"Abuse of power isn't limited to the bad guys of other nations, either. It happens in our country if we're not vigilant. At Waco, was there really an urgency to get those people out of the compound at that particular time?...At Ruby Ridge, there was one guy in a cabin on top of the mountain. Was it necessary for federal agents to go up there, shoot a 14-year-old in the back and shoot a woman with a child in her arms? What kind of mentality does that? When will the agents of the FBI say, `Wait a second! I don't want to shoot people -- we can wait them out, because eventually they're going to go to the market?' Whether you agree with someone's philosophy or politics, they are still human beings and deserve to be treated as such."
—Clint Eastwood, in Parade magazine, January 12, 1997