BATTLE
OF THE ACRONYMS: CIA VS. BATF/FBI
The
intrepid Matt Drudge, the Woodward and Bernstein of
the populist right, is
reporting that a former CIA agent, who says he has evidence
that the top secret Delta Force military unit was directly
involved in a shoot-out at Waco, has requested and received
protection against threats to himself and his son by government
agents. Former CIA Special Agent Gene Cullen, who coordinated
intelligence for the Somalia operation, was visited by federal
agents after granting an interview to the Dallas Morning
News last week, and told that he could be charged with
"endangering national security." And the Texas Rangers,
collecting evidence for the US District Court in the Davidian
survivors' suit against the government, were told by state
officials that they could not have access – on orders
from Janet Reno and the Justice Department. A phone call to
the US District Court in Texas and a court order in favor
of the Rangers settled the jurisdictional battle – but
the depth of the crisis is shown in the tug-of-war between
various branches of government, each with their own interests
to protect.
DELTA
FORCE
Cullen
confided to the Dallas paper that as many as 10 Delta Force
members were "present" at Waco, an assertion government
officials countered with reassurances that they were there
in an advisory role. But Drudge now reveals that Cullen's
full story involves Delta Force in a fierce firefight with
the Davidians: members of the force have reportedly told Cullen
that they fired directly into the burning building on the
last day of the 51-day siege. Cullen, for his part, will shortly
testify to all this under oath; he was served with a subpoena
by congressional investigators last week. In view of what
happened to a long – very long – list of people
who somehow crossed either one of the Clintons, it's a good
thing Cullen had the sense to come forward – if only
in the cause of his own physical self-preservation.
BLACK
HELICOPTERS AND THE DARKEST IRONY
Cullen
also gave an interview to Mike McNulty, the producer and narrator
of Waco:
Rules of Engagement, whose new movie. Waco: New
Revelations, is already being examined by congressional
investigators, frame-by-frame. (If you haven't seen "Rules
of Engagement," you
can order a copy through Antiwar.com – and get in
line for your copy of the "New Revelations" while
you still can.) Word is out that it shows a helicopter –
yes, a black helicopter – spraying a hail of bullets
on the Davidians from the air. Of such dark irony is the grim
"humor" of this cursed era made.
NATIONAL
SECURITY BLANKET
Drudge
notes that a congressional chairman remarked with alarm that
""I don't know how Waco, Texas could possibly be
a threat to 'national security.'" But whose security
is the "national security" – doesn't it always
boil down to that?
COMMIT
THE CRIME, DO THE TIME
The
Waco revelations could succeed where l'affaire Lewinsky failed.
It is a serious violation of federal law for the military
to directly take up arms against Americans, and in any case
could never have occurred without Clinton signing a presidential
waiver. With the hunt on for the paperwork, it is only a matter
of time before several congressional committees catch up to
our trigger-happy commander-in-chief. We are not merely talking
about impeachment here, now a moot point, but the prospect
of jail time. "The buck stops here," declared Janet
Reno – but does it? Does anyone believe that the feds
would threaten Cullen with God-knows-what kind of retribution
in order to protect FBI Director Louis Freeh or even Ms. Reno?
UNDER
SIEGE
Make
no mistake: now it is the White House that is under siege.
Let's hope it takes less than 51 days before we can flush
out Clinton from his presidential "compound." Of
course, Clinton's defenses are a lot better than David Koresh's
ever were. But with two congressional committees – Senator
Chuck Grassley's government reform and oversight committee,
and a house committee chaired by veteran Clinton-hater Dan
Burton – working overtime, surely at some point we can
look forward to the second trial of Bill Clinton – this
time in the dock for murder, or war crimes if you will.
TOO
BAD ABOUT THAT
If
only the Koreshians had been Muslims, instead of Christians,
Louise Arbour and the International War Crimes Tribunal at
The Hague would have made short work of the Waco case.
LEARN
NOTHING, REGRET NOTHING
"Two,
three, many Wacos!" That seems to be the goal
of a federal government program, which is even now preparing
for possible "Y2K Violence." Just as the Waco revelations
were coming to light, Reuters
ran a story that reported US government efforts to put
down "possible violence from cults, guerrillas, hate
groups and end-of-world-fearing zealots as 2000 approaches."
The FBI "expects to see increased and possibly violent
activities among certain domestic groups related to the millennium,"
declared Michael Vatis, head of a new "interagency center"
set up to "protect critical US infrastructure" from
the alleged threat of attack. The source of the greatest danger,
said Vatis in testimony before a special Senate panel on the
Y2K glitch, is from "white supremacist" groups who
believe the world "is on the verge of a final apocalyptic
struggle." We have to be particularly on the lookout
from those crazy Christians, he said, who are required by
their faith "to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ
by taking violent action against their enemies." You
mean like Delta Force at Waco?
IN
THEIR SIGHTS
It
kind of makes you wonder if they haven't got the next "compound"
of politically incorrect victims all picked out, and are getting
the Delta Force boys in shape for another exercise in mass
murder. Where will it be this time? Idaho? Wyoming? Or perhaps
something closer to home – like maybe Pat Buchanan's
manorial "compound" out in McLean, Virginia. Maybe
that would shut up those troublesome Republicans!
THE
WORLD AS "X-FILES"
Is
the world turning into constant reruns of "The X-Files"?
I hope not, but ask yourself this: why are all these "revelations"
turning up now? As the government readies a crackdown
on right-wing "extremist" dissent, in the name of
"preparing for Y2K violence" (whatever that
is), suddenly different factions of the government are leaking
key portions of the truth about Waco – an event largely
credited with imbuing alleged "anti-Government"
militants Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols with a desire to blow
up a federal building. With the machinery of repression already
set in place, it somehow turns out that a problem created
by government can only be solved by the government –
but naturally I wouldn't suggest that this is anything other
than a coincidence.
AGENT
PROVOCATEUR
I
certainly wouldn't want to suggest that the whole thing is
a deliberate provocation. That would make me one of those
dreaded "conspiracy theorists" we hear so much about,
if not an outright subversive, and possibly set me up for
surveillance as having the potential to commit "Y2K violence."
I would merely point out that the sudden respectability of
Waco revisionism takes place at a time when the hue and cry
over a revival of "hate groups" is at an all-time
high. A "hate group," in case you're wondering,
is a group that hates the wrong people – say, the FBI,
the BATF, or other government agencies or officials –
instead of the "right" people – Slobodan Milosevic,
all Serbs, Saddam Hussein (and all Iraqis), as well as the
Indonesian "militias" (who are no doubt modeled
after the Militia of Montana).
THIS
JUST IN FROM THE CLINTON NEWS NETWORK
A
recent
CNN "news" report sounded the alarm: "Militia
groups have long voiced conspiracy theories about the government's
intentions at Waco. With the release of the FBI tapes, those
theories and the militia movement are seeing a revival on
the Internet." Oh, goodness gracious me! What
will we ever do about this terrible right-wing threat?
The segment featured one Devin Burghart, of something called
the "Center for New Community," who opined: "There
was always a threat. We have only to look back to the Oklahoma
City bombing to have a vivid reminder of how real the threat
can be." Interviewer Charles Bierbauer then helpfully
chimed in with: "Remember Timothy McVeigh?" Cut
to a commercial. In an important sense, the alleged "threat"
of "Y2K violence" may very well turn out to be a
self-fulfilling prophecy. As to whether this is the intent
of the policy makers in our law enforcement agencies, I would
not even venture to guess. Just ask yourself: who benefits?
THE
ANOMALY OF POWER
Testifying
alongside Vatis before the special Senate panel was Robert
Blitzer, who retired last November as head of the FBI's domestic
counter-terrorism arm. Blitzer talked up the alleged dangers
of domestic terrorism – but not the government kind –
and also warned that "I know there are still continuing
to be serious threats from abroad." Not only the threat
of "anti-Western guerrilla groups" causing chaos
by means of cyber-attacks, infrastructure sabotage, or mass
poisonings, but also from similar groups operating overseas.
The White House has written up a prospectus of possible threats,
as part of a larger framework for future military interventions
abroad. Authored by the National Security Council staff, the
plan states the anomaly of US global hegemony in terms that
one hopes are unintentionally ironic:
THE
GLASS BULLY
"Due
to our military superiority," they write, "potential
enemies, whether nations or terrorist groups, may be more
likely in the future to resort to attacks against vulnerable
civilian targets in the United States, instead of conventional
military operations abroad. At the same time, easier access
to sophisticated technology means that the destructive power
available to rogue nations and terrorists is greater than
ever. Adversaries may thus be tempted to use long-range ballistic
missiles or unconventional tools, such as [weapons of mass
destruction] or information attacks, to threaten our citizens
and critical national infrastructures."
LESS
IS MORE?
In
other words, we are less secure for being "the
world's only superpower." Terrorism, cyber-warfare, even
the possibility of nuclear warfare waged by small groups of
fanatical suicide bombers – are these the wages
of Empire? And, if so, can we really afford to pay?
THE
ENEMY IS EVERYWHERE
In
the wake of the Cold War, and with the demise of Communism,
the great problem of the War Party has been the glaring lack
of a credible enemy. The neoconservatives are eager to substitute
Beijing for the Kremlin, but this is not really all that convincing,
what with China being a Third World nation with a fourth-rate
military: the Chinese Commies couldn't even take Taiwan, let
alone launch an attack on the US. Other out-of-work Cold Warriors
suggest reviving the Russian threat, with fascism instead
of Marxism as the ideological window-dressing. But the Clintonians,
in their own way masters of propaganda, seem to have solved
the problem of finding a replacement Enemy, by asking: why
settle on a single group or ideology? Why not just declare
everybody a potential Enemy, including American citizens,
and cover all bases? It's ingenious, sinister, and
more than slightly surreal – just what you'd expect from
the Clintonistas.
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