Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is not a pipe, February 28, 2004
The title of this book, recalling Magritte's "The treachery of images", comes from what the loudspeakers were blaring as the tanks rolled into and over the Davidian's home. Just as "this is not a pipe" referred not to the pipe but to the painting of a pipe, the book really isn't about the assault, it's about the coverup of the assault. Because it's one thing for a rogue agency to decide that such an assault is necessary; it's yet another thing to realize that the agency knew that the assault was both illegal and would not hold up to public scrutiny, and went into coverup mode from the beginning. The sheer brazenness of the ATF's (and later the FBI's) claims about how evidence went missing is incredible. First, the ATF claimed that there was no video footage and no still footage; when Hardy proved that there were at least two still cameras and four video cameras, it turned out that ATF was having massive troubles on February 28. One still camera's owner "forgot to take pictures". One still camera was stolen from a room under control of the ATF. The automatic video camera across the street failed for no known reason. The video camera near the radio van also failed, and, oh, we gave the tape away without making a copy. A forward observer's video camera may have existed once, but we can't find it anymore. The overhead video camera in the helicopter worked fine--except for the important moment when the gunfight began. Yes, there was another video camera in that helicopter; here's the footage--which also inexplicably failed at the exact same moment. The disappearances were universal. Even the blank videotape from the failing video camera across the street disappeared. So did the door that both Davidians and ATF claimed would prove their case. Throughout this book, you come to care less about whose fault it was or how horrible either side was, but about the incredible blatantness of the ATF and FBI coverup. Evidence lost, cameras from multiple sources all inexplicably losing video at the same, important, time. Still cameras disappearing from the evidence table; videotape from multiple sources but all aimed at the same location all disappearing; the mysterious front door. All gone, none of it the fault of Davidians, but of government agents. And a massive, twelve million dollar Justice Department investigation not doing anything about it except indicting the one whistle-blower who brought one of those disappearances to light. If it hadn't been for Bill Johnston, no one would know about the incendiary devices used at Waco by the FBI, or even about the twelve tons of evidence held by the Texas Rangers. When ex-Senator Danforth's Justice investigation was over, he spent pages and pages explaining why all the other cases of perjury weren't worth litigating over--only the whistleblower deserved to be arrested. He might as well have just taken that twelve million dollars and erected a gigantic neon billboard over Washington DC saying "Of course it was the ATF and FBI's fault!" Hardy's book is poorly edited but brilliantly written; the hunt for official documents is fascinating; the analysis of those documents chilling. Liberals who fear a police state will have their fears confirmed, and Conservatives who believe in strong law enforcement should receive a wake up call from "This Is Not An Assault."
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb! The most recent, and most comprehensive, treatment, November 20, 2002
The topic of Waco has traditionally attracted extreme types -- conspiracy buffs who see mysterious plots everywhere, and knee-jerk defenders of government. This book is a serious treatment of the Waco incident which avoids both approaches. It is highly critical of the ATF/FBI actions, and carefully analyses them as part of a dangerous trend toward militarizing what could be peaceful law enforcement actions. This book is neither on the political left nor the political right.... it draws high praise from conservatives, and from Gore Vidal. In my eyes, the latter is decisive; when America's most brilliant living author praises an unknown writer's text, nothing more needs to be said. The book carefully documents the evidence from which each conclusion is drawn. We are neither handed the authors' conclusions on a platter, nor buried as they plod through unorganized data. The points are made, the evidence set out, and the reader is assumed to be intelligent enough to make his own judgment. That said, the authors' insight is at times astonishing. They pick up details of a radio call overheard on a media videotape -- details of how a government sniper dons his equipment on a government-made videotape -- how dozens of 911 call tapes can be interlinked to give a solid timeline on the entire event. Like Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, these writers not only see, but observe. This book took not only writing skill, but first-rate intellectual abilities. One warning to the reader: the first 10% of the book is a sedate summing up of the traditional view of the Waco incident. At that point, put on your seat belts, because the book suddenly kicks into gear! This is not a detached history of events, but a narrative written by interesting, energetic, and obviously extremely intelligent authors, one of whom who was personally involved in much of the history he documents. By his account, he started in trying to write a scholarly treatment of trends in law enforcement -- and found himself stepping through the looking glass. One astonishing book, and the best yet on Waco.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Waco Story is NOT about "gun nuts" and pedophilia, February 21, 2003
This review is from: This Is Not An Assault: Penetrating the Web of Official Lies Regarding the Waco Incident (Paperback)
This book is superb, and should be read by anyone with an interest in the relationship between the State and the people of the U.S., a category that should include any and every sentient adult in the land. This book and Dick Reavis's "Ashes of Waco" are the two essential reads for the general reader who wants to get the real story about the Waco incident, although there is much more in print and on the web worth delving into. With respect to Travis Friedrich's assesment that the book is long on conspiracy theory and short on facts, I can't help but think one of the following must be true: 1) he did not actually read the book, 2) he is not a capable reader, or 3) his review is an act of disinformation, intended to steer the curious away from the truth. This book is packed with detail and corroborative evidence, almost to the point of being a fault.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
