FBI PARKS ARMORED CARS, RESCUE COPTER NEAR FREEMEN COMPOUND.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The FBI brought black armored cars and a rescue helicopter to their staging area staging area n. A place where troops or equipment in transit are assembled and processed, as before a military operation. Noun 1. near the Freemen ranch Friday, saying they might be needed to help end the standoff stand·off n. 1. A tie or draw, as in a contest. 2. A situation in which one force neutralizes or counterbalances the other. 3. A standoff insulator. adj. Standoffish. with the armed anti-government fugitives. A source familiar with the FBI strategy said the highly publicized pub·li·cize tr.v. pub·li·cized, pub·li·ciz·ing, pub·li·ciz·es To give publicity to. Adj. 1. publicized - made known; especially made widely known publicised arrival of the armored vehicles and helicopter was not a sign that authorities plan to move on the Freemen immediately. ``They're sending a message that `We are prepared,' '' said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ``Nothing is imminent.'' The source said the FBI wanted to demonstrate it was serious, as well as ``create a little more uncertainty (among the Freemen) about what's going to happen.'' ``At this time, the FBI plans are to continue to try to work things out and get talks going again,'' the source said. The Freemen have been holed up in a remote, 960-acre farm complex 30 miles northwest of the FBI's headquarters in this eastern Montana The Great Plains stretch across Eastern Montana, an area that consists of the eastern half of the U.S. state of Montana and the north-central portion near Great Falls. The area is drained by the Missouri River, which originates in SW Montana, and by its tributaries, the Milk, the town since March 25, when FBI agents captured two of their leaders. ``Despite the best efforts of the FBI and third-party intermediaries, the Freemen have terminated all efforts at negotiations,'' the agency said. The FBI, which has said almost nothing about the negotiations since the standoff began, sent a statement about the rescue vehicles by facsimile to news media around the country, and made sure journalists could see them arriving at the Garfield County Garfield County is the name of several counties in the United States:
The one-page statement said three armored cars were arriving, but reporters saw only two. They arrived on a flatbed truck A flatbed truck is a type of truck which can be either articulated or rigid. It has an entirely flat, level body with absolutely no sides or roof. This allows for quick and easy loading of goods, and consequently they are used to transport heavy loads that are not delicate or under tarps, and the truck was parked in open view as agents stripped away the tarps. The cars had ``FBI'' painted on their sides in large white letters. The olive-drab helicopter was unmarked, and the pilot told reporters it would carry 13 people. The vehicles were brought in, ``in the event it becomes necessary to conduct emergency rescues and to safely occupy portions of the Freemen-occupied property,'' the news release states. The FBI ``still hopes there can be a peaceful, negotiated resolution without jeopardizing the safety of law enforcement personnel or others,'' it says. The Freemen's farm complex showed little activity Friday. Negotiators have said the Freemen have satellite television and watch news reports closely. The FBI statement disclosed that a total of 42 third-party intermediaries had been used, more than had been visible in open-air negotiating sessions, and complained that the Freemen had reneged on several agreements so far. The statement quoted Colorado state Sen. Charles Duke Charles Moss Duke, Jr. (born October 3 1935), a retired USAF Brigadier General, was a United States astronaut for NASA. He is one of only twelve men who have walked on the moon. , a leader of his state's ``patriot movement'' and one of the mediators, as saying the Freemen ``really weren't interested in compromising.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: FBI agents remove a tarp from the second of two armo red vehicles that arrived Friday in Jordan, Mont. Associated Press |
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