Reno Questioned On Use Of Tear Gas Fbi Used Chemical At Waco Under Exception To Treaty

Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican presidential hopeful, grilled Attorney General Janet Reno on Tuesday about the government’s role in the 1993 Branch Davidian disaster in Waco, Texas.

At a wide-ranging Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Reno also heard complaints about declining federal drug cases, Specter questioned the FBI’s tear-gassing of the cult compound shortly before it burned to the ground. The twomonth siege in which four federal agents and more than 90 cult members died has become a rallying cause for armed militias and other groups.

“Were you aware at the time that you authorized the use of the … gas that it had been banned by the Paris chemical weapons convention?” asked Specter, R-Pa.

There was an exception to that treaty for law enforcement purposes, Reno responded.

She said that when the FBI raised the possibility of using the gas, she asked, “What about the children, what about elderly people, what effect would this have? Would this have a permanent effect on anyone?” She said she met with a civilian Army expert who “concluded that it would not have a permanent effect.”

As for future use, Reno said she asked the FBI “to do everything they can to pursue all lines of inquiry to indicate if the gas might be harmful, so that we can understand in future situations if there is any new information that should be considered.”

The case has received renewed interest in Congress since the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, the second anniversary of the fiery end of the cult compound.