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DK - you're using your 20/20 hindsight glasses again. Weaver was suspected of selling illegal weapons. Any prudent person would assume that there are other weapons (legal and/or illegal) on the premises. Sending in snipers and an assault team is the prudent way to approach that situation. To argue otherwise is equivalent to saying that the police should be unarmed completely - criminals will often fire at the police in an attempt to escape. And make no bones about it, as soon as you fire at a policeman, you are a criminal.
David Koresh and the Branch Davidians had the same issues in that they were suspected of having a large stockpile of weapons and a will to use them. Should the ATF have shown up with a bouquet of flowers instead?
Elian Gonzalez's grandfather made several well-publicized statements about being willing to shoot anyone trying to take the kid and there were many threats in the Cuban community to the same effect. If an unarmed CPS social worker showed up with the lawful authority to take the kid were shot by someone in the house, what would your reaction be?
Just because some of the information turned out to be questionable AFTER THE FACT, that doesn't mean that using armed officers wasn't warranted at the time. Unless of course you have some sort of ability to see into the future and tell if folks are unarmed when you show up. In which case, please look into next week and see if they have the sports page laying around so that I can get some bets down.
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
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