[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 31 (Wednesday, March 12, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E452-E453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  WACO

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 12, 1997

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I was encouraged to come across this recent 
review in the Austin American-Statesman of a new movie which did well 
at the recent Sundance Film Festival. The film, ``Waco: The Rules of 
Engagement,'' deals with the horrible events which occurred in Waco, 
TX, in 1993. This review correctly describes the hideous event--as 
shown in the nonfiction ``Waco'' documentary--which left so many 
innocent children dead, and so many questions left unanswered. The film 
apparently answers some of the questions, revealing never-before-
released recordings of the conversations between Federal police and the 
Davidians, as well as never-before-seen footage of the final minutes of 
the siege. I am pleased to share this review with my colleagues.

[[Page E453]]

          [From the Austin American-Statesman, Jan. 20, 1997]

Celebrating Independence--From Austin to Waco, Texas Is Well Covered as 
                    Sundance Film Festival Kicks Off

                           (By Ann Hornaday)

       ``Waco'' had crowds riveted.
       As usual, many of the stand-outs of the festival have been 
     in the non-fiction categories. Friday morning was brightened 
     considerably with the world premier of ``Riding the Rails,'' 
     a film about the generation of teen-agers who took to riding 
     boxcars during the Depression. And the envelope wasn't just 
     pushed, it was exploded by the most powerful film to be shown 
     yet at Sundance.
       Director William Gazecki presented ``Waco: The Rules of 
     Engagement'' to a packed screening room on Saturday when it 
     made its world premiere as part of the noncompetitive 
     American Spectrum sidebar. This harrowing tale of the siege 
     at the Branch Davidian compound and its tragic end unearths 
     shattering evidence of hidden agenda, dishonesty, religious 
     persecution and fatal culpability on the part of the U.S. 
     government. With tapes of never-before-heard negotiations 
     between David Koresh and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, 
     Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI, video shot by the FBI at 
     the compound and infrared photography, as well as interviews 
     and congressional testimony, Gazecki leads the audience to 
     the chilling conclusion that, as one former FBI special agent 
     puts it, the Davidians who died in the fire on April 19, 1993 
     ``were victims of a homicide'' at the hands of their own 
     government. The audience, most of whom stayed for the three-
     hour entirety of ``Waco,'' remained riveted up until its 
     disturbing final shot--an almost unheard-of phenomenon at a 
     Sundance screening, let alone one where everyone knows the 
     ending.

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