Waco: The Rules Of Engagement

Year: 1997

Grade: B

Country: USA

Director: Gazecki

Review

does an excellent job of staying objective. a lot of the film is structured in a point/counter-point way to further the goal of objectivity. it’s a bit longish and has a cheeseball score (there are some real corny violin and piano pieces that are supposed to tug at your heart strings). other than those minor gripes it’s a worthwhile film. it presents a lot of information and doesn’t make the answers clear. since most people (including myself) didn’t get a full picture of what happened before and after those 51 days it’s nice that this film exists. i think i know enough, now, to say that the government truly dropped the ball on this one. their reasons for going in were dubious and the way in which they executed the search warrant was excessive and inflammatory. the next 51 days were filled with deceit, politicking, and pr moves that seem pretty shameful in retrospect. the investigation that followed seemed doomed from the start. it’s another sad time in the history of our government. despite what koresh and his people did or did not do, the truth remains that they were primarily within their rights and that the burden lies with the government. to me there were clear abuses of power and the agencies involved, namely the atf and fbi, should be reprimanded and ordered to apologize.