Waco Quotes

“Militia enlistments skyrocketed in 2009, when Democrat Barack Obama became president. According to Southern Poverty Law Center research, “antigovernment groups” (which, besides militias, included tax protest and unarmed “sovereign citizens” organizations) in America rose to 542 by year’s end, then 824 in 2010, 1,274 in 2011, and, with a surge linked to the rise of the Tea Party movement, peaked at 1,360 in 2012.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“Agents asked repeatedly where the children were—how could they reach them and try to bring them to safety? None of the survivors knew.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“Kathy Schroeder, in custody at a Waco hospital, was told by a nurse to come and see what was happening on TV. She watched Mount Carmel burn, and says nearly thirty years later, “Those that died in fire attained a place in the future event [End Time]. They’re coming back. While the rest of my friends became Wave Sheaf and translated through fire, I was left behind.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“A second, more plausible theory, is that the fire was an accident. Tanks crashing into Mount Carmel caused lit Coleman lanterns and space heaters to fall over and ignite pools of accelerant leaking from other overturned containers.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“The FBI’s tactics on April 19, 1993, created the situation that led to the fire, but the agency did not deliberately set the fire itself.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“Thibodeau wrote, “By noon, the building is a tinderbox. A thick layer of methylene chloride dust deposited by the CS gas coats the walls, floors, and ceilings, mingling with kerosene and propane vapors from our spilled lanterns and crushed heaters.… The whole place is primed like a pot-bellied stove with its damper flung open. Suddenly, someone yells—‘Fire!”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“Even with clouds of gas permeating much of Mount Carmel, the Branch Davidians still held some hope that if the FBI understood that Koresh was working hard and keeping his promise, agents might relent and keep their promise to wait until his writing was complete.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“You don’t deliver an apocalypse to an apocalyptic group. The [ATF] raid in a sad way confirmed David’s prophecies to his followers more than ever before.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“The agents couldn’t understand why the raid went forward after the element of surprise was lost. They felt that a promise to them had been broken, and four good men died because of it. Rory Heisch says, “We were pissed.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“It’s impossible for participants in gun battles to be objective about them afterward. Their memories are skewed.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“A raid of the scope, expense, and logistical complexity contemplated by the planners of the Waco operation can generate a momentum that, if unchecked, can be inexorable.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“Another aspect never discussed in any detail by planners or agents was the Branch Davidians’ religious beliefs, and how these might cause them to react to any ATF approach on their property.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“J. Phillip Arnold, whose professional career has been dedicated to studying religious history and faiths, says that anyone doubting David Koresh and his followers’ sincerity about dying in a mandated fight should have considered it from the Branch Davidians’ perspective: “If you believe in God, and if you believe that God has told you to do something, wouldn’t you do it?”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“But ATF’s agents relied on what it had heard from the former members, and felt certain that if Koresh chose to resist a raid, it would take significant time—likely half an hour or even more—just to arm his followers and position them to fight. It was a crucial misjudgment.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“In the late fall of 1992, the wave of bad publicity following Ruby Ridge was such that all of the agencies involved badly wanted to avoid another illegal arms confrontation that could potentially turn deadly, especially if it involved women and children.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“When Thibodeau asked Koresh why he required so many women, he replied, “It’s like winning in the bedroom. If you don’t win in the bedroom, son, you’re not going to win on the battlefield.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“Perhaps the most thrilling aspect of Koresh’s teaching was the concept that the prophets of the Bible were writing about modern times as much or more than their own. These were current events, not old news.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

“Koresh didn’t encourage adoration. He frequently cautioned, “I don’t want you to worship the person, but the teaching. I’m just a messenger of the truth. I’m like a Dixie cup that God will crumple up and throw away when He’s done with it.”
― Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage