
                    Another Unsolved Mystery
                               by
                           Matt Giwer  (c) 1994

     It is commonly repeated that David Koresh and his followers 
were hell bent upon some form of suicide.  We heard and read 
constant comparisons to the mass suicide lead by Jim Jones.  And 
as the clincher we are told they burned themselves alive.
     I have a problem with this.  Why would people who were 
desperately seeking a cease fire be considered suicidal?  And on 
top of that, why were we mislead?
     For fifty one days the government was releasing statements 
suggesting David Koresh and the Branch Davidians were suicidal, 
that they were looking for some massive confrontation with the 
government, that they would kill themselves rather than 
surrender.
     Now let us imagine what our perception would have been if we 
had known what the government knew.  The government knew from the 
first day these people purported seeking a confrontation and 
death were in fact the people who sought a cease fire.  We did 
not learn this until after the FBI Bar-B-Que and then not until 
we heard the full tape and not the FBI doctored tape.
     The government, having this tape and knowing full well they 
were not suicidal, proceeded to mislead us for seven weeks. Why?  
Was it truly necessary?  Why would it be necessary to mislead us?
     I hate to get paranoid here but it appears we have a 
remarkably prescient government in expecting suicide or there was 
in fact no suicide.  How is it that people demonstrably not 
suicidal on 28 February can become suicidal in fifty one days AND 
the government knowing it all along?  Something just does not 
ring true here.
     Were I the paranoid type I would call the government stories 
a matter of scene setting.  It is the Chinese story telling style 
starting off with, "I am going to tell you of a mass suicide," 
and then going on to tell the story.  
     It is difficult to imagine how the government could have set 
up such an event.  Certainly they were shooting enough burning 
gas grenades into the second floor and in fact the second floor 
is where the first network videos show the first flames.  This 
does not equate to starting fires at all the exits in order to 
prevent escape. 
     On the other hand we do not have evidence of fires at all 
the exits yet very few escaped.  This does fit with mass suicide 
but it requires a grave deliberation of purpose for a person to 
remain calm while being consumed by fire.
     We have to accept that obviously non-suicidal people turned 
suicidal in 51 days and that the government's psychic powers were 
sufficient to predict it.  I can conceive of no reasonable 
explanation for either this drastic change or for the 
government's ability to predict it.
     Shall we say, we are left with a mystery.
