Rating: Summary: surprised- - Review: Surprised they would ever release this on dvd. The VHS version came and went without making much of an impact. One of many non-dvd documentaries that prove how much media distortion exists. Ask youself and anyone your age, how much do you really know about the Branch Davidians and what happened that day? Released about 10 years ago, it still packs a punch, don't let the slow start fool, everything builds up to the stand-off. An exceptional "Everything You know is Wrong" piece of cinema. Also keep on the lookout for the original "Paradise Lost" docu on dvd, which is just as good.
Rating: Summary: it won this sceptic over Review: I am a fairly liberal person, and hardly one to buy into the conspiracy theorists...however this really opened my eyes.Instead of hysterical rednecks or creepy devout religious fanatics, the people who put this together make a VERY convincing arguement about the legality (hell...the outright lies) that the Federal Government apparently told. Particularly damning were the films...the fact that the government shot first...that they deliberately drove over the grave of one of the first in WACO to die. Forst Ruby Ridge, and now this...WHAT are they thinking?
Rating: Summary: OH MY GOD!!!!! Review: This documentary is must see for every American citizen. Conspiracy theory? No. Just facts...and it's not looking good.
Rating: Summary: Horrible journalism -- Can't believe this won an Oscar Review: It is astounding that this film won the Academy Award for best documentary. This frustrating "documentary" speaks volumes about how much Hollywood standards have sunk It is not good journalism. Indeed, it is not journalism at all but propaganda. Its "sources" include persons who provided unreliable, uncorroborated, speculative testimony to the Senate Committee that was investigating Waco. The Committee was controlled by Republican ideologues who were fiercely intent on discrediting Attorney General Janet Reno, and thus their choice of "witnesses" was highly suspect. Listen, I was no fan of either Reno or her boss, Bill Clinton, but I know a hatchet job when I see it. Even as propaganda, this "documentary" fails, because it cannot sustain a simple, straight narrative story. Poorly edited and haphazard in its organization, the film introduces ideas at one instance, and then suddenly abandons them the next. Much of the footage is taken from the Senate Committee hearings, and the excerpts are presented with little or no narrative context. At times, the film does not adequately provide the name or credentials of the Committee's witnesses. To be fair, the film raises some troubling questions -- but so have numerous books and other documentaries. Investigative reporter Peter Boyer's work, on behalf of PBS's "Frontline," was, for example, a far more compelling and comprehensible documentary on the Waco tragedy.
Rating: Summary: useful starting point Review: ...It is a bit dramatic at times with military-style snare drums and the likes but it is hardly distracting. The bipartisan nature of our political system is made apparent. The faulty handling of evidence is easily seen. The Davidians are treated humanely and the FBI/ATF are handled accordingly (like the angry thugs that they are). Like I said, a good place to begin. This issue should be reopened due to it's contemporary relevance.
Rating: Summary: A vivid demonstration of how power corrupts Review: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." So the saying goes, and the fate of the Branch Davidians at the hands of the Clinton/Reno Justice Department is a perfect example.
The attack on the Mt. Carmel compound, at Waco, Texas, began as an attempt by the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms division of Treasury to make an example of the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians and their leader David Koresh, and to achieve some favorable publicity after the black eye it had got from the public from its heavy handed treatment at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where agents shot and killed an innocent woman holding an infant, the family dog and the teenage boy in the family when they stumbled upon the agents surveiling the property in the surrounding woods. At Ruby Ridge, the motive of the federal agents was that the husband and father refused their offer to serve as an undercover snitch for them in the local community of white supremacists. To induce him to do so, they had an undercover man get him to cut down a shotgun to an illegal length. It was an inadvertent eighth of an inch shorter than the legal length. His refusal to cooperate brought the wrath of the government down on his head, and the FBI in to back up the ATF. It was an FBI sniper who shot his wife to death in the doorway of their home, while she held their infant to her breast. At Waco, they had unsubstantiated information that the Branch Davidians possessed some fully automatic weapons. As it turned out, none were ever found in the ashes, but even if they had been, the "crime" was failure to pay a $200 tax required to own such weapons. The ATF got a search warrant, and with it as their cover, rather than knock on the door and serve it, they went in shooting. Later, of course, they claimed sexual abuse, rape, and child abuse was their motive--crimes which they have absolutrely no legal authority to address since they are essentially tax collecting agents, and which in any event had already been investigated by the State of Texas with negative results. So, in a long, drawn out, mishandled, botched raid and its aftermath, which took days to resolve, they managed to kill nearly 100 men, women and children and burn the compound to the ground. The Congress of the United States whitewashed the whole event. This video, however, documents the bureaucratic lies and misdeeds in great detail in great and damning detail, and demonstrates clearly why it is necessary for the people to have better sources of information than the major news media and the government. It also shows what weasels our elected representratives can be, as best demonstrated by Charlie Schumer, now a U.S. Senator. Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret.)
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance and other books
Rating: Summary: You Can't Review What You Haven't Seen! Review: This documentary was phenomenal. It is obvious that those who claim that the gunshots on the FLIR film were reflections have NOT WATCHED THIS DOCUMENTARY! Reflections do not show up on FLIR unless they significantly heat the object upon which they're reflected upon--and, if this were the case, they would not have immediately cooled and then heat up again! FLIR is infrared thermal imaging! THERMAL--not light-based. It's morons who use their already limited mental capacity solely for the defense of their narrow view of the world, rather than for intelligent assessment of actual facts, that allow atrocities such as these to occur and continue.
Rating: Summary: Clinton Strikes Again !!! Review: A very powerful movie!!! This film is basically a "coming out party" for Clinton and his cronies..( Because thats really who was behind all of this...)The Government ( Big Brother ) shielding us from those "Bad People"....those "Bad People" after all were you and I !!!! Lets see what the future holds.
Rating: Summary: Annoy the corporate media: Watch this documentary! Review: Few documentaries match this one when it comes to evoking a legitimate and much-needed sense of moral outrage at the Gestapo tactics routinely employed by federal agents, Waco being just one example. (Numerous other examples are detailed by James Bovard in the books "Lost Rights," "Freedom In Chains," and "Feeling Your Pain.") For that reason alone, I consider "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" to be one of the ten most important documentaries ever made -- right up there with "The Money Masters," "The Panama Deception," "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm," and "The Truth and Lies of 9-11." The FBI murdered the women and children at Waco and got away with it, thanks in large part, apparently, to the shameful efforts of corporate media executives to keep the American people in the dark about what really happened.
Rating: Summary: 100% True Review: This is a great resource on what really happened at Waco. The people who wrote bad reviews on this because they said its false are idoits. The people which were incharge of taking out the Davidians where charged in court and convicted. I bet they also think that Randy Weaver was guilty which is why the Federal goverment gave him over 3 million dollars for the death of his wife, son, and even his own dog. The man which shot his SON in the BACK was charged with man slaughter in Oregan and was convicted. Some people are just idoits and dont want to beleive the truth or they just are to stupid to know the truth. Its amazing how over 90% of our country dont know the truth and dont actually care. Which is why Bill Clinton was reelected a 2nd time. There is so much on him he should get capital punishment for treason. Did you know in 96 to 2000 he was given Bin Laden from Sudan? He was offered many times for 4 years but he never accepted him to be turned over to us. THat alone is treason. He knew Bin Laden bombed the towers in 93, he found that out in 95 but from 96 on he said we had nothing to charge him with. Also he didnt care about stopping terrorism like Reagan and Bush Sr. did.
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