Who tipped off the media about the Waco raid?

Wed, 19 Apr 2000 16:00:00 +0000

The blame game started just after the last body bag was zipped up. Four agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and six Branch Davidians were dead. Dozens of combatants were injured. David Koresh was bleeding from gunshot wounds in his right wrist and left hip. The emergency room at Providence Hospital in Waco was awash in the blood of the wounded.

The bloodiest and most controversial clash in American law-enforcement history had begun. A 51-day siege followed. It ended -- after numerous assaults by federal tanks and repeated tear gassings -- with a fire that rapidly consumed the Davidians' wooden compound. Another 75 people died that April 19. The search to find culprits for both disasters got under way immediately.

The ATF certainly didn't want the blame for the February clash -- what should have been a normal execution of a search warrant. So it quickly found a scapegoat. The raid would have gone smoothly, the ATF insisted, if only a journalist hadn't alerted the Davidians that the raid was imminent.

Salon.com > Jim Moore

Who tipped off the media about the Waco raid?