



Well put, Jim.  I am as concerned about the media's complicity in this
growing coverup.  Can you imagine the media outrage, the lawsuits, the
investigations that would emit if the government kept the media away from
any other story?  Particularly if a Republican administration had been
behind it.  What's going on here?

Let's look beyond the initial blunder and examine what happened next.
I'm a student of human phychology, particularly in the area of psy-ops
because I've found some of the techniques to be useful in business
negotiations.  That puts me firmly in the amateur ranks.  This AMATEUR
knows that the first thing to do when sizing up the opponent is to do a
psychological profile on him.  You can bet your ass the FBI had
professionally done profiles on Koresh.  Koresh's behavior was
emminently predictable.  It is typical of people who move away from
civilization to be willing to fight to the death to preserve their
isolation.  It would also be typical, given Koresh's religious
orientation, for such an individual to interpret a government assault as
the apocalypse.  Suicide is as an acceptable alternative to being
consumed in the apocalypse.

IMHO, the FBI knew all this and decided after 50 days of concentrated
psy-ops to initiate that apocalypse.  I believe they chose a course of
action designed specifically to push Koresh over the edge while publicly
appearing to be acting reasonably.  They KNEW that Koresh considered the
tanks to be the Chariots of Fire mentioned in the Book of Revelations.
They KNEW that sending tanks, oops, combat engineering vehicles,
obstensibly to perform "gas insertions" (love that NewSpeak) WOULD push
him over the edge.

Look at some supporting evidence.  Koresh's attorney mentioned on TV
earlier today (4/20) that one of Koresh's major concern was the biblical
role of the tanks stationed around the compound.  The FBI (through Reno
on Larry King last night and at the news conference this morning)
claimed to have listening devices in the compound.  If that was true
they KNEW their actions were driving him to the brink.  They KNEW they
were pushing the Davidians toward mass suicide.  Any rational and
reasonable agency NOT interested in killing those people would, at
the first sign of preparations for suicide, have pulled completely back and
would have gotten rid of all the armor.  Instead they continued with the
"gas insertion" right up to the point where flames appeared.  The image
that will remain etched in my mind is that of the tank strutting back
and forth in front of the burning compound, gloating over the kill.

Let's step back and assess how this thing could have been ended without
bloodshed.  This technique would have required a law enforcement agency
interested in constitutionally enforcing the law and in the preservation
of life instead of achieving a military victory and of vengence.

The way to have nabbed Koresh was simply to have announced a pull back,
abandoned the assault, torn down the concertina wire and removed the
armor, maintained covert surveillance of the compound and then exploited
his ego to flush him out.  Exploiting his ego would have been simple.  A
simple invite or two from the tabloid talk shows to come on TV and tell
how he whipped the US government would have been something he could not
have resisted.  He could have then been nabbed when he left the
compound.  Simple, clean and safe but because it would have required the
FBI to execute a tactical retreat and would have deprived them of the
revenge they sought, it was totally out of the question.  Not without
all that testesterone floating around.  After all Jannet Reno had to
show the world how big her balls are.

Yesterday was a sad, sad day for the American system.  I am sick to my 
very soul.

John