[infowar.de] Flir Project/ Waco

[daly <daly -! - uni-muenster - de>]

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Hallo!

Bei Disinfo.com bin ich auf ein ganz interessantes Dossier gestoßen,
welches seit heute auf der Seite ist. Es handelt sich um ein Dossier zu
dem Dokumentarfilm "The FLIR Project", welches die Waco-Tragödie (manch
einer nennt es Waco-Holocaust in den USA) unter die Lupe nimmt, und zu
dem Schluß kommt, dass Regierungsbeamte sehr wohl in die brennende
Siedlung geschossen haben, wodurch den Bewohnern die Flucht nach draußen
verwehrt wurde. Die offizielle Untersuchung der Regierung damals lies
verlautbaren, daß kein Regierungsbeamter am Tag des Brandes seine Waffe
benutzt habe, und dass die Branch Dividians kollektiven Selbstmord
begangen hätten. Wenn man mich fragt, ist das Blödsinn. Es wäre für
amerikanische paramilitärische/ militärische Einheiten normales
Vorgehen, bei der Erstürmung eines Objektes zu schießen. Wie dem auch
sei, die ganze Sache wurde damals unprofessionell gehandhabt, ebenso wie
damals auch Ruby Ridge.

Die Berichterstattung muß jedoch bewundert werden, ein wunderbares
Beispiel von Konsensherstellung. Wer erinnert sich nicht an den
ATF-Agenten, der vom Dach geschossen wurde?

Grüße,

John

Hier die URLs:

http://www.flirproject.com

http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id1332/pg1/

Das Dossier:

the flir project: revealing danforth's deceit
by Cletus Nelson (cletus -!
- disinfo -
 net)  - June. 25, 2001


Everyone thought that the issues surrounding the WACO tragedy were
finally dead and buried . . . We are here today to proclaim the rise of
the Phoenix and to offer the truth . . .
~~ Press Statement, COPS Productions
When Independent counsel John Danforth produced the interim findings of
his Waco investigation (July 21, 2000), it was a stirring victory for
the leviathan state.
In starkly unequivocal language, the former Senator inveighed with
complete certitude "that the blame rests solely on the shoulders of
[Davidian leader] David Koresh." Danforth's allegedly definitive account
of the worst law enforcement debacle since the 1890 massacre at Wounded
Knee had been the second legal blow against the Seventh Day Adventist
splinter sect. One week earlier, Federal Judge Walter Smith determined
that government officials were not liable for the deaths of the 76 men,
women, and children who perished during the fatal climax of the BATF-FBI
siege on 19 April 1993. As the Washington political establishment
breathed a collective sigh of relief, it seemed that the ranks of
"extremists" and "conspiracy theorists" that showed the temerity to
challenge the media-sanctified "mass suicide" theory had finally been
silenced---or so it was believed. Enter The FLIR Project, the brainchild
of Michael McNulty, the Emmy-winning investigative journalist.
McNulty was the driving force behind the critically acclaimed
documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997) and Waco: A New
Revelation (1999), its groundbreaking sequel. The FLIR Project, the
third instalment of his investigative trilogy, is just as provocative.
Unlike McNulty's two previous efforts which exhaustively dissect the
initial BATF raid and its brutal aftermath, this tightly edited video
centers on a singular question that strikes at the very heart of this
unsettling conspiracy: were Branch Davidians deterred from exiting the
burning Mt. Carmel complex by bursts of FBI gunfire?
The placement of a few stray rounds seems insignificant to the
apologists who seem all-too-willing to justify the ill-conceived tear
gas assault. The law is uambiguous about the illegality of the FBI's
actions. Cato Institute legal analyst Timothy Lynch observed: "Ordinary
citizens can use deadly force to defend themselves and others from
imminent harm. But if someone fired a gun to keep others from fleeing a
burning building, he would be subject to prosecution for murder." ("No
Confidence: An Unofficial Account of the Waco Incident." Cato Institute,
April 9, 2001).
This is no mere speculative claim: there is a great deal of
circumstantial evidence which lends credence to this troubling thesis. A
post-mortem autopsy has revealed that nearly two-dozen of the deceased
showed suspicious gunshot wounds. On the day of the deadly fire,
moreover, author Carol Moore tells us that "CNN and other news outlets
reported that as many as 20 Davidians were seen fleeing out of the back
of the building" but "such claims ceased as soon as the FBI announced
there were only nine survivors." (The Davidian Massacre, Legacy
Communications, 1995). The FBI's recent admission that agents fired over
300 deadly "ferret rounds" into a building containing women and children
provides further evidence that a "shoot to kill" mentality characterized
the relentless attack on the embattled religious sect.
The FBI's own Forward Looking Infrared Red (FLIR) footage of the
paramilitary assault is, in the cruelest irony, central to this
allegation. Prior to the conflagration that overtook Mt. Carmel, an FBI
FLIR camera mounted to an observation plane documented several ephemeral
flashes of light directed toward the rear of the building. A battery of
experts have subsequently analyzed the staccato-like emissions and
attributed their unique thermal signature to automatic weapon fire.
These aren't the half-baked ramblings of armchair experts or Internet
rumor mongers, but the qualified assertions of highly credible
specialists like Dr. Edward F. Allard, former Deputy Director of the US
Defense Department's Night Vision Laboratory, and the late Carlos
Ghigliotti, a renowned expert in thermal imaging technology.
Without even acknowledging this wealth of contradictory data, Danforth
avers with "100% certainty" that no evidence exists to refute the FBI's
claim that agents didn't fire a single shot. The learned Senator's
rhetorical hyperbole hangs, however, on a slim evidentiary thread: the
March 19, 2000 Waco "recreation" conducted at Ft. Hood, Texas on 19
March 2000.
The costly field test, which allegedly replicated the dramatic final
moments at Waco, was subsequently examined by Vector Data Systems
(VDS),  a British firm retained by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).
VDS ascribed the rhythmic flashes on the FLIR tape to "glint" and ruled
out allegations of  FBI treachery because the muzzle flashes captured on
the eight-year-old surveillance tape are "too long to be gunfire." The
credibility of VDS was questioned after revelations that its parent
company (Anteon) possesses contracts with over 50 federal agencies.
Neither the establishment press nor the Congress have attempted to
reconcile this analysis  with expert opinion--a vast conspiracy of
silence which led McNulty to conduct his own shadow investigation in
late 2000. After staking out locations in two western states, the
Colorado filmmaker assembled a team of experts to assess the available
evidence. The results are distilled in this intense 35-minute video
which surgically demolishes the credibility of the Ft. Hood
Re-enactment, challenges the legitimacy of the Danforth report, and
offers the disquieting counter-theory that FBI agents did indeed open
fire on the trapped Davidians.
Perhaps the greatest advantage of the documentary medium is its inherent
ability to convey a particular message by using powerful photographic,
video, and other graphic images. In this instance, McNulty builds his
case against the OSC investigation by incorporating data from the 1993
FBI FLIR tape, footage taken at Ft. Hood, and test shots taken by the
FLIR Project team. The resulting analysis demonstrates the surfeit of
oversights, anomalies, and outright falsehoods that permeate the
Danforth probe. For example, the former Senator's mendacious claim that
"People are Not Visible on FLIR" is adeptly undermined by the
presentation of FLIR imagery depicting highly visible FBI shock troops
prowling through the Mt. Carmel wreckage.
The repeated assertions by the Danforth probe and VDS that reflective
materials or "glint" produced the noticeable flashes which appear on the
FBI tape are proven equally untenable. Having attached a FLIR camera to
a stable hoist, McNulty and his crew provide extensive Infrared footage
of aluminium foil, hubcaps, window glass, and other highly reflective
objects which seem utterly unlike the thermal signatures which appear on
the contested FBI footage.
The FLIR Project also reveals that test subjects who participated in the
re-enactment were issued M-16 A-2 assault rifles despite the fact that
photos of the Waco assault team depicted agents toting short-barrelled
M-4 carbines. This dissimilarity in barrel length effectively inhibited
the amount of heat detected by the Ft. Hood FLIR camera. Military rounds
were dispensed for the March re-enactment at Ft. Hood, as opposed to the
highly volatile commercial ammunition used during the final assault on
Mt. Carmel, hence the greater disparity in the recorded muzzle flashes.
The questionable decision to use military ordinance which contains
chemical additives designed to limit muzzle flash throws into question
the Special Prosecutor?s glib assurance that the variance in test
results constitutes de facto proof that federal law enforcement didn't
fire at Davidians.
The film climaxes with The FLIR Project's attempted Waco reproduction
using  M-4 carbines loaded with commercial ammunition. The recreation
allowed for a number of important variables ranging from temperature to
the highly visible dust clouds caused by tanks ramming the Mt. Carmel
structure. Under these conditions, the lengthy and sustained muzzle
flashes that were recorded eight years ago are eerily duplicated. "It is
with a high degree of certainty that COPS Productions and the scientists
who conducted the tests depicted in The FLIR Project" allege the "FBI
did fire on the trapped Branch Davidians in the burning building as
women and children burned to death in the inferno" states the
documentary's Web site.

While sceptical viewers may dispute the exactness of McNulty's
recreation, few viewers will contest either the presence of FBI gunfire
on the initial FLIR tape, or the overwhelming evidence that debunks the
Danforth probe. The FLIR Project suggests that Danforth's high-profile
investigation was cleverly rigged from the outset with government
investigators using alternate weapons, different ammunition, a
malfunctioning camera, and other stratagems to ensure the exoneration of
FBI officials.
Meticulous, even-handed, and subtle in its execution, The FLIR Project
effectively illuminates yet another chapter in the Waco cover-up and
further erodes the FBI's diminishing credibility. If the Bush
Administration intends to restore faith in government, it is imperative
that the issues raised by this highly credible video be addressed.
Whether this powerful documentary will spur yet another investigation
into the events at Mt. Carmel remains to be seen, but this highly
recommended film offers one definite certainty: the Waco killers are
still at large.


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