Rating: 
Summary: Inside Story of an American Concentration Camp
Review: This book, by one of the few Waco survivors, paints a very disturbing portrait both of life within the doomed compound and more shockingly of the actions of the U.S. government. To justify its egregious use of force, the government leveled many outlandish charges at David Koresh and his followers. Thibodeau convincingly refutes most of them. However, the sect's leader did subject his followers to some truly eldritch practices, and credible allegations suggest he was guilty of engaging in sexual relations with underage girls. He should have been arrested for this illegal act, and the local authorities should also have prosecuted any adults who were aware of such a heinous action and remained silent. Neither the FBI, the ATF nor the federal government in any capacity typically get involved in statutory rape cases. Unfortunately for all the victims of this pogrom, the incident happened right after the appointment of attorney general Janet Reno who seemed desperate to show off her macho power. One of the government's tiresome claims was that the attack was necessary to prevent child abuse. The actions taken belie this fallacious defense. To force the final confrontation, Reno's raiders sprayed the complex with a potent form of tear gas recently rejected by the U.S. Army as inhumane. This was accompanied by sniper fire, a tank assault and the suspiciously started conflagration. Willingly murdering several little children in an unprovoked dragoon does seem to reduce Clinton and Reno's repeated vocal concerns for the children to shameless hypocrisy. The Constitution does not allow for this type of treatment of those who fall out of favor with our leaders, even when the victims are suspected-or convicted felons. Unfortunately that document has largely been ignored by our current president and his epicene attorney general. If they followed it, they could not justify confining, nearly starving, and then obliterating a group of American citizens. Six decades ago in Europe another elected leader provided similar treatment to those he deemed unworthy. He imprisoned them in places like Dachau and Auschwitz.
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