of exposure to CS indoors caused the death of an adult.rnWith regard to the idea that the CS was supposed to drivernthe Branch Davidians out of their house, an Army field manualrnexplains: “Generally, persons reacting to CS are incapable ofrnexecuting organized and concerted actions and excessive exposurernto CS may make them incapable of vacating the area.”rnThe Army textbook Civil Disturbance Operations notes thatrnCS, inserted into enclosed places like buildings, mav immobilizernbv causing nausea, vomiting, and vertigo; may hamperrnmovement of rioters because of a severe onslaught of symptoms;rnand should not be used “where innocent persons may bernaffected . . . [or] where fires may start or asphyxiation may occur.”rnThe massi e amount of CS inserted was, if evenly dispersedrnthroughout the building, half the amount needed to kill everyrnadult inside; the impact on small children, unprotected by gasrnmasks, would obviouslv be very severe, and perhaps lethal. Asrnwith the children at Auschwitz, incineration followed therngassing.rnAttornev General Reno had “directed that if at any point Koreshrnor his followers threatened to harm the children, the FBIrnshould cease the action immcdiatelv.” If the FBI had obeyedrnthe Attornev General, it never would have launched the tankrnand CS assault, since several FBI behavioral experts had predictedrnthat an FBI attack could cause a mass suicide. Duringrnnegotiations, Koresh, consistent with Branch Da’idian theology,rnhad repeatedly told the FBI that the attack Koresh was expectingrnwould lead to a massive fire by which God would dcstro’rnthe attackers.rnAccording to FBI listening devices, some Branch Davidiansrnbegan spreading flammable materials during the morning ofrnthe tank assault. In case of any risk of harm to the children. AttorneyrnGeneral Reno had commanded: “Get the hell out ofrnthere. Don’t take anv risks with the children.” This commandrnwas flagranti)’ violated. As the chemical warfare attack progressed,rnthe masked adults went on with their chores; somernwomen did laundry or cleaned; others read the Bible. All of thernchildren stayed on the second floor with their mothers.rnJoyce Sparks, leader of the team from Texas Department ofrnProtective and Regulatory Services that had in’estigatcd thernBranch Davidians for child abuse, had objected to the childrnabuse ease being closed. The FBI alerted her in advance to therngassing plan; the FBI and she agreed that the bureau would callrnher on the day the plan would be implemented; her agencyrnwould then bring portable showers and a change of clothes forrnDa’idians who fled the compound.rnAbout 9:30 ..M (three and a half hours after the gassing hadrnbegun). Sparks called the FBI, incredulous that she had notrnbeen informed according to the plan. The FBI offered no explanationrnfor why she had not been contacted. As she hung uprnthe phone, she turned to her husband and said, “They intendrnto kill them all.”rnLater, the government listening devices broadcast to the FBIrnthe voices of Da’idians reciting the 23rd Psalm: “‘^’ea, though Irnwalk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear nornevil.” The listening devices recorded the voices of children callingrnfor their parents, and the Davidians’ frantic pleas for negotiationsrnand for an end to the chemical warfare attack.rn”Plan A” had been based on gassing the Branch Davidiansrnfor 48 hours. When the Davidians fired futile rifle shots at therntanks, Plan B went into effect (Plan A having lasted for 12 minutes),rnand tlic pace of gassing was greatly accelerated. Later inrnthe morning, in a deviation from Plan B, the tank drivers werernordered to drive all the way into the building to the cold storagernroom, where it was (correctlv) expected that people would havernretreated. (All the children and their mothers were there.) Thernperson who gave this order has not yet been identified.rnTwenty-seven children and sixteen mothers were found deadrnin the concrete cold-storage room in the center of the house.rnAs a result of the tank attack on the building, the room had collapsedrnbefore the fires broke out. All 43 people were therebyrntrapped inside. Two of the children died from blunt traumarnconsistent with being struck by rubble from the collapsingrnbuilding. Several others, mosdy children, were reported by thernmedical examiner as having been buried alive. The mothersrnhad wrapped their children and themselves in sleeping bags,rnapparently for protection from the flames.rnTrapped in an inferno, childrenrnand their mothersrncould not flee because governmentrntanks, in violation of all plans andrnorders from the Attorney General,rnhad destroyed the escape route.rnWhat were the children’s final hours like? Benjamin G. Garrett,rnthe executive director of the Chemical and BiologicalrnArms Control Institute, states that as a result of the incessantrnchemical warfare barrage, “It [the chemical warfare agent]rnwould have panicked the children. Their eyes would have involuntarilyrnshut. Their skin would have been burning. Theyrnwould have been gasping for air and coughing wildly. Eventually,rnthey would have been overcome with vomiting in a finalrnhell.”rnThe fire burned for only about 25 minutes, but reachedrnabout 2,000 degrees Fahrenlieit, “approaching cremation temperature,”rnas a government medical report later put it. The reportrnnoted that “Most of the burned bodies were unrecognizablernas humans.” A forensic scientist later recalled, “There wasrna particular instance where all that remained was the arm andrnhand of a mother clasping a small child’s hand and remains ofrnarm. You could see how tightly the child’s hand was beingrnsqueezed by the mother.”rnWhatever the government knew about the fire apparentlyrndid not leave the government with enough confidence to havernthe fire independently investigated. Texas fire marshals wererndenied access to the scene. The “independent” arson investigatorrnchosen by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to head the review,rnPaul Gra), is married to a BATF employee, and socialized withrnhis wife’s colleagues, including Steve Willis, one of the agentsrnkilled in the assault on Mount Carmel Center, whose funeralrnhe attended. Additionally, Gray’s office used to be in BATF officesrnin Houston, and he carried a card identifying himself as arnDECEMBER 1995/19rnrnrn