Islamic Possession Of Firearms And Explosives

Around 3:00 pm on Sunday April 11, 1993 a riot started when prisoners returning from recreation time attacked prison guards in cell block L. The guards held the keys to the entire cell block and it did not take long for the prisoners to take full advantage of the keys. Four beaten guards were released within hours of the attack but 8 were retained. The riot was started for many reasons but the most obvious reason was TB testing on Muslims, they do not believe in using needles to take blood or for injections. Soon after the take over of the cell block Warren Tate shut off the power and water in the cell block. A “Death Squad” was formed in the beginning hours of the riot and black prisoners killed 5 white inmates. After this happened the

On the day of April 19, 1993, at the Mount Carmel Compound in Waco Texas, an inferno of flames broke out after a 51 day siege on the Branch Davidians cult group. A total of 92 lives were lost during the fire, as well as many more during the previous 51 days. Many speculations arose whether the compound being incinerated was set by the FBI in a final attempt to make the Davidians leave the compound, and end the million dollar siege once and for all, or if it was a mass suicide conducted by David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians. Of course, this will always remain a mystery, because almost 100 of the members refused to leave the building, leaving it to be a national tragedy, and unclosed case of who did it.

The police returned fire with automatic weapons. The Philadelphia Police fired approximately 10,000 rounds. The siege lasted 90 minutes. The MOVE members had a fortified bunker built on the roof top. This was seen as a sniper threat and an opportunity for an entry for more tear gas (Floyd-Thomas, 2002; White, n.d. Trippett,1985). A plan was developed and then ordered by Commissioner Sambor to bomb the bunker and breach the roof. This make shift bomb. containing three and a half pounds of C4 and Tovex explosives, was dropped from a Pennsylvania State Police Helicopter (Floyd-Thomas, 2002).

Neither the Branch Davidians, nor the ATF, nor the FBI, were composed of or led by stupid persons. Yet at Waco, all of these groups made extremely bad decisions. One reason for the high-risk, low-quality decisions of the Branch Davidians, ATF, and FBI is that these groups of intelligent individuals could collectively make decisions much worse than the individuals might have made if they had decided alone.

There are few different branches of Islam but the two most prominent branches are Sharia law and Sufism. Sharia law and Sufism both seem to contradict each other. Sharia laws are the Qur’anic rules for the tangible world. The law includes predetermined punishment and rewards for actions, clearly defined by the Qur’an. It also has a spectrum of the lawfulness of actions, ranging from required to forbidden. Sufism, however, takes a more mystical approach to the practice of Islam. Sufism focuses on rejecting the material world and becoming one with God through self-annihilation. Despite the difference, I argue Sharia law and Sufism can be reconciled because although one person cannot practice both at the same time, but both versions of Islam

As Gunn says, there was little shooting between the two sides after the first couple of days and the majority of the standoff was spent negotiating (650). Marcovitz states, after not much other progress the federal agents decided to flush out the compound with tear gas; it forced a few people out but a majority of them stayed in the compound, setting fires and even shooting themselves (70). Marcovitz also states, on April 19, 1993 the siege was concluded and the body count reached eighty-five, including Koresh who was shot (70). This event, especially so close to the Ruby Ridge incident, sparked even more outrage among white supremacists and they called for retaliation against all the agents and anyone else involved in the siege. As Gunn says, McVeigh who was freshly out of the army and who was slowly spiraling decided to throw himself into the passion he felt towards the anti-government groups (647). If the federal government hadn’t used such excessive force than the public backlash would have been less severe and would possibly have stopped radicals like McVeigh from seeking revenge. The author states, “Investigators later learned that McVeigh hated the government for its raid on the Branch Davidian Compound on April 19, 1993 in Waco, Texas, as well as the incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992” (Gephardt

There was a pause, then the soldiers began firing. Without any orders, they fired into the crowd and instantly killed 3

In the spring of 1993, the Branch Davidian Christian gained global infamy from this siege on its compound that laid a few miles just outside of Waco. On Sunday, February 28, a violent two hour gun battle took place leaving six Davidians and four ATF agents dead. A 51-day standoff ensued. Amid the siege, the Branch Davidians’ charismatic leader, Vernon Howell, a 33-year-old musician who believed himself to be the final prophet in Christian end-times

My name is Jim, just Jim it’s easier this way, and I was one of the nine survivors in the Waco compound standoff. Before I go into what I think went wrong to our religious sanctuary, let me tell you how I met David and a little about our great deciple.

The Waco Siege was the attack of the Branch Davidians compound that belonged to the religious group the “Branch Davidians” who followed David

On the morning of April 19, 1993, heavily armed FBI and ATF agents moved into the compound puncturing holes in the compound walls so they could pump in tear gas, to flush out the cult members with the least harm. Using loudspeakers, officers told the Branch Davidians no armed assault would be made and to hold their fire. When cult members opened their weapons, the FBI increased the tear gas assault and began firing military grenade launches at the building. At around noon, three fires broke out in different parts of the compound, allegedly set by the Branch Davidians. The fire spread, trapping cult members, while others refused to leave, eventually perishing in the smoke and the blaze (Final 24). In all, only nine people escaped. The remaining 76 cult members, including 17 children, were buried alive by rubble, suffocated by the effects of the fire, or shot/stabbed. Although many people followed this 51 day siege, if someone was to look at the news and see this giant compound on fire with children burning they might wonder, how did this happen? Why was it being aired live? Who shot first? Can you believe this whole incident happened just to serve a search warrant?

After a time of investigation the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms decided that something needed to be done. On February 28, 1993, they decided to raid the compound which led to the death of six Branch Davidians and four agents. Following the raid, the FBI took jurisdiction because of the deaths by agents involved. This led to a 51 day standoff where FBI negotiators communicated with Koresh inside the compound. They felt Koresh was holding his followers hostage and delayed surrendering them because he claimed that he

On February 28, 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) raided the Branch Davidian ranch in Mount Carmel, a rural area near Waco, Texas. The raid resulted in the deaths of four agents and five Davidians. The subsequent 51-day siege ended on April 19 when the compound was completely consumed by fire killing seventy-five men, women, and children, including the leader David Koresh.

When they arrived at the scene, it was terrifying. People were crying, children were screaming, and ashes were flying everywhere. Chief Hosterman sent fighters in: Wells and Miles. They made it to the eighty-fifth floor and saved about fifty people before being hit by a cloud of ashes. Right before, Wells sent an alert to the chief, so Danvers and

Despite her progress, there was major opposition from the Ku Klux Khan, which led to the bombing of Sixteen Street Baptist Church. Four young girls were killed in the bombing. One survivor, Sarah Collins-Rudolph, lived to tell her story.