THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 1, 1995 TAG: 9508010001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
I agree with some of your editorial (July 21) that cult leader David Koresh was human garbage who will not be missed. However, like some Democrat members of the House committee investigating the Waco incident, you are trying to obfuscate the issue.
If sexual molestation were the issue, then the cult should have been examined by Texas police officials, not the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The BATF made guns and drugs the primary issue, and by declaring that a drug lab was in the compound BATF involved the military.
A drug lab did not exist, which gives credence that the administration prostituted the posse comitatus statute which exists to protect American civilians from an overzealous military. I am reminded that innocent women and children were killed in this incident, and for Mr. Clinton to declare it was justified is disgusting.
No one has declared Koresh a ``poster boy'' for the Bill of Rights, and we must wait and see if the BATF is guilty of anything. If the recent racist incident in Tennessee is an example of the BATF, then it certainly remains suspect as a lawful police agency. It was a House Democrat, John Dingell, who originally called the BATF ``fascist, jack-booted thugs.''
C. W. CARR
Virginia Beach, July 21, 1995 by CNB