On the surface, the official story (which in more cases than not, is usually exactly that, a story), is that the Branch Davidians were a cult, and that they were holding children hostage, sounds reasonable. However, as usual with government intervention, the issue was deeper than that. They had three things that every government fears its subjects having: independence from them, discipline, and most importantly, a means to fight back should they need to.
That's why that same level of attention wasn't given to CHAZ in Seattle a few years ago. They were barely organized, their entire system collapsed from the inside within a couple of days, and while they were armed, they had no training. It could have been retaken that afternoon if the mayor and the police felt like it.
Caption this Meme 