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

DATE: FRIDAY, July 21, 1995                   TAG: 9507210090
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CONGRESS

OBVIOUSLY, the siege at Waco began badly and ended badly.

At the beginning, on Feb. 28, 1993, four agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were killed and others injured when they attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Branch Davidian leader David Karesh for possession of illegal weapons and explosives.

At the end, on April 19 of that year, Karesh and more than 80 of his followers, including about 20 children, died amid a blaze first spotted after the FBI had pumped tear gas into holes punched in the compound walls by battering rams.

Obviously, too, mistakes were made.

A Treasury Department report concluded that ATF agents were negligent in going ahead with the raid even after learning that Karesh had somehow been tipped off, in being less than forthright in a congressional investigation soon after the conflagration, and in other ways.

On Wednesday, a second congressional probe got under way, this time under Republican control. Perhaps it will add to the findings of the Treasury report; at the least, perhaps it can satisfy reasonable people that all the knowable facts are known.

That said, let us remember the difference between mistakes and criminality.

That's easier after the grim opening-day testimony of Kirl Jewell, 14, a former Branch Davidian. Jewell described Karesh's sexual assault on her when she was 10, and spoke of his sexual relations with other girls 13 and 14, and with her mother.

Let us remember, too, that - however poorly conceived or executed the initial raid may have been - it is wrong to respond to a warrant by shooting down the arresting officers.

Let us remember, in short, who holds the lion's share of responsibility for the debacle. To question the actions of the authorities, and hold them accountable for those actions, is appropriate. If the purpose of the renewed probe is to clear up lingering questions, and not simply to embarrass a Democratic administration, then it also is appropriate.

But to make of Karesh some kind of martyr, some sort of innocent prophet, is ludicrous.

by CNB