Inside the Deadly Waco Siege Negotiations | I Was There
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Published 2021-04-01
Under the suspicion of stockpiling weapons, the ATF attempted to serve search and arrest warrants. Having been warned of the raid, the Branch Davidians were prepared. This initial gunfire battle resulted in deaths on both sides (4 ATF agents and 6 Branch Davidian members) prompting the FBI to become involved. For the following 51 days, the Branch Davidians and law enforcement were at a long and gruesome stand-off, tragically resulting in a fire that took the lives of 76 members.
In this episode of "I Was There", VICE meets with Byron Sage, a retired FBI agent, who was one of the lead negotiators during the Waco siege of 1993.
00:00 Intro
01:36 The Waco Siege
04:16 Negotiations
07:01 It was Unprecedented
10:18 Push Came to Shove
13:58 The Toughest Call I Ever Made in 50 Years
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#waco #branchdavidians #davidkoresh
All Comments (21)
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Watch Next: Growing Up With Jean-Michel Basquiat- https://youtu.be/S-kYompsyLU
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I was a kid when this happened and it was all over the news, I asked my dad what happened and he said "they didn't pay their taxes" , scared me for life.
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"No shots were fired by government agents." Repeatedly shows agents firing on the compound.
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You forgot to mention that the ATF could have arrested Koresch in town on numerous occasions after they found out they were stocking up weapons which shouldn’t be illegal for law abiding citizens anyways
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You forgot the part where they used psychological warfare and played sounds of rabbits being slaughtered
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Fun fact: Rainbow 6 replicated this siege with the Map Oregon.
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I remember watching this on TV as it was happening. I feel so sorry for the innocent people especially the children.
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After knowing the full story and all of the evidence it makes me lose faith in any government agencies and any law enforcement
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"Not a single shot was fired from the bureau or any other goverment agency" yet shows a line of 10 guys shooting at the house
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An FBI agent calling someone a liar is fucking hilarious.
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All this could’ve been prevented. The ATF could’ve arrested David Karesh that morning while on a jog, but “operation showtime” had to happen.
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I was 21 at the time and was glued to the TV and all news about this every day of that standoff.
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I'm sure one of the main FBI agents at the scene is bound to give us an unbiased recollection of the events.
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My dad knew David Koresh, he sold him car parts pretty regularly and helped him work on his trucks. He said going to the compound always gave him the creeps, but he was always paid very well. My dad thought he was a super nice guy, but that he might of gone power hungry with his church.
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FBI agent: “yeah I was there since the raid so I know the whole story” Same FBI agent: “so I get a call telling me there’s been a raid and I need to go there” And the FBI wonders why we can’t trust a single one of them.
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Did he not mention the fact the ATF flooded the building with a flammable gas. Just a little detail he left out...
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Once again, we asked law enforcement if law enforcement did something wrong and law enforcement concluded law enforcement is innocent
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"there was not one shot fired by any law enforcement" so, that clip from this very video of the ATF mag dumping their pistols & rifles did not actually happen?
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What I get out of this is an old FBI guy trying like hell to absolve/separate himself from the events at Waco. He has as much blood on his hands as anyone else there that “followed orders”.
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I’m a dumb guy, and I totally feel for this guy because I’ve seen him in earlier documentaries crying. But also couldn’t they have backed off and arrested him later? If they like REALLY wanted those kids not to die
