The Killings on Ruby Ridge

Randy Weaver believed the federal government would one day surround his home and kill his family.

After listening to hours of the Ruby Ridge hearings currently being held in the Senate, I have come to a frightening realization.

Weaver wasn't paranoid.

In fact, I'm beginning to think I was naive in believing that this country's law enforcement is at all trustworthy or even decent.

So far, the FBI's party line is that Weaver caused the death of his 14-year-old son and his wife by not appearing in court on a minor-weapons violation.

I guess I'm just a little silly for thinking that Weaver's failure to appear in court for a minor weapons violation was grounds for the government to surround his home and shoot at unarmed members of his family.

The fact is the FBI has admitted they ignored their standard rules of engagement: using deadly force only when there is danger of death or severe injury. Instead, the orders came down that snipers "could and should" shoot at any armed adult male.

Snipers on the ground have claimed they followed standard policy, not the orders they were given. That doesn't have the ring of truth for me, especially since it conveniently confuses the issue of who is actually accountable for the actions at the siege.

One sniper, in an incredible dodge of responsibility, admitted he was firing at a fleeing fourteen-year-old, but had the audacity to suggest that Randall Weaver (who was also fleeing toward the cabin at the time), shot his own son in the back. Please, I may be naive, but I'm hardly that stupid.

Sam Weaver was armed when he was shot: he had followed his barking dog down a trail, closely followed by two armed men: family friend Kevin Harris and his father, Randy Weaver. When U.S. Marshall William Degan jumped out of the undergrowth to shoot the dog. Sam swung his weapon around.

What happened next isn't clear. If you listen to the FBI (whose veracity is questionable at best), Sam fired a shot before fleeing. If you listen to Weaver and Harris, Degan fired first and Harris returned fire, probably killing Degan.

Both Randy Weaver and Harris were acquitted of murder at the trial that followed the siege. In fact, the only criminal act the jury was convinced Weaver committed was the minor weapons violation that began it all.

If the FBI expects Randy Weaver to take the blame for shooting his own son, than the FBI should be willing to take the blame for the death of Marshall Degan.

Before these hearings started, I could have been convinced that the deaths of Sam Weaver and Degan were just unfortunate accidents. But now, after hearing the circumstances surrounding the death of Vicki Weaver, I find it difficult to place much trust in these federal law enforcement agencies.

After Marshall Degan's death, the FBI classified Weaver as a terrorist and worked up a psychological profile of the family, which is hardly typical procedure in "cases" like this. The report stated that Vicki Weaver was the emotional center of the family and her death would probably result in a surrender.

The next day, she was shot "accidentally."

Vicki Weaver was standing near the open door of the cabin, holding her infant son in her arms. A sniper's shot hit her artery and she died almost immediately. The FBI has claimed the sniper was actually aiming for Kevin Harris, who they say was standing behind Vicki Weaver with a gun in his hands. However, diagrams of the cabin shown to the Senate committee make that story improbable.

Even if it is true that the killing of Vicki Weaver was accidental, for director of the FBI William Sessions admitted the sniper should never have fired in the first place. A Justice Department task force also found that the shot was unjustified.

Not surprisingly, following the killings of his wife and son, Randy Weaver was afraid that the rest of his family would be shot as well if they surrendered.

Harris, Weaver, Weaver's two teenage daughters and his infant son huddled in the cabin for three days with Vicki Weaver's body.

When describing this time to the Senate, Weaver never mentioned that it was the middle of July, temperatures were approaching 100* F, and his home is not air-conditioned. He didn't mention that the cabin didn't have running water.

He didn't have to. It was a horrible enough story already.

Everyone who has listened to even a portion of the hearings should be appalled and frightened. One message is coming through loud and clear; these were not the actions of any reasonable government. There was an utter lack of judgment on the part of those who call themselves professionals from the very beginning to the very end of the siege.

The conclusion I have drawn from listening to the hearings is very simple: our federal law enforcement agencies are out of control and need to be contained.

First of all, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) should no longer exist. These were the "professionals" who decided to surround the cabin with armed agents for nothing more than a failure to appear in court. These are also the people who showed little restraint in Waco.

This is the agency that regularly forces the Justice Department officials to utter their least-favorite line: "Mistakes were made."

Why isn't this agency just another branch of the FBI? Why do we need a separate law enforcement agency for alcohol, tobacco and firearms in the first place? Who oversees this group and why do they consistently make horrendous mistakes?

Does the ATF just act as another agency to confuse communications at crucial times, withhold information from those who need it, and blur the issues of accountability?

Of course, these were the questions to ask before Vicki and Sam Weaver died. Those deaths are not forgivable mistakes. Those deaths are not the kind of mistakes from which any agency can recover. The ATF should be disbanded.

The FBI has not come out of this untarnished either. However, at least the bureau has sensible rules, when they choose to follow them. If they had abided by their own guidelines, Ruby Ridge would never have become the disaster it did.

In order to regain its legitimacy, the FBI needs to flush out those who have shown they have no common sense and even less good judgment. The member of the bureau who changed the orders into a direct violation of policy should be fired, if that name will ever come to light. Any other agents who approved the violation should likewise be dismissed.

Unfortunately, the FBI has not gotten the message. After Ruby Ridge, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh promoted Larry Potts, one of those most responsible for the debacle, to the number two spot in the bureau. Only recently, with the threat of Congressional hearings looming large, was he first demoted and then suspended. If the FBI does not act quickly to sharply discipline those who acted without discipline, it forfeits its already fading reputation for professionalism.

The Senate hearings have been a time for questions about what happened in Washington and in Ruby Ridge. Idaho in July of 1992. While we are getting some answers, the omissions are as worrisome as the admissions.

Why was a mother holding an infant in her arms killed? Why was a fourteen-year-old weighing less than 80 pounds shot in the back?

Randy Weaver deserves more from the government that destroyed his life than a refusal to admit its guilt. He deserves to have these questions answered. We all do.