During the first General Session on Thursday it was clear that this convention will be about attempting to oust State Party Chair, Tina Benkiser and Vice Chair Robin Armstrong. Ron Paul Republicans Paul Perry and Debra Medina are the only opposition candidates seeking these seats. The party chairs are powerful, though lesser known positions in state party politics. Judging from the number of Ron Paul supporters seated as delegates, there is a very real threat to the entrenched power base.  The caucus results should be available by the end of today, Friday.

 Numerous challenges to the seating of delegates were heard in closed committee meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday and voted on in the first General Session Thursday.  Chairman Benkiser called for stand-up voting to ratify the results of these committees. The irregularity I observed was that several hundred delegates, alternates and guests had remained outside the General Session until moments before the stand up voting, filing into the room enmasse and seating themselves into voting chairs in the middle (lighted section)  of the hall.  This obviously circumvented earlier attempts by volunteers to insure that only voting delegates had moved up and that “guests” were not participating in the votes. This was primarily the Harris County and Bexar County, anti-Paul delegation and certainly was no accident.

During the afternoon caucuses which were closed to the press, I waundered outside to speak to the numerous TeeVee media who for some reason were still hanging around. Keep in mind that this was sometime after 4PM and there would be no other convention activity open to the press the remainder of the day. Several reporters told me at this time that Ron Paul was going to be ending his campaign that night, and they were instructed to stay and cover it.

At 9PM between 2,000 and 2,500 Paul supporters crowded into the Hilton Ballroom for Ron Paul’s scheduled ice cream social. The media was there (finally) en masse. Paul announced he was indeed ending the campaign but vowed to carry on with the Revolution and work for candidates who share his conservative ideals.  Paul urged his supporters to remain active in the GOP and plan to attend his “alternate convention” in St Paul, Minnesota, September 1st.

I didn’t have to ask her if he had been inside Mt. Carmel during the ATF assault- I could see it in his eyes.  He trembled a little as I approached nearer and his eyes widened with fear. Though paralyzed, his head tensed back a little causing the large padded bandage on the left side of his neck to come loose. There was a three inch gash across the carotid artery that had been stitched and showed signs of healing infection. Sheila reached across to re-fit the bandage and said, “There. I think that’s finally starting to heal up now. It’s looking much better.” She told me that Jamie was asleep in his crib on the second floor when the ATF began firing wildly into the windows in their room. Glass was everywhere and before she could pull Jamie away from the window a large, jagged pane of glass fell from the shattered frame onto Jamie’s neck.  Jaime died a few years later.

The govt maintains that no children were killed or injured in the ATF assault. Even though more than a dozen agents testified in court that they fired thousands of rounds into the women’s and children’s quarters that day without ever identifying a single threat. At 11:30 AM we all watched on live TV as the ATF left the property with their wounded, dead and others.  At two PM- ATF commander, Ted Royster, told Waco Police Dispatcher Janie Sykora that the ATF had suffered four deaths and five injuries. By six PM that figure had grown to 14 injured. By the time the Treasury Dept published its first report to the public in September 1993, the injuries had now grown to 29.

Most recent govt accounts have settled on the number 20. The listed injuries included a sprained ankle, stubbed toe, twisted back, and cut thigh. By 11:30 PM that same day, all but one of the injured agents had been treated and released.Fifty-one days of brainwashing followed. Forgotten by then were the recorded pleas of Wayne Martin, “There are women and children in danger!”  Steve Schneider, (ABC Radio) “It was bang, bang, bang, bang, bang…. There’s women and babies lying around all over in here!”  David Koresh, (911 call)“You brought your bunch of guys and you killed some of my children. We told you we wanted to talk.”  Jeff Little, (911 call) “All of the truth, Larry! All of the truth. They shot a child, Larry. Killed a child.”  David Koresh, (CNN) “ A two-year old girl was killed.”   David Koresh, (Mar 8- to Jack Harwell) “ What- what’s my position? They killed a little girl. There’s crippled. There’s dying.”

The fifty-one day propaganda routine had taken an even greater toll. Killed in action was the soul of America. Critically wounded, and still recovering were the minds of millions who allowed logic and reason to be replaced by vanity and illusion.  Missing, now presumed dead were the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and the presumption of innocence.  The very core of our nation, compassion and understanding were lost. We now see militarized police action as normal and somehow necessary. Religious freedom and tolerance, the very reason for the founding of our nation, have been cast out in favor of hatred, bigotry and a call for genocide of one billion Muslims. The full truth of February 28, 1993 is far worse than one can imagine. But perhaps that is the medicine needed to cure this plague. The govt has promised to release that truth in 2023. But I don’t think this patient, our country, can survive that long without it. It was out of concern for the children, remember?