A historical tour of the evolution of modern domestic terrorism. It covers in some detail an encounter with a member of the Aryan Brotherhood around 1990, which I'd never heard of before, then the shootout at Ruby Ridge, which killed people on both sides of the issue, then David Koresh and his Christian Book-of-Revelations approach to domestic warfare. It's surprising how much more confusion existed among the agents of social control than among their targets.
At Ruby Ridge, the FBI stumbled into what they'd been led to believe was an active firefight. Under those conditions the prevailing rule was to shoot any armed adult. Well, the problem was that all of the few adults in the cabin at Ruby Ridge always went about armed. So did the leader's 14 year old son, who was shot and killed. The result: a firestorm of anger directed at the federal government. Some placed blame on the Middle East. A synagogue in Texas was burned.
It was even worse at Waco. The head honcho, David Koresh, had been predicting an invasion of the compound by federal forces and his many followers had been buying guns of all sort, including .50 caliber machine guns, and hand grenades. They had plenty of time to organize a resistance, and they did. Cf., North Korea at this particular point in time. At some point, the fear of an invasion becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The ATF staged an ill-organized attack on the compound about an hour after Koresh had been warned and again people died and were wounded on both sides. The FBI were again brought in. This time they had a handle on the situation, but there was an internal division within the agency. Two sections of the FBI were more or less at odds. The Hostage Rescue team was fully prepared to use more military force against the Waco compound. The Negotiation team was hard at work trying to establish a peaceful surrender. The problem is that negations are nothing more than "talkin' words", as John Wayne might have put it. First order force was more satisfying because it hurts the enemy and doesn't tax our patience too much.
The Hostage Rescue team got the green light from AG Janet Reno and the attack that Koresh had been predicting took place. The Branch Dividians were about to ascend into heaven. Massive firing was opened; tanks rolled across the cars in Koresh's parking lot, the the group's members spread fuel and set it on fire, nine of the eighty or so adults escaped, and everyone else inside died, including women and children. Many Americans were on the side of Koresh, who's beliefs were based on his interpretation of Biblical text. The first assault by the ATF was seen as a federal attempt to take away citizens' guns. Another tsunami of anger against the agents of control swept through the country. The hatred of the federal government was taking shape.
Myriad visitors were drawn to Waco during the engagement. Koresh was not a racist but he received support from white supremacist groups who drew their cause together with Koresh's and blended the two. Among the visitors to the battle was 24 year old Timothy McVeigh, who sold bumper stickers that were pro-gun and anti-government. McVeigh's subsequent career as a domestic terrorist is reasonably well known and occupies the last hour of this two-hour program. He chose as a target the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City because it housed a number of federal bureaucracies, including Social Security and recruiting offices for the Army, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. It also included a Day Care Center. Nine of the pre-schoolers died and numerous other were injured. There are some heartbreaking photos of the children and their wounds.
The viewer marvels at the combination of luck and assiduous effort exercised by the FBI and the other agents of social control that finally brought McVeigh and two of his less-involved friends into federal custody.
McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to death, which he counted as a victory because the government was killing only one person -- McVeigh himself -- while he was responsible for the murder of 169 people. Part of his response to the interrogators was "You can't handle the truth," a popular line of dialog that was featured in the film, "A Few Good Men," which had appeared three years before the explosion. I'm constantly surprised at how often this line crops up in internet chat rooms because, after all, it means nothing since it incorporates two baseless assumptions: (1) I know what the "truth" is, and (2) you're not prepared to acknowledge that I know it.
There are still photos, interviews with many of the people involved, newsreel footage, and no reenactment. It's a splendid, thorough documentary program.
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