for those interested in responding to the following, the address is: Letters to the Editor The Washington Times 3600 New York Ave., N.E. Washington D.C. 20002 The Washington Times October 9, 1993 page A9 FBI still probing video of tank at Waco By Jerry Seper A Justice Department official who helped write a report on the role of the department and the FBI in the Branch Davidian raid says a video purporting to show a tank shooting flames into the compound is under review. Richard Scruggs, an assistant to Attorney General Janet Reno, said the video by Indianapolis lawyer Linda Thompson "raised our eyebrows and caused the same concern" others have expressed. Distributed to news organizations around the country, the video purports to show one of the FBI tanks at the Waco compound firing flames into the building before the start of the fire. Miss Thompson has claimed it proves the FBI started the blaze that killed 85 persons, including 24 children. Mr. Scruggs said that Justice officials submitted the video to the University of Maryland for expert analysis and that preliminary results have not been conclusive. He said that the armored vehicle used by federal authorities, on loan from the military, was not equipped with any type of flame-throwing capability and that the only way a flame could have come from it would have been through some type of "busted hydraulic line or something like that." He said Justice officials had examined the vehicle and found no evidence of broken parts. Another analysis of the tape has been ordered, he said. Mr. Scruggs noted that a preliminary assessment of the video is that what appears to be a flame shooting out of the vehicle was a flash from the dispersant carbon monoxixde used to propel the chemical agent CS into the compound. A second possibility, he said, was a defect in the way the video was shot. "I don't know what it is," he said. "I'll have to be honest with you." He noted that the fire at the compound did not erupt for at least 35 to 40 minutes after the light flash is observed in the video. An inquiry into the video was continuing, Mr. Scruggs said. [end]