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===The Siege===
[[File: Mountcarmelfirebefore.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Aerial View of Mount Carmel before the Final FBI Assault on April 19, 1993]]
The ATF seemingly had plenty of time to plan their raid on the Branch Davidians; enough time for them to nickname the operation “Showtime” and to enlist 100 agents and three helicopters for the ill-fated February 28 raid. They believed that by initiating the raid just before ten a.m. they would catch the Davidians off guard and that most of the men would be separated from the women and children. They were tragically wrong. To this day there is still considerable debate concerning which side fired the first shot, but the ensuing firefight resulted in the deaths of four ATF agents and twenty wounded. The Davidians fared a bit better in their casualty count – two of their members were killed and three were wounded. By the afternoon a ceasefire was arranged that allowed the ATF to take their wounded from the scene and several Davidians surrendered and were promptly arrested. But the tragic events of February 28 were only the beginning. <ref> Kerksetter, p. 458</ref>
After the initial shootout, the FBI was called to lead the negotiations that most hoped would bring a peaceful resolution and at first it seemed as though that may happen. Expert FBI negotiators seemed to be making headway with Koresh, but as Gary Noesner the lead FBI negotiator for the first half of the siege said, “they had the rug pulled out from under them.” <ref> Wright, Stuart A. “A Decade after Waco: Reassessing Crisis Negotiations at Mount Carmel in Light of New Government Disclosures.” <i>Novo Religio: the Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions.</i> 7 (2003) p. 104</ref> Essentially, the core of the problem was that the FBI did not understand the Davidian’s theology, particularly that they held millennial/apocalyptic interpretations of the Bible and if boxed in they would not be afraid to fulfill those prophecies. <ref> Wessinger, Catherine. “Deaths in the Fire at the Branch Davidians’ Mount Carmel: Who Bears Responsibility?” <i>Novo Religio: the Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions.</i> 13 (2009) p. 31</ref> Frustrated at what they saw as a lack of progress in the negotiations, the FBI turned the operation over to the Hostage Rescue Team.
[[File: Mountcarmelfire.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Aerial View after the FBI Assault]]
The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the elite tactical unit employed to confront well-armed suspects ranging from biker gangs to cartels. In early 1993, the HRT was suffering from a bit of a public relations predicament as it was responsible for the death of Randy Weaver’s wife Vicky as she held one their children on August 22, 1992. Despite what many considered a botched mission in Idaho, Dick Rogers, the head of the HRT, believed that the best way to end the standoff with the Branch Davidians was to escalate the tension. After Rogers took control, the FBI employed sensory depravations techniques on the Davidians by blasting loud music late at night and cutting off their power. Eventually, seven Davidians surrendered on March 21, which the FBI elebrated by bulldozing most of the Davidians’ vehicles. <ref> Wright, p. 105</ref>
Finally, with armored vehicles and helicopters, the FBI inserted CS gas and pyrotechnics into the compound at six a.m. on April 19. Although the FBI originally denied the use of pyrotechnics in the final assault, evidence emerged in 1999 that they did in fact use the chemical, which in all likelihood led to the fire that consumed the compound. <ref> Wright, p. 102</ref> A number of the Davidians actually died of gunshots, including Koresh who was shot in the forehead and contrary to initial reports, all of the bodies of the children were discovered in what the Davidians believed was the fireproof section of their compound. A total of sixty-six Davidians died in the fire that day, including twenty-three children. <ref> Wessinger, pgs. 28-32</ref>
===A Tragic Legacy===
