
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993                   TAG: 9309140026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

`THEY WERE DEAD DUCKS'

The bungled, bloody raid that led to a standoff at the Branch Davidian cult compound in Texas in February was supervised by "unqualified people" who did not adjust after learning that they had lost the element of surprise, says an expert who is helping prepare a federal report on the debacle.

Instead, they went ahead with a Trojan-horse plan that depended on taking the members of the cult near Waco by surprise, the expert said, only to be overwhelmed by gunfire that killed four federal agents and wounded 15.

Another source familiar with the plan said: "It was either go in or go home. They were dead ducks."

The field commanders of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms never informed their superiors in Washington that members of the heavily armed cult knew the raiders were coming, the expert said.

A Treasury Department report, expected to be released late this month, will lead to the transfer or forced retirement of at least five high-ranking ATF officials, according to ATF and other law enforcement sources. The failure of the initial raid is being analyzed by six tactical specialists working for the Treasury Department.

"You had unqualified people in charge of a complex operation," said one expert, who did not wish to be named.

The report also will charge that senior ATF officials made misleading statements to the media and to their supervisors in Washington.

by CNB