MILNET: Koresh: The Waco Massacre
UPDATE: FBI SEEKS PEACEFUL END TO STANDOFF DESPITE KORESH'S REFUSAL TO GIVE UP WACO, TX (MARCH 3) UPI - Cult leader David Koresh told negotiators he reneged on his promise to peacefully end his bloody four-day standoff with federal officers because he received a message from God telling him to wait, the FBI said Wednesday.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeff Jamar revealed Koresh's explanation during a news conference, but he vowed federal authorities would continue to seek a peaceful end to the siege that cost the lives of four federal agents and an unknown number of Koresh's followers.
Jamar said negotiators contacted Koresh two hours after his 58- minute religious message was broadcast nationally Tuesday. The Branch Davidian leader had promised to surrender with his followers immediately after the sermon-like statement ended.
"Subsequent contacts with Koresh indicated that he had received a message from God instructing him to wait," he said. "The negotiation team undertook efforts to convince Koresh to fulfill his promise and surrender immediately. Koresh refused to honor his promise and has indicated he will keep his promise when he receives further instruction from God."
Jamar also said Koresh claims there were 110 people still inside the compound, more than officials had originally estimated. Jamar said Koresh gave a breakdown of 20 children, 47 women and 43 men still inside the 77-acre compound 10 miles east of Waco, Texas.
Since the siege began, Jamar said 18 children and two elderly women have been released.
Jamar said interviews with those who had been released and with officers who took part in Sunday's gunbattle left the impression that Koresh and two others were wounded. He said the interviews "indicated there are some bodies in the compound, the precise number we don't know. "
When asked why the agents assaulted the compound if they knew it was heavily armed, Hartman said "months and months" of preparation had gone into the investigation and they were acting because of the threat the arsenal of firearms posed to public safety.
"The element of surprise was essential for us to get in," Hartman said. "There were over 75 women and children. We have a fire discipline. We are law enforcement officers who can't fire without having a target. So when we went in and they opened fire, we were halfway into the place when they opened fire."
Child welfare officials have reported no signs of physical abuse in the children released. There have been charges by former cult members that Koresh physically and sexually abused children, but he has denied the accusations.
The siege began at 9:30 a.m. Sunday when 150 to 200 ATF agents tried to execute a search warrant to look for illegal firearms and explosives at the compound - located in open central Texas farmland.
Four ATF agents were killed and 15 wounded in the initial assault. Koresh claims a 2-year-old child died, but ATF has been unable to confirm it. A cult member was killed, another wounded and a third arrested late Sunday in a separate firefight, ATF aid.
An ATF spokeswoman has admitted that the ATF agents were "outgunned" by the so-called Branch Davidians, who had an arsenal of firearms including a 50-caliber heavy machine gun. Criticism of ATF planning is increasing.
In an interview Wednesday with KRLD, retired Col. Charles Beckwith, former commander of the Army's Delta Force, called the ATF assault badly planned and a "disaster" for the federal agency.
"The ATF says they were outgunned," he said. "That, to me, is an indicator that there was actually no intelligence collected from inside to know precisely what the capabilities of this organization were, and they just went charging in there with their jackets on saying ATF and everybody was suppose to lay down and nobody did and as a result it was a disaster."
Hundreds of FBI and ATF agents, backed up by seven Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and armed personnel carriers, surround the Branch Davidian compound ruled by Koresh, a 33-year-old former member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church who claims to be Christ.
The elderly women who left the compound early Tuesday were charged with conspiracy to murder federal agents. Another cult member arrested Sunday is also charged with the attempted murder of a federal agent.