All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S03E10_English

♪♪

This is my family,

and no one's gonna come in
on top of my family,

and start pushing
my family around.

It's just not gonna happen,
ain't gonna happen.

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to "How It
Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

On the first day of March, 1993,

the eyes of the world were
focused on the siege at Waco.

The day before, the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

had conducted a disastrous raid
of the Branch Davidian compound,

home to more than 100 followers
of a spiritual leader

known as David Koresh.

Four ATF agents
and six Branch Davidians

were killed that day,
and Koresh was wounded.

The FBI was called in
to take over the case,

and now it was up to them
to convince David Koresh

and his followers to surrender
before anyone else got hurt.

The events of the next 50 days
would shock the world

and become a rallying cry
for change.

This is "How It
Really Happened."

Koresh: He put also a new song
in my heart.

Many shall see it and fear and
trust in the name of the Lord.

Doyle: We believed God
was talking to David,

and David was relaying to us
what God wanted.

All I care about
when I judge men is one thing,

do you want to know
the Seven Seals?

Wessinger: The Branch Davidians
believed that David Koresh

was receiving divine inspiration
from God to interpret the Bible.

God speaks in that book
of the things

he's made concerning his --

All: Son.

Essentially what they believed

was that the apocalypse
was imminent,

that the armies of Babylon
were coming soon.

And so they bought guns
because they thought

that someday they were going
to have to take place

in an end-times battle,

and they wanted everybody
to know how to use them.

Yeah. We got a gun here,
got a gun there.

Potok: The Branch Davidians were
buying semiautomatic weapons,

AR-15s and so on

and converting them
to fully automatic weapons,

and that is illegal
in 50 states.

The Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms officials

say that they have been
investigating

this facility for --
for some months.

So the decision was made
to go ahead with the raid.

Rayburn: A federal search
warrant was issued.

There was also an arrest warrant
issued for David Koresh.

Buford: The plan was to try to
get in there by surprise

and get in as quickly
as possible

to prevent anyone from getting
to weapons to return fire.

The Davidians learned about
the raid before it occurred.

Once we lost the element
of surprise,

the big mistake ATF made,

the huge mistake, was to move
forward with the raid, anyway.

When the ATF arrived, the Branch
Davidians were waiting for them,

and a huge gun battle began.

Buford: The firefight itself
went on for about 2 1/2 hours.

There was rounds being fired
almost constantly.

And I really started coming
face-to-face with mortality

because I'm thinking,
"I'm gonna die right here."

I don't think anybody
could have imagined

the kind of artillery
inside this compound.

The shots started coming
from the front of the building.

Gunshots in the back,
helicopters going by,

people yelling downstairs.

Koresh was shot during
the initial confrontation.

Woman: It's bleeding.

Yeah.
Probably because you --

♪♪

Hustmyre:
The FBI took over negotiations

because they had
primary jurisdiction

over the murder
of Federal Agents.

David Koresh had those people
inside convinced

that we were the Devil's
servants, so to speak.

It was clear that the Davidians
were very angry at the ATF.

You want to keep playing
that game?

I'm talking to you.

Somebody's gonna get hurt.

I would submit to you there
wasn't an agency in the land

that was prepared for what
we were fixing to go up against.

Noesner: Opening negotiations
probably could not have been

undertaken
under worse circumstance.

To show up and say,
"Well, let's all be friends now

and forget all the shootings
and the deaths,"

and you just can't
turn that switch off.

I felt it was important that
we sort of separate our identity

from them
for the good of the outcome.

We wanted to humanize ourselves,

and we sent in a videotape
of ourselves

holding up photos
of our families.

He responded in kind
and sent a video out

of him introducing his family.

I'd like to start off first
of all with my oldest son.

His name is Cyrus.

How old are you?

Seven.
Seven.

Say hello to everybody.

Hi.
Wave at them.

Camera right there.

Man: Agents insisted they
planned to negotiate,

not use force,
in removing cult leader

David Koresh and his followers.

Our goal right from
the beginning

was to initially get the
children out of harm's way,

then get the women and then
the men, in that order.

On the first day,
there were 10 children released.

As the children came out,
they were taken to an orphanage

there in McLennan county
run by the Methodist church.

One of the negotiators
on the team

had a great idea
to videotape the children.

-Hi.
-Hi, there.

Hi, Mama. Hi.

Our intent was to show
the parents,

"Hey, your kids
are being well cared for,

but we're waiting for you
to come out

and resume
your parental custody."

Lynch: There was one incident

after this first group
of children came out.

They kept hearing
a toilet flush.

The house parent went in there,

and there was one of the kids
standing by the toilet,

flushing it,
watching the water run out.

Never seen a toilet.

Sage: When David started to
release those children,

that's a huge indicator that
negotiations are progressing.

Noesner: We're making
good progress,

to the point where
David Koresh talks about

wanting to give
a message to the world.

Sage: David advised us that he
had a taped message or sermon

that he wanted us to facilitate
being played over the radio.

Noesner: A message about
his interpretation

of the Book of Revelation.

We said, "well, if we do this,
if I go out on a limb

and convince my boss
that we should do this,

will you and your
followers surrender?"

He said, "Absolutely.
We will all come out."

Man: Koresh's demand
is to get an airing

of his religious views.

"They would play that," he said.

"We'd all come out together."

Christian Broadcasting Network
picked it up and broadcast it.

What they were all unified
in was their idea,

as clarified by David Koresh,
that doomsday would soon occur.

He felt that he needed to get
his message out to the world

so people could convert,
people could be saved,

so people would understand
which side to be on

when the judgment
takes place.

When I heard the sermon,
I realize the FBI

is not going to understand
this guy,

but I do understand him.

I'd just finished a PhD
studying apocalyptic groups,

and I understood
what the man was saying,

so I packed my bags,

drove to Waco
to talk to the FBI.

As this is happening, literally
as his sermon is being played,

we're moving buses
and ambulance service

and everything out for --

we're ready for them
to start coming out.

The FBI believes Koresh has so
much power over cult members

that when and if
he decides to surrender,

the rest will follow him.

Man: Federal Agents turn up
psychological warfare heat.

I remember being in the chapel,

and the whole building
starts shaking.

That ended up ratcheting up
the situation significantly.

Schneider: Running
over property.

Let me run your house over,
and you tell me that.

God speaks to me.
I have a message to present.

I mean, I believe that.

Reporter: Koresh promised
authorities he'd give up

if they'd help him broadcast
a 58-minute religious message

on a national
Christian radio network.

March the 2nd, David had said
he was going to surrender.

Reporter: Authorities brought in
buses, apparently to carry away

the cult members
following the broadcast,

but despite
the airing of the tape,

there was no movement
around the group's facility.

Noesner: When we called back in
to Steve Schneider,

Koresh's number-one guy, I said,
"Steve, what's going on?

You know, we have a plan here.

What's the holdup?"

All of a sudden,
this anticipation,

this balloon just burst.

Reporter: Koresh had promised to
give up peacefully yesterday,

and now he says he must wait for
further instructions from God.

Sage: He said, "I follow what
my God tells me to do."

Well, how are you going
to negotiate with God?

Noesner:
When I had to report the news
to the on-scene commander

and the tactical leader
that Koresh didn't come out,

they had a very angry,
visceral response.

Reavis: Bob Ricks,
who was the FBI's man

in charge of the daily
press conferences, said,

"Koresh thinks
God told him," and laughs.

If it is the message from God,

then we have to know
what the heck the message is.

From very early on in the siege,
there developed

these two different
tendencies within the FBI.

On the one hand, you had
the negotiators

who were very much about
working out a peaceful solution.

And on the other, you had
the hostage rescue team

which was a very different
culture within the FBI.

Noesner: The tactical side felt
very strongly

that the way to get them to do

what we wanted was to apply
increasing pressure,

to tighten the noose,
as it were,

to force them to come out.

They thought the negotiators
had been duped,

thought that Koresh
was purposefully

screwing around with us,
and they got very, very angry

and, in fact, ordered some
movement of tactical equipment,

armored vehicles,
to the compound to demonstrate

our unhappiness
with that decision.

Doyle: I remember being
in the chapel,

and the whole building
starts shaking.

We don't have earthquakes
in Waco.

You know, like, what is this?

Reporter: Four M1A1
Abrams battle tanks,

the same kind that gained fame
in Operation Desert Storm,

had been moved into position
around the compound.

Reavis: And the tanks were
driving over the graves

of some of those who had been
killed on February the 28th.

That ended up ratcheting up
the situation significantly.

2,000 years ago, hey, who
believed in Christ's doctrine?

Noesner: Increasingly, David
Koresh would try to engage us

in very lengthy religious
discussion and sharing with us

his take on the Book
of Revelation,

and almost taking on a position
of lecturing to us.

David Koresh's message was
from the Book of Revelation,

the Seven Seals, which are
a series of prophecies

that lead step by step
to the end of time.

Reavis: He believed
that he could do

what none of his predecessors
had done,

which is open or explain
the Seven Seals

in the Book of Revelation.

Noesner:
We were trying to project that
we didn't discount his religion.

We told him straight up,
"You know, we don't

understand the Bible like you.

We don't pretend
to understand it."

And Jesus came to say
in Matthew 23 to the Jews,

"Warned you that believe not
all the prophet has spoken."

Noesner: It's a fool's game to
get into someone's religious,

strongly-held beliefs.

It wouldn't have got him to do
anything,

such as release a child,
which we were working on.

That happened when we talked
about more practical,

realistic,
down-to-Earth things.

We came to a point in time
where they needed milk

for the children,

and we decided that we wanted
to get that milk in.

We were able to
deliver the milk.

It was a very strong
demonstration of our desire

to get things back on track.

Thanks for the milk, too.

Thanks for the milk.

Who drinks the milk?

The baby.
Okay.

Unfortunately, the tactical team
subsequently, arbitrarily,

without coordinating,
cut off the power.

Doyle: All the frozen food
and the refrigerated food

either had to be eaten
in a hurry or thrown away.

Every time, strong
tactical action

would sort of dig us in a hole,

and we'd have to dig ourselves
back out of it.

This kind of battle between
these two forces continued,

you know, kind of quietly,

but it was going on
through the entire siege.

Reporter: Federal Agents turn up
psychological warfare heat,

hoping to give David Koresh
an early morning headache.

They played loud music
to use sleep deprivation

as one of their tactics.

Reporter:
From a mile and a half away,

what sounded like rock music

coming from the Branch
Davidian compound area.

"These boots are made
for walking."

♪ These boots are made
for walking ♪

The sounds
of rabbits dying,

chants from
Dalai Lama, whatever.

This is an agitation technique

that it's proven,
it doesn't work.

When you're dealing with people

who have this world view
that Armageddon is coming,

you don't want
to precipitate it.

You don't want to hit
the first domino

that causes the thing
to go up in flames.

Noesner: The harder you push
someone, we know as negotiators,

the more likely you are
to be met with resistance.

Ronan: There were a lot
of accusations.

David Koresh lived
what you might call

an unconventional lifestyle.

He had sex with the women,
some of them underaged girls,

with whom he fathered children.

See this here?

This is my family.

It may not be like your family.

Noesner: On the 21st of March,
we'd been there 21 days,

and all of a sudden,
seven adults came marching out.

I remember almost gleefully
advising the on-scene commander

and the tactical commander
of our success.

To my surprise, I was met
with disappointment that,

"Well, that's not
very many people,

and at this rate,
we'll be here for many months,

and they're just still
screwing around with you."

In response, a strong
tactical action was taken.

The tank drivers
several times mooned

and gave the middle finger
to the people at Mount Carmel.

We went outside to a tank
that was waiting for us

halfway down the driveway,
and they handcuffed us.

I didn't know when I'd get back
to see them,

but I kept hoping
they would come out eventually,

but when I think now
25 years later, I --

I -- there's a part of me
that wish I had stayed.

Arnold:
One of the Branch Davidians
named Livingstone Fagan

was in the Waco jail.

I cannot emphasize enough

the importance of knowing
what the Seven Seals teach.

He can tell us what David Koresh
thought was coming next

in the prophecies
in the Seven Seals.

The waiting period
in the fifth seal

is followed by
a catastrophic event.

So the Branch Davidians
are watching and waiting.

Will the FBI trigger
this catastrophe?

If the Branch Davidians can see
that the FBI

was not going to attack them,
that the FBI was backing off,

then they would feel
they could surrender

because the Bible prophecies
were not being fulfilled.

Wessinger: So if the FBI
had pulled back,

I believe the Branch Davidians
would have ultimately come out.

Did you ask the FBI to
let you talk to Mr. Koresh?

They did permit me and
a colleague, Dr. James Tabor

of the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte,

to produce an audio
cassette tape

which went into
the compound.

Reporter: Arnold says it could
give Koresh different options,

options that might convince him

that the end of the world
is not at hand,

and now is not
the time to die.

After our tape went in,
he began to see

that he had more time
and he could come out.

Schneider: Yeah.
He's a doctor of --

of probably theology,
I would imagine.

♪♪

Noesner: There was national
pressure.

Everybody saying, "it's a bunch
of nuts out there.

Why don't they just go in
and get them?"

DeGuerin: I had no involvement
until I got the call

from David Koresh's mother.

She asked me if I would be
interested in getting involved,

and I said, "Yes."

Late March, the on-scene
commander authorized us

to facilitate a meeting between
David Koresh, Steve Schneider,

and Dick DeGuerin, a very
sharp defense attorney.

Very unusual to let a defense
attorney go inside of,

what in essence,
is a crime scene.

But that was a chance
that was taken.

This is some real progress
and I'm hopeful

that we can bring this thing
to an end real quickly.

Reporter: He is a prominent
Texas attorney.

Dick DeGuerin Tuesday
shook hands with cult leader

David Koresh
outside the compound,

and together they walked inside
to meet behind closed doors.

DeGuerin: I saw that he was
a very intelligent person

and that he was deeply
devoted to his religion

and believed
what he believed.

Ronan: But it appears there was
another side to David Koresh.

There were a lot of accusations

he lived what you might call
an unconventional lifestyle

with more than one wife,

and he'd had more
than a dozen children.

We're fixing to another
one here pretty soon.

DeGuerin: He did say that
he had had children

by several of
the women in there,

and I met all of his children
that were still there.

Noesner:
He had sex with the women,
some of them underaged girls,

with whom he fathered children.

See this here?

This is my family.

It may not be
like your family.

I can't justify that.

That's a little different
from than the way

I was raised.
You got her?

But apparently it's somewhat
common in some religions.

This one here, you know, he's
my family, too, right, Joseph?

Yeah.
Tell them. Tell them.
You know?

Look in that camera, and tell
them what you think about it.

Who's treated you good?

David.

Koresh believes all those
children are his,

and that they won't be
leaving until he does.

We were troubled by that.

We were hoping that
he would continue

to let more children out,
including his own.

Life inside the compound became
tougher and tougher and tougher.

Doyle: People went to
the bathroom in buckets,

and that was one of my jobs,

was to take care
of that every day.

They had no electricity.

They were using Coleman lanterns

and Coleman fuel
for heat and light.

The ATF shot up our water tanks
on the first day of the raid,

so we had no water
in the building.

All we were doing
was collecting rainwater

in buckets outside
of windows, on roofs.

DeGuerin:
They were scared and worried
about what was gonna happen,

but at the same time,
they were somewhat defiant.

They were angry about
what had been done.

Noesner: Pressures were mounting
politically.

Here we are, the big ol'
FBI made to be look powerless.

We made the best judgment
we could based on

all the circumstances

that this was the best time
to escalate the pressure.

We did not foresee at that time

the tragedy
that would happen later.

Welcome back.

In early April,

there were about
75 people still left inside

the Branch Davidian compound,
25 of them children,

and conditions
were deteriorating fast.

David Koresh's attorney,
Dick DeGuerin,

spends hours
over several visits

trying to convince
his client to surrender.

It's now day 34 of the siege.

Tensions are running high,

and time is running out
for David Koresh

and the Branch Davidians.

Reporter:
The FBI insists DeGuerin is not
working for the government.

Retained by Koresh's mother,
the lawyer was warned by the FBI

that a face-to-face meeting
could be very dangerous.

Noesner:
Dick DeGuerin went inside,

and Koresh basically
promised to surrender

once he wrote down

his interpretation
of the Seven Seals.

Ronan: And when he was done
with a manuscript,

he'd give it to a theologian,

a man by the name
of Phillip Arnold.

The letter that he gave to me
on April the 14th

was very clear
of what he was gonna do

and that is he was gonna
finish his exposition

on the Seven Seals,
and then he would come out.

Was Mr. Koresh gonna turn

these Seven Seals over to you,
to your knowledge?

Yes, and this was the letter
that was given

to Dick DeGuerin,
the attorney.

Now, the FBI ridiculed
that thought,

and said that's just another
excuse, more Bible babble.

Noesner: And, of course,
on-scene command,

"Well, how long
is this gonna take?"

And now the whole
crisis management

apparatus was on hold.

Sage: David had told us
that he thought it'd take about

two days per seal
for Seven Seals,

and the boss authorized that.

That's two weeks
we were willing to wait,

but they had to provide us
with tangible proof

that he was making progress.

DeGuerin: Let me say that when I
left Waco on April the 14th,

the FBI said we've got
all the time it takes.

Meanwhile, the standoff goes on,

and still no one knows
when or how it will end.

Ronan: You never knew when
something was gonna happen,

so there were camera folks,
reporters, photographers,

journalists, standing out there,
2:00, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning,

waiting for something to happen.

There were probably
more media in Waco

than anything
I've ever seen before.

Ronan: We were kept far away
from the actual compound,

probably two miles away,

and the reporters and
the photographers used

Potok: As the siege went on,
enormous numbers of people

from radical groups
around the country

made essentially
pilgrimages to Waco

in order to look
at the compound,

in order to sell
anti-government T-shirts

and bumper stickers and so on.

And one of those
anti-government protesters

was this young man
with a flat-top type haircut,

very clean-cut
military-looking guy.

And it turns out it was
Timothy McVeigh.

Timothy McVeigh was there
to denounce the government

like so many others.

Arnold:
On April 16th, Steve Schneider
informed the negotiators

that David Koresh
had already written

his interpretation
of the first seal.

He was beginning
to write the second.

Sage: But David was reluctant
to send anything out,

said he needed it
as a reference,

and we said send out
the chapters

and the seals
as you finish them.

We never received anything.

Reporter:
Koresh's attorney insists his
client is not stalling,

not giving agents
the runaround,

but the FBI has been burned
by David Koresh before,

and skepticism was remains.

Noesner: Pressures were mounting
politically.

Here we are, the big ol' FBI
made to be look powerless.

Why can't we get this done?

Ronan:
Now about six weeks into the
siege, the attorney general,

Janet Reno,
was briefed by the FBI,

and she was told it was possible
the children inside

were in imminent danger.

Potok: She was told
that it was very likely

the children were being abused
inside the compound.

We were concerned
for the children.

Based on everything we knew,

the possibility existed now
or some time in the future

of what he might do
to the children,

what he might do
to all of them.

I think Janet Reno had the wool
pulled over her eyes

as far as political things
are done in Washington.

The FBI knew how to
push her buttons.

My criticism of that process
was that on-scene command

and tactical people,

along with
some military experts,

briefed the attorney general.

No negotiators'
input was sought.

And so once again, all of
the progress that had been made

by the negotiators
was being undermined

by the FBI agents on the scene

who wanted to take
much more aggressive tactics.

Sage: I'd get notice,
on-scene commander,

"We're done with this.

This siege is over.

We're gonna bring this
to a conclusion."

Man: You are under arrest.

This standoff is over.

I tell you what,
being an American first,

I'm the kind of guy that
I'll stand in front of a tank.

You can run over me, but I'll
be biting one of the tracks.

Reporter: Negotiations between
David Koresh's followers

and Federal Agents
appear to be going nowhere.

Agents seem to be sending
messages to David Koresh.

"We are losing patience, and we
do not want children harmed."

Sage: On the 18th of April, I'd
get notice to call Jeff Jamar,

on-scene commander.

He says, "We're done with this.

This siege is over.

We're gonna bring this
to a conclusion."

I had no idea what had
driven this

because we just agreed
to give them up to two weeks

to write this manuscript.
What's changed?

The FBI all of a sudden was fed
up waiting for David Koresh

to finish his Seven
Seals manuscript.

The plan was designed to induce
serious negotiations

or the evacuation
of the compound.

We made the best judgment
we could based on

all the circumstances,

that this was the best time
to escalate the pressure.

What was identified to be used

was what's commonly
called CS gas, or tear gas.

Noesner:
In a barricaded situation,

gas is often effectively
used to,

in essence, encourage
or force a surrender.

Reavis: You get burned.

It irritates the nasal passages
and the lungs,

but it doesn't kill you.

♪♪

My job was to broadcast to them
that this siege was over,

that it's time for them
to come out.

It's time to depart
from that building.

Ronan: The people inside
the compound were given

an ultimatum by the FBI.

Come out now, or the tear gas
was coming in.

Sage: They had the opportunity
to signal us

that they were prepared now
to come out,

and the tear gas would never
have been inserted. Never.

You are not to come out of the
building with any type of weapon

or anything that would appear
to be a firearm.

Doyle: When Byron Sage got
on the loud speaker,

the ones that were awake

began waking up the ones
that were asleep.

Sage: We do not intend to enter
your building at this time.

This is not an assault.

We've got the other agents
up forward in the house,

watching for any sign
that they want to come out.

They used the booms of the tanks
to spray in CS gas.

Sage: The gas you smell
and will continue to detect

is a nonlethal tear gas.

I heard Steve yelling to people
to put gas masks on.

So it was indicative that
we weren't just coming out.

Man:
See, they've made a massive hole
in the side of that building.

Doyle: They were actually
bulldozing the building,

making holes in the walls.

Wessinger:
They used grenade launchers
to fire in ferret rounds

that break on impact
and release CS gas.

Sage: The thinking was this --

If you injected tear gas into
this room with my wife

and kids and grandkids,
I would move Heaven and Earth

to get them to a position
of safety,

and that's what
we were banking on.

Doyle:
If it got on any bare skin,
it acted like battery acid.

Women were coming down
and soaking blankets or towels

or whatever in bucket of water,

and they would wrap
the kids up in it.

Capps:
You are seeing another one of
these CEV vehicles moving in,

and it looks like
he's about ready to turn it

and punch another hole
in the building.

I think virtually all of us

expected to see
people coming out.

You know, these are parents

with their very small children
in there,

and the building is
crashing down around them,

and these huge CS
gas projectiles

are being tossed
into the building.

And the building
is filling with this gas.

I remember looking out the hole
in the South wall.

There was a tank right across
the grass from us,

a guy outside the tank
with a gun.

I remember going, "If we jump
out of the hole,

do you think they'll shoot us?"

There's a certain amount
of hesitation as to what to do.

Sage: You are under arrest.

This standoff is over.

We grossly underestimated
the amount of control

that David Koresh
had over those people.

I will never understand
how a parent could have allowed

their children
to undergo that type of thing.

And all of a sudden, you know,

all of us see the same thing
at the same moment.

There's a lick of flame

that comes out of one side
of the building.

And then all of a sudden,
you see one fire,

two fires, three fires.

Capps: Now we have a very
large-scale fire breaking out

on what might be the south side.

Once I saw the flames,
the requests turned into a plea.

You claim to be the leader.

You claim to be the prophet.

You claim to be the messiah.

The time is to lead
your people out now.

I said, "David, don't end it
this way."

Woman:
There's a great deal of smoke
coming out of the building.

I remember hearing a voice,
somebody yelling from upstairs,

"the building's on fire."

Reporter: Winds gusting up to 30
miles an hour fueled the fire,

and in minutes, the compound
was engulfed in flame.

Potok: It was mind-blowing
to see this happening.

People are dying as you watch.

Doyle: I could feel this
tremendous heat over my head.

It was so, so hot
and so oppressive,

and it kind of pushed me
down onto the ground,

and I'm praying pretty much
the whole time, like,

"God, if you're gonna do
a miracle, you better hurry up

and do it
because it's getting hot."

It was some massive flames.

I remember seeing the skin
rolling off my hands.

I thought there's no way

that anyone's
gonna come out alive.

Martin: I just kept hoping that
the children at least,

that my four children
had been saved.

Woman:
A large part of the compound,
the Branch Davidians' complex,

known to them as Mount Carmel,
is in flames.

Doyle: I began to hear voices
further in behind me,

in the building, screaming,

and that kind of galvanized me
to jump onto the ground.

I remember seeing the skin
rolling off my hands,

and I kind of I looked back
over my shoulder

at the hole I just came out of,
and it was a mass of flames.

I thought, "Oh, my God.

Nobody is gonna
come out after that."

Capps: As the flames
consumed the compound,

David Koresh's vision
of an apocalypse was fulfilled.

Sage: The on-scene commander
comes up to me,

put his hand on my shoulder
and he says,

"Well, looks like
negotiations are over.

You've got the crime scene."

And he left,
and I was dumbfounded.

Martin: I just kept hoping that
the children at least,

that my four children,
had been saved.

They said, you know,
"We're gonna get back to you.

And we'll find out if any of
the people that came out

are any of your family."

You're realizing,
"These people are gone."

Doyle: I learned that my
daughter hadn't made it.

It tears you up inside,

thinking of the pain
and the horror

and the fear and everything else
she probably went through.

That entire building was reduced
to about 18 inches of rubble.

Within the rubble, authorities
found more than 300 weapons.

Most of them were legal,
however,

they did find some illegal
weapons such as AR-15s

which had been converted
from a semiautomatic

to automatic weapons.

The children were all confined
in a cement room.

Most of whom are shot
at point-blank range.

Reavis: Parents killing their
own children

because the fire
was closing in on them.

Sage: I wish I had never looked
inside that room.

It was just so devastating,
so tragic.

Steve Schneider and David Koresh

were located right near
the front door of the compound,

and both had died
from single gunshot wounds.

The conclusion most people
come to

is that Schneider shot Koresh
and then shot himself.

Capps: Many questions remain
unanswered here

as investigators continue
searching through the rubble,

looking for clues.

Many of the people
that live here say,

as far as blame,
there's plenty to go around.

I approved the plan,
and I'm responsible for it.

The FBI became fed up with
waiting for David Koresh

to write his Seven
Seals manuscript.

The FBI would claim David Koresh
was not writing

his interpretation
of the Seven Seals.

If David would have sent out
proof of his progress

as he'd promised,

I don't think we ever
would have moved forward.

We never received anything.

We have absolute
certain intelligence

that the first seal
wasn't even started.

Arnold: But, a Branch Davidian,
Ruth Riddle, survived the fire,

and she brought out
evidence to the contrary.

Reavis: Ruth Riddle jumped
out of Mount Carmel

with a disk in her pocket,

which is Koresh's explanation
on the first seal.

You can read it
on the web today.

Reporter: It's all over in Waco,

but did it have to end
like this?

This whole incident
is an American tragedy.

I think it was a warning
and a lesson to all of us.

It was the beginning of the end

of these really aggressive
siege tactics.

The decision to send tanks
and tear gas in,

where they knew that
there were women and children

that had nothing to do
with any crime,

that's a terrible,
terrible decision.

I think Waco reinforced for me
what I believed for a long time.

We really have to listen
to other people.

We don't have to agree
with them,

but listening is the cheapest
concession we can make.

DeGuerin:
Was Koresh partly to blame
because he refused to come out?

Sure, but in his defense
and in the defense of those

who did not surrender,
this was their home.

They had no reason
to give up their home, none.

♪♪

The government violated
their Constitutional rights.

Waco became this rallying cry
for the radical right.

It was all stupid. But what
about the babies and the women?

Don't you care about them?

Anti-government protesters
believed

the government was infringing on
the right of people to own guns

and, most importantly, that it
was killing American citizens.

Timothy McVeigh
had been at Waco,

selling bumper stickers

and peddling his
anti-government theories.

Just -- Just arrived today.

Potok:
Timothy McVeigh, on the second
anniversary of the Waco fire,

would carry out
the ultimate act of revenge.

McVeigh constructed an enormous
bomb and murdered 168 people.

Reporter: The Murrah Federal
Office building in Oklahoma City

was ripped apart
by a truck bomb.

Reporter 2:
You can see just smoke and
debris and fire on the ground.

It's just devastating.

Potok: Oklahoma City was bombed
by Timothy McVeigh

explicitly in response to Waco.

The Oklahoma City bombing
sparked renewed interest

in the government's
handling of the Waco siege,

with the public
demanding answers

as to what exactly
went wrong.

This led to a special counsel
investigation

into the events at Waco

led by former U.S. Senator
John Danforth.

The subsequent Danforth report,
released in 2000,

cleared the ATF and FBI
of conspiracy to commit murder,

but it also criticized the FBI's
aggressive tactics at Waco.

In the years since,
the agency has made changes.

Waco is now the FBI's
"never again,"

and these days,
when Federal Agents

are up against
armed extremists,

they resort to
a nonaggressive approach

they call "infinite patience."

I'm Hill Harper.

Thanks for watching.