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- Sept. 4 - COLORADO SPRINGS - A Colorado
filmmaker is causing problems for the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice
over their handling of the Waco siege in 1993 and the follow-up investigation.
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- Mike McNulty's film, "Waco: The Rules of Engagement,''
was integral in forcing U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to reopen the
investigation into the government assault on the Branch Davidian compound.
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- And now, McNulty, of Fort Collins, says his second film,
"Waco: A New Revelation,'' proves that U.S. military anti-terrorism
experts were active in the attack.
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- "What we have is a collection of evidence that they
were operational and they were shooting,'' McNulty said.
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- He says the film also debunks FBI assertions that government
agents did not fire weapons during the April 19, 1993, assault that ended
the 51-day siege. At one point, he says, the film shows government gunmen
firing "in the general vicinity'' where 17 cult members were later
found dead.
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- The fiery end to the siege left cult leader David Koresh
and some 80 of his followers dead.
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- McNulty previewed the new film Friday at a retreat for
conservatives in Colorado Springs called The Weekend. The film has quickly
become the dominant buzz at the politically charged event.
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- The film and McNulty's new evidence are cause for concern,
said U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who chairs a congressional committee
investigating the government's actions at Waco. But he is cautious about
drawing conclusions too quickly.
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- "I'm not going to say now, until we're fairly certain,
that these tapes show actual combat by Delta Force members or other members
of the military,'' said Burton, who is attending The Weekend. "Every
bit of evidence is extremely important.''
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- Burton said he has all of McNulty's tapes, or will soon.
He is having them analyzed "frame by frame'' by two entities he declined
to name. Federal law bans military action against U.S. civilians in most
instances.
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- McNulty is a Navy veteran of Vietnam who was later part
of a group of Vietnam veterans who protested against the war.
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- He was a commercial insurance broker in Fort Collins
when he saw the fiery end to the siege in Waco. He also had a law enforcement
watchdog group called the COPS Public Interest group.
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- "I watched the building burn, and something bothered
me,'' McNulty said.
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- He grew more interested as the insurance company he represented
fell apart, leaving him without a job. He would later do some investigating
for attorneys representing Branch Davidian survivors.
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- His first investigation into the Waco disaster disproved
a theory found on an early videotape critical of the government. The video
indicated that the tank used to enter the compound was shooting flames
like a flame thrower. But he found that it was a piece of the crumbling
building reflecting light.
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- But now the tables have turned. The FBI says some bursts
of light on heat-sensitive videotape of the assault are simply reflections
of shiny objects. McNulty's analysis says that's impossible.
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- The heat-sensitive tape was taken by an FBI plane hovering
over the scene. McNulty says he obtained a better, earlier version of the
tape through Freedom of Information Act requests.
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- McNulty says there are 16 flashes per second, consistent
with automatic weapons fire, not random acts of nature.
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- In another segment not shown Friday, he says the heat-sensitive
tape shows shots being fired in the vicinity of where 17 Branch Davidians
were found shot to death.
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- The film includes statements from a retired U.S. military
Special Forces member confirming that some of the people on videotapes
and photographs located by McNulty were members of the U.S. military's
counter-terrorism Delta Force.
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