Officials deny it was breakthrough.
Two attorneys told a congressional hearing Tuesday that they had negotiated a detailed surrender plan with the FBI and cult leader David Koresh that could have ended the 1993 siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., and averted the government assault that left about 80 sect members and children dead. We had a deal. But Justice Department officials in interviews Tuesday insisted that Koresh's commitment, spelled out in a handwritten letter, represented no real breakthrough and was nothing more than another delaying tactic. They stressed that Koresh had broken at least three previous promises to turn himself in. The fifth day of House hearings on the events in Texas focused on the Justice Department and the FBI's final assault on the Davidian compound.