Sorry guy, but BS. The police had a choice NOT to drop a bomb on a building in the name of law enforcement. No-one twisted their arms and forced them to, and there is no precedent in American law enforcement for them having done so. The fact that MOVE had allegedly cooperated in the shooting of a cop did in no way justify aereal bombardment and deliberately burning whole city blocks, and your deploying the "but THEY started it! They had bullhorns and threw garbage! We HAD to kill them all!" defense comes across as about as ethical and honest as a rape defendant's "but she was ASKING for it!" stand defense.
This is made worse by your blaming of the deaths of the five children on MOVE. If the FBI Hostage Rescue Team had resolved a hostage situation by knowingly executing all of the hostages, would you be defending it as being "the choice" of the hostage-takers?

I remember it too. Your account is just about the way I remembered it. Nice post.

DaveB you wrote: The fact that MOVE had allegedly cooperated in the shooting of a cop did in no way justify aereal bombardment and deliberately burning whole city blocks...

I wrote: What Mayor Wilson Goode authorized and the Philadelphia Police Department did that day was unconscionable. The people that lost their homes and the five MOVE children who died are nothing but victims.

It was a very bad day. But MOVE started the confrontation, MOVE killed a cop, MOVE harrassed its neighbors with bullhorns and tossed garbage and human waste into the streets. Five innocent children died that day. But the police who dropped the bomb and the mayor who authorized it and the authorities who let the flames spread are only secondarily at fault. They were forced into the confrontation by the adult members of MOVE, six individuals who, ultimately, are to blame for what happened that day. Five children died that do, innocent victims of the criminals and friends of cop-killers who died along with them.

Justification for the bombing? No.

So, it seems, we are in agreement.

My post was only to remind people of the police officer murdered by MOVE, a part of the story often glossed over by the press when it focuses on May 13, 1985.

If MOVE had wished to survive they should have surrendered. Violent cult resistance to government forces (SLA, MOVE, Koresh at Waco) merits prompt destruction, period full stop. Too bad about the people who were collateral damage, but sending the message that defiant nutjobs will be killed is quite legitimate.

Observer, you have got to be kidding!

Classifying what happened at Waco with what happened with the SLA and MOVE is like classifying what happened at Tienamen Square with what happened at Gettysburg. On one side you have an unwarranted attack by government forces, and on the other side you have rebellious groups attacking government forces. Can you not see the difference?

With the SLA and MOVE, you had two armed groups who had previously killed both innocent third parties and law enforcement. The Davidians had never been in a fight with law enforcement, and had only been in an armed conflict once against an attack by a disgruntled group of former members -- and Koresh willingly turned himself in and faced his day in court where he was found to have acted in self-defense and acquitted of all charges. The Davidians had repeatedly invited ATF and local law enforcement to come on down and inspect their premises WITHOUT a search warrant. No one can say that they were uncooperative with local law enforcement. In fact, the first phone call made at the time of the raid was from the Davidians to the local sheriff, pleading with him to have ATF stop shooting because women and children were being struck by gunfire.

At Waco, the ATF launched an armed, no-knock raid despite repeated contacts with Koresh and repeated invitations to come and visit their compound. ATF fired first at Waco, and however repulsive you view their lifestyle EVERYONE has the right to defend themselves in this country. And, finally, when Janet Reno sent in the tanks, resulting in the deaths by incineration of more than a hundred people who were suspected of nothing worse than perhaps not paying a tax before the raid, the very thing that the Davidians feared -- death at the hands of evil attackers -- came to pass.

I love this country, and I know that most people in government are honest and hard-working and really want to do the right thing... but there's always that one-in-a-hundred that gives the best a bad reputation. At Waco, the same person who gave the illegal "shoot on sight" orders at Ruby Ridge was in charge... and the same results happened.

Janet Reno should have resigned over this, and the responsible agents at ATF should have been fired, stripped of their pensions, and prosecuted for manslaughter.

Maybe the Davidians were nutjobs... but they were generally peaceable nutjobs who posed no threat to others. As long as they weren't hurting anyone or breaking any laws, they have as much right to live the way they want as some hippie commune in Oregon, or anyone else. Liberty means the willingness to accept that others may have different values and live differently... and also that you are willing to respect their right to peaceably do so.

PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPARTMENT ONLY LOST THEIR GOOD REPUTATION WITH THIS ACT OF TERRORISM. THIS ACT IS MENTION EVEN IN BOOKS. THE NEWS WENT PASS ALONG TRUE THE WHOLE WORLD. I BELIVE THIS ACT SHOW THAT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT WAS DUMP IN THEYRE DESITION.DONT TRY TO JUSTIFY THIS ACT OF EMBARASSMENT.