William Gazecki’s “Waco: Rules of Engagement”
William Gazecki’s “Waco: Rules of Engagement” released in 1997 is a bleak and unsettling documentary, but a significant one (Boxturtle). It establishes a strong case that the US government involvement in the Waco series of events was a Bill of Rights nightmare. The film presents the complete different picture of the events outside Waco, Texas in 1993 that contradicted the news reported by the media outlets regarding what led to the shooting of four federal agents and the death of 86 members of the Branch Davidians’ religious sect. Branch Davidians had a weird set of beliefs, which are not peculiar since there are many other religions worldwide that have weirder ones. And based on the film, it is pretty clear that the original raid planned was indeed a publicity stunt to get the attention of Americans and the media with the final assault being a government riot caused by uniformed boys with no sufficient evidence to murder innocent children, men, and women. The film examines all the interaction details between David Koresh who was the cult leader, his followers, and the Criminal Justice system, which encompasses a set of agencies and processes, which aim to control and minimize crime and impose penalties on those who are found guilty. In this paper, the relations between the Waco: Rules of Engagement and the Criminal Justice System in the documentary will be reviewed.
The Tragedy Unfolds
The documentary takes the audience from start to finish of the tragedy. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) raided the cult members’ compound on 28th February, 1993, because David Koresh and some of his sect followers had allegedly illegally converted some of the semiautomatic-only AR-15 guns to fire in a fully automatic mode in preparation for his “The Coming of Apocalypse.” The documentary makes the case that ATF agents’ initial assault on the Branch Davidians’ compound was conducted to gain publicity based on repairing its tarnished image during the 1990s. According to the director, the cult members were tipped off when media vans arrived in the scene 30 minutes before ATF. The misguided raid, later on, turned into a shootout. Nevertheless, the film fails to tell the viewers who first fired the shot with each side providing a different account. This makes the audience confused regarding the matter. However, regardless of who started firing, the ATF tried to cover up for their acts, thereby involving the FBI who further mishandled the negotiations ending up gassing, shooting, and burning the 86 members, thus violating their civil liberties that the Criminal Justice System is supposed to protect. The law states that one is innocent until proven guilty; however, the Branch Davidian’s were never granted their rights. If this film is to be believed, then the Branch Davidians were a group of harmless controversial cult members who were merely singled out for attention by ATF for crimes, contrived or real, involving possession of rifles, which is far from illegal in the state of Texas.
The FBI's Untruthfulness
In dealing with the integrity of the Criminal Justice system, the documentary shows that the Federal Bureau of Investigations lied to the public concerning how the Branch Davidians committing suicide by setting themselves on fire while in real sense; it was the FBI who started the fire by penetrating the victims’ compound with pyrotechnics, which is a highly combustible teargas. Even more disturbing, Gazecki contradicts the FBI’s statement that its agents did not fire any shot on the victims or in the compound. The documentary manages to show infrared tapes, which are heat sensitive suggesting that at least two independent analysts have confirmed that some of the sect members were shot with automatic weapons while they were trying to escape from the fire. It brings liberal excerpts from the congressional hearing and television news footage on Waco, which some aired even on CNN. The film also uses audio excerpts that highlight all the information concerning the FBI’s investigation with cult members, home video footage of the agents of FBI moving the tanks to the Branch Davidians’ building, and also home recorded videos of the sect members during the 51 day stand-off, which were recorded by the government surveillance planes. Among the images, there was also a picture of the autopsy of an 8-year-old girl that was charred and distorted. If this film is to be believed, then the FBI violated the integrity of the justice system by conspiring to murder innocent victims who never posed a threat to the agency. During the standoff, the agency could have used a better strategy such as employing a skilled negotiator to make the cult members surrender for further investigation of the claim brought forward by the ATF, then punished or released if not found guilty.
The Tone of the Film
The tone of the film is calm with a systematic strategy in offering pieces of evidence that are in favor or against the Civil Justice System regarding the event. Throughout the 165 minutes, the conscientiously documentary guides the audience on understanding the issue of civil and human rights and how it applied to the Branch Davidians through the use of attestations. All through the documentary, testimonies from both sides are well presented with exclusive shots by the director, thus making it persuasive. This gives the audience a fair share of coming up with their conclusions based on the evidence provided by the witnesses and other people involved in the tragedy. And of course through the power of built-in truth detectors, instinct, that all human have the audience can quickly detect whether the witnesses are lying or not regarding their account of the events. Those who are arguing against the government seems to be telling the truth since their eyes reflect inner visions of what occurred during that fateful period whereas the majority of the government defenders, especially Ex-Attorney General Janet Reno, seems to follow a written script since she keeps on repeating pietism phrases. The director of the film manages to show the audience how Reno was insincere. It seems that she was wrongly misled by the FBI, ATF, or other people by relying on their one-sided account of the event. The director’s use of this testimonies assists in convincing the viewers that the Criminal Justice System, especially Reno failed to protect the civil liberties of the Branch Davidson’s cult members.
Judicial Failures
The film also shows how the judiciary failed to uphold the Criminal Justice system. It portrays how the tragedy was instigated by the misinformed directions offered by Attorney General Janet Reno who broke the 51-day stand-off on 19th April by giving the FBI the go-ahead to launch the attacks on the Branch Davidson compound. The agency used the federal tanks in the process by knocking down sections of the compound's building. Through the heat-sensitive recorded tapes, a tank is seen in two places depositing a combustible gas in the structure, and within no less than a minute, the site bursts into the flames. Judges are supposed to follow the courts due process by ensuring every suspect in America is apprehended and taken to trial court before they are proven guilty or not; however, the documentary shows that judge Reno failed to offer the victims that liberty.
Joe Biden's Support
Also at the state level, after the tragic event, the film shows Joe Biden supporting the actions of the federal agents by sneering at the witnesses during the Senate hearings who criticized the efforts of the agencies. Biden later on majorly participated in enacting the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994 that made semiautomatic guns illegal and brought the death penalty for instances such as the murder of an American federal agent among other punishments (Boxturtle).
Conclusion
Gazecki’s painstakingly documentary offers its side of the story, which is persuasive and leaves the audience to make their judgment regarding whether the Branch Davidians were victims or guilty of their crimes; thus their murder was justified. It portrays how the different Civil Justice System levels dealt with the Waco’s event from the judiciary, FBI, ATF, and the legislature. The film also does not say whether the viewer should be moved by shreds of evidence offered in favor and against the government but tries to provide them with the facts. The director was brave to cover such a terrific story, which many people would fear to do so based on the risks involved in it since the research affects influential people in America and the government. Thus, I would recommend it to any American who is interested in understanding how Civil liberties are sometimes mishandled by the Criminal Justice system and would want to create a better America by fighting for the rights of the innocent people. Regarding rating, I would give the film nine out of ten stars.
Work Cited
Boxturtle Johnny. “WACO the Rules of Engagement”. YouTube. 10 Apr 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O78gUTO_1M
