I'll go one dollar. If it is good enough for Trading Places, it is good enough for me.
Great. I concede the bet.
I spent 2 hours last night/early this morning going down a very disturbing and dark world of evidence files from Waco that have previously been released.
While I do not have definitive evidence, I found a preponderance of evidence that would indicate it is not Chipman.
Known points:
- Personnel assigned to the siege:
FBI: 668
ATF: 136
U.S. Customs: 6
Waco Police Department: 18
McLennan County Sheriff's office: 17
Texas Rangers (Texas Department of Public Safety): 31
DPS Patrol (Texas Department of Public Safety): 131
U.S. Army: 15
Texas National Guard: 13
- I was able to find and account for the uniforms worn by each of the above agencies at the time of the Siege except for the U.S. Army personnel.
- Congressional testimony given, by Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell, wherein he stated that the U.S. Army presence was in an advisory role only to advise and provide oversight and plan reviews of tactical operations to include the plans to end the siege.
- In memo titled “Department of Justice Request Waco-Texas”, documents a discussion had on April 14th 1993 between members of the FBI Waco Command, Attorney General Janet Reno, COL Boykin (USA), MG Halstab (USA), BG Shoomaker (USA). Army personnel assigned to Fort Bragg, Combat Applications Group, were sent to advise on the final assault on Waco. Congressional testimony and Boykin’s own account in later interviews corroborates this memo.
- The photo labeled USAWDTX 0093-0108 was taken within 72 hours after the end of the siege. Video stills show the man in question assisting in clearing debris while smoke can be seen emanating from the debris. In some images apparently from the same day, firefighting crews are still pouring water on the site. It is likely that the photos were taken within the first few hours after personell returned to the compound following the fire that ended the siege. This opinion is based upon the small flames seen in the photo while later footage from the same day shows that site with the small flames extinguished. (See still Film Capture 4 attached below.)
- Chipman was assigned to the Waco office several weeks after the initial siege.
- Army Personnel were assigned to Sniper Position 1 (SP-1) and accompanied HRT sniper team members based upon congressional testimony, eyewitness accounts and evidence gathered in the investigation.
- Other investigators found circumstantial evidence placing these members in the armored vehicles that entered the compound the day of the siege. Without definitive evidence it cannot be ascertained for certain nor is that line of inquiry relevant to the identity of person in USAWDTX 0093-0108. It is merely notable as this line of investigation is the source of much of the above information.
Conclusion:
It is impossible with the available evidence to draw a conclusion on the identities of personnel in photos labeled USAWDTX 0093-0108 along with those in photos USAWDTX 0093-01044; 0093-01046; 093-00846.
No single point of data is sufficient to eliminate Chipman. A preponderance of circumstantial evidence makes it is highly
unlikely to be Chipman. There is a higher possibility that they were members of 1st SFOD-D assigned to Waco. The Army advisors would be the only personnel on site without clear uniforms, equipped as snipers and are known to have been on location. It would also corroborate Chipman’s testimony that they were not ATF or FBI, prior testimony from eyewitnesses, congressional reports and video footage from immediately after the siege.
Area for further research would be to cross reference verified photos of 1st SFOD-D members for matches to the photos in question.
Dollar's your Choid.
You can hold onto the debt until a later date or PM me instructions on how you want it distributed.
Also, feel free to contest the conclusion above if you feel I am in error.