Product Description

In February, 1993, a gun battle erupted outside Waco, Texas, as federal agents attempted to search the communal residence of a religion known as the "Branch Davidians." The battle, and the following siege, was the greatest law enforcement debacle in American history, costing nearly a hundred lives.

After a criminal trial, two Cabinet-level studies, and three sets of Congressional hearings, the truth appeared to be firmly settled. A cult led by a madman had shot at federal agents and had then set themselves aflame. The issue was settled.

Then in 1999, the Waco issue exploded, with proof that the Federal agencies had lied to their own leadership, to Congress, and to the courts.

"This Is Not An Assault" explores this remarkable turnabout. It is authored by someone who saw it from the inside, a former government attorney whose lawsuit forced ATF and FBI to divulge the incriminating documents and tapes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #987853 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 392 pages

About the Author
David T. Hardy is an attorney and a legal scholar. He holds a B.A. and Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona, where he served as Associate Editor of the Arizona Law Review, a fellow of the Instiute for Humane Studies, and was given the ABA's Lewis M. Powell medallion for excellence in appellate advocacy.

Mr. Hardy is the author of three books, portions of six anthologies, and thirteen law review articles. His writings on Federal firearms laws have been cited as authority by the U.S. Supreme Court and ten of the thirteen U.S. Courts of Appeals. He has testified before two Senate committees conducting oversight of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

Mr. Hardy spent eight years as a Federal agency attorney, representing the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Before and after his federal service, he practiced law in Tucson, Arizona.

Customer Reviews

This is not a pipe
The title of this book, recalling Magritte's "The treachery of images", comes from what the loudspeakers were blaring as the tanks rolled into and over the Davidian's home. Just as "this is not a pipe" referred not to the pipe but to the painting of a pipe, the book really isn't about the assault, it's about the coverup of the assault. Because it's one thing for a rogue agency to decide that such an assault is necessary; it's yet another thing to realize that the agency knew that the assault was both illegal and would not hold up to public scrutiny, and went into coverup mode from the beginning.

The sheer brazenness of the ATF's (and later the FBI's) claims about how evidence went missing is incredible. First, the ATF claimed that there was no video footage and no still footage; when Hardy proved that there were at least two still cameras and four video cameras, it turned out that ATF was having massive troubles on February 28. One still camera's owner "forgot to take pictures". One still camera was stolen from a room under control of the ATF. The automatic video camera across the street failed for no known reason. The video camera near the radio van also failed, and, oh, we gave the tape away without making a copy. A forward observer's video camera may have existed once, but we can't find it anymore. The overhead video camera in the helicopter worked fine--except for the important moment when the gunfight began. Yes, there was another video camera in that helicopter; here's the footage--which also inexplicably failed at the exact same moment.

The disappearances were universal. Even the blank videotape from the failing video camera across the street disappeared. So did the door that both Davidians and ATF claimed would prove their case.

Throughout this book, you come to care less about whose fault it was or how horrible either side was, but about the incredible blatantness of the ATF and FBI coverup. Evidence lost, cameras from multiple sources all inexplicably losing video at the same, important, time. Still cameras disappearing from the evidence table; videotape from multiple sources but all aimed at the same location all disappearing; the mysterious front door. All gone, none of it the fault of Davidians, but of government agents. And a massive, twelve million dollar Justice Department investigation not doing anything about it except indicting the one whistle-blower who brought one of those disappearances to light. If it hadn't been for Bill Johnston, no one would know about the incendiary devices used at Waco by the FBI, or even about the twelve tons of evidence held by the Texas Rangers. When ex-Senator Danforth's Justice investigation was over, he spent pages and pages explaining why all the other cases of perjury weren't worth litigating over--only the whistleblower deserved to be arrested.

He might as well have just taken that twelve million dollars and erected a gigantic neon billboard over Washington DC saying "Of course it was the ATF and FBI's fault!"

Hardy's book is poorly edited but brilliantly written; the hunt for official documents is fascinating; the analysis of those documents chilling. Liberals who fear a police state will have their fears confirmed, and Conservatives who believe in strong law enforcement should receive a wake up call from "This Is Not An Assault."

Top 5 reasons why you do not need this book.
1)It is garbage and the author is nobody. Go read another Waco book, ANY other Waco book. Most of the possitive reviews here are from the author praising himself.
2)The author has tried to pimp this book by bashing Michael Moore.
3)The author is the one who set up various Michael Moore bashing web sites.
4)The author tried to pimp this book by making over 100 false 0 star reviews here on amazon under Michael Moore's "Dude, Where is my country?" book reviews.
5)Just go visit his site http://www.mooreexposed.com to see the "quality" of his work there.

The Waco Story is NOT about "gun nuts" and pedophilia
This book is superb, and should be read by anyone with an interest in the relationship between the State and the people of the U.S., a category that should include any and every sentient adult in the land. This book and Dick Reavis's "Ashes of Waco" are the two essential reads for the general reader who wants to get the real story about the Waco incident, although there is much more in print and on the web worth delving into.
With respect to Travis Friedrich's assesment that the book is long on conspiracy theory and short on facts, I can't help but think one of the following must be true:
1) he did not actually read the book,
2) he is not a capable reader, or
3) his review is an act of disinformation, intended to steer the curious away from the truth.
This book is packed with detail and corroborative evidence, almost to the point of being a fault.