Otherwise, people who haven't read the article by Eileen Barker will think I'm being much too hard on you.  So, here's the link to the article/chapter on CESNUR.

Watching for Violence:  A Comparative Analysis of Five Types of Cult-Watching Groups by

http://www.cesnur.org/2001/london2001/barker.htm

Andries, I'm not saying that the law enforcement people involved in WACO couldn't have done a better job dealing with the Koresh situation.  But, hindsight is 20/20.   I know they could and should have done things differently.  For one thing, I hated that the ATF and co. piped in the blaring music into the cult compound in an attempt to "break the will" of Koresh and his followers.  I thought it was a horrible thing to be doing to the children in that place.  Having said that, one cannot dismiss the FACT that Koresh's cult was a doomsday, apocalyptic, Christian cult, and by dying (or become martyrs) they were fulfilling Koresh's mission as a "religious" leader.  But, people like Barker do not help people understand those exteme situations either, especially when white supremists in my country use those kinds of "scholarly studies and opinions" (like Barker's) to further support their own f**ked up causes against the U.S. government.  Oh yes they do.

But, my main point is this:  If it weren't for the fact that David Koresh (another sexual abusing cult leader, btw) hadn't been breaking the laws by having a weapons cache, and much worse (abusing women and children) well, then nobody would have had to interfere with their (as Eileen apologetically calls it) New Religious Movement. 

To assert that what ultimately happens to the members of a cult is the fault of the people in mainstream society is just incorrect and uninformed.  I'm reminded of the interview of Margaret Singer by FactNet after the Heaven's Gate tragedy (linked below).  This is what she said about cult tragedies:

"The most important thing to understand is that ending up swallowing Flavor-Aid in Guyana or Phenobarbital and vodka in Rancho Santa Fe is the end of a process. It is not a kind of instantaneous, simple event. It is simply the end result of a lengthy process of indoctrination."

Margaret Singer

Why is it that those "scholars" only are willing to call NRMs destructive cults/leaders after they kill/suicide themselves?  IMO, those are very dangerous ideas to be spreading around, and place people in a lot of danger.  Then they have the nerve to blame "cult watchers" (or whatever label they invent about people who study cults) when cult leaders go so terribly bad.

The folks in the CESNUR camp, and the writers on Wikipedia (you and the majority) have done nothing but discredit the great work that Singer (and her colleagues) has done in her professional career.  That, Andries, really, really angers me, because it's a political thing, not anything based on the reality about destructive cults and how much they hurt people, and sometimes kill them.  You support those apologetic viewpoints, and that's why I'm so hard on you.  No one seems to want to take responsibility for what they write on that so-called "encyclopedia."  Then all that disinformation gets spread around everywhere on the internet and it's read by innocent, uniformed people and children.  You don't get a pass on this Andries, just because you happen to be an ex-member of another cult.