From: ur-valhalla!iquest.net!lindat (Linda Thompson, American Justice Federation) Subject: Denver FBI SWAT Team claims burst of conscience during Weaver siege Message-ID: Date: Sat, 14 Oct 95 13:49 EST The Denver FBI Swat team was one of dozens of federal agencies, military and law enforcement on hand for the siege at Ruby Ridge in Naples, Idaho, where Randy Weaver's 14 year old son, Sammy, was shot in the back and killed, and his wife, Vickie, was murdered by FBI Hostage Response Team member Lon Horiouchi in August, 1992. In testimony before Congress, the head of the Denver FBI SWAT team claimed that he had a burst of conscience that prompted him to instruct his men not to shoot on sight, contrary to orders he claims to have received from Larry Potts. No one in Congress has yet bothered to inquire why a Denver FBI SWAT team, not to mention SWAT teams from all over the country, the FBI Hostage Response Team from Washington, D.C. and U.S. Marshalls from Boston were brought in at taxpayer expense for the arrest of one man wanted only for missing a court date on a charge of selling a shot gun that was 1/4-INCH too short (thereby making it "illegal"). No, the total ASSININITY of this gestapo behavior has been lost on the morons running this country, who are pretending to be absorbed with the issue of tryng to find out if there was or was not a "shoot to kill" order. Who gives a damn? The obvious point is that hundreds of federal agents and military decended on a man's remote mountain cabin and killed half his family and there is NO justification, NO excuse good enough. Jeffrey Dahmer was treated better. October 13, 1995 By Robert Green WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Some of the FBI agents who were at the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge in Idaho testified Friday that they had rejected rules of engagement by superiors that authorized them to shoot any armed male on sight. The agents told a Senate hearing the rules violated the FBI's standard policy allowing deadly force only when the life of an agent or another person is in immediate danger. Gregory Sexton said the rules of engagement as explained to him and other agents were, "If you see an adult armed male on Ruby Ridge, you had the green light (to shoot). This did not sound right." Agent Donald Kusulas said his reaction when he heard the rules was, "You've got to be kidding." Agent Peter King added, "We all felt it was inappropriate and we weren't going to follow them (the rules)." The FBI was called into the siege after U.S. Marshal William Degan and Sammy Weaver, the 14-year old son of white separatist Randy Weaver, were killed in a gun battle on Aug. 21, 1992 near Weaver's cabin. The next day, FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounded Weaver and his friend Kevin Harris and killed Weaver's wife Vicki. Randy Weaver was being sought because he had failed to appear in court on charges of selling illegal guns. Weaver and Harris were acquitted of Degan's murder in a 1993 trial. Sexton said he told the other agents in his squad they were to follow the FBI's standard deadly force policy, not the rules of engagement. "No one is going up there and just shoot someone," he said. "We did not go up there as assassins," Kusulas added. Ruby Ridge has enraged right-wing groups and others who cite it as an example of excessive government force, similar to the 1993 siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas that ended in the deaths of 80 cult members. Notes found at the site of an Amtrak passenger train derailment in Arizona that killed one person this week said the sabotage was in retailiation for Waco and Ruby Ridge. The FBI is investigating. Horiuchi has refused to testify at the hearings. At the trial, he said he fired because he felt agents flying over the cabin in a helicopter were in danger. He said Vicki Weaver was hit by accident when he was aiming at Harris. Horiuchi was part of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, while the agents who testified Friday were members of a Special Weapons and Tactics Team based in Denver. In August, the government paid Randy Weaver and his three daughters $3.1 million to settle a suit for Vicki's death. The FBI commander at the scene testified that then-Deputy Director Larry Potts issued orders from Washington that any armed males should be shot if they came out of the cabin. But Potts said he told agents only that they could shoot -- not that they should -- if they saw any armed males. Potts and four other agents have been suspended while the Justice Department investigates a possible coverup. Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, chairing the Senate hearings, said he hoped to end them after testimony from FBI Director Louis Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno, but he was not sure when they could appear. The hearings began Sept. 6 and resumed Friday for a 12th day after a two-week recess. ---SnetMgr 0.60 [r0001] * Origin: snet-l@world.std.com <-> FidoNet (1:330/202)