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Alabama National Guard (support) 23px Delta Force Special Air Service | side2 = Branch Davidians * Unknown number of armed adult members of the Branch Davidian home and church (maximum residents during siege 132) | leadfigures1 = Phillip Chojnacki Chuck Sarabyn Jeff Jamar Richard Rogers Ann Richards | leadfigures2 = David Koresh Steven Schneider Wayne Martin | strength1 = ATF and FBI: Hundreds of agents. Two SAS observers. | strength2 = 80+ Branch Davidians. | casualties1 = 4 ATF agents killed, 16 wounded. | casualties2 = 6 killed on February 28. 76 killed on April 19. | notes = }} The Waco siege was a siege of a compound belonging to the religious group Branch Davidians by American federal and Texas state law enforcement and US military between February 28 and April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians, a sect that separated in 1955 from the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was led by David Koresh and lived at Mount Carmel Center ranch in the community of Elk, Texas, nine miles (14 kilometers) east-northeast of Waco. The group was suspected of weapons violations and a search and arrest warrant was obtained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The incident began when the ATF attempted to raid the ranch. An intense gun battle erupted, resulting in the deaths of four agents and six Branch Davidians. Upon the ATF's failure to raid the compound, a siege was initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the standoff lasting 51 days. Eventually, the FBI launched an assault and initiated a tear gas attack in an attempt to force the Branch Davidians out. During the attack, a fire engulfed Mount Carmel Center. 76 people died,〔Dick J. Reavis, ''The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation'' (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), (p.13 ). ISBN 0-684-81132-4〕〔Gennaro Vito, Jeffrey Maahs,''Criminology: Theory, Research, and Policy'', Edition 3, revised, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2011, ISBN 0763766658, 9780763766658, (P. 340 )〕 including David Koresh. Much dispute remains as to the actual events of the siege. A particular controversy ensued over the origin of the fire; a government investigation concluded in 2000 that sect members themselves had started the fire. The events near Waco were cited as the primary motivation behind the Oklahoma City bombing that took place exactly two years later. ==Background== The Branch Davidians (also known as "The Branch") is a religious group that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Seventh-day Adventist Church of the Shepherd's Rod (Davidians), following the death of the Shepherd's Rod founder Victor Houteff. Houteff founded the Davidians based on his prophecy of an imminent apocalypse involving the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the defeat of the evil armies of "Babylon". As the original Davidian group gained members, its leadership moved the church to a hilltop several miles east of Waco, Texas, which they named Mount Carmel, after a mountain in Israel mentioned in Joshua 19:26 in the Bible's Old Testament. A few years later, they moved again to a much larger site east of the city. In 1959, the widow of Victor Houteff, Florence Houteff, announced that the expected Armageddon was about to take place, and members were told to gather at the center to await this event. Many built houses, others stayed in tents, trucks, or buses, and most sold their possessions.〔[''Psychotherapy Networker'', March/April 2007, "Stairway to Heaven; Treating children in the crosshairs of trauma." Excerpt from the book ''The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog'' by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz.〕 Following the failure of this prophecy, control of the site (Mount Carmel Center) fell to Benjamin Roden, the prime organizer of the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association (Branch Davidians). On his death, control fell to his wife, Lois Roden. Lois considered their son, George Roden, unfit to assume the position of prophet. Instead, she groomed Vernon Howell (later known as David Koresh) as her chosen successor. In 1984, a meeting led to a division of the group, with Howell leading one faction (calling themselves the Davidian Branch Davidians) and George Roden leading the competing faction. After this split, George Roden ran Howell and his followers off Mount Carmel. Howell and his group relocated to Palestine, Texas. After the death of Lois Roden and probate of her estate in January 1987, Howell attempted to gain control of Mount Carmel Center by force. George Roden had dug up the casket of one Anna Hughes from the Davidian cemetery and had challenged Howell to a resurrection contest to prove who was the rightful heir to the leadership. Howell instead went to the police and claimed Roden was guilty of corpse abuse, but the county prosecutors refused to file charges without proof. On November 3, Howell and seven armed companions attempted to access the Mount Carmel chapel, with the goal of photographing the body in the casket as evidence to incriminate Roden. Roden was advised of the interlopers and grabbed an Uzi in response. The Sheriff's Department responded about 20 minutes into the gunfight, during which Roden was wounded. Sheriff Harwell got Howell on the phone and told him to stop shooting and surrender. Howell and his companions, dubbed the "Rodenville Eight" by the media, were tried for attempted murder on April 12, 1988; seven were acquitted and the jury was hung on Howell's verdict. The county prosecutors did not press the case further.〔Clifford L. Linedecker, ''Masscre at Waco, Texas'', St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 70-76. ISBN 0-312-95226-0.〕 While waiting for the trial, Roden was put in jail under contempt of court charges because of his use of foul language in some court pleadings, threatening the Texas court with sexually transmitted diseases if the court ruled in favor of Howell. The next day, Perry Jones and a number of Howell's other followers moved from their headquarters in Palestine, Texas, to Mount Carmel. In mid-1989, Roden used an axe to kill a Davidian named Wayman Dale Adair, who visited him to discuss Adair's vision of being God's chosen messiah. He was found guilty under an insanity defense and was committed to a mental hospital. Shortly after Roden's commitment, Howell raised money to pay off all the back taxes on Mount Carmel owed by Roden and took legal control of the property.〔Marc Breault and Martin King, ''Inside the Cult'', Signet, 1st Printing June 1993, ISBN 978-0-451-18029-2. (Australian edition entitled ''Preacher of Death'').〕 On August 5, 1989, Howell released the "New Light" audio tape, in which he stated he had been told by God to procreate with the women in the group to establish a "House of David" of his "special people". This involved separating married couples in the group and agreeing that only he could have sexual relations with the wives, while the men should observe celibacy.〔〔 He also claimed that God had told him to start building an "Army for God" to prepare for the end of days and a salvation for his followers. Howell filed a petition in the Supreme Court of California on May 15, 1990 to legally change his name "for publicity and business purposes" to David Koresh; on August 28, he was granted the petition.〔Clifford L. Linedecker, ''Masscre at Waco, Texas'', St. Martin's Press, 1993, page 94. ISBN 0-312-95226-0.〕 By 1992, most of the land belonging to the group had been sold except for a core . Most of the buildings had been removed or were being salvaged for construction materials to convert much of the main chapel and a tall water tank into apartments for the resident members of the group. Many of the members of the group had been involved with the Davidians for a few generations, and many had large families. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Waco siege」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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