THE WHITE HOUSE                      Office of the Press Secretary ______________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release                             April 20, 1993       	                             REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT             IN QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION WITH THE PRESS                               The Rose Garden   1:36 P.M. EDT 	      	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  On February the 28th, four federal  agents were killed in the line of duty trying to enforce the law  against the Branch Davidian compound, which had illegally stockpiled  weaponry and ammunition, and placed innocent children at risk.   Because the BATF operation had failed to meet its objective, a 51-day  standoff ensued.   	      	     The Federal Bureau of Investigation then made every  reasonable effort to bring this perilous situation to an end without  bloodshed and further loss of life.  The Bureau's efforts were  ultimately unavailing because the individual with whom they were  dealing, David Koresh, was dangerous, irrational, and probably  insane.        	     He engaged in numerous activities which violated both  federal law and common standards of decency.  He was, moreover,  responsible for the deaths and injuries which occurred during the  action against the compound in February.  Given his inclination  towards violence and in an effort to protect his young hostages, no  provocative actions were taken for more than seven weeks by federal  agents against the compound.   	      	     This weekend I was briefed by Attorney General Reno on  an operation prepared by the FBI, designed to increase pressure on  Koresh and persuade those in the compound to surrender peacefully.   The plan included a decision to withhold the use of ammunition, even  in the face of fire, and instead to use tear gas that would not cause  permanent harm to health, but would, it was hoped, force the people  in the compound to come outside and to surrender. 	      	     I was informed of the plan to end the siege.  I  discussed it with Attorney General Reno.  I asked the questions I  thought it was appropriate for me to ask.  I then told her to do what  she thought was right, and I take full responsibility for the  implementation of the decision.   	      	     Yesterday's action ended in a horrible human tragedy.   Mr. Koresh's response to the demands for his surrender by federal  agents was to destroy himself and murder the children who were his  captives, as well as all the other people who were there who did not  survive.  He killed those he controlled, and he bears ultimate  responsibility for the carnage that ensued. 	      	     Now we must review the past with an eye towards the  future.  I have directed the United Stated Departments of Justice and  Treasury to undertake a vigorous and thorough investigation to  uncover what happened and why, and whether anything could have been  done differently.  I have told the departments to involve independent  professional law enforcement officials in the investigation.  I  expect to receive analysis and answers in whatever time is required  to complete the review.  Finally, I have directed the departments to  cooperate fully with all congressional inquiries so that we can  continue to be fully accountable to the American people. 	      	     I want to express my appreciation to the Attorney  General, to the Justice Department, and to the federal agents on the  front lines who did the best job they could under deeply difficult  circumstances.   	      	     Again, I want to say as I did yesterday, I am very sorry  for the loss of life which occurred at the beginning and at the end  of this tragedy in Waco.  I hope very much that others who will be  tempted to join cults and to become involved with people like David  Koresh will be deterred by the horrible scenes they have seen over  the last seven weeks.  And I hope very much that the difficult  situations which federal agents confronted there and which they will  be doubtless required to confront in other contexts in the future  will be somewhat better handled and better understood because of what  has been learned now. 	      	     Q	  Mr. President, can you, first of all, tell us why,  after 51 days, you decided -- 	      	     Q	  Mr. President, can you describe for us what it is  that Janet Reno outlined to you in your 15-minute phone conversation  with -- 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  I can't hear you both.  If one will go  first and then the other. 	      	     Q	  Sorry.  Can you describe what Janet Reno -- 	      	     Q	  Mr. President -- 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  I'll answer both your questions, but I  can't do it at once. 	      	     Q	  Can you describe what she told you on Sunday about  the nature of the operation and how much detail you knew about it? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  Yes.  I was told by the Attorney General  that the FBI strongly felt that the time had come to take another  step in trying to dislodge the people in the compound.  And she  described generally what the operation would be -- that they wanted  to go in and use tear gas which had been tested not to cause  permanent damage to adults or to children, but which would make it  very difficult for people to stay inside the building.  And it was  hoped that the tear gas would permit them to come outside.   	      	     I was further told that under no circumstances would our  people fire any shots at them even if fired upon.  They were going to  shoot the tear gas from armored vehicles which would protect them and  there would be no exchange of fire.  In fact, as you know, an awful  lot of shots were fired by the cult members at the federal officials.   There were no shots coming back from the government side. 	      	     I asked a number of questions.  The first question I  asked is, why now?  We have waited seven weeks; why now?  The reasons  I was given were the following: 	      	     Number one, that there was a limit to how long the  federal authorities could maintain with their limited resources the  quality and intensity of coverage by experts there.  They might be  needed in other parts of the country. 	      	     Number two, that the people who had reviewed this had  never seen a case quite like this one before, and they were convinced  that no progress had been made recently and no progress was going to  be made through the normal means of getting Koresh and the other cult  members to come out.   	      	     Number three, that the danger of their doing something  to themselves or to others was likely to increase, not decrease, with  the passage of time. 	      	     And number four, that they had reason to believe that  the children who were still inside the compound were being abused  significantly, as well as being forced to live in unsanitary and  unsafe conditions. 	      	     So for those reasons, they wanted to move at that time.   The second question I asked the Attorney General is whether they had  given consideration to all of the things that could go wrong and  evaluated them against what might happen that was good.  She said  that the FBI personnel on the scene and those working with them were  convinced that the chances of bad things happening would only  increase with the passage of time. 	      	     The third question I asked was, has the military been  consulted?  As soon as the initial tragedy came to light in Waco,  that's the first thing I asked to be done, because it was obvious  that this was not a typical law enforcement situation.  Military  people were then brought in, helped to analyze the situation and some  of the problems that were presented by it.   And so I asked if the  military had been consulted.  The Attorney General said that they  had, and that they were in basic agreement that there was only one  minor tactical difference of opinion between the FBI and the military  -- something that both sides thought was not of overwhelming  significance. 	      	     Having asked those questions and gotten those answers, I  said that if she thought it was the right thing to do, that she  should proceed and that I would support it.  And I stand by that  today. 	      	     Q	  Mr. President -- 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  Wait.  Go ahead. 	      	     Q	  Can you address the widespread perception -- reported widely, television, radio and newspapers -- that you were  trying somehow to distance yourself from this disaster? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  No, I'm bewildered by it.  The only  reason I made no public statement yesterday -- let me say -- the only  reason I made no public statement yesterday is that I had nothing to  add to what was being said and I literally did not know until rather  late in the day whether anybody was still alive other than those who  had been actually seen and taken to the hospital or taken into  custody.  It was purely and simply a question of waiting for events  to unfold.   	      	     There was -- I have -- I can't account for why people  speculated one way or the other, but I talked to the Attorney General  on the day before the action took place.  I talked to her yesterday.   I called her again late last night after she appeared on the Larry  King Show, and I talked to her again this morning.  A President -- it  is not possible for a President to distance himself from things that  happen when the federal government is in control. 	      	     I will say this, however.  I was, frankly, surprised  would be a mild word, to say that anyone that would suggest that the  Attorney General should resign because some religious fanatics  murdered themselves.  (Applause.)   	      	     I regret what happened, but it is not possible in this  life to control the behavior of others in every circumstance.  These  people killed four federal officials in the line of duty.  They were  heavily armed.  They fired on federal officials yesterday repeatedly,  and they were never fired back on.  We did everything we could to  avoid the loss of life.  They made the decision to immolate  themselves.  And I regret it terribly, and I feel awful about the  children.   	      	     But in the end, the last comment I had from Janet Reno,  is when -- and I talked to her on Sunday -- I said, now, I want you  to tell me once more why you believe -- not why they believe -- why  you believe we should move now rather than wait some more.  And she  said, it's because of the children.  They have evidence that those  children are still being abused and that they're in increasingly  unsafe conditions, and that they don't think it will get any easier  with time -- with the passage of time.  I have to take their word for  that.  So that is where I think things stand. 	      	     Q	  Can we assume then that you don't think this was  mishandled in view of the outcome, that you didn't run out of  patience?  And if you had it to do over again, would you really  decide that way? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  No -- well, I think what you can assume  is just exactly what I announced today.  This is a -- the FBI has  done a lot of things right for this country over a long period of  time.  This is the same FBI that found the people that bombed the  World Trade Center in lickety-split, record time.  We want an inquiry  to analyze the steps along the way.  Is there something else we  should have known?  Is there some other question they should have  asked?  Is there some other question I should have asked?  Can I say  for sure that no one -- that we could have done nothing else to make  the outcome come different?  I don't know that.  That's why I want  the inquiry and that's why I would like to make sure that we have  some independent law enforcement people, not political people, but  totally non-political, outside experts who can bring to bear the best  evidence we have.   	      	     There is, unfortunately, a rise in this sort of  fanaticism all across the world.  And we may have to confront it  again.  And I want to know whether there is anything we can do,  particularly when there are children involved.  But I do think it is  important to recognize that the wrong-doers in this case were the  people who killed others and then killed themselves. 	      	     Q	  Mr. President, were there any other options  presented to you for resolving this situation at any point from  February 28th until yesterday? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, yes, I got regular reports all  along the way.  There were lots of other options pursued.  If you go  back -- you all covered it very well.  The FBI -- you did a very good  job of it.  I mean, the FBI and the other authorities there pursued  any number of other options all along the way, and a lot of them  early on seemed to be working.  Some of the children got out, some of  the other people left.  There was a -- at one point, there seemed to  be some lines of communication opening up between Koresh and the  authorities.  And then he would say things and not do them and things  just began to spin downward.   	      	     Whether there were other -- in terms of what happened  yesterday, the conversation I had with the Attorney General did not  involve other options except whether we should take more time with  the present strategy we were pursuing -- because they said they  wanted to do this, because they thought this was the best way to get  people out of the compound quickly before they could kill themselves.   That's what they thought. 	      	     Q	  Did the government know that the children did not  have gas masks? 	      	     Q	     congressional hearings once the situation -- are  you in agreement with that? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  That's up to the Congress.  They can do  whatever they want.  But I think it's very important that the  Treasury and Justice Departments launch this investigation and bring  in some outside experts.  And as I said in my statement, if any  congressional committees want to look into it, we will fully  cooperate.  There is nothing to hide here.  This was probably the  most well-covered operation of its kind in the history of the  country. 	      	     Go ahead, Sarah. 	      	     Q	  There are two questions I want to ask you.  The  first is, I think that they knew very well that the children did not  have gas masks while the adults did, so the children had no chance  because this gas was very -- she said it was not lethal, but it was  very dangerous to the children and they could not have survived  without gas masks.  And on February 28th -- let's go back -- didn't  those people have a right to practice their religion? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  They were not just practicing their  religion, they were -- the Treasury Department believed that they had  violated federal laws, any number of them. 	      	     Q	  What federal laws -- 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  Let me go back and answer -- I can't  answer the question about the gas masks, except to tell you that the  whole purpose of using the tear gas was that it had been tested; they  were convinced that it wouldn't kill either a child or an adult but  it would force anybody that breathed it to run outside.  And one of  the things that I've heard -- I don't want to get into the details of  this because I don't know -- but one of the things that they were  speculating about today was that the wind was blowing so fast that  the windows might have been opened and some of the gas might have  escaped and that may be why it didn't have the desired effect.   	      	     They also knew, Sarah, that there was an underground  compound -- a bus buried underground where the children could be  sent.  And they were -- I think they were hoping very much that if  the children were not released immediately outside that the humane  thing would be done and that the children would be sent someplace  where they could be protected.   	      	     In terms of the gas masks themselves, I learned  yesterday -- I did not ask this fact question before -- that the gas  was supposed to stay active in the compound longer than the gas masks  themselves were to work.  So that it was thought that even if they  all had gas masks, that eventually the gas would force them out in a  nonviolent, nonshooting circumstance. 	      	     MS. MYERS:  Last question. 	      	     Q	  Mr. President, why are you still saying that -- 	      	     Q	  Could you tell us whether or not you ever asked  Janet Reno about the possibility of a mass suicide?  And when you  learned about the actual fire and explosion what went through your  mind during those horrendous moments? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  What I asked Janet Reno is if they had  considered all the worse things that could happen.  And she said -- and, of course, the whole issue of suicide had been raised in the  public -- he had -- that had been debated anyway.  And she said that  the people who were most knowledgeable  about these kinds of issues  concluded that there was no greater risk of that now than there would  be tomorrow or the next day or the day after that or at anytime in  the future.  That was the judgment they made.  Whether they were  right or wrong, of course, we will never know.  	      	     What happened when I saw the fire, when I saw the  building burning?  I was sick.  I felt terrible.  And my immediate  concern was whether the children had gotten out and whether they were  escaping or whether they were inside, trying to burn themselves up.   That's the first thing I wanted to know.   	      	     Thank you. 	      	     Q	  Mr. President, why are you still saying it was a  Janet Reno decision?  Isn't it, in the end, your decision? 	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  Well, what I'm saying is that I didn't  have a four- or five-hour, detailed briefing from the FBI.  I didn't  go over every strategic part of it.  It is a decision for which I  take responsibility.  I'm the President of the United States and I  signed off on the general decision and giving her the authority to  make the last call.  When I talked to her on Sunday, some time had  elapsed.  She might have made a decision to change her mind.  I said,  if you decide to go forward with this tomorrow, I will support you.  And I do support her.   	      	     She is not ultimately responsible to the American  people; I am.  But I think she has conducted her duties in an  appropriate fashion and she has dealt with this situation I think as  well as she could have.   	      	     Thank you.  (Applause.)