Never Forget: Interviews With Waco Survivor David Thibodeau and FBI Negotiator Gary Noesner Paint Different Pictures of Tragic Event
by Cassandra Fairbanks
TheGatewayPundit.com
March 3, 2018
Wednesday marked the 25th anniversary of the start of the infamous 51-day standoff near Waco, Texas, between the FBI, ATF and a religious group called the Branch Davidians — the horrific conclusion of which left 76 people dead, including 25 children.
The Gateway Pundit interviewed two people who were each intimately involved with the 1993 siege. One of the men was with law enforcement on the outside and the other was a survivor who viewed it from the inside.
The deadly assault on David Koresh’s Branch Davidian compound took place from February 28 through April 19 over suspected weapons violations. The ATF had attempted to raid the compound and a gun battle ensued, leaving four government agents and six Branch Davidians dead. For the next 50 days, the government would use psychological warfare, such as playing the sound of animals being slaughtered, until ultimately the compound was burned to the ground with nearly everyone still inside.
It is believed by many that the raid was being staged as a success story to make up for the FBI and ATF’s failings at Ruby Ridge, an eleven day stand-off in Idaho in the summer of 1992, where the agencies had botched an arrest and killed a 14-year-old child and his mother while she was holding her 10-month-old baby.
Critics of the tactics used by the FBI and ATF in Waco often point to the fact that Koresh would frequently travel into town alone and would have been easy enough to arrest without incident, but it would have been less flashy for the cameras.
Instead of a success story, the nation watched in horror as weapons of war were used on American civilians and massive amounts of tear gas was lobbed into the compound before being set ablaze — though there is disagreement about who set the actual fire. Janet Reno claimed at the time that her reason for approving the final gas attack was that the FBI had told her Koresh was sexually abusing children and beating babies during the standoff. The FBI later denied that there was any evidence of this.
To mark the historic date, the Paramount Network concluded their breathtaking six-part mini series. The show angered critics for their sympathetic portrayal of the group as complex human beings instead of the crazed “religious cult” members that the government sought to portray them as at the time.
While the entire series was jaw dropping, one quiet moment in the finale really captured my attention — the real David Thibodeau, who escaped from the fire on that fateful day, and FBI negotiator Gary Noesner, who had fought tirelessly to end the standoff without violence, appeared together. They had reunited for the first time to both work as advisers on Paramount’s retelling and made brief cameos during the final episode.
The Gateway Pundit spoke to both Thibodeau and Noesner, separately, to get their opinions on the show as well as their perspectives from opposite sides of this dark spot in American history. Though there is mutual respect between the two men, their views on what happened on that final day stand in stark opposition — especially when it comes to who started the fire and why none of the children made it out of the inferno.
The Rest…HERE
