Test results of Waco simulation called into question

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The simulation that concluded government agents did not fire their guns during the Waco siege did not test the type of assault rifle the FBI had at the scene, according to an official who helped run the test.

The simulation last year used a standard M-16 military rifle with a 20-inch barrel, said Robert Stewart, a U.S. Postal Service inspector who helped coordinate the simulation.

The FBI does not use standard M-16s, and members of its Hostage Rescue Team who were at Waco, Texas, in 1993 carried a version with just a 14-inch barrel, an FBI spokeswoman said.

Firearms experts say the longer gun has less muzzle flash.

Lawyers for the Branch Davidians who survived the fiery end of the siege in April 1993 are now questioning whether the test really proved that FBI agents never fired their guns at the Davidian compound.

"I think it completely undermines the test results," attorney Michael Caddell said. He said he plans to use the test as evidence if the lawsuit his clients filed against the government is restored on appeal.

Former Sen. John Danforth, who led the independent Waco review, said he did not know specifics about the test gun but it would not change his conclusion that the FBI did not fire upon the Davidians at the end of the siege. Eighty Davidians died.

"I don't know what weapons were tested myself," Danforth said yesterday. "But all of this was part of the agreement, and all of it was pronounced fair at the end of the test."

An FBI official said the agency provided one of the shorter rifles to Danforth's office and that the ground rules for the test called for the smaller rifle to be used.

Danforth said yesterday he thought he received "something less than total cooperation" from the FBI, although he said that did not change his findings that absolved the FBI of blame for the Davidians' deaths.

"Do I think there's anything out there hidden in some drawer that would affect the outcome? I don't think there's any chance of that," Danforth said.