At 12:57 PM 02/07/2000 -0800, Hal wrote:
>I spent several hours studying the earlier Waco video a few months ago.
>I agree that, based on these photographs, a structure of some sort is
>present in the courtyard on the day of the fire, which was not there a
>few days ago.
>
>However I question whether this would be a "sniper's nest" for a couple of
>reasons. The main one is that this does not seem to be a very reasonable
>position for a sniper to hide. It is in the courtyard, surrounded on
>three sides by buildings occupied by the people he would be sniping at.
>
>It does not appear to be a very defensible position, as he could have
>bullets coming at him from three directions. Further, he would himself
>be firing at virtually point-blank range.
>
>"Sniping" usually connotes a somewhat long-distance firing activity.
>Placing your "nest" in the middle of the enemy's courtyard, mere yards
>from the walls, just seems utterly absurd.
IAN: Your analysis seems reasonable on its face.
We should note that the tank's penetration around
the rear of the gym, with supplemental machinegun
fire, was obviously providing cover for the close-in
sniper(s). The thermal flashes in the courtyard are
very pronounced, and can be broken down into rapid
fire of machine guns. The vast majority of expert
analysis says they are gun shots, and the initial
counter explanation of sunlight reflections has
been invalidated and abandoned by the FBI. Now
the FBI says (1) that FLIR can't pick up gun
shots and (2) the flashes are glitches on the
tape. (1) is false, "Waco: A New Revelation" shows
FLIR tape of a gun fight where gun shots are visible
in the exact same way seen at Waco. (2) is improbable,
since the locations of flashes over time remain fixed
with respect to the ground, even as the camera changes
it's location. In short, flash locations are not random.
Why shots would be fired so close is odd, but I believe
the evidence indicates that they were. There must be a
reason why they needed to get so close, maybe we'll
figure it out. As for the snipers nest. I got word
from one of the lawyers that the tank punched the wall
out at that point (not visible on the FLIR) and a sniper
or snipers used the punched-out-wall as a makeshift hide.
========================================================
WACO BOMB?: http://users.erols.com/igoddard/wacorom2.htm
========================================================
"There are times when you cannot keep your job and
put alternative explanations for data on the table."
Former FBI Special Agent Dr. Frederic Whitehurst
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