10:54 PM Tue, Jul 22, 2008 | Permalink
Mike Watkiss
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As we have been predicting, the State of Texas has now criminally charged Warren Jeffs and five of his adult male followers. A grand jury returned the indictments today.
Texas got embarrassed when it was ordered to return the FLDS children to their parents. It didn't need to happen.
It's time to start telling the truth on all sides of this story. Jurisdictional turf wars and law enforcement egos have screwed a lot of things up over the years. Before their raid, Texas authorities never contacted the handful of people in Utah and Arizona who actually know the history and could have told them that their original "suspect" Dale Barlow was the wrong guy. I knew it and was publicly broadcasting my doubts on television within hours of the raid. But unfortunately they don't watch my newscast in Texas. And there are at least a couple of people who know the story a lot better than I do. But Texas decided to go it alone and it got messy.
It seems there are a few law officers in the Lone Star state who have positioned themselves as authorities on this story. In all due respect , they are not. They don't know the history and as I have said many times, the history of this story is critically important.
My concern now is that the Senate Judiciary Committee, that had will hold hearings on the FLDS church later this week, will make the same mistake--listening to the wrong people and not even ask the people who really know.
The U.S. Attorneys from Utah and Nevada will testify--so will the state Attorneys General from Arizona and Texas. Once again, in all due respect, I'm not really sure what the two U.S. Attorneys are going to add. Up until this point, the feds have been pretty useless. Yeah they put Warren Jeffs on the FBI's Most Wanted List--but that's about it. I suspect that the two U.S. Attorneys will go before the Senate Committee and talk a big game--saying that they have done this and they have done that. Don't let them fool you they really haven't done much. I don't know much about the Texas Attorney General--he's pretty new to this crazy story. Arizona's Attorney General Terry Goddard certainly knows a thing or two--he's testimony should be pretty interesting.
The really interesting testimony will, however, probably come from former FLDS members Carolyn Jessop and Dan Fischer. They are the real McCoy. They know what they are talking about. The other witness is some author who wrote a quicky book and started showing up at media events a few months ago. Everybody has got an angle.
I turned down an offer to testify before the Judiciary Committee. The reason: it didn't seem like the right thing to do. I have been chronicling the history and practices of the FDLS church for more that a quarter of a century--I've already had my say. People interested in the story already know where I stand and know of the long and twisted history of criminal behavior that I have documented in more stories than I can now possibly count.
But more importantly, I see my role as calling the b.s. I've been covering this story a lot longer and more aggressively than any reporter in this country--and I know it to be dangerously full of more ass-coverering, self-serving liars than you can find even in a place like Congress. The polygamists lie. Cops lie. Politicians lie. Reporters lie.
It's time for the lying to stop. It's too bad the Senators didn't invite Mohave County Special Investigator Gary Engles to testify--or private investigator Sam Brower--or Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith--or Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap--any one of these guys know more about the subject matter than all of the U.S. Attorneys combined.
Like I says--it's all about history and there is a long history of turf battles and law enforcement egos screwing things. I pray for the children's sake that doesn't happen during these hearings in the nation's capitol. But if it does I promise I'll be there to call the b.s.
I have read all the information in the polygamy diaries. I have read every book I can find on polygamy and the history of it.
My findings are much the same as Mike Watkiss's. The polygamists lie. From everything I have read, they are perhaps, in my opinion, the most ungodly bunch of abusers, criminals and liars around.
Is this another exercise in futility? Perhaps so with the list of those called to testify.
A person will not get enough history by simply reading the book "Escape." One needs to read
"Under the Banner of Heaven" and "When Men Become Gods" to fully understand the FLDS movement. I found "Stolen Innocence" a much better read than
"Escape."
There are many books written on the subject. To fully comprehend the scope of the problem, one needs to read as much material as possible to gain a comprehensive understanding of polygamy. Reading the best sellers on the subject is limiting one's self to too little information.