Mood Swings

IN THE GRIM STANDOFF NEAR WACO, TEXAS, BEtween the Branch Davidian cult and hundreds of federal officers, negotiations swung back and forth between confrontation and conciliation. The FBI, having already tightened the psychological screws by cutting off power to the 78-acre compound, beamed high-intensity lights on the complex at night and avoided cult leader David Koresh's endless telephonic religious chatter. Lawmen then had their first face-to-face meeting with Koresh's top lieutenants, and two days later agents drove three buses to the compound in anticipation of a mass surrender of the 105 men, women and children still inside. But Koresh abruptly dashed those hopes, telling officers that he was leaving the phone to go to the bathroom and wouldn't return. On Friday the tone changed once again. After FBI agents delivered lawyers' letters and magazines requested by the cultists, Koresh told negotiators, "I feel there's a new phase coming about. I have a great desire to settle this issue." That night two more Davidians, the second and ; third men to depart, left the compound. Authorities were again hopeful that an end to the three-week-old deadlock would come in days, rather than weeks.