Waco siege that military gas grenades were fired at the Branch Davidian sect compound, the Dallas Morning News reported Saturday. But lawyers for the Justice Department, as well as attorneys for Branch Davidian survivors, apparently failed to recognize that the term ''military gas rounds'' denoted grenades with an explosion capable of starting a fire, the newspaper said. The newspaper said its latest information came from Justice Department and FBI documents submitted this week to the Senate Judiciary Committee for a renewed probe of how the 51-day siege came to end in a fire that killed 80 people in the rural compound. The Dallas Morning News last month broke the story that FBI agents had fired two exploding gas grenades, prompting the FBI to back down from six years of denying that any incendiary devices were used. Attorney General Janet Reno still maintains that the government did not cause the fatal fire but has appointed an independent investigator, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, to probe whether there was a cover-up. The newspaper said the documents it was able to view included notes by Justice Department lawyers on interviews with FBI agents after the siege, as well as an FBI laboratory report detailing significant evidence collected at the site. ''The documents also indicate that FBI agents involved in the final tear gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound freely discussed firing several military CS tear gas devices when questioned by Justice Department lawyers,'' the newspaper wrote. But the fact that explosive grenades were used may not have been recognized by those lawyers because they were unfamiliar with ordnance, unnamed federal officials told the newspaper. ''The line attorneys here didn't understand the significance of that phrase,'' one official said. Lawyers for Branch Davidian survivors suing the government over the siege were given the same documents by the Justice Department, but also did not recognize the significance of ''military gas rounds,'' the newspaper said.