As John Danforth began testifying in the cavernous Senate hearing room last week, I realized that time may not heal the self-inflicted wounds of many public officials.
After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Congress exhibited unadulterated venom and conspiratorial rage toward Atty. Gen. Janet Reno as she defended what her ravenous inquisitors simply assumed was the indefensible: the government’s handling of the 1993 Waco cult standoff.
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It was the big story of the period, with the more aggressive questioners getting their mugs on prime-time newscasts on many nights, filling the cable news airwaves and ultimately helping to leave the distinct impression among many Americans of out-of-control, bloody misdeeds.
“This is a profound disgrace to law enforcement in the United States of America. And you did the right thing by offering to resign. You did exactly the right thing,” Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, proclaimed as the House Judiciary Committee pilloried Reno on April 29, 1993.
“And now I’d like you to know that there is at least one member in the Congress that isn’t going to rationalize the death of two dozen children,” Conyers said.
Reno, being Reno, sat there, placid even amid the not-so-veiled intimations that she and underlings were murderers. She didn’t budge, especially as she underscored her own anger over the death of four ATF agents by the Branch Davidians.
But it didn’t stop Congress in its quest for headlines. And, as the years passed, “Waco” became synonymous to many of blatant overreaching, with the conspiracy theorists blabbing away on talk radio and on the Internet, even leaving doubts in the minds of normally sensible citizens.
You would think that, now, thanks to Danforth, the mood would change.
He’s a former three-term senator from Missouri, a wealthy and civic-minded Episcopalian priest known to former colleagues as “St. Jack.” He was a good choice to investigate the standoff, and employed 74 aides and spent $12 million over the past 10 months in a new inquiry into the matter.
His conclusions, disclosed July 21, included “100 percent certainty” that government agents were not to blame for the deaths of the 80 cult members.
Yes, he conceded, several lower-level employees, including lawyers, withheld information, notably that agents had used pyrotechnic tear gas grenades hours before the move to end the siege. But the grenades had absolutely no link to the fires, set by the Davidians, which engulfed their compound.
When Danforth surfaced before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, it was the first time Congress had revisited Waco in quite some time. One of the largest rooms in the Congress, able to hold several hundred, was the venue and, wouldn’t you know, there were as many twentysomething staffers (about 25) as actual spectators.
And when it came to the politicians who had so overheatedly exploited Waco so often, well, they seemed to find other matters to occupy themselves that afternoon. There were three senators present when the session started and soon it was down to the subcommittee chairman, the flinty, combative and at times shabby (especially to underlings) Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).
But before Specter was left by his conspiratorial lonesome and Danforth himself got a chance to speak, Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer of New York took self-absorption to new depths in an opening statement that merits instant consideration for the Guinness Book of Records, under “Most Long-Winded Self-Serving Statement [in English].”
Schumer, the only man I have ever spied taking off his shoes before entering a National Airport metal detector, harked back to a July 19, 1995, hearing on Waco in the House of Representatives. There were words spoken on that day which, in his mind, were prescient and piercing and worthy of recitation on this day.
“`It is unfair to twist the facts, making law enforcement the villain and David Koresh the lawbreaker, the victim,'” Schumer quoted a House member as declaring. “`That is like saying right is wrong and night is day.’
“`Let us be very clear. David Koresh was a dangerous, sick man who molested children, preached violence and led his followers into a horrible suicide. David Koresh was not a peaceful cleric … or even an eccentric with strange religious views. David Koresh was an armed fanatic who was excoriated in his hometown newspaper in a series titled “The Sinful Messiah.”‘
“`David Koresh sexually abused children and called it holy. David Koresh was obsessed with guns because he claimed it was commanded by Scripture. He hoarded a military arsenal that included at least 48 illegal machine guns and scores of illegal hand grenades.’
“`Remember, ladies and gentlemen, David Koresh and his followers did not greet federal law-enforcement with a Psalm or scripture. They greeted them with more firepower than even the ATF agents themselves had. Nothing excuses that ambush. Nothing in American law excuses it. Nothing in the Bible excuses it.'”
Finished with the quote, Schumer then informed his paltry audience as to the original source:
Yes, it was Schumer himself!
“I made that statement at the start of eight days of congressional hearings. Today, five years later, I stand by that statement,” he said, with the melodrama of someone reminding the world that he had predicted either the start of World War II or the onslaught of AIDS in Africa years before disbelieving masses would listen.
Thankfully, Danforth finally was allowed to outline his investigation and findings and, with a firmness that belied his monotone delivery, indicated that the “dark charges” of government agents setting a building on fire with 80 people inside, with help from the U.S. military and then with a subsequent cover-up, were clearly not true.
“It’s not a close call.”
Reno did not intentionally mislead anyone, he said. As for the lawyers who had not been forthcoming with information, Danforth showed a magnanimity not likely to be accepted by government haters. In particular, one young lawyer had “goofed” and then, realizing the mistake and scared for her job, concocted tales.
“We have overblown our willingness to trash people for mistakes … so what turns out to be a flaw is turned into an expose,” Danforth said.
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He was somewhat less convincing when it came to a federal agent who knew that pyrotechnics had been used but sat silently behind Reno as she told Congress they had not. The agent claims he wasn’t listening at that moment. Hmmm. Anyway, the grenades were of no consequence and the agent didn’t commit a crime, Danforth said.
Near the end, a cameo appearance was made by Sen. Robert “The Torch” Torricelli, a sharp and acerbic New Jersey Democrat who’s had enough of the languor of the Senate after four years and is plotting to run for governor back home.
He asked several questions about use of the military, which made him nervous, given its potential might when pitted against citizens. Danforth countered that, without military help, including tanks, the federal agents could have been left relatively naked against the firepower of the Davidians.
When the Waco hearing ended with a whimper, not a bang, Specter completed the ritual by walking toward the witness table.
“OK, St. Jack, you’re a helluva good witness!” he said to his former colleague, then split toward the exit, only to stop when confronted by a notebook-wielding journalist.
As if Danforth’s report wasn’t conclusive, and there was a need to keep open the possibility of more grandstanding, Specter declared, “We want to study and ingest it.”
He awaits another Danforth report, he said, on the concealment of evidence.
“I’ve had experience with conspiracy buffs and until those questions are answered, they won’t be satisfied.”
I assume he was talking about himself.