University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, April 23, 1993 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4
University Press
Friday, April 23, 1993
Rather predicts inquiry into FBI handling of standoff
Baylor professors offer«
perspective on Koresh ;
By Amy Walker
Baylor Lariat
Special to UP
Though the standoff at Mt.
Carmel is over, CBS Evening News
anchorman Dan Rather said TUesday
that “questions are increasing and
not decreasing.”
Rather, who is in Waco reporting
on the compound fire believed to
have killed 87 people, said the
media are receiving conflicting
reports from federal agents and sur-
viving cult members on the cause of
Monday’s fire.
“What is the truth?” and “Who
set the fire?” are questions being
raised, Rather said.
“But the key question is, ‘How
can it be done better next time?’” he
Amnesty—
Continued from page 2
young. He said the Holocaust was an
onslaught against social conscience
and civilized law.
He said that after that war the
world vowed such a thing would
never happen again, and the United
Nations was formed in 1946.
He handed out copies of the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly on Dec.
asked, referring to the resolution of
life-threatening hostage situations.
Rather said FBI Director William
Sessions might face new obstacles in
keeping his job.
“He already had some difficulties
before this happened,” Rather said.
“I expect at least one congressional
hearing as a result of this situation.
Washington could see aftershocks.”
Rather said the FBI may not be
the only federal agency hurt by the
tragic end to the controversial assault
on the compound.
“There may be some controversy
of whether we should keep the
ATF,” he said. The Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was
responsible for the Feb. 28 assault in
which four ATF agents and report-
edly six cult members were killed.
10, 1948. The declaration recognizes
the inherent dignity and inalienable
rights of all people as the foundation
of freedom and peace in the world
and lists 30 articles of fundamental
political, social, cultural and econom-
ic rights.
Halperin issued a call for action
to abolish the death penalty, saying
that there are clear alternatives to
the electric chair, firing squad, gas
Rather said that despite the criti-
cism the FBI and ATF agents have
received, he thinks both agencies
have handled the situation excep-
tionally well.
He said he admires the ATF for
its professional performance in a
number of cases, especially in
February’s bombing of the World
Trade Center in New York City.
Though some people question
the ATF’s involvement in the cult
standoff because of the religious ele-
ment, Rather said he thinks the ATF
was the appropriate agency to handle
the initial confrontation.
“I don’t have much stomach for
finger pointing,” he said.
Though Rather said he does not
agree with the Branch Davidians’
resistance, he said, “It is not a crime
chamber, hanging and lethal poison
injections. He suggested long-term
imprisonments with no parole, say-
ing that the death penalty is not
working. He advocated longer
imprisonment terms with no parole.
“We enter the 21st century, hav-
ing sent space ships out of this
galaxy that can take close-up pic-
tures of comets and planets,” he
said. “Still, we must recoil in horror
for them to believe what they
believe.”
The media have been “remark-
ably restrained and responsible,” he
said.
Rather said the media’s job is to
provide legitimate, honest informa-
tion and get as close to the truth as
possible. He stressed the difference
between the “press" and the enter-
tainment business.
“We don’t pay for interviews at
CBS News, but I have no argument
if an entertainment network wants to
pay for them,” Rather said. “It’s their
integrity, not mine.”
Tuesday, Gov. Ann Richards visit-
ed Waco and said the tragedy at Mt.
Carmel had a personal impact on her
life because it occurred in her home-
town.
in looking at concentration and rape
camps in the former Yugoslavia.
How in heaven’s name does this
happen? Where is the outcry against
it?”
He said the ultimate success of
AI depends on a populace willing to
act. “A pen is one of the most pow-
erful weapons you have,” he said.
“You can actually write a letter or
sign a petition and save a life.”
By Brian Medricka
Baylor Lariat
Special to UP
Charismatic, dynamic and even
energetic, but not psychotic —
Baylor religion and sociology profes-
sors agree that these describe David
Koresh.
Tillman Rodabough, sociology
professor, said these characteristics
would attract vulnerable, “needy”
people to Koresh. Finding Koresh,
his followers gave up their freedom
and conformed to his “better world”
psychology.
“I believe most (of the followers)
thought they were going to win one
way or another,” Rodabough said.
“They believed that God was on
their side.”
With his ability to memorize and
expound large portions of scripture
in short amounts of time, he
appealed to the emotions of his fol-
lowers, James Breckenridge, religion
professor, said.
Once he convinced them to
adopt his views of the world, he
slowly revealed to them his claim to
be the Lamb of God.
“If people have this image, they
have the ingredients to follow and
believe,” Breckenridge said.
Isolation also may have enabled
Koresh to brainwash his followers so )
they would not consider alternatives
to suicide, Rodabough suggested.
He said because Koresh's followers *
could not communicate with their
families or the outside world, there
was no reality check. ,
Rodabough said he would not be
surprised if some of those who died
did not do so voluntarily. k
“In any mass suicide, not every-
one chooses,” he said.
Breckenridge said the account of f
the last seal in Revelation 8:5 could
be another reason Koresh’s followers r
believed mass suicide was a way to' .
display their loyalty.
In this passage, an angel hurls *
fire at the earth. Thunder, lightning
and an earthquake follow.
“By setting fire to the place, the *
followers believed they were precip-
itating this apocalyptic event and
that God would respond,” he said. 4
Both professors said, though, that .
the children left in the compound
were innocent victims. *
4
Rodabough said, “The children
could have been resocialized, but *
they had no choice.” f
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Koresh cult,
Jonestown •
M
share common
*
tragic endings j
By Associated Press
...... t>
GEORGETOWN, Guyana —
People here have seen it all before:
the prophet, his cult, the deaths of *
his followers. The big difference was
the tragedy of Jim Jones’ People’s
Temple was far deadlier than the 4
fiery end of David Koresh and his
disciples.
The November 1978 mass sui- 4
cide of more than 900 people |
shamed this South American nation
for years, and Guyanese noted *
Tuesday the similarities between ,
Jonestown and the destruction of
Koresh’s cult complex in Texas a.day '
earlier. „ +
Jonestown “was a lesson for all,”
yet the world did not learn, Sharif
Khan, editor of the Guyana-*
Chronicle, told the AP in an inter-
view from his office.
“This is almost like what hap- i
pened at Jonestown. They
(American authorities) had all the
signs from the beginning just like f
we had in Guyana, and yet they
were not able to deal with it success-
fully,” he said. ?
Fourteen years ago, Khan ven-1
tured to Jonestown with U.S. Rep.
Leo Ryan seeking to get children *
and others out of the camp following.,
reports of abuses. Jones’ henchmen
fired on Ryan’s delegation at the air- 4
port — and the California congress- ^
men was killed, prompting Jones’
suicide order to his flock.
“Jones was also a charismatic,
leader who appeared to have people
under his spell, like Koresh,” Khan ■
said, adding that Jones engaged in *
similar stalling techniques to thwart
investigations. With Jones in mind, .
Americans should have wasted no ^
time “neutralizing” Koresh, Khan
concluded.
After the Jonestown tragedy,*
President Forbes Burnham tried to
distance himself from the jungle
refuge he had protected, calling the 4
disaster “an American incident”
because most of those killed were
U.S. nationals. *
The opposition blamed Burnham *
for permitting arms at the remote
site, in northwest Guyana near’
Venezuela; and journalists accused ^
his government of accepting money
and sex from Jones’ followers in*
exchange for silence. .
Julie Johnson, 14 at the time,
remembered how frightened she and *
others who lived not far from*
Jonestown were at the news of the
Jonestown tragedy.
Questioned Tuesday on at
Georgetown street about the Texas
cult, the fearful memory forced an
almost reflexive answer from the for-»
mer schoolteacher.
“Live-in cults should be
banned,” she said. “You never know*
what’s happening inside. It was the.
same thing with Jim Jones. He had
all those guns and nobody knew.” *
Guyana has tried hard to forget
Jonestown.
The site is nearly overgrown, and*
successive governments have made
no effort to place a monument there.
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Bankston, Mark. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, April 23, 1993, newspaper, April 23, 1993; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499716/m1/4/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lamar University.