My World of “Ought to Be”
by Timothy Wilken, MD










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Friday, October 18, 2002
 

Synergic Containment:
Branch Davidian Compound, Waco, TX

Timothy Wilken, MD writes: This is not a criticism of the federal officers who were involved in the adversary containment at the Branch Davidian Church. Clearly the members of that church were heavily armed and dangerous. But as a thought experiment, how would synergic containment work differently than adversary containment? ... Those within the compound would then be ordered to put down their weapons and move out to the perimeter to voluntarily enter into protective custody. Those being contained would have a short time to voluntarily surrender. If there was no response, or a hostile response, the Synergic Containment Force would begin Containment Isolation of  the compound. Once Containment Isolation is implemented, nothing goes in. Access to electricity, television, telephone, water, food and all outside supplies are a privilege to members of community in good standing. That privilege is suspended. Nothing goes in. Every thing would stop! Then the Containment Force would sit back and wait for them to come out. Any unarmed member of the church could leave anytime by simply presenting to the rescue corridor for safe escort to the perimeter where they could voluntarily enter protective custody. Once out, no one goes back in unless and until Synergic Containment is lifted. The compound would not be stormed or attacked in anyway. No barrage of noise, loud music, or teargas. They would be left to themselves without phones, television, newspapers, mail, electricity, water, etc.etc.. They are not being punished. The benefits of community are being suspended until they cease all adversity. I expect that most of the members would have come out and surrendered. Perhaps not all. Once each day, the containment force would explicitly communicate with the contained adversaries, reminding them that safety, food, water, shelter and medical care wait for them at the perimeter. It would be made clear that to exit the containment zone, they need only put down their weapons and present to the rescue corridor, or perimeter. Any individual--adult or child--that did so would be given protection, water, food, medical care and shelter. (10/18/02)


  b-future:

Psychological Effects of Combat

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman & Bruce Siddle write: An examination of the psychological effects of combat must begin by acknowledging that there are some positive aspects to combat. Throughout recorded history these positive aspects have been emphasized and exaggerated in order to protect the self-image of combatants, to honor the memory of the fallen and rationalize their deaths, to aggrandize and glorify political leaders and military commanders, and to manipulate populations into supporting war and sending their sons to their deaths. But the fact that these positive aspects have been manipulated and exploited does not deny their existence. There is a reason for the powerful attraction of combat over the centuries, and there is no value in going from the dysfunctional extreme of glorifying war to the equally dysfunctional extreme of denying its attraction. The ability to recognize and confront danger, the powerful group bonding that occurs in times of stress, the awe-inspiring spectacle of a nation focused and aligned to achieve a single aim, selfless dedication to abstract concepts and goals, and the ability to overcome the powerful imperatives of the survival instinct and willingly die for others: these common aspects of war represent both important survival traits and a potentially positive comment on basic human nature. But if war does have a capacity for reflecting some usually hidden, positive aspects of humanity, it irrefutably does so at a great and tragic cost. One obvious and tragic price of war is the toll of death and destruction. But there is an additional cost, a psychological cost borne by the survivors of combat, and a full understanding of this cost has been too long repressed by a legacy of self-deception and intentional misrepresentation. After peeling away this "legacy of lies" that has perpetuated and glorified warfare there is no escaping the conclusion that combat, and the killing that lies at the heart of combat, is an extraordinarily traumatic and psychologically costly endeavor that profoundly impacts all who participate in it. This psychological cost of war is most readily observable and measurable at the individual level. At the national level, a country at war can anticipate a small -- but statistically significant -- increase in the domestic murder rate, probably due to the glorification of violence and the resultant reduction in the level of "repression" of natural aggressive instincts which Freud held to be essential to the existence of civilization. At the group level, even the most elite unit is usually psychologically destroyed when between 50 and 60% casualties have been inflicted, and the integration of the individual into the group is so strong that this destruction often leads to depression and suicide. However, the nation (if not eliminated by the war) is generally resilient, and the group (if not destroyed) is inevitably disbanded. But the individual who survives combat may well end up paying a profound psychological cost for a lifetime. The cumulative impact of these effects on hundreds of thousands of veterans is pervasive, with significant potential to have a profound effect on society at large. (10/18/02)


  b-CommUnity:

CIA warns: al-Qaida may Strike U.S. Soon

Washington Post -- New al-Qaida strikes may be imminent on U.S. soil or overseas, CIA Director George J. Tenet warned Thursday as he defended his agency's counterterrorism efforts to lawmakers. "You must make the assumption that al-Qaida is in an execution phase and intends to strike us both here and overseas," Tenet said, noting recent attacks in Kuwait, Indonesia and off Yemen. "That's unambiguous as far as I'm concerned." Tenet's comments came during an extraordinary session as he joined FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and National Security Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden to answer sharp questions from the House and Senate intelligence committees, in the culmination of five weeks of public hearings on missed warnings of the Sept. 11 attacks. The hearing also led to new revelations regarding al-Qaida's planning for the Sept. 11 attacks. In a written report declassified Thursday, Tenet suggests that Osama bin Laden himself may have suggested the hijackers use large planes to strike the World Trade Center. He also said al-Qaida will try to attack again. "Based on what we have learned about the 11 September, an attempt to conduct another attack on U.S. soil is certain," he said. Tenet said he was meeting later Thursday with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. He said Ridge has already taken defensive measures "in specific areas where the intelligence was most credible and in sectors where we're most worried about." He didn't identify them. But he said the current situation is comparable with what existed in the United States in the summer before the Sept. 11 attacks. (10/18/02)


  b-theInternet:

DYMAXION: More for Less -- Elegance

New York Times -- This month Palm broke that last law with the release of its latest palmtop, bizarrely called the Zire (pronounced "like the second part of desire," a canny public relations person points out). This device embodies a notion that dare not speak its name in Silicon Valley - that maybe, just maybe, more features every year is not what people want. Perhaps a certain percentage of the populace, even a big percentage, is overwhelmed by the featuritis that makes their electronics purchases ever more complex and ever more susceptible to failure. Put simply, the Zire is a pocket organizer that does less - a lot less. It's the most stripped-down palmtop you can buy, unencumbered by a color screen, a synchronization cradle, a voice recorder, expansion slots, jog dial, MP3 music player and so on. Its screen doesn't even offer a backlight, a standard feature on every Palm model except the original 1996 Pilot. In dim or dark lighting, the Zire is about as useful as a windshield scraper. Palm claims that it eliminated so many standard features of the modern palmtop in the name of simplification, as a gift to technophobes who still haul around a paper Filofax. But surely it's no coincidence that in addition to being the simplest organizer in years, the Zire makes its debut with the lowest price in Palm history: $99. That, according to Palm's research, is a magic number. It puts the Zire into a category no name-brand organizer has ever occupied: the impulse buy, no longer a check-with-your-spouse-first purchase. (Furthermore, Palm prices traditionally drop by about 50 percent over their two-year life spans.) Fittingly, the Zire is packaged in blister pack wrapping, like D batteries or squirt guns, to be hung from rods at Kmart, Target and other fine purveyors of inexpensive stuff. (10/18/02)


  b-theInternet:

Delta Airlines to Idle Thousands More

San Francisco Gate -- Delta Air Lines announced is cutting 7,000 to 8,000 more jobs to try to stem dramatic financial losses. Chairman and CEO Leo F. Mullin told company employees Thursday that he hoped many of the job reductions, which will include management, could come through voluntary-leave, early retirement and severance programs. If there are not enough volunteers for these programs, the company will lay off workers. Since the terrorist attacks, Delta has slashed 13,000 jobs -- 2,000 through layoffs and the rest through early retirement or voluntary leave. (10/18/02)


  b-theInternet:

Just My Two Cents

London Guardian -- Woody Harrelson writes: I don't believe we should be bombing cities in our quest for one man. We've killed a million Iraqis since the start of the Gulf war - mostly by blocking humanitarian aid. Let's stop now. ... I am a father, and no amount of propaganda can convince me that half a million dead children is acceptable "collateral damage". The fact is that Saddam Hussein was our boy. The CIA helped him to power, as they did the Shah of Iran and Noriega and Marcos and the Taliban and countless other brutal tyrants. The fact is that George Bush Sr continued to supply nerve gas and technology to Saddam even after he used it on Iran and then the Kurds in Iraq. ... I'd honour Kyoto. Join the world court. I'd stop subsidising earth rapers like Monsanto, Dupont and Exxon. I'd shut down the nuclear power plants. So I already have $200bn saved from corporate welfare. I'd save another $100bn by stopping the war on non-corporate drugs. And I'd cut the defence budget in half so they'd have to get by on a measly $200bn a year. I've already saved half a trillion bucks by saying no to polluters and warmongers. Then I'd give $300bn back to the taxpayers. I'd take the rest and pay the people teaching our children what they deserve. I'd put $100bn into alternative fuels and renewable energy. I'd revive the Chemurgy movement, which made the farmer the root of the economy, and make paper and fuel from wheat straw, rice straw and hemp. Not only would I attend, I'd sponsor the next Earth Summit. And, of course, I'd give myself a fat raise. (10/18/02)


  b-theInternet:

European Leader Pushes for Renewable Energy

New York Times -- Romano Prodi has seen the hydrogen-powered light. In an interview today, Mr. Prodi, the president of the European Commission, described his view of Europe in a post-fossil-fuel era, when homes would generate the power they need from renewable sources like the wind and the sun, store it in hydrogen fuel cells and harness it as needed, replacing all the polluting energy sources in use today. He is not just musing. Speaking for the 15-nation European Union at a conference in Johannesburg over the summer, he said the union had set a goal of obtaining 22 percent of its electricity and 12 percent of all energy from renewable sources by 2010. Economics and geopolitics are behind the move as much as environmental concerns. Europe depends much more heavily on imported energy than the United States does: around 70 percent of its oil and gas comes from abroad, mainly the Middle East and Russia. "For us, reducing fossil fuel dependency is a priority," Mr. Prodi said. (10/17/02)


  b-CommUnity:


7:41:40 AM    


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