[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 135 (Friday, August 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S12421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                             WACO HEARINGS

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I just wanted to take a few 
moments in morning business today to comment on the Waco hearings 
completed 2 weeks ago in the other body.
  Whatever one thinks of the manner in which those hearings were 
conducted or, indeed, about what happened at Waco itself, several 
important facts bear noting. Federal law enforcement agents risked 
their lives there, as they do every day and four of them died enforcing 
a search warrant authorized by a Federal court order. These are the 
same Federal agents who walk the most dangerous streets in America 
investigating crimes and arresting violent, conscience-less thugs; 
these are the same agents who have infiltrated the most vicious 
organized crime groups and shut them down; these are the same agents 
who have captured kidnappers and rescued the kidnapped; these are the 
same agents to whom we look when terrorists construct bombs and explode 
them in our midst.
  In our horror at the conflagration and deaths at Waco, we should not 
forget who those agents were and are.
  In addition, in too many of the discussions of what happened at Waco, 
there seems to be a blurring of who set in motion the horrible cycle of 
violence and death. There is a tendency on the part of some to hold 
everyone equally responsible for those nightmarish hours because 
Federal law enforcement agents and their supervisors made mistakes--
mistakes they have acknowledged and, most importantly, have taken steps 
not to repeat. We cannot forget that those mistakes were of an entirely 
different character and magnitude that those of David Koresh.
  Indeed, the person who is most responsible for what happened at Waco 
is dead. His death should not justify discounting his responsibility 
for what happened and somehow equating his behavior with the actions of 
Federal law enforcement agencies.
  It is David Koresh who stockpiled automatic weapons and established 
an arsenal large enough to start a war. It is he who fired first. It is 
he who abused some of his followers, psychologically and sexually, 
including a 10-year-old girl. It is he who shot and killed some of his 
followers and it is he who started the fire that killed so many others.
  The hearings in the other body served some good purposes. It reminded 
people what kind of person the Federal agents on the scene were dealing 
with. It reminded everyone that these agents must make life-and-death 
decisions on a daily basis on limited, sometimes conflicting 
information. It reminded everyone that they are human, and so embody 
all the frailties and nobility of human beings of good will.
  Somehow in the understandable concern about whether Federal agents 
had overreacted or acted too quickly at Waco, those points were too 
often overlooked. Our Federal law enforcement officers are some of the 
bravest, most extraordinary citizens I know. They deserve our respect 
and our gratitude.


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