The Great Short American Temper: From Waco to Baghdad

A quick analysis of US gun diplomacy supports the theory of an American political culture which views the process of violent law enforcement as a suitable punishment in itself and a substitute to due process. The same culture seems to also favor the use of lethal, indiscriminate, and disproportionate fire power versus the more civil but admittedly challenging use of diplomacy, negotiations, and dialogue. This culture of brutal enforcement seams to permeates all levels of the executive machine: international, federal, and local.

Zero to 80 Deaths in 51 Days

The mission: to serve arrest and search warrants. The place: Waco, Texas, at the Branch Davidian compound. The date: February 1993. By April 1993 the situation has escalated to where the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had raided the Branch Davidian compound with a ferocity resembling that of commando operations against enemy targets. The assault left cult leader David Koresh and 80 of his followers burned to death including 25 children. The investigations following the bloody “fiasco” demonstrated how both the BATF and FBI used unnecessary force and pursued a calculated method of deliberate escalation which resulted in the civilian mayhem.

Again, in the much publicized case of Ruby Ridge, Idaho, informants from the BATF entrapped Randy Weaver into breaking the law. The BATF proceeded to falsify reports and obtained an indictment against Weaver. During the confrontation which followed, FBI snipers were given rules of engagement stating “any armed male adult observed in the vicinity of the Weaver cabin could and should be killed.” An hour after taking their positions, and without warning or demanding surrender, the FBI killed or seriously wounded every adult in the Weavers cabin. Randy Weaver was shot in the back by an FBI sniper who then killed Randy’s wife as she stood at the cabin door holding her ten-month-old baby. In 1995, a federal jury awarded the Weaver family $3.1 million for wrongful death and found them innocent of almost all charges. Another example of deliberate lethal escalation.

In 1985, Philadelphia police responded to complaints of a foul smell and loud noises emanating from the residence of a back-to-nature group named MOVE. When MOVE members refused to comply with police orders, they were soon under siege. In the frenzy which followed, flames engulfed the house after an explosive “entry device” was used by the police resulting in the burning deaths of 11 residents 5 of whom were children. Eleven years later, the court awarded some of the survivors $1.5 million after establishing that the city of Philadelphia has violated their constitutional rights in using unreasonable and deadly force.

While those are much publicized cases, incidents of overzealous law enforcement are abound. Evening news reports are littered with police brutality incidents leading to the deaths of innocent or non-violent suspects. Not to mention the ceaseless police hot pursuits resulting in the destruction of life and property of traffic violators and innocent bystanders.

Again and again the process of pursuit and apprehension assumes an importance of its own and the basic human rights of citizens involved or nearby are suspended no matter how non-violent the alleged trespasses are.

American Collateral Damage

These cases are by no means exceptions to the rule nor are they isolated incidents. When combined, a pattern evolves which clearly demonstrates a propensity by US law enforcement machines to resort reflexively to a system of escalated violence even at the cost of innocent lives. Again and again, relatively minor offenses or procedural violations are used as launching ground for a series of escalations leading to the unnecessary exercise of deadly force.

From crossing a red-light, a hot pursuit, to death from a car crash. From disgruntled neighbors to the burning deaths of 11 innocent people in Philadelphia. From evading apprehension to FBI sniper fire obliterating a family in Ruby Ridge. From refusal to comply with search and arrest warrants to the burning death of 25 children amongst 55 adults in Waco.

This short-tempered law enforcement culture will not stop at the US borders. As the US takes upon itself the role of world police, the philosophy of the process-is-the-end and the resulting violent enforcement seems to permeate US actions at the international arena. The recent Iraqi violations of UNSCOM’s procedures and the US threat to use deadly force to resolve what seems to the rest of the world as a procedural dispute is a matter of concern. To equate the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to Iraq's disputes with UNSCOM in severity is senseless. To call for the use of overwhelming firepower to bomb Iraq into acquiescence is wrong in light of the potential for such tremendous loss of innocent human lives as projected by military experts.

But unlike Waco and MOVE victims, Iraqis cannot seek legal redress accorded to US citizens. The mere mention of foreigners in foreign lands prompts most Americans to grow moral blinders instantaneously. Even a basic premise such as punishment following crime is disregarded as many Americans find themselves calling for lethal punitive measures in response to an Iraqi crime that was not committed yet. There is not a court of law in the US or the civilized world which would entertain such logic or its absence. To the contrary and as demonstrated by Waco, Ruby Ridge, and MOVE, the courts are inclined to punish the government for such needless escalation of violence and the tragic loss of human lives. But all what America stands for seems to stop at the borders.