Waco and Branch Davidians Cited by Iran's Supreme Leader

According to "The Lede," the New York Times blog, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has cited the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, as a reason for rejecting American criticism of Iran's response to opposition protests.

In a translation posted by Iran's Press TV, Ayatollah Khamenei stated at the end of a recent speech:

"During the term of a previous US government, eighty people affiliated with the Davidian sect were burnt alive in their compound in Waco, Texas. For some reason these people were disliked by the then US administration. Eighty people were burnt in that building, how dare you talk of human rights?"

Clearly, the Ayatollah doesn't know much about the circumstances behind the Waco standoff and its tragic outcome, just as he doesn't seem to understand much about why so many of his own people keep clammoring for fair elections and greater freedoms.

Many Americans, of course, don't know or remember much about the Waco standoff, either. One recent attempt in Texas to make a movie about the events apparently was stalled when it ran afoul of a particular clause in Texas' state incentives for moving image productions. That clause does not allow awarding state production incentives to projects that depict "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion..."

Recent rumors were that Waco would be shot in Louisiana, Oklahoma or New Mexico, where there would be no restrictions against depicting "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion...."

-- Si Dunn