The 1997 Academy Award nominated documentary “Waco: The Rules of Engagement” details evidence showing how the United States agency the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms intentionally set fire to the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas in April 1993, killing up to 86 people— many being women and children.  Also shown is how the Bureau took steps to ensure that the fire would spread and engulf the building as quickly as possible, as well as how they machine gunned unarmed people as they tried to escape the burning building.

After previous segments of the documentary detailed the credibility of the evidence presented at the Senate hearings questioning the Agents’ acts, Joe Biden and others attempted to downplay the significance of the testimony of the witnesses and the evidence presented.

Joe Biden said: “The record of the Waco incident documents mistakes.  What the record from Waco does not evidence, however, is any improper motive or intent on the part of law enforcement.  David Koresh and the Davidians set fire to themselves, and committed suicide.  The government did not do that.”

Farris L. Rookstool III, Former FBI Special Agent: “That assertion to me, that the media and the government has made a blanket declaration that the Branch Davidians committed ‘mass suicide’ [being] equated to a Jonestown, Guyana suicide, is a most irresponsible statement that can be attributed to anything having to do with the Waco incident.  I find that very offending to me, and offensive to the memory of the Davidians and everybody involved in this tragedy to wrap it up in a nice clean ‘Well, it was a mass suicide, end of story.’— because it was far from it.”

View the website for this film.