>> During the following program, look for "Frontline's" web markers, which lead you to more information at our website at www.pbs.org.

♪ ♪ Funding for "Frontline" is provided by the annual financial support of PBS viewers like you.

With additional funding for this program from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Tonight, on "Frontline"-- >> You are under arrest.

This standoff is over.

>> NARRATOR: The award-winning investigation of what really happened in Waco.

>> ...my oldest son, his name is Cyrus.

>> NARRATOR: The film critics have called "revealing"... >> ...destroyed my property... >> NARRATOR: "frightening"... >> Life and death... >> NARRATOR: And a story that demands our attention.

>> ♪ ... my ABCs... ♪ >> NARRATOR: Tonight, correspondent Peter Boyer investigates "Waco: The Inside Story."

♪ ♪ (helicopters droning) >> BOYER: On that Sunday morning as the ATF prepared its raid on the Branch Davidians, and their stockpile of weapons, at its headquarters in Washington, the FBI was unaware of the gathering crisis in Waco that would soon consume the Bureau.

They were focused on New York, where the World Trade Center had just been bombed.

>> Somebody tried to blow up the World Trade Center.... >> Five dead, 1,000 injured.... >> The magnitude of the explosion.... >> Biggest terrorist attack in U.S. history... >> Our guest today, William Sessions, Director of the FBI... >> I was eating lunch when one of the agents notified me from the command center that there was this horrible event down in, they thought, Waco, Texas.

(gunfire) >> BOYER: From the command center in Washington, word was flashed to FBI agents around the country.

>> When I first heard about it, I was home in San Antonio reading the Sunday morning paper.

Our headquarters told us that... what had occurred-- very, very sketchy the detail.

>> I was rattling around, getting my family ready to go to church, and the phone rings, and Jeff Jamar advised me that I needed to proceed to Waco as soon as possible.

(gunfire) >> BOYER: The FBI headed to Waco, where the ATF raid had become the longest shootout in American law enforcement history.

>> (on phone): Hello... is this Wayne Martin?...

>> (on phone): I hear gunfire... >> (on phone) God, almighty.

>> (on phone): Hello?

>> (on phone): Wayne?

>> (on phone) Tell them to pull back!

>> (on phone): What?

>> (on phone): Tell them to pull back.

>> (on phone): Are you returning fire, Wayne?

>> (on phone): Oh shit.

>> (on phone): What's the matter?

>> BOYER: The first FBI agents on the scene listened to frantic 911 calls between a deputy sheriff and one of the Davidians.

>> (on phone): Now!

>> (on phone): Wayne.

>> (on phone): If they don't back up, we're going to have to sweep them all!

>> (on phone): Just remain calm, we're going to get it worked out, okay?

>> BOYER: The gunfight had lasted nearly an hour.

ATF agents had been shot and were down.

So were some Davidians, including their leader, David Koresh.

>> (on phone): 911 >> (on phone): Hello?

>> This is Dave Koresh.

>> This is who, sir?

>> David Koresh.

Mount Carmel Center.

We're being shot all up out here.

>> Okay, where are you?

>> Where am I?

I'm at Mount Carmel Center.

>> Okay, hang on just a second.

>> All right.

>> Yeah, this is Lynch.

>> Hey, Lynch?

>> Yeah.

>> This is David Koresh... >> Okay, David.

>> ...the notorious.

Why'd you go and do that for?

You brought a bunch of guys out here... >> BOYER: The FBI listened in amazement as Koresh, in the midst of a gun battle, began to preach from the Bible... >> (on phone): There are seven seals.

>> (on phone): All right.

>> What reward did Christ receive in heaven?

He received a book with seven seals.

Now in the prophecies, it says... >> Let me... can I interrupt you for a minute?

>> Sure.

>> All right, we can talk theology, but right now... >> No, this is life, this is life and death.

>> Yes, sir.

>> Now, you need to learn Deuteronomy 32... >> Okay, but let me ask you this, the present situation-- One idea this morning is to take their injured troop out of your area.

Can they come now without being shot at... >> BOYER: The ATF agents were outgunned and out of bullets.

The Davidians had a .50-caliber cannon, machine guns, and more than a million rounds of ammunition.

>> (on phone): Okay, now Wayne, they're moving the man now, so tell your people not to fire... >> BOYER: The FBI listened as a deputy sheriff pleaded for a cease-fire.

>> (on phone): ...get the word to them, don't let someone fire on them.

All they're doing now is removing the wounded people.

Please emphasize that.

Get to everybody.

Don't let someone start firing.

>> Hey, Lynch?

>> Yeah.

>> Between you and me... >> Yeah.

>> Both of the guys on the roof are dead.

>> Both of them?

>> Yeah.

>> God almighty.

Shit.

♪ ♪ Wayne?

Stay with them-- don't let them fire.

We're complying with what you've asked.

Don't let some person fire and get this started again.

We've made too much progress to back up now, okay?

Work with me, Wayne... >> It looked like a defeated army.

>> (on phone): Get the word to your troops.

We've made too much progress to back up.

>> We were beaten.

It's hard for the agents to accept that.

♪ ♪ >> BOYER: The ATF's defeat was complete.

Now Waco was the FBI's crisis.

Lord knows we all think we know a lot about what happened at Waco.

But five months ago, in the basement of a Texas law firm, we discovered the Waco files-- 7,000 government photographs, wiretaps, and hundreds of hours of telephone negotiation tapes that had never been revealed to the public.

Together, they provide an extraordinary inside view of the FBI's 51-day standoff at Waco and the fiery conclusion that killed 75 Branch Davidians.

These files unlock the real story of the Waco standoff.

What was going on inside the minds of the men whose day-by-day decisions added up to disaster.

>> My name is Jeff Jamar.

I'm the special agent in charge of FBI operations here in Waco.

>> BOYER: According to FBI procedure, major events like Waco are run by the highest-ranking local agent-- in this case, Jeff Jamar from San Antonio.

>> It's J-A-M-A-R, first name's Jeff.

>> Jeff is a very dynamic commander.

He has a very domineering management style.

He's a big man, his... he commands a significant presence.

And if somebody that... if he walks into the presence of somebody that has not dealt with him before, he can be very intimidating.

>> We've responded with necessary personnel and equipment.

(off camera): The one thing that we bring to it, what the FBI brings to something like that, is all of our resources.

Our hostage rescue team shows up with the backing of 10,000 FBI agents and everything that comes with that.

And all of the-- all of our laboratory, all of our resources.

And I could... whatever I needed there, I knew I could get.

(rotors spinning) >> BOYER: The FBI sends its elite tactical specialists, the Hostage Rescue Team, known as the HRT.

By instinct and training, they are inclined toward action.

>> Now, a crime has been committed.

I'm talking the murder charges.

And you've got to do something about it.

You cannot just let those people sit.

>> BOYER: Sometimes known as Ninjas, the HRT's job will be to surround and secure the compound, and if necessary use force to go in and get the Davidians.

They take up positions about 300 yards from the compound.

Five and a half miles away, another, very different, FBI team sets up shop in an airplane hangar.

Their orientation is not action, but talk.

They are negotiators whose job is to build trust with the Davidians and convince them to come out.

>> It's like being in a submarine where you don't have access to the periscope, a windowless room where your only perception of reality is by what you hear.

>> BOYER: The files show the negotiators quickly discovered there were 46 children inside the compound.

46 innocent bystanders and potential shields in the event of a breakout.

And so the first thing they do is try to convince Koresh to let the children go.

>> (on tape): David, how can we resolve this?

>> BOYER: The negotiators begin to bargain with Koresh.

They offer him airtime to broadcast his message on the radio in exchange for kids.

He agrees to send two children out every time his two-minute sermonette is read on the air.

>> NEGOTIATOR: >> KORESH: >> So we're going to get this message played on the radio.

And one of the agents said, "We can't do that.

We can't do that-- how can we do that?"

And I remember saying to them, "Look, we're going to read the Bible from cover to cover "on the radio if he'll send out one child.

One child.

That's what we'll do."

>> NEGOTIATOR: You've got to give me word for word... >> KORESH: >> (on tape): My God, who sits on the throne... >> ...in heaven... >> It was electric.

>> The first few kids that came out-- each one of these kids were brought back into the negotiation cell at the FBI command post.

Some of these little critters would be brought up and set on the negotiators knees as we called back into the compound.

And they were put on the phone with their parents and allowed to speak to David or whoever, and these were precious kids.

>> (on phone): Hi, how you doing?

>> (on phone): Fine.

>> BOYER: As the children are released, they call their parents back inside Mount Carmel.

>> (on phone): They treating you good?

>> (on phone): Yeah.

>> Okay.

Remember what I said.

God sits on the throne.

>> Yeah.

>> (on phone): Cyrus, I went in that tank.

Did you see it?

One of them big old tank-like things?

>> (on phone): Yeah, we're you kind of nervous?

>> No, it was bumpy.

That was the only thing.

>> BOYER: Over the next 24 hours, 18 children are released.

>> (on phone): ...and the guys were nice.

>> BOYER: Negotiations seem to be progressing.

But the FBI, familiar with bank robbers and political terrorists, is confounded by Koresh.

>> There had been some question.

"Are we dealing with a delusional personality, "or are we dealing with a con man?

"Does this guy think he's Jesus Christ, "or is he just a con man who's using religion to deceive all the... the rest of the people inside?"

>> BOYER: Negotiators decide to deal with Koresh as if he believes he's the Messiah.

>> (on phone): I'm going to give you something to think about.

>> (on phone): All right.

>> If I was able to get, I mean a major, major broadcast of your word out... >> BOYER: Giving Koresh local radio time had won the release of some kids.

Building on that, the FBI offers Koresh a nationwide audience if everyone comes out.

>> (on phone): Is it a possibility that, maybe a Ted Koppel or something?

>> I mean, something dynamic.

You know, Ted Koppel, I mean, who's watching that?

We need to watch-- get it to the people who are religious... >> I reached out for the Christian Broadcasting Network, where we could facilitate not only national exposure but also a religious exposure that we thought we would get, you know, twice the impact with Koresh.

But if we were going to facilitate it, we needed to have guarantees.

>> (on phone): Okay, so what do you want me to say?

>> (on phone): Okay, let me read it to you again.

>> All right.

>> I agree... >> I agree... >> ...that upon the broadcasting of this tape... >> ...that upon the broadcasting of this tape... to come out peacefully with all the people immediately.

My name is Dave Koresh, and I'm speaking to you from Mount Carmel Center.

The first thing that I would like to introduce... >> We worked out a surrender plan in-in minute detail.

And that's what you want.

See, you want a plan, you want a surrender plan, because you put that in their heads.

>> If they can visualize-- and you actually use those words-- "Can you picture this, can you visualize?

"Okay, you're going to come out the front door, you're going to turn left..." >> (on phone): ...and then the four men, the other children and the women... >> Everybody I know had their bags packed.

We all figured David was coming out.

And there was a lot of crying and prayer and that kind of stuff going on.

It took quite a long time for everybody in there to squeeze through the crowd and give him a hug.

>> (on phone): Hey, can you check on the status-- where's David?

>> (on phone): They're actually saying a prayer for him right now.

>> We need them to get out the door-- right now.

>> Yeah, okay, I'll tell them right now.

>> All right.

>> The buses were ready to go to pick these people up.

The resources were in place to give medical attention to those that had been injured, to everything.

>> (on phone): Jim?

>> (on phone): Steve here.

>> Oh, Steve.

>> We're right now going to put him on the stretcher... >> BOYER: Steve Schneider is David Koresh's chief aide.

>> At one point in time, we're talking to Steve Schneider, and Steve says, "The kids are all lined up.

"They've got their coats on, they've got their-- "some of them had little lunch pails and teddy bears, and they're at the front door and they're ready to go."

And we said, "Steve, we're ready, let's-let's do this."

>> (on phone): Okay, I just talked to him.

He's going through a lot of anguish.

And what the guy just went through, I've never seen anything like it before.

But he wanted me to remind you to read Psalms chapter two, and then he wanted me to read to you Revelation 18... >> (on phone): Steve, what does this... >> Did you ever read the story of Christ when he hung on the cross, where he... actually perspiration of drops of blood because of the anguish?

>> Uh-huh.

>> Can I just read Revelation 18 to you?

>> In just a minute, Steve... >> Everything's ready to go right now, but all of a sudden, I mean, he's started praying.

>> He gave us his word.

>> I know that, I'm aware of that.

>> That after the message was played... >> Yes, but what if there is a higher power than you and I that speaks to an individual?

What do you do?

That's the question.

This is why he said, "Be aware of who you're dealing with."

>> Just remember that David told the world... >> I understand that.

>> ...that he was coming out.

>> Can I read Revelation 18 to you?

>> Steve, I want him to come out.

>> I-I understand that.

>> When does he plan to come out?

>> He said his god says that he is to wait.

>> How long, how long does he...?

>> I-I... look, I know in this world you don't believe that there is a supernatural power that speaks audibly to a person.

>> No... is David a man of his word?

>> He always has been.

>> What does trust mean to you?

>> Exactly what it means to you.

>> I got commanders, and they are losing trust in me.

>> His god has told him to wait.

I was devastated.

I was embarrassed.

I was...

I now have to go in and tell the on-scene commander and other commanders that we've been thoroughly and completely duped.

>> God told him to wait.

Okay, well now, where are we?

We're... now we have to get a perimeter.

They're not coming out.

So we had to get control, we had to get a perimeter.

And we had to get our people in place safely.

That's what led to our appearance of greater control.

We built, you know, fake sniper positions.

You know, there wasn't anybody there, but it looked like there was.

>> BOYER: To be sure, there are real snipers in position.

>> We are the negotiators' eyes.

They don't get to see his sentries cleaning their weapons up in the windows watching us.

And when the person's cleaning their weapons and stacking their ammunition, and we're watching that, we were relaying that back, we know that they're not getting ready to come out on a bus and give up.

>> BOYER: The Hostage Rescue Team already doubts the Davidians can be talked out of the compound.

So here is Jeff Jamar's dilemma: his tactical guys want to show force.

His negotiators worry that showing force will only undermine the fragile trust they're building with Koresh.

>> (on phone): I heard some crunching or something.

I looked out the window, and I see one of your tanks ran over the guard shack.

I thought that was pretty cute.

>> What now?

>> The tank just ran it over.

>> You're kidding.

>> Uh-uh.

>> I know that they've been ordered not to go in there.

>> We need to start tightening the pressure down on those inside.

The more uncomfortable we make them inside, the more apt they are to try to negotiate better.

>> You can't deal with a cohesive group like it's a group of bank robbers.

Because the things you can do to bank robbers and make them come out simply drives the Davidians together.

I mean, if-if you look at the core of a nuclear bomb, and it's this tightly packed ball of uranium, and what makes that so powerful is that it's so tightly packed.

The Davidians were tightly packed, and all we did was compress it even more and made it more volatile.

>> (on phone): You-you want to go knuckles to knuckles now.

You want to have it all out, right?

>> (on phone): No, no, no... >> BOYER: Koresh is furious.

>> (on phone): You lied.

You have always been lying.

>> BOYER: This is what the negotiators feared.

The divide between the HRT and the negotiators widens.

>> (on phone): Oh yeah, you're acting lamb-like, you're saying peace... >> If you ask a Hostage Rescue Team guy what he thinks of negotiators, they would see them as a bunch of pussies.

The negotiators might look at these guys as something a little disturbed in the sense that these guys, you know, want to get up in the morning, and want to, you know, breach a door, and want to, you know, drive a tank, and, you know, there's something kind of a little unusual about a person who-who gets some sort of a charge out of wanting to do those kinds of things.

>> On occasions, I-I made a number of trips up to the tactical sites located right out in front of the compound.

There was one time when... when there was a notation on one of the portable outhouses up front that said, "Sage is a Davidian."

Obviously written by one of the tactical guys.

(laughs) >> Yeah...

I don't...

I don't know, I was in a position where we had to... we didn't have an outhouse.

(laughs) That would be very, uh... symbolic of the frustration.

There was a high level of frustration.

>> There was this tremendous chasm between negotiators and the tactical team.

I mean, just the body... if you could see the body language, it would have been closed-up, head to the side, like this.

>> BOYER: By day seven, with no new progress.

Koresh won't come to the phone... even when the FBI offers something the Davidians desperately need-- milk for the children.

>> (on phone): We told David that if two of the children come out, six gallons of milk go in.

It's as simple as that.

>> (one phone): ...six gallons of milk come in.

>> Hello?

>> Well, he said, "Kiss my ass."

>> Well, I kind of expected something like that... >> BOYER: The FBI is running a time-honored law enforcement ploy.

Koresh now sees them as the bad cop.

To play the role of good cop, they bring in the local sheriff.

>> What I was told, that he was not coming to the phone to talk to them.

And I was asked to get on the phone and see if I could get him to the phone.

>> (on phone): I'm not a negotiator or a skilled person, all I know how to do is set down and talk some horse sense.

>> (on phone): Well, here's the thing, Mr. Harwell.

What they're saying now is that they want four more kids before they send us the milk.

>> Well, would that help to get the milk out there to you?

>> It will definitely help the babies.

>> All right, I'll work that out.

Now I wanted to sit here and talk from my heart to you and let you know ... >> BOYER: Finally, the milk is delivered.

No children are released.

>> (on phone): God told me to wait... >> BOYER: It's not a total loss.

The FBI also sends in tiny listening devices-- "bugs"-- buried inside the milk cartons and their Styrofoam containers.

>> It was very chancy.

We would send them in and... and you wouldn't know where they'd end up.

There was one instance where it ran for a long time.

And, in fact, it was very effective.

It was in a room where Koresh was.

(whirring) >> The first couple of days belong to the negotiators.

You've got to give them their shot to do it.

But, the longer the tactical people wait, the less chance they have of being successful.

Time is on the favor of the people inside.

>> There's the ten-day rule.

Usually these things are over in ten days.

Okay, if you think about it, if you think about all these crises, not many last past ten days.

>> BOYER: And so on the tenth day, Special Agent in Charge Jamar turns off the electricity inside the compound.

>> That night, it was going to be 20 degrees.

And the thought process was, "If we're going to be cold in the dark, let them be cold in the dark too."

>> (on phone): Well, when I heard that the electricity was cut off, I thought, "Forget these guys, forget it!"

>> The downside was significant.

It could set us back days in our ability to continue to negotiate a reasonable settlement.

>> (on phone): I'll be honest with you, John, I'm not even interested in anything you've go to say today.

>> BOYER: But again, Koresh stops talking, and the next day, Jamar orders the electricity turned back on.

>> Koresh is in control.

And here, the FBI, they go in to take control, they can't do anything except piss the guy off.

So what do you do?

>> This is David Koresh, Steve Schneider filming.

The date today is... >> BOYER: What Jeff Jamar does is tilt back toward his negotiators.

They want Koresh to make a home movie.

>> David, anything you'd like to say?

>> We just thought we'd kind of break the ice and allow people to see just exactly, you know, what kind of people we have here.

I'd like to start off first of all with my oldest son.

His name is Cyrus.

Come sit over here, son.

>> We sent the camera in to try to get intelligence out.

We wanted to see first of all how the kids were faring.

We also wanted to determine by this time whether or not the kids had clean hair.

If they have clean hair, are they worried about water?

No.

So there was a lot of intelligence gathering effort there.

>> Want to wave to all your friends out there that have been taken to the people on the outside?

Yeah, this is our little girl.

>> I sat there for hours and looked at the tapes of David Koresh and these kids that sat on his lap.

I wanted to know Koresh, but I also got to know the kids.

And I knew the potential for danger for those children if we went tactical.

>> Show them Daddy's face.

(laughter) >> David milked that for all it's worth.

>> You're my little baby, right?

>> That's a prime example of... We sent this in to acquire something, he sent it out to obtain something.

We sent it in to acquire intelligence, he sent it out to manipulate us.

And we both obtained our objective.

>> What would you like to do today?

>> Go on the swings.

>> Go on the swings?

Wave.

>> I saw the ability for Koresh to use the children.

I mean, I saw psychological warfare on his part by using that video tape.

>> Do you love Daddy?

>> And I saw the just total innocence of children.

I saw...

I saw David Koresh and the other Davidians just totally abdicating their responsibility as parents, and I don't think there's any higher call, and I think they abdicated that responsibility to their children.

And I think that's a real shame.

>> Okay, so here's your little grandbaby, Isabel.

She's happy.

How much you love me?

How much?

Say, "Hi, Jim."

>> Hi, Jim.

>>"Hello, John."

>> Hello, John.

>> Gary.

>> Gary.

>> Can you say your ABCs?

>> ♪ A B C D E F G... ♪ >> ♪ H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V ♪ >> ♪ Now I know my ABCs ♪ ♪ Won't you come and sing with me?

♪ >> Won't you come and sing with me?

Maybe they'll come and sing with us someday.

I love you, Myna.

>> BOYER: Stymied on the ground in Waco, the FBI was also enduring unprecedented tumult at the top.

Its director, William Sessions, was under siege, battling charges of ethical impropriety and an open insurrection from his senior staff.

Things were no more settled at the Justice Department, which oversees the FBI.

President Clinton had already lost his first two nominees for attorney general.

>> I, Janet Reno, will well and faithfully perform the duties... >> BOYER: On the 13th day of the Waco standoff, his third choice was sworn in.

>> General Reno, congratulations.

(cheers and applause) >> BOYER: Janet Reno was a stranger to Washington, and a stranger to the city's bureaucratic intrigue.

She was effectively alone at the Justice Department she now ran.

And her first day on the job, she inherited both Waco and the FBI's leadership crisis.

>> She had no confidence in Director Sessions.

She felt that he should avoid embarrassing the president by stepping aside.

So it was difficult.

She treated him with respect, but at the same time, she wanted him to go away, and he wouldn't go away, and that just added to the-the difficulties of the moment.

>> BOYER: Back in Waco, nothing new.

>> There's a lot of down time in these situations, where we would sit over coffee, and go, "Jesus Christ!"

You know, "Goddamn, this is just, you know, where is this going?"

>> (on phone): How's the food holding up?

>> (on phone): The food's okay, there's no pizza yet.

>> The Davidians were well-equipped, well-prepared, plenty to eat.

>> We had pizza the other night.

>> The FBI personnel, the food that we had was basically Domino's Pizza.

>> (on phone): We saved two pieces, but you never came out.

>> In essence the hostage negotiation personnel became hostage to the Davidian standoff.

(rumbling) >> BOYER: On the forward line, the Ninjas are restless.

>> You're a teacher, and you've got a kid that's misbehaving, how many time you going to tell that kid to stop it before you take another tact?

And we just... we asked and we asked and we asked, and they just wouldn't come out.

So sooner or later, you have to do something.

>> (on phone): If you people would back off and leave these people, just have a day or two or at least some time to think about what's going on, you might see some different choices.

>> (on phone): Okay.

>> But these kind of tactics.

They're showing their asses to us, they've flipped us the finger.

The things that they're doing causes these people to want to stay in here all the more.

>> Sometimes our big bosses don't always understand what's going on in terms of our conversations with you.

>> BOYER: In their isolated post, negotiators are desperate.

Hoping to re-establish a link with Koresh, they make their own family album video.

>> Gary mentioned that we're all family men.

I'm proud of my family.

I can tell from the tapes and conversation with you all that you're proud of them as well.

That's not just rhetoric.

I mean, we can show you pictures... >> I have a picture here of my son.

And when you look at the picture, he certainly is his father's son.

>> I have a family too.

And these other gentlemen who have talk to you-- they have families... >> BOYER: More than 20 different negotiators have tried and failed to talk the Davidians out.

So Jamar again calls on the only negotiator who seems able to get through to Koresh.

>> (on phone): Let me ask you, David, man to man, what can we do right this minute to get things moving so we can get this thing maybe resolved today?

>> (on phone): Well, you can tell these agents that as an American citizen, somebody has stepped on my property, and there's going to be some butt whupped over this.

It's either going to be my butt or it's going to be their butt.

>> What can I do?

You tell me, because I'm just an old dumb country sheriff in a lot of ways.

>> If y'all had called us up and said you had a warrant for us, I'd have met you in town.

>> David, I've laid awake thinking about that, and, really, I'd like to sit down just talk face-to-face with you... >> I wanted to meet with Vernon, but he was injured and couldn't come out of the compound, and I wasn't permitted to go into the compound.

>> We decided to try to do something that as a negotiation instructor I teach that you only do as a last resort.

And that is to orchestrate a face-to-face negotiation.

>> (on radio): Okay, subjects are approaching, it's 4:23... >> Am I nervous?

Sure, I'm very nervous.

We know that this is a dangerous situation.

If anyone inside that compound had elected to take his own action, then I'm dead, Jack's dead.

And we have another 28th of February.

>> (radio): We're about 100 yards down the road... >> We pulled down the driveway, I'm looking out the port wondering when it's going to stop if we're going to go up and knock at the door.

And we're beyond halfway down the driveway when the Bradley finally stops.

>> (on tape): Wayne, this is Byron Sage.

We talked to you Sunday night... >> I stepped out of the back of the tank and went out 15, 20 yards to meet them.

>> I'm wired for sound.

I've got microphones, tape recorders, everything taped to my body.

And I'm wearing my son's blue Nike jacket, because it's the biggest jacket I could get.

So I step out from behind the protection of that Bradley, and it's the longest step I've ever taken.

>> (on radio): ...needs to be involved, I can understand... >> BOYER: The HRT is watching and ready.

>> I'm covering them with my weapon, and we're saying, "Well, this would be almost one of the ideal times "to take out some of the leadership if we just grab them."

>> Snatch them.

Because they were, I don't know, ten yards from the back of that Bradley, and just jump out and grab them and drag them in-- handcuff them, and, "You're under arrest."

That's it-- simple as that.

But one of the supervisors from the team in that lead track, he says, "No, you can't do that."

So... >> (on tape): We go by a document here, the Bible.

>> They had not met Byron Sage, and to just walk out and say, "We trust you, "we know you've got guns in there, "but I'm going to walk out here where anyone wants to shoot me, they can do it.

"You're walking out here, "where if anyone wants to shoot you, they can do it, "because we're right out in... "with no protection, "and if we can trust each other to do that, "why can't we trust each other to go on and resolve this thing?"

>> Steve seemed to be very genuine, very matter of fact.

Good eye contact.

Wayne was very nervous.

He was dressed in a three-piece suit, kind of dancing from foot to foot.

And there's a point where Wayne says he doesn't know what the United States stands for or whether or not the Constitution's been suspended or whatever.

And I told them very matter-of-factly, I said, "There are two documents that I would give my life for."

(on tape): One is the Constitution, and one is the Bible.

And I would give my life to defend both of them.

That's why I'm standing here in plain sight of... >> And I'm looking Steve dead in the eye.

I think that meant a great deal to him.

I think that from that point, he said, "I believe you.

>> (on tape): Byron, I can honestly tell you, I believe everything you've said.

I'm going to do all I can and go back and relay everything that you said, the manner you have... >> Byron felt he reached Steve.

He really felt there was a connection there.

They agreed to meet again.

What I believe, and this is one instance where we had the microphone that we had inside was in Koresh's room, when they returned to report their version of what went on.... >> I believe Koresh picked up something there, that maybe that Steve-- I don't think he was ever worried about Wayne Martin-- but I think he might have been concerned about Steve-- so he didn't permit another face-to-face.

>> BOYER: Koresh vetoes any more face-to-face meetings.

Jamar answers that setback by allowing the HRT to begin blasting noise and music into the compound Once again, the negotiators are unaware of the HRT's tactics.

(loud droning music blaring) >> (on phone): Hello, John.

(laughing) I can't even keep a straight face here.

>> (on phone): What is it?

>> Your friends are playing some unique music here.

>> You've not been privileged to hear this fine selection of music?

>> No, what is it?

>> It goes like this, it goes: (imitating droning noises)-- this weird sound... >> BOYER: Koresh fights back, aiming his own speakers at the FBI, in a weird, all-night battle of the bands.

(rock music playing) >> He had his little band in there, and all of a sudden he starts playing, and, uh... We were 200-plus yards away, and we had to yell at each other to hear.

It was... and it went on for several hours, this concert, rock concert.

Just showing us that his speakers were more powerful than ours.

(rock music playing) >> (on phone): Hello?

>> (on phone): Steve?

>> Yeah, hi-- it looks pretty sure now that Oliver's going to be coming out.

>> That's wonderful.

>> Kevin, that looks pretty sure also... >> BOYER: On March 2, a surprise-- some more Davidians come out.

>> (on phone): Kathy, she will be coming out in the morning... >> On the 21st, we got seven people out.

Very significant from a negotiation standpoint.

That's the most significant number of people that we had come out.

(vehicles rumbling) >> BOYER: But for Jeff Jamar, seven is not enough.

(child crying) >> (on phone): Oh, no.

>> BOYER: He ratchets it up, ordering the HRT tanks to clear away the Davidian's cars and motorcycles.

You know, you just get o the point where you-- the "Heck with them" sort of thing, you just don't believe anything they say.

>> (on phone): Here we are working with you and thinking we're getting somewhere.

And bingo, I mean, you know, we were on a roll, just things were starting to pick up, and bang.

>> The decision was in direct contradiction to the negotiation efforts.

Was that a mistake?

Timing-wise from a negotiation standpoint, I think it was an abysmal mistake.

>> (on phone): David said, "Isn't it true, "every time we've complied with you people, something like this comes up."

>> I talked to David, you know, and he said that the, uh... >> Well, he just told me now, just right now, he says no one's coming out, nobody.

>> Yeah, well... >> BOYER: The Davidian exodus from the compound stopped late in the day on March 21.

Sage continues to press for a negotiated end but privately his anger and pessimism about the negotiations and David Koresh are growing.

>> Although David Koresh said that, "These people can come out at any time.

they are free to leave at any time."

He had them... remember, he had them completely and totally convinced, deceived, that he was their Messiah.

And for them to come out, they had to go through what he called an exit interview, which meant that you or I, before we were allowed to come out, had to go up and talk to David.

And David would say, "You're free to go, but you need to realize that if you leave, "you're leaving your eternal salvation here, "and you're going out to the beast, but that's your decision.

You're free to go."

Now, how many people are going to run out the door?

Obviously very few.

>> BOYER: Sage and the negotiators had been playing Koresh's game, granting that his messianic claims were sincere.

Exasperated now, Sage decides to find out once and for all whether Koresh really believes he's Christ.

>> (on phone): You went back on your word.

>> (on phone): That is a lie!

>> That is not a lie.

>> That is a lie... >> That is absolute fact.

>> As you will find out in the judgment.... >> You know as well as I do that your challenge to open these seven seals-- it's garbage, it's a false hope, and you know it.

>> No, it's not.

>> So you are now claiming clearly and simply that you are the Christ?

>> That's where you remain ignorant.

You are standing right at the door looking it in the face... >> David, my own personal commitment, my own personal faith... >> I tell him that I am absolutely confident in my salvation, and he's not in a position to challenge it.

Now, if anyone was in a position to try to challenge my faith as a Christian, it would be someone that perceives himself to be Christ.

He does not assume that posture.

From that point forward, it is absolutely, patently clear in my mind what we're dealing with.

This guy is not delusional, he is not a messianic complex.

He does not buy off on his own con.

>> BOYER: The siege has gone on now for 23 days.

23 days of two competing solutions-- talk and action.

Jamar, the agent in charge, has signed on for action.

He makes it clear to Sage that his mind is made up.

Byron Sage, the most visible negotiator, then recommends in writing an escalation of tactical measures, including tear gas.

>> You signed on?

>> Absolutely.

I mean, this is kind of a radical departure for a negotiation team to recommend teargassing.

But we're now, what, 23 days into a siege, haven't had a child out since the 5th of March.

>> BOYER: The HRT are ready with a plan.

It's simple, aggressive, and quick.

Under the cover of darkness, they would take the compound with Bradley tanks and gas.

The Davidians, overwhelmed, would come out.

They are ready to act, but first the plan must be approved by Washington.

The record shows that using tanks and gas on a compound still holding 25 children was a tough sell to this attorney general.

As a local prosecutor, Janet Reno had built a reputation as a zealous child advocate.

And on Monday, April 12, she said no to the gas plan.

The FBI didn't relent.

They came back at the attorney general.

"The plan's too aggressive," she said.

"Then they'll water it down."

She's worried the Davidians might use the children as shields-- if they did, the FBI promised to back off.

Most of all, she worried that the gas would permanently damage the children.

A military expert assured her the gas was safe.

For five days, the FBI tried to eliminate her objections.

After the Waco fire, Reno would say again and again that she authorized the gas plan because children were being abused.

>> ...we had had reports that they had been sexually abused, that babies had actually been beaten.

I asked, when I first heard that, for them to verify it, and again that was the report that was brought back.

>> When she said, "I was told the babies were being beaten."

And I said, "What do you mean, babies are being picked up and beaten?

"Yes, I was told, babies were being beaten."

>> Then she will have to say who told her that.

Certainly I did not.

>> She said she doesn't remember.

Well, if it was impressive-- something that impressed her tremendously, then she's responsible for what she heard.

>> BOYER: But FBI documents uncovered by "Frontline" confirm that as the bureau was pressuring Reno to approve the gas plan, someone in the FBI told her that children were being abused at Waco.

But the FBI knew that children were not being beaten during the standoff.

>> At the time, what she said was, "I was told that babies were being beaten."

She told me that she was told that.

Web Hubble told me that he heard her being told that.

Did you tell her that?

>> No.

>> BOYER: It still not known who had told Reno about the child abuse.

But on Friday, April 16, she changed her mind and approved the gas plan.

The FBI is ready, but will the Davidians play the role the FBI has scripted for them?

When the gas goes in, will they come out?

>> (on phone): ...to the suicide situation... >> (on phone): You think I'm going to walk out here and nail myself up against a wall, or something like that?

>> Are you thinking about taking your own life?

>> Never ever, never.

Let's call it an unpardonable sin... >> Are you going to commit suicide?

>> Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, never... >> ...people have a super love for life, have a respect for life... >> When we asked Koresh if they would consider suicide, the response was survival-oriented, was long-term in nature.

>> BOYER: But there were warnings.

>> I did everything I could to alert people to what I thought was Koresh's plan, and how I thought we were being sucked in, or pulled right into a snare that he had set for us.

I said, "You don't understand, this guy is not coming out.

"And if we continue the way we're doing, everybody's going to die inside that compound."

>> (on phone): Behold, the Lord will come with fire... ...the church will be with flaming torches... ...the rebukes of flames of fire.... >> BOYER: When the Davidians spoke of death, they often talked about fire.

>> (on phone): Don't burn the building down.

>> (on phone): Don't burn our building down.

>> Do you have any way of fighting fire in there?

Do you have any fire-extinguishing systems?

>> I think there might be one.

>> BOYER: The FBI knows that Mount Carmel is a fire-trap.

>> Part of our job was to call back the descriptions of each section of the building, and it was very shoddily put together, it was just thrown up.

And sometimes we would even see inside through an open door or window, and see that there might be hay or straw stacked in the hallways.

There was clothing laying here and there, and this place, it was indeed a tinderbox.

>> BOYER: Yet, incredibly, the FBI has not developed a fire protection plan for when they gas the compound.

Nowhere in the 568-page assault plan submitted to and signed by Janet Reno is there a fire plan.

The FBI isn't worried about a fire, and they're not ready to fight one.

(cicadas chirping) It is Sunday night, April 18.

The assault is scheduled for early the next morning.

The Davidians have no idea what's coming.

>> My thoughts as I fell into a troubled sleep that night... uh, I didn't think the gas would bring them out.

Uh...

I feared for a mass suicide, and I just saw the whole thing blowing up in our face and those kids dying.

>> It's really interesting the way my mind works.

It was not that I'm hyped or anything-- it was just, "Now's the time to do this, let's get started."

(revving) (tank crewman calling) >> It was still dark when we started, and it would be light soon, so we could see.

But it was dark, so they couldn't see us.

I go up to what we call Sierra One Alpha, which is right across the street from the compound, and at 5:59 I place a call into the compound.

My heart's in my throat.

I'm hoping that this is going to be, you know, "Okay, we've had enough-- we're coming out."

>> (on phone): Hello?

>> (on phone): Steve, this is Byron Sage.

We're in the process of placing tear gas into the building.

This is not an assault.

We are not entering the building.

>> We knew they had gas masks.

We knew they had plenty of automatic weapons.

(gunfire) I begin to hear the shots early.

And that first tracked vehicle that had the tear gas looked like it was lit with sparklers.

It was taking so many rounds bouncing off of it.

(gunfire) >> BOYER: The FBI had told Attorney General Reno they planned to slowly insert the CS gas over a period of 48 hours, forcing the Davidians out.

But the gunfire meant the Davidians were not coming out, and the rules of engagement allowed the FBI to now dramatically escalate the operation.

They will use all their gas in two hours.

>> On the overhears, you could still hear people talking, so I knew they didn't have gas masks on, so I knew the gas wasn't driving them out of the compound.

>> BOYER: Early that morning, the Weather Service had issued a wind advisory for Waco.

It had gone unheeded by the FBI.

And now, the 31-mile-an-hour gusts were blowing the gas right out of the building.

So the HRT now pushes the tanks deeper into the building, trying to corral the Davidians.

They expect the women and children to make a run for a school bus buried in one corner of the compound.

>> Our theory was to get gas in that area that leads to the underground bus, to deny them getting in there, and, uh, to get into that hallway and gas that hallway first off, so they wouldn't run in and down and get in the bus, and be even in a more defensible position than they already are.

>> BOYER: The women and children end up in a bunker underneath the tower where the weapons and ammunition are stored.

Overhead, the FBI's infrared radar gives the clearest view of how the fire broke out almost simultaneously in three separate sections of the compound.

>> (on phone): The time to come out is now.

If you can't see your way through, walk towards the sound of the speakers.

David, don't do this to your people.

>> During the course of the morning, we had given them specific instructions.

With the fire, it becomes a plea and continues to a very pointed plea towards the end of what ultimately was a half hour of just anguish.

>> (on phone): Don't do this to your people.

I had to physically turn around away from the monitor to keep my mind focused on what I was trying to broadcast to those people, because we... not a person had come out up until this time.

>> We were waiting on some direction from God.

What do we do now, you know?

And even Wayne Martin, he kind of had his back against a wall, just slid down into a sitting position, and we says, "Wayne, what do you think we ought to do?"

You know?

He says, "I guess we just wait on God."

And the next thing we knew, he was just surrounded in, as I say, smoke and heat and flames.

(fire crackling) (explosion) >> My first thought was that he's burning the crime scene, and I expected the people to come out.

If that place is on fire, they're coming out of there.

I mean, we expected it instantly.

And then when they didn't, it was just horror.

I mean, it was a just a feeling of just absolute horror.

And I think almost everyone there had the same reaction.

>> We were all there in the command post, and you could see the expressions on everyone's face that they... they couldn't see anyone coming out.

And there was... someone made the statement, "Why aren't they coming out?

Where are the kids?"

And... (coughs) Excuse me... >> BOYER: Only nine of the 84 Davidians would escape the flames.

>> At some point, I just made a dive and landed on the sheetrock and just kind of slithered out headfirst over it.

And I kind of looked over my shoulder, I'd just come through this hole, and I looked back, and this hole was just a mass of flames, you know.

And I'm going, "My God, I'm the only one that got out."

I couldn't believe it, you know?

And I'm thinking, "The other guys don't even have a chance."

(flames crackling) (explosion) >> Nobody was coming out.

It was unbelievable.

So the only thought was that they had to have gotten to the bus, and now they're in there.

And we immediately started to clear the area of the burning debris to get into the bus.

>> BOYER: Six minutes into the fire, the fire department is called, but fearing they might be shot, Jamar holds them at the perimeter.

>> I remember saying to them, "They're not getting in till we are sure it's safe."

And that took several minutes.

(alarms blaring) Once the fire trucks were in, the hope was to get over to the bus area and see where the children were.

And that was the rush.

To see if there were survivors, primarily children, in that bus.

>> HRT had made an effort to gain access to the bus, the buried bus.

About 12:30, I walked over to the site, in shock basically.

And the first thing I ask is, "Where are the kids?"

"Nowhere."

>> What do you mean "nowhere"?

>> They had not come out.

They had been consumed.

>> BOYER: It took a week for the compound to cool down enough to permit a close examination of the physical evidence.

Expert testimony at the congressional hearings seemed to prove the Davidians lit the fires.

>> BOYER: The audio bug tapes from the morning of the fire were the critical evidence.

>> BOYER: And how did the Davidians die?

Was Waco a mass suicide?

The medical answers are mixed, >> David Koresh died of gunshot wound.

He had a single gunshot wound to his forehead.

Schneider had a single gunshot wound of his mouth, of his upper palate.

All together, there were 20 people who died as a result of gunshot wounds on that particular day.

Some 27 additional bodies were buried deep within the bunker.

These were comingled bodies, and all of these were women and children.

They were huddled together, some of them, they were covered with blankets, some of them had face masks.

And, um...

Most of them had died as a result of smoke inhalation or suffocation, but there were at least three kids who had been shot to death, and one was stabbed to death.

>> BOYER: There is no escaping the judgment that Waco was a monumental failure for the FBI.

It seems unbelievable now that the FBI would choose to send tanks and tear gas into a building full of children.

But they had never encountered anyone like David Koresh.

He resisted their talk, he laughed at their tactics.

And finally he lured them to a course whose obvious dangers they could not see.

Perhaps the FBI's greatest failure was that they let him write the final act.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> To investigate the Waco file further, visit "Frontline" online.

Learn more about the key participants in the standoff, hear more of the taped conversations between the Davidians and the negotiators.

>> (on phone): Well, would that help, to get the milk out there to you?

>> (on phone): You know, that may help the babies.

>> Read the viewer discussion about the program, and much more, at "Frontline" online, at www.pbs.org.

♪ ♪ >> Next time on "Frontline"-- We know he has them.

>> The objective was to get rid of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

>> We had a chance to destroy them.

>> And in 1999, they are still there.

>> What happened?

"Frontline" investigates the charges that a U.N. mission to destroy Saddam Hussein's weapons was destroyed by the CIA.

>> I didn't kill UNSCOM.

The United States killed UNSCOM.

>> "Spying on Saddam"-- next time on "Frontline."

♪ ♪ >> "Waco: The Inside Story" is available on home video cassette for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order, call 1-800-255-9424.

♪ ♪ >> Now it's time for your letters.

Here are some of the responses to tonight's program after its first broadcast.

>> I was astonished at your conclusion that the FBI had failed miserably.

Although this certainly could not be considered a success for the FBI, I got the impression that these FBI agents acted compassionately and professionally in dealing with an armed psychopath who thought nothing of sacrificing the lives of those who had blindly followed him.

Joe Davies.

>> The opposite perspective came from a viewer in Alaska, who wrote, "Our government arm of law enforcement is out of control.

"This whole show on Waco was nothing more than a whitewash to protect BATF and the FBI."

>> It was with sick despair that my family and I watched the ATF and the FBI members plan and squabble over how to rid Waco of David Koresh and his followers.

Did he murder anybody?

Did he rob a bank?

Americans killed American women and children and then assumed to philosophically theorize about it on camera?

Jean Kraynick.

>> For more of this discussion, visit "Frontline's" website.

♪ ♪ >> Funding for "Frontline" is provided by the annual financial support of PBS viewers like you, with additional funding for this program from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

♪ ♪ >> This is PBS.