rainesco
Who really authorized the Davidian assault plan?
Sat Aug 2 16:32:05 2003
67.30.97.123

I have never been able to find out who actually master-minded the initial BATF assault. Once the debacle occurred and the assault went awry, government agents took their usual aggressive "circle the wagons" mentality: murderous hatred of anyone who dares defend against them.

About your comments, though. Do you mean FBI Director Louis Freeh? I don't see a Director Fox. However, (snip) --

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/5/1/195845.shtml

In 1993, Clinton forced out then-FBI Director William Sessions for alleged ethics lapses and asked Freeh, a former FBI special agent in charge, U.S. attorney and federal judge, to take his place.

Freeh was almost immediately confronted with the aftermath of two federal sieges that occurred before his appointment: Ruby Ridge in August 1992, where an FBI sniper killed the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver; and Waco, Texas, in April 1993, where more than 80 members of the Branch Davidians died in a fire after FBI agents tried to force them out of their compound with tear gas.

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So, William Sessions was FBI Director at the time of the assault and seige of the Branch Davidians. More....

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Waco and the Boomerang Effect
The truth about Waco does not redound to the GOP's credit (snipped)
http://www.americanpolitics.com/090699Baker.html

Further information comes from the May 15, 1995 Peter Boyer article "Children of Waco", originally written for the New Yorker:

During a briefing by the FBI on April 12th, Reno was told that the plan was tentatively scheduled for April 14th. Reno asked the question that President Clinton would late ask her: "Why now?" The FBI officials, led by then Director William Sessions (whose job was under attack, and who desperately needed to save his career), argued that Koresh's surrender seemed unlikely any time soon. Reno did not approve the plan.

On April 16th, Hubbell reported a decision: Reno's answer to the FBI's gas plan was no. But, instead of accepting her decision, Sessions and his two top deputies, Floyd Clarke and Larry Potts, came to the Justice Building, and Sessions asked to see Reno personally. Reno, still unconvinced of the urgency, asked for a documented statement outlining the plan, the current state of negotiations, and the situation inside the compound. By the next day--a Saturday--Reno had received the documentation. She then reversed herself, and approved the plan. The tanks moved in on Monday.

Janet Reno, new to the AG job, had not previously dealt with such a situation before and so therefore could be excused for not knowing the proper response to take. Sessions and Potts have no such excuse: they had used the same strategies in the Ruby Ridge disaster seven months earlier in 1992, as is pointed out in a April 18, 1997 Washington Post article entitled "Waco: Still Burning", by Richard Leiby and Jim McGee:

The shooting of Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, during a standoff with her white-separatist husband, became the source of much internal investigation and embarrassment for the FBI. The bottom line is this: A high-ranking FBI official, E. Michael Kahoe, admitted covering up the truth about Vicki Weaver's death. He tried to rewrite history by destroying documents.

Ruby Ridge and Waco had the same players, including Larry Potts, who was instrumental in decision-making during both incidents, and who has been suspended while officials probe his role at Ruby Ridge. Kahoe, who briefed Reno during the Waco siege, last year pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with Ruby Ridge.

The FBI learned its lesson. When confronted with a group of militants in Montana a year ago, the Hostage Rescue Team brought in outside negotiators and emphasized patience over confrontation.

Note the timeline for these events. Ruby Ridge happened in the waning days of the Republican rule of Reagan-Bush. Waco happened just as Janet Reno was getting settled into her AG job -- but the prime movers behind Waco were the same Reagan and Bush appointees that gave us Ruby Ridge.
If the GOP Congress realized what they're going to be finding, they'll also soon realize that it is not to their benefit to go digging up Waco again.

Once again, the stick they wanted to use to beat up the Clinton administration has turned out to be yet another stick of dynamite, stuck fast to their own GOP fingers.

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GEORGE BUSH JR AND CITY COUNCILOR BILL SESSIONS, FBI DIRECTOR, LIVE IN WACO, TEXAS, NOT RENO (snipped)
http://www.geocities.com/s911surprise1/page8a.html


In the middle of the standoff, [FBI director William] Sessions decided he wanted to go to Waco ["on May 5 to present a plaque to the mayor"], where he had once practiced law [and been on city council]. It was not clear whether Sessions thought he would rally FBI agents in Waco [led by Dallas FBI SAG Buck Revell] or stand Koresh down Texas-style. In any case, Gerson, who was then acting attorney general, was appalled. He thought Sessions' idea "was stupid," showed poor judgement, and was probably a ploy to help him retain his job. As acting attorney general, he ordered him not to go.

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Licensed to Slaughter (snipped)
http://www.pressaction.com/pablog/archives/000894.html

After taking charge of the Waco siege, FBI Director Williams Sessions said that they wouldn’t use tear gas because it might be fatal to the children inside the compound. Then on April 19 the FBI went ahead and used tear gas. Attorney General Janet Reno said that the FBI had evidence of increasing child abuse in the compound, but FBI Director Sessions said they had no such evidence. Then Attorney General Janet Reno said that the FBI hostage rescue team was overextended and fatigued, but FBI Director Sessions replied that they could have continued in place indefinitely.

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The Current Opinion (October 23, 1996) (snipped)
http://www.opinioninc.com/102396.html

Director Fired, 1993 -- Judge William Sessions is the first FBI director in American history to be fired. Clinton fires Sessions and immediately replaces him with White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum crony, Louis Freeh. Nussbaum later resigns after evidence emerges he obstructed Foster death investigation.

Vincent Foster Death Investigation, 1993-? -- The day after Sessions is fired, Clinton friend and White House aide Vincent Foster is killed. FBI mishandles death investigation. FBI falsify witness statements of suspicious characters in and about Foster's car the day he died.

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"Victimized" FBI Chief Savages Meddling Clinton (snipped)
http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/general/fbifiles.html

In a blistering outburst at the end of last week, Louis Freeh, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, accused the Clinton White House of "egregious violations" in seeking 408 secret background files on political opponents. The White House had failed to act on "good faith and honor," he said, adding that "the FBI and I were victimized."

It has been a painful learning experience for Louis Freeh, the wunderkind prosecutor so eulogized by Democrats and Republicans when he took over the Bureau in 1993. A former member of Opus Dei _ his brother John Freeh was once a top "Numerary" in the tight-knit, ultra- conservative Catholic organization _ he came to the job with a reputation for unimpeachable integrity.

But his appointment was compromised from the beginning. His predecessor, William sessions, was sacked by President Clinton in the middle of his 10-year term, even thought the FBI director is supposed to be protected against assault from the White House. It was a classic Washington putsch.

Director Sessions was fired on the grounds that he had used official resources for personal benefit _ his wife had carried a bundle of firewood on the Director's small aircraft, and other such absurdities. It was an obvious set-up, although the Washington press corps allowed it to pass unchallenged.

His real offense was his refusal to yield to political pressure from the White House _ first under President Bush, and then under President Clinton. Interestingly, Sessions was fired abruptly on July 19, 1993, the day before White House aide Vincent Foster was found dead in a park. Sessions now says that the Foster investigation was "compromised" from the beginning.

When Freeh took over the FBI, he acknowledged that the Bureau had lost many people's trust and that it was now seen as a militarized security force.

Freeh was handpicked by White House Counsel Bernie Nussbaum, an old friend from their New York days. We now learn that the request for the 408 FBI files was filled out in Nussbaum's name, although he never actually signed the forms and he says that he knew nothing about the matter.