Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993 TAG: 9310030038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES ROWLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"You can't die for God if you can't kill for God," Koresh told his followers, said the Treasury Department's review of the botched raid on Feb. 28. Koresh later canceled the action, telling his followers that it had been a test of their loyalty to him, the report said.
Koresh made the announcement before the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tried to raid the Branch Davidian sect's compound, an operation that left four agents and six cult members dead in a shootout.
Koresh "told his followers that soon they would go out into the world, turn their weapons on individual members of the public and kill those who did not say they were believers," the report said.
The new information is buried in the report, which concludes that ATF officials designed a flawed plan to storm the compound to arrest Koresh and search for illegally stockpiled weapons. The report says the raid should have been canceled when field commanders learned that Koresh knew agents were coming.
Meanwhile, a spokesman said Saturday that Justice Department officials were meeting to complete the report on their internal investigation into the April 19 assault on Koresh's compound. That attack, which was ordered by Attorney General Janet Reno, ended in a fire that destroyed the compound and killed 85 men, women and children, including Koresh.
"My impression is this weekend was going to be used to do the final report," said Justice spokesman Carl Stern.
The New York Times said in Saturday's editions that the Justice Department report will clear senior FBI officials and Reno of any significant mistakes. The Times said it reviewed a portion of the report provided by a person involved in the review.
Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen last week replaced ATF's director and five other top officials, citing serious errors in judgment, misstatements of fact and attempts to cover up mistakes.
Despite the many failings it cited, the report concluded that ATF had a firm basis for investigating Koresh and his followers for federal weapons violations.
Federal authorities and former cult members have already disclosed that Koresh told followers that they should prepare for a massive fight with federal authorities on the streets of Waco.
The report said that federal prosecutors preparing to try 11 cult members on charges of conspiring to murder Treasury agents are expected to cite details of Koresh's planned attack on the local citizenry as part of the government's case.
The new information appears to have come, at least in part, from Kathryn Schroeder. Schroeder, a former cult member, pleaded guilty Sept. 9 to forcibly resisting Treasury agents during the raid and agreed to testify against the others.
Her attorney, Scott Peterson, declined to say what Schroeder has told federal authorities since she began cooperating with them. But he did not take issue with the Treasury Department's account of Koresh's plan to lead an attack on members of the public.
"I don't have any evidence that story is not true," he said.
by CNB