Lately we have been regaled on the many facets of terrorim and terrorists.  What it is and who they are.  We know that Mohammed Atta and bin Laden are.  And many accept that Timothy McVeigh is one as well.  Along with Eric Rudolph.  And others that we can determine picked an indiscrimiante target that had nothing to do with their perceived injustice.

But recently, I was informed that the Branch Davidians of Waco were Terrorists.  Huh?

Now I will grant you that I am not an expert on the issue of Waco, or of the creed of the Branch Davidians.  However, I do not recall them ever carrying out acts of terrorism prior to their immolation at the hands of the Elian Gonzalez snatching Justice department.  My memory of the event is that they were "accused" of some serious crimes, never proven (dead men tell no tales).  And they do have an idea of salvation that is not in any way in line with my own.

But Terrorists?  Does that make Jim Jones one?  Or is this a new form of newspeak where mistakes, innocent or incompetant, are now being swept under a rug of "post facto" evil?  Could they have been "terrorists"?  Only God knows for sure.  But why are they now being branded terrorists when all they wanted to do, by all accounts of worth, was to pray in their own way?

I have not condemned the ATF in the past for Waco.  I do not now.  It was not their call. Nor have I heaped a bunch of scorn and pointed fingers at Janet Reno for her decision, ham handed as it was.  They were defying the law, and the tragedy could have been avoided if they had complied with the authorities.  But why now do we have to hide this tragedy under a veil of "terrorism" when to all accounts, none existed.  Just another cult trying to live its way, outside of the laws of the country.

Why now are we trying to justify an incident that needs no justification.  Other than to perhaps paint the authorities of that time in a better light?