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Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America

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This book shows the human side of the Branch Davidians that was certainly missing in the sensationalistic portrayal presented by the media. Rather than seeing the Branch Davidians as mindless followers of a madman, Tabor and Gallagher show the reader the history, theology and genuine fervency of the movement, as well as David Koresh.
This book does well to show the other side to the Waco tragedy. One that is often missing when discussing "cults" or new religious movements. One realizes that the true tragedy perhaps is the unnecessary loss of lives in Waco due to government fumbling, media sensationalism and anti-cult misdoings.
It is informative and easy-to-read and gives much food for thought on the saliency of the media in forming our opinions.

Now that a Chinese version of Martin Luther Stonehood is an official monument to American religion, the contents of the book Why Waco? (1995) by James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher provide a picture of what religion means to some Americans who wish to be free of everybody else. Someone who personified himself as David Koresh in Texas found that the federal government wished to impose its power over him as soon as William Jefferson Clinton became President of the United States of America in 1993.

Chicken out!

The FBI became involved after BATF ran out of ammunition on February 28, 1993. David Koresh was expected to come out and surrender to the authorities, but when he did not, and proclaimed that he was waiting on God's word, the FBI suspected that he had planned to blow himself up on national TV when he came out but lost his nerve and chickened out. Modern security measures include a check for explosive underwear as suicide bombers have made the FBI more concerned about security than about the ordinary crimes that could be made up in retaliation for not being treated like dust in a society that pulverizes whatever has not already been nailed down. Electricity was shut off but search lights kept the property lit through the night, and the vehicles of the Branch Davidians were crushed or removed by armored vehicles.

End of the world!

David Koresh was expecting the end of the world to be in 1995. He considered the American empire a new Babylon and found scripture to support his view that Koresh was an expected prophet capable of explaining the transcendental nature of life in his own time. This is mainly the point that interests James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher, the authors of Why Waco?

Triumph of the therapeutic!

American ideas about cults as groups of people under the control of a person who considers himself their prophet. As an example of how common events became a heavenly sign for the Branch Davidians, I quote:

Paul Harvey had mentioned
a "guitar-shaped nebula"
on his national radio news report. (p. 12).

According to the Gospels,
Jesus had predicted that
shortly before the end
such heavenly signs would appear.
The Davidians were particularly
impressed that this comet had been
described as having a guitarlike shape,
since Koresh had always understood his
role as a guitar player in his rock band
to be an integral part of his prophetic mission. (p. 12).

On March 7, 1993, Phillip Arnold and James Tabor offered their services to the FBI. The Koresh tape of March 2 convinced them that they should communicate directly with David Koresh. On March 16, Koresh and Schneider made a formal request to the FBI that they be allowed to discuss the Bible with Arnold. On April 1, Arnold and Tabor had a discussion on the Ron Engleman daily talk show on radio station KGBS. An attorney, Dick DeGuerin, was allowed to take a tape of this discussion to Koresh on April 4. On April 14, Koresh released a letter announcing that he would come out as soon as he completes a manuscript for Arnold and Tabor.

Crimes against humor!

By shifting to the transcendental level of theology, David Koresh thought he had found a way for people of this generation to be saved. His letter said:

I thank my Father.
He has finally granted me
the chance to do this.
It will bring new light
and hope for many
and they will not have
to deal with me the person. (p. 15).

As soon as I can see
that people like Jim Tabor
and Phil Arnold have a copy
I will come out and then
you can do your thing
with this beast. (p. 16).

Counterintelligence loves to work itself into a situation where someone else thinks everything is going according to the transcendental scheme of things, like Jesus riding into Jerusalem, just before pulling the rug out from under him. The martyrdom of Branch Davidians and the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was right in line with the mocking nature of lamestream American superpower policies. I quote:

The FBI immediately responded
to this latest breakthrough
with ridicule.
They joked about Koresh,
the high-school dropout,
writing a book
and labeled Koresh's
"word from God"
nothing more than
another "delay tactic"
to prolong the agony
of the siege for his
own purposes. (p. 17).

People who work for the FBI do not expect to be saved by anything pulled out of the Bible by someone who was not considered a saint, as the Apostle Paul is being recognized continuously in Minnesota by having a capital city name Saint Paul and Saint Peter has his own Minnesota city for people who never want to move away from Second Peter, Chapter 2. Just for the record, by April, 1993, I quote:

on the whole the government
did not trust Koresh
and considered him
insincere and manipulative. (p. 17).

Dr. Miron noted that Koresh's
discussion in the letter of
mundane issues such as
book rights, and his ability to
contact his lawyer
after he `comes out,'
were future oriented
and therefore inconsistent
with typical suicide precursors
such as self-blame, guilt,
or despair. (p. 18).

Such perceptions,
whether valid or not,
obscured the only
positive means of dealing with
Koresh and his followers. (p. 21).

That is all taken from the first chapter. An Appendix at the end has the manuscript by David Koresh and a commentary by James D. Tabor and J. Phillip Arnold. Koresh expected a Branch of David "would appear at the end of time and open the Seven Seals. (p. 205). It was "Ben Roden . . . in 1970," (p. 209) who added Branch to the name of the group, and Koresh wanted to be "the actual, final manifestation of the Lamb" (p. 209).

This important book, written by researchers
James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher tells
who the Branch Dividians were, ehy they held
their 'self-apocolyptic' views and what brou-
ght them to the Mount Carmel Complex in the
first place.

What guided this misguided but essentially
harmless groups of 'end-times'ers' to be
masacred by the Federal jack-booted Fascists?

Find out how this (real) American 'holacaust'
happened and how to prevent another episode of
the Feds killing sprees in the future. Recom-
mended. - Rich Salzer, Director / Editor, HRL

It is always amusing for me to come across yet another attempt at "Revisionist Koresh History". In this book the author tries to portray David Koresh as a misunderstood religious leader instead of being the evil sociopath that he truly was.The author attempts to give the reader the "Human side" of Koresh's followers.What he fails to describe that it was all a case of "David , please take my wife and daughter, kindly plunder my Bank Account and that way we won't have to think for ourselves anymore".The author glosses over the numerous Charges of Child Abuse while ignoring the fact that Koresh kept the children for 51 days in a hostile environment where there was no running water, electricy, heat or even decent food. As a negotiator with David Koresh the author failed miserably in respect to not getting the innocent children out of harm's way into the care of the proper authorities where they could be given a hot meal, a warm bed and a safe place to live far away from conflict and gunfire.The author tries to show the real humanity of those involved and fails because there was no Humanity in that Compound only a thug who hide behind women and innocent hildren and interpreted the Bible through the barrel of a gun.