I decided to address the agreements over the Branch Dravidian siege and
storming. I'm not a great supporter of the AFT group and will not argue
that they did not make serious mistakes. However, they did have a situation
that needed to be addressed.
There was a cult, based on a single leader. It had a lot of the trappings
of a cult: special messiah with a special right to a number of wives,
transfer of all wealth to the cult, parents complaining about their kids
being brainwashed, etc. They talked about the end of the world coming soon,
and their leader being instrumental in it. Historically, a fraction of these
groups do terrible things, like mass suicide.
But, this group was different. They were massing arms. They had a large
number of automatic weapons. And, they were discussing being God's army on
earth helping to bring end times with a massive attack.
I do not think that the fear that these folks would take their weapons into
a massive populated area and trying to bring Armageddon with a mass
slaughter is unrealistic. (Armageddon of course is unrealistic, but them
trying is not.) A good example of this would be in the parking lot of a
baseball/football stadium right after the game. A strategically
located/dispersed group that would get in position and open fire as the fans
are leaving could do an enormous amount of damage.
How they handled the siege and storming is open for debate. I think, after
the last civil trial did not find the government agents at fault for the
fire, one can reasonably assume that the Dravidians died in a mass
suicide/murder. Second guessing of the government triggering this may even
be justified. But I believe that the government had an obligation as well
as a right to interfere with their plans.
I think it is reasonable for us to work together to keep our nation safe.
Hiring people, training them, and making special demands of these people
seems like a very reasonable way to do it. Expecting the public to whip out
their automatic weapons to quickly win a massive firefight is not.
Dan M.
