In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco
Unclear and Present Danger
Jamelle Bouie
4.7 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 9 July 2022
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For episode 19 of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch “In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco,” a ripped-from-the-headlines-style movie about the siege at Waco. They use the movie as an occasion to discuss right-wing extremism, abuse and overreach among federal law enforcement, and how both played themselves out in American culture.
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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Links from the episode!
New York Times front-page for May 23, 1993
“Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America” by Kathleen Belew
American Experience: Ruby Ridge
“Waco: The Rules of Engagement,” a 1997 documentary on the siege and its fallout.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Everybody is so obsessed with power and politics. |
| 0:03.7 | He was a man of seduction. |
| 0:06.2 | Do you want to live in paradise? |
| 0:08.5 | I don't do anything. |
| 0:09.9 | A master of manipulation. |
| 0:12.4 | If I'm a man like any other, |
| 0:14.8 | and what have you got to fear? |
| 0:16.2 | Will you follow me? |
| 0:18.3 | Yes. |
| 0:19.1 | The more he's adored by his followers. |
| 0:21.6 | Will you die for me? The more powerfully becomes. Can you kill follow me? Yes! The more he's adored by his followers. Will you die for me? The more powerfully will be able to be able to be able to be. |
| 0:24.6 | Yes! |
| 0:25.6 | And sometimes I hate the things I have to do. Welcome to Episode 19 of unclear and present danger, a podcast about the political and military thrillers of the 1990s and what they say about the politics of that decade. |
| 1:05.4 | I'm Jamel Bowie. I'm a columnist for the New York Times opinion section. |
| 1:08.3 | My name is John Gans. I'm a freelance writer, and I write |
| 1:11.4 | a substack newsletter called Unpopular Front, and I'm working on a book about American politics in the early |
| 1:17.5 | 1990s. Today we are talking about In the Line of Duty, Ambush in Waco, a 1993 made for television |
| 1:25.1 | movie starring Tim Daly, William O'Leary, Neil McDonough, and Jerry Ryan. |
| 1:31.1 | It was directed by Dick Lowry, who spent his career making these kinds of movies for the networks. |
| 1:36.3 | Here is a short plot synopsis. |
| 1:39.2 | A short, very insensitive plot synopsis. |
| 1:41.9 | I apologize ahead of time. |
... |
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