|
04/21/93
Diplomats decline to fault FBI; Australian envoy pleased that Rangers to lead probe
By Todd J. Gillman / The Dallas Morning News
WACO-Diplomats from Australia and Great Britain withheld criticism over the FBI's handling of the Branch Davidian cult standoff, despite the deaths of their citizens in the inferno that ended the siege.
Australian Consul-General Peter Urban, based in Houston, said he was pleased that state officials would lead the investigation.
"Personally, I think the FBI could have handled the investigation perfectly professionally,' he said, "but obviously it's nice in these sad circumstances to have an independent third party. . . . In the sense of delivering both justice and what is seen as justice, I think that it is important that the Texas Rangers handle the investigation at this stage.'
Mr. Urban said he has requested that Texas Rangers ask one Australian cult member who survived, Clive Doyle, about the other Australians in the compound.
"Up to yesterday I thought the FBI handled this case very professionally,' Mr. Urban said outside the Waco Convention Center after the FBI briefing Tuesday morning. "I can't question their judgment on this. . . . People can make their own judgment.'
Seven Australian citizens were in the compound. Oliver Gyarfas has been in federal custody as a material witness. Graeme Craddock emerged Monday. The other five, plus an infant belonging to one, whom officials said was born in America and fathered by Mr. Koresh, are believed dead.
British Vice Consul Helen Mann, also based in Houston, said that 26 British citizens were alive in the compound when the fire started -- 17 women, 8 men and one child. Two British men escaped; one is in custody, the other is hospitalized. Five more Britons, including three children, left the compound earlier in the siege, she said.
Ms. Mann offered neither praise nor condemnation for the FBI's handling of the situation, saying her country is awaiting a full report from investigators.
"I don't think it would be appropriate to comment one way or the other,' she said.
Foreign newspapers bluntly criticized U.S. authorities' handling of the Waco standoff, saying miscalculations cost dozens of lives.
"What happened in Waco is unbelievable. And for the FBI, unpardonable,' the Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias said Tuesday. "What is inexcusable, for such a powerful American federal agency, is that at the end of those 51 days everything happened exactly the way David Koresh said it would.'
America's detractors "will be only too happy to exploit once more the stereotype of the trigger-happy cop,' said the English-language Gulf News in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai.
Assaf Hefetz, the founder of a special Israeli anti-guerrilla unit, criticized the FBI for using armored vehicles to punch holes in the cult's compound and pumping in tear gas. "Tear gas always allows time and room for action' by the other side, said Mr. Hefetz, who is a deputy to Israel's national police commissioner.
The Daily Telegraph in London said some good could come out of the tragedy if President Clinton uses it as an opportunity to tighten gun control laws.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
|
Back to Top
