It was a bracing moment in political Washington, a city that abides by the old army expression CYA. It also became the battle plan for a brilliant media blitz that in short order turned a real disaster into a Beltway triumph. Reno appeared on a round of television shows, accepting responsibility and sticking to her story that she had ordered the FBI advance because she was concerned about the fate of the children inside. Indeed, her apotheosis came as she squinted into a “Nightline” camera, leveled host Ted Koppel through her slidingdown-her-nose eyeglasses and declared that she would be “happy” to resign if that’s what President Clinton wanted. In a town where officials don’t quit their honor-laden posts until they have been utterly disgraced (and some not even then), that was a moment of incredible bravado. To use the highest encomium of the Mafia wiseguys she prosecutes, she had become a Stand-Up Guy. And Washington was at her feet. Indeed, by Thursday, after a subcommittee appearance, senators competed to praise her. And in a private session with FBI officials, Sen. Joe Biden said that Reno’s straight talk averted a disaster."

Reno emerged as the biggest instant Uebermensch since Norman Schwarzkopf. Question is, though, whether Reno deserves so much glory. The nation’s chief law-enforcement official may be a thoroughly admirable person, but that can’t mean that she should escape critical evaluation. By her own account, the Justice Department screwed up. What standard will public officials be held to? Good intentions count-but so do results. As John Mitchell, one of Reno’s predecessors before he became a convicted felon, liked to say, “Watch what we do, not what we say.”

There will be ample opportunity to review the evidence. Clinton ordered an internal agency investigation. Several congressional committees plan probes. Media organizations will sift the ashes for weeks. They should ask pointed questions: Did she put too much trust in the princes of the FBI? Was her inner circle up to the task? Should she have reached out to the Pentagon’s generals for advice? And conspiracy theorists tired of the Kennedy assassination now have a new subject to torment; Oliver Stone, meet Vernon Howell.

As much as Washington loves its victors, its blood lust needs slaking, too. Who will fall as a result of this debacle? There are two obvious candidates: Stephen Higgins, the embattled head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the agency that led the first botched Waco raid in February. Four senators last week recommended that the ATF merge into the FBI, a hostile takeover that would cost Higgins his job. The other target is William Sessions, the director of the FBI. His enemies in the Bush administration tried to nail him as Clinton took office, using a litany of alleged abuses of office perquisites. Reno has been noticeably cool since she came to town, but has yet to move against him.

Reno now has an important bureaucratic weapon to wield: her spine. And that’s fitting because she came to office to help reorganize a department whose image has been tarnished in recent years. She can afford to take the high road, knowing that she can draw on an image of rectitude. But after last week she must know, too, that a path paved only with good intentions can lead to Waco.

Should what happened in Waco lead to the replacement of Janet Reno as attorney general?

8% Yes 83% No

Did the FBI have good reasons to launch their operation against the cult compound in Waco?

71% Yes 22% No

From the NEWSWEEDK POLL of April 22-23, 1993