Oliver "Buck" Revell is a security consultant and chairman of the Greater Dallas Crime Commission. He is the former associate deputy director of the FBI. He was not directly involved with the Waco operation but provided support to the operation from the FBI's Dallas field office, which he headed at the time.

In February 1993, a calamitous situation developed when agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) descended upon the Branch Davidian compound just outside Waco, Texas. They went to arrest Davidian leader David Koresh for weapons violations at a place called Mt. Carmel. The tragedy that followed continues to haunt the ATF, the FBI and the Justice Department.

An insider's view of tragedy

In the months before the raid, local and state agencies, as well as the ATF, had developed information indicating that the Davidians were illegally collecting huge quantities of firearms, grenades, ammunition and bomb-making materials. So on Feb. 28 the ATF executed a woefully ill-conceived raid.

A long stand off ensued

Some local media were alerted, and they in turn alerted the Davidians. After a 45-minute exchange of gunfire, four ATF agents were dead and 15 injured. The number of casualties of the Davidians was not known at the time, but the FBI knew several were killed and wounded. The ATF then pulled back, and a long standoff ensued.

Later that day, President Clinton ordered the FBI to take over. Jeff Jamar, of the San Antonio field office, was in charge of what was a difficult situation from the beginning. There was no advantage of surprise by the FBI. The best its officials could hope for was that the hostage negotiators would coax the 33-year-old religious fanatic and his heavily armed followers out of the building.

Koresh had no intention of surrendering. His intention to thwart any attempt to surrender by his followers was clearly established by electronic surveillance devices (all court-approved) that the FBI smuggled into the compound. The intelligence also revealed the discussion of a "suicide by cop" break-out strategy whereby Koresh and his "mighty men," Koresh's palace guard, would storm out of the compound, killing as many FBI agents as they could before being killed, captured or escaping.

The new attorney general, Janet Reno, was especially worried that the human waste and corpses of those killed in the ATF raid could spread disease. This concern gradually led to the consensus that the standoff could not continue indefinitely.

Jamar crafted a plan for using M-60 tanks to insert CS gas into the compound. This kind of tear gas was more effective than CN tear gas because it was non-flammable and did not pose a threat to the women and children in the compound. The purpose of using the tear gas was to drive the cultists out of the compound. Everyone on site realized the Davidians might decide to commit mass suicide like Jim Jones and his cultist followers had 15 years earlier, but most experts the FBI consulted did not think this was likely.

Reno and President Clinton approved the plan to use the tanks to insert the gas, and on the morning of April 19, the FBI moved in while over the loudspeaker the Davidians were instructed not to fire. An hour later the tank began punching holes in the walls and filling the building with a mist of gas. The Davidians immediately opened fire, though the agents would not fire a single shot in return.

A couple of hours into the operation, a tank began knocking down the doors so the Davidians could get out. Shortly after noon, fires within the compound could be seen. Eventually, a gigantic fireball and a plume of black smoke leapt into the sky. Gunfire cracked from within the compound. The Davidians were killing themselves, and FBI agents could do little more than helplessly watch.

The blame game

During congressional hearings, Reno explained the FBI's actions and the reasoning behind each. She also took responsibility for the tragic outcome. The FBI should have given her better advice. There should have been a better plan. The FBI should have been prepared for fire.

Yet accusations that the FBI had deliberately set the fire and intentionally caused the deaths of the Davidians are blatant and intentional lies. The FBI did not cause the fires or kill anyone. Its officials desperately wanted to get all Davidians out of the compound safely. Koresh and his lieutenants were responsible for the deaths at Mt. Carmel, and no one else.

By agreement between the Justice Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers conducted an independent investigation at the compound, and no one who had participated in the standoff or gas insertion was allowed to collect evidence from the burned compound. The Rangers brought in fire marshals and arson experts. The independent team determined that the Davidians had set the fires.

Evidence used for Waco inquiry

Reno, meanwhile, appointed Ed Dennis, a Republican and former assistant attorney general of the criminal division and U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, as the special counsel to conduct an inquiry. Dennis recommended improvements in the decision-making process, but he did not fault the decision to use tear gas. He also established that the FBI had made a good-faith effort to obtain the safe release of all minors and women and the peaceful surrender of the men.

Recent revelations about the Waco episode based upon ongoing civil litigation and research by the producers of a so-called "documentary" have raised troubling questions about the use of military tear gas at the scene. (The tear gas was pyrotechnic, not incendiary, as some in the media have described it.) We know that Reno thought she had prohibited the use of such devices. We know that both Bob Ricks, second in command at Waco, and Dan Coulson, a senior official at FBI headquarters, did not know pyrotechnic tear-gas devices had been used and did not authorize their use.

We also know that the hostage rescue team did use the devices and that Richard Rodgers, commander of the team, authorized their use. What we do not know, and this is a major point of contention, is why Rodgers thought he was authorized to use the devices.

Even so, the charges of a cover-up are unfounded. Why? Because agents acknowledged the use of the devices in debriefings, and the results of these debriefings were shared with Justice Department attorneys, plaintiff's attorneys in civil litigation and the congressional committees overseeing the Waco probe. This is hardly the way to conduct a "cover-up." And Texas Rangers have managed the crime-scene investigation. This, too, hardly lends credence to the allegation of a cover-up by the FBI or the Justice Department.

Neither FBI Director Louis Freeh nor Reno has any reason to obstruct justice or commit perjury. I know both of them to be totally honest and dedicated public servants.

Where to go from here

Critics currently attacking the FBI are putting at risk one of the most valuable assets this country has. It was bad enough when anti-government zealots loudly proclaimed that the government had deliberately sought to kill the Davidians, but now even thoughtful and moderate politicians and journalists are jumping on the bandwagon. Demands that either the FBI director or the attorney general resign over this controversial issue are ill timed and certainly unwarranted.

No evidence shows a cover-up, obstruction of justice or perjury. Certainly, there are serious discrepancies in information about the Waco siege revealed six years ago and details released in recent weeks, and those discrepancies must be investigated and resolved. Newly appointed special counsel John Danforth, the widely respected former Republican senator from Missouri, will do just that.

Congress also should hold more Waco-related hearings after Danforth's investigation is complete. And the civil wrongful-death litigation under the jurisdiction of federal Judge Walter Smith of Waco should continue. After each of these independent fact-finding procedures is completed, officials can fix blame and punish specific wrong doing -- ifany occurred.

The 25,000 men and women of the FBI who serve their country with dedication and often valor desire their day in court as well. They should not be found guilty of crimes or gross misconduct without due process. The American public needs an effective FBI, and today the entire organization is under attack by those who should know better.