I wasn't able to be here last year. Heard a lot. Lot of faces here that I've seen before and, great to see you back again. There are a lot of people here that I haven't seen before.
Can't help but- think about one thing. The Lord's prayer, it says, "Forgive us our trespasses and forgive those who trespass against us." So, we have to forgive those who trespassed here, and what they did- that doesn't mean we have to forget. That's one thing we should never do, is forget, what took place here, five years ago. Five years and 51 days ago, and exactly five years ago today. Every one of those trees over there represent, someone that died here. They were planted by, a number of people came down here and, and spent their time, including, Rick Donaldson, who's been down here a number of times doing a lot of things.
I look around and I see, what's left. The rubble over there. I see the green grass. I've been here at times when the wind was blowing so hard, you should probably have a 50-pound weight in your, pocket, during one of the, memorial services. Another time, you needed water wings because it was raining so hard. Another time, it was so hot, you wished you had cutoffs on. But this year we're blessed, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day and it's not going to be too awfully hot for us.
I want to thank Clive for, inviting me to, introduce the speakers today. When we're, having a memorial service, I, I don't know, I just feel uneasy with MC. But as an introducer of the speeches, I'm, I'm, uh, proud to be here. I wasn't able to do, everything I wanted to do during the siege, but, I don't think that there were many of us that could do anything. We were stopped. In our tracks.
We have a few speakers today. All of them have, been involved one way or another with, what took place here. Written books, produced movies, were very outspoken about everything that, that happened- know what happened. Know whose fault it was. And I'd like to introduce the first speaker today. And that would be, an author. A retired Air Force major, he wrote the book, The Waco Whitewash. Mr. Jack DeVault. Jack. [applause]
Our next speaker, is the, President of the Provincial Government of Texas, Jesse Enloe. ["??" applause]
Our next speaker is a, a lady that's got a lot of guts. She was the, chairperson of the jury in the criminal trial, in San Antonio. Following that trial- and seeing what the judge did- she wrote letters, she protested, she's- just one heck of a lady. Her name is Sarah Bain. Sarah? [applause "Yeah!"]
Our next speaker- and, uh, we're going to ask that we try and keep these down to about five or ten minutes. Our next speech, speaker is, uh, Archie Lowe: a Patriot, and a Patriot American. Archie?
Our next speaker- is, uh, from the, Third Congressional Congress. His name is William Hanes. Mr. Hanes.
Been a lot of movies made, a lot of videos made, about, Mt. Carmel. And, some are better than others. There was one that was made last year that followed, five years of, investigation. Unbelievable amounts of, hours, interviews. Was nominated for an Academy Award. And we here, that know what took place in Waco, never thought that a video, on Waco, what took place at Mt. Carmel, would ever be ac-, nominated for an Academy Award. But there was one guy, that dedicated five years of his life- to put that movie together- and I'd like to introduce him now. The producer of "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," Mike McNulty. [enthusiastic applause, cheering]
Next speaker is an attorney, who is involved, in the, civil case, co-, concerning the Branch Davidians here at Mt. Carmel. I'd like to introduce James Brannon. James?
The government agents, learned their lessons real well. I think we can consider this, as, part of the ghettoes of Poland and, Germany- And the FBI agents, as those that, kept, those in the ghettoes, shut off. Then used their power to dehumanize, to, lie about, to the American people- and those that were inside, Mt. Carmel, as were in the ghettoes of Poland and Germany, weren't allowed to defend themselves. And, we see what the results were. The government learned their lessons well, from 1939 to 1945, didn't they. I'd like to thank, James Brannon for, for reading that, and I'm glad that that's now in the records. There's another attorney that's also involved in that civil case that I'd like to introduce now. And his name is Michael, Caddell. Michael?
A lot of us have sought-, seen this bus over here and we've probably wondered what it is. There's a radio station down in Austin, Texas- KJFK- with a talk show host named Alex Jones. And the radio station down there, ah, put together, the bus, and brought a bunch of, ah, listeners up from Austin, Texas, and I'd like to thank Alex for that. Thanks, Alex. [applause]
About a week and a half or two weeks before the fire took place here, the Branch Davidians placed a banner out there that said, "We want Ron Engelman." That was on a, I think a Thursday or Friday. By Sunday, I was, beside myself, not knowing what to do, I called the ATF in Washington, DC, and they acted as if I didn't exist and didn't want to hear anything. I then called the FBI office in Washington, DC, and this is a Sunday. The guy answered the phone, and I said, uh, "You probably don't know who I am," I said, "I'm Ron Engelman, the Branch Davidians placed a banner out that says 'we want Ron Engelman,'" I said, "I work at a radio station in Dallas." And he said, "Oh, the famous Ron Engelman!" That's in Washington, DC- and I'm beginning to wonder, "Uh oh, I'm in trouble." I told them that I wanted to do whatever I could do to stop any more bloodshed, didn't want to see anybody else die or hurt, and there was no reason for it, and I thought that I could help by, becoming a, third party negotiator. Because, uh, the Branch Davidians obviously trusted me and had been listening to me. About two hours later I got a phone call from an agent at, uh, TSTC, the Texas State Technical College, where the, uh, headquarters were for the FBI. Was an agent called Clint Van Zandt- we set up a meeting the following Sunday. And, uh, I came down here and met with him. He met me at the gate, to TSTC, and I'm sure that somebody somewhere had a videotape going and a camera and everything else. But we visited, visited there for about an hour and a half. And it seemed like there was a possibility that I would be able to, to do something to, to talk to the Branch Davidians and, talk with the FBI and act, act as an intermediary- So the next day I went on the, the air and mentioned that, and about fifteen minutes later I get a phone call from Clint Van Zandt at TSTC telling me, no, that isn't what we're going to do. But, evidently he had said one thing and meant another, like, it happened so many times, with what took place here. But there is a, former FBI negotiator that was here in Waco during that siege. And he's here today. And I'd like to introduce him, and let him tell us a little bit about his side of the story. I'd like to introduce Farris Rookstool. Mr. Rookstool? [applause]
Thank you, Mr. Rookstool, appreciate it. ["Rookstool, Mr. Rookstool, got a question."]
Now there's a gentleman here that's a former attorney general of the United States, that has taken up the cause of helping the Branch Davidians that were, convicted, ah, and are trying to get an appeal. I'd like to introduce a, a great American that's served his country very well. Ramsey Clark. [applause]
I have one more speaker that I'd like to introduce. And, uh, he didn't even know he was going to talk here today. But it's the, uh, talk show host that, put together the busload of people that came up from Austin, Texas. He's on radio station KJFK- in Austin. Does a program called "The Real Spin." His name is Alex Jones. Alex? [applause "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"]
If you all have a pencil and a piece of paper, I'd like for you to write something down. There're a lot of people placing a lot of things on websites, on the Internet. And, uh- false information, and a lot of strange things. [Doyle: "Gladys Ottman ??"] Hmm? [Doyle: "Gladys Ottman."] Hmm-hmm. [Doyle: "??"] Now this is the Branch Davidian website, Mt. Carmel Center. H-t-t-p colon, frontslash frontslash, start, dot, a-t-t, frontslash, Mt. Carmel. I'll read it again. H-t-t-p, colon, frontslash frontslash, start, dot, a-t, frontslash, Mt. Carmel. That's where you'll find out what's really going on. ["M-t or m-o-u-n-t?"] I'm sorry? ["That's m-t or ??"] M-t. ["??"] OK. H-. [Lukaszewski: "It's m-t dot carmel."] H-t-t-p colon, frontslash frontslash, start, a-t, frontslash, m-t period, carmel. [Lukaszewski: "It's start dot at, slash-"] Start dot at, frontslash, m-t dot carmel. [Lukaszewski: "You got it!"] Huh, huh! Sooner or later! ["??"]
[The mt.carmel URL has recently been changed to mtcarmel.]
A Branch Davidian survivor would like to, uh, say a few words. Gladys Houtman? ["??"] Ottman! I beg your pardon, Gladys! Let me fix this for you. [applause] ??
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