Book Review: MindWar, by Michael A. Aquino
By: A. W. Finnegan
This article reviews the book by retired military intelligence officer and political scientist, Michael A. Aquino, Ph.D. As a former-member of the Church of Satan, founder of the Temple of Set, a persona who has gained notoriety and accusations among conspiracy circles of researchers, it is not within the scope of this article to cover these areas or define him as a person, it will be focused only on the work itself, the message and not the messenger.
This review will unfold in two sections. First, I will give a brief summary and illustrate the general concepts. This will include quotes, basic definitions, structure, and chronology of the book, without adding my own opinion or commentary. The second part, will be the review and commentary in my own observation and discussion on the book, and the problems or agreements that I have, as a way to review, reform, and add to the discussion. This allows for an unbiased look first, followed by my added discussion.
Summary & General Concept.
The book is focused on the problem of what he terms PhysWar (PW), a term to denote physical battle approaches to dealing with conflict. The term MindWar (MW), is defined in the foreward by Gregory S. Seese, Psy. D., Major, Psychological Operations, U. S. Army, as:
"a holistic and pro-active approach to Psychological Operations (PSYOP), rather than the traditional reactionary role to which it's been regulated."
Aquino notes in the preface, "The term 'MindWar' was coined by another PSYOP officer, Major Richard Sutter, and myself in 1977. After seeing the recent film Star Wars, we imagined a play on its name as a futuristic replacement for the bland Army term 'Psychological Operations'."
The underlying concept and theory within the book is based on the idea of transforming the so-called war-like tendencies in man to find remanifestation through wars of and on the mind, rather than wars of and on the body. It suggests turning man's predisposition for war to be fought through persuasion and psychological operations instead of physical conflict, which he suggests would only be used when all attempts at MindWar have been exhausted and ineffective.
Aquino's official definition of MindWar, is the following:
MindWar is the psychological and psychophysiological conditioning of all participants in a sociopolitical problem, first to cooperatively stabilize it without recourse to violence, then to eliminate its basis by the creation of a moral community to supersede it.
He goes on to explain it in further terms, in the same likeness, but more helpful here would be to show in his own words what he says it is not:
"3. What It Isn't
a. MW is not "mind control".
The urban-myth image of "government mind-control" is of an insidious, malicious, individuality-destroying technological conspiracy: a sort of "collective lobotomy" to turn the helpless masses into stupefied slaves. [Actually a good case could be made that this is what PW attempts to do, which is why it can get people to slaughter one another en masse for no reason.]
The conditioning of [MindWar Branch (MWB)] has one and only one purpose: to change existing, animalistic prejudices and antagonisms into intelligent, amicable cooperation. MWB does not dictate nor even suggest where this cooperation should lead. Once all problem-participants are working together, they will go through the steps to identify and establish the áristos.
[note: áristos was defined by Aquino as the best for a given situation].
b. MW is not a political ideology.
Old, crude agendæ of "regime change", "democratization", or "anti-[current-bugbearism]" are not part of the MW process. What is important is the achievement of the áristos, then a conscientious interest in kalokagathia, no matter under what symbolic banner. Some social cultures are accustomed to hierarchical authority since tribal antiquity; others are more comfortable with egalitarianism and diversified political power. MW's interest is simply to remove violence from the equation.
c. MW is not a religion.
Human religions are a consequence of the mystery of the "Why?" of the constitution of the natural universe and the juxtaposition of individual consciousness to it, which MW PSYCONs do not address [and would have no purpose in addressing if they could]. As discussed in Chapter 3.E.2.b, the soul is a manifestation of conceptual consciousness, above and beyond both psychology and psychophysiology. The "morality" of kalokagathia is not that of any sectarian religious code or practice, but that of enlightened humanitarianism embracing any natural or supernatural theology.
d. MW is not zombification.
Besides not controlling minds, MW does not destroy them either. Sensationalist media exposés of "government-sponsored brain experimentation", whether true or fanciful, have no connection whatever with MW, which is completely and without exception non-physically or -medically invasive. Indeed the entire MW campaign process requires that all participants be able and willing to function at their highest level and focus of intelligence, and after Phase 4 the future of the moral polis depends upon their self-determined, independent resolve to perpetuate this."
He details out the methodologies and tools at the disposal of psychological control before his MindWar concept, including MKULTRA, Project Stargate/ESP, psychotronic warfare and NLP. Described are also tools (PSYCON, a method or system) which could be potentially used by MW operations as follows:
1. Homo Electromagneticus (natural EMF fields of the body),
2. Brainwave resonance (BWR),
3. Magnetism (transcranial magnetic stimulation & magnetic reconnection portals),
4. Chronobiology (circadian rhythm),
5. Proxemics (social distance)
6. Atmospheric Ionization (ionization by artificial means as weather modification and cloud seeding),
7. Color,
8. Shapes,
9. Hypnotism,
10. Martial Artistry (martial arts),
11. Fields (magnetic fields external to human body),
12. Magic,
13. Religion,
14. Sex.
He discusses the art of Kung fu, the goal of martial arts being not of fighting, but an art to calm and neutralize the opponent without fighting before it reaches to fighting. That the martial artist learns to become one with his environment, and this includes his opponent. Negotiation comes in play here. He also compares the process as similar to the spinning of illusory feats in the same light as magicians. He is referring to the magic performed by people like David Blaine. It takes an esoteric mind to see through such dodges. This branch of the MindWar he calls MetaForce Branch (MFB).
Next, he discusses what is termed the ParaPolitics Branch (PPB), and this applies to the ideals of the overall agenda in which to use MindWar. Parapolitics he defines using Raghavan N. Iyer's words from his book ParaPolitics: Toward the City of Man. The phrase is defined as follows:
ParaPolitics signifies the imaginative application of seminal ideas vitalizing political theory and practice; the elaboration of fundamental principles into paradigms of relationships among persons in between civil means and human ends; the quest for political understanding and action based upon expanding self-awareness; the ever-receding perspective of ideals rooted in the ethics, metaphysics, and psychology of self-transcendence.
In the final section of the book he lays out the five phases which he envisions MindWar to unfold. Phase ø is the identification of the problems or barriers to the establishment of polis and áristos, and Phase 1 is the redefinition of an assigned conflict in terms of an acceptable and practical outcome.
This is followed by Phase 2, which "reverse-engineers that áristos from its achievement to the present situation. The purpose of this is to identify what changes, in what sequence and/or combination, are necessary to attain the áristos."
Phase 3 is the integration and implementation of the phases preceding it, put into operation. He reiterates that Mindwar "commences as a deliberate, discretionary decision by the United States in concert with all of the participants in the existing problem situation to declare MW against that problem [not one another]."
Finally, Phase 4 is the declared victory of MindWar's objectives and mission. The applied MindWar operations would then be considered either as temporary or indefinite plans for operation. The implementation of MindWar was also described to be a global strategy. This included internal and foreign affiars, that is, foreign and domestic.
Aquino concludes the book referring to "Old Nick," otherwise known as Niccoló Machiavelli. Instead of describing his approaches and political formulation, known to most as "Machiavellian" and synonymous with amoral and ruthless, he states:
It was such a climate in Florence that spawned Niccoló Machiavelli (1469-1527), whose pragmatic ideas were to so infuriate the pseudo-pious and hypocritical officials of his time that "Old Nick" would eventually become a peudonym for the Devil himself. In actuality Machiavelli never advocated evil or depravity ; he was a champion of the good and the virtuous. His "evil" reputation came about simply because he pricked the balloons of so many of the predatory and pretentious.
Machiavelli's political philosophy may be summed up thus: Any means, however lawless and unscrupulous, may be justifiably employed by a ruler in order to establish and maintain a strong central government.
Review & Commentary
The book is not too long, short, for the most part easy to read and understand, straight to the point, unlike Jonas Salk's book, although it is vague on some points, leaving some room for potential misuse of the stated approach, even on its face. In simple terms, this is a newer, unorthodox form of psychological operations, as a supposed answer to the destructive effects of PhysWar (PW), a form of war, we can all agree, does no good for anyone and sows nothing but devastation, tragedy, with lasting hatred and resentment.
However, it presupposes that this war-like nature is just as prevalent in common people as a major element driving these wars, when it is mostly if not wholly the bureaucrats, politicians, generals, corporations, and the military-industrial complex, who fool the people into thinking it is for a good cause, but even then, regular people do not get a vote on any wars, just as we did not get a vote on the War on Terror, to invade Iraq, they pushed that onward and followed with the passage of the Patriot Act, which we also did not get a say on. The decision to go to war has continuously been decided by a state or quasi-governmental bureaucracy on arbitrary conditions, aloof from the citizens' discussion or approval.
Much of the theoretical framework is spoken of with the goals of achieving moral existence within society and the globe, which I can mostly agree with on its face. However, in some of the methodologies I see high potential for abuse, especially since some points are vague and not entirely clear, others I am entirely opposed to, such as cloud seeding, transcranial magnetic stimulation, the use of applied ELF, tampering with the circadian rhythm, these are technologies that would produce nightmarish scenarios for victims of state terrorism.
Furthermore, when I assess the situation today, the book validates many of my suspicions that new technologies and methodologies of unconventional, mosaic forms of warfare are likely being used on civilians without their knowledge or consent, and certainly not in the idea to help the overall society. This new battlefield of minds has put us nowhere near the polis (ideal city or society) or áristos described in his book.
In fact, one could argue that the exact opposite is the case. It seems, like all politics and their politicians and statesmen, they can lie to our faces with a straight face or a smile, describing some perfect utopian ideal, put forward the most agreeable, moral leadership, much like President Barack Obama did, but none of it pans out. All talk, no action, or rather, the polar opposite takes place of that action, and we are further up shit's creek with no paddle. There is nothing honorable about anybody who talks all the talk but walks none of the walk. If I didn't know any better, I'd say those in power lived by a code of "always do the exact opposite of what one says".
It is unclear what further role if any Aquino had in MindWar's implementation to policy or directed operations, whether it was an additional role as director of operations, or just producing the theoretical framework, but one thing is abundantly clear, it's either been purposefully used to harm and terrorize civilians in the same fashion as and in combination with PhysWar (PW), with the additional doses of PSYOP and social engineering, or, the second possibility, we have the most ineffective, incompetent, and pathetically inept military and internal security state the world has ever seen. The results of the Korean and Vietnam wars may lend weight to the former. However, it doesn't take a military general to figure out that our entire system is becoming more and more ineffective at literally everything they do, to such an extent that its active role does more harm to civilians than helps or protects them. The polis or áristos described in this book is looking more like an imaginary rainbow unicorn than an achievable reality.
The public health system is a disaster, the military eats up an incredible budget for producing nothing but a wake of death (many of which are its own soldiers), destruction, and foreign resentment against the United States. The intelligence communities and internal security agencies (FBI, NSA, Homeland Security, etc.) continuously miss the repeated acts of bioterrorism being unleashed on the United States and Western countries, the media is pumping out nonstop lies and misinformation, producing both dangerous levels of ignorance, and easily apparent lies to the less ignorant. It is as if we had been systematically infiltrated and now are being attacked by an enemy from within, while demoralizing our name in the process.
However, back to the discussion, as it relates to Aquino's framework and theoretical approach, when we actually assess where the problems of war-like events originate in operation, the causality of decision-making to enter conflict can be traced not to the common people, but those at the upper echelons of it who then take advantage of and manipulate the common people. The power-hungry corporations, the military-industrial complex, with its insatiable appetite for senseless bloodshed, the lying, two-faced politicians who don't do a damn thing they promised the voters they would do, are the moving hands in these wars. Add this to the fully penetrated United Nations, and the result is not so surprising.
What appears to have been done, is that the MindWar was put in hands of the very participants causing the original problem, so the solution is going to be exponentially worse than the original problem, when the technology is used to weaken the average person rather than these war-driven, power-hungry systems of control. If all the common people were self-aware and understood what morality and Natural law was and how it worked, we wouldn't be in such an exploitable position, but we have been, we are, and it doesn't look like the future is getting any better. Not saying this is necessarily Aquino's fault or doing, but if the goal really is or was the attainment of a moral society as laid out, my suggestions are good place to start.
Aquino's work states the purpose of MindWar to make a more sensible, morally stable society, but talks as though the regular people are causing the wars, rather than the upper echelons. Unless the MindWar is redirected towards those elite special interest groups and power-hungry corporations and world bodies, re-educating common people about morality and Natural Law on a voluntary basis, this makes the use of MindWar on regular people not only a complete waste of time, but a pretext for more intense instability for civilian life if, in theory, we wanted to attain the polis and áristos as presented and defined in this book. When we look at how unbelievably chaotic and unstable the world is right now, it aligns perfectly with the theory that MindWar is certainly in operation, but being used to produce the exact opposite result than what it was supposed to have been intended for. We have not only the country but the world at each other's throats and out for blood. Some of the ideas certainly ring true when it comes to senseless violence. For instance, he discusses tanscranial magnetic stimulation:
In 2010 MIT neuroscientists discovered that application of a magnetic field to the right [tempo-parietal junction], by means of a noninvasive technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) temporarily disrupts an individual's ability to make judegments based upon previously-learned morality. In effect, pre-indoctrination is suppressed, resulting in the subject's tendency to judge situations more on a discrete cause-and-effect basis. In theory, TMS could be used to condition personnel to make decsions unencumbered by prior moral social, or ethical indoctrination; and to remove that same protective indoctrination from a hostile individual being interrogated. TMS thus approaches in scientific reality the mythical "brainwashing" of classic conspiracy legend. .
Aquino also mentions cloud seeding being used for MindWar purposes, rather than geoengineering to mitigate climate change, and other forms of electromagnetic modification to produce neurological results is interfaced between several additional components:
While the [MindWar Command (MWC)] participants are working towards the áristos and polis realizations, [MindWar Branch] extends the [Psychological Control (PSYCON)] atmosphere within the MWC facility to the entire situation area as fully as technology and opportunity permit. This may include use of all [Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS)] media impacting the area to transmit alpha [Brain Wave Resonance (BWR)], or in extreme instances of violence, delta BWR. Negative atmospheric ionization may be enhanced by various weather-control measures such as cloud-seeding. Locales identified as especially susceptible to outbreaks of violence may be measured for disruptive [Electromagnetic Frequencies (EMFs)], and any such detected violence neutralized by either eliminating the source (as in nearby power-lines or unshielded EM-generators) or counterbalanced by directed EMFs.
Obviously PSYCONs extend only so far into a situation of human unrest. Where physical privations of nourishment, safety, health, and cultural lifestyle exist, [MetaForce Branch (MFB)] teams work with all available local, national, nongovernmental organization (NGO), and United States assets to cooperate towards the áristos stabilization.
This last paragraph also mentions the inclusion of participation from nongovernmental organizations, probably to include corporations (assets) who are supposedly friendly to the United States, all invited to participate in terrorizing the locals and civilians. What this is essentially doing is redirecting all military conflicts away from military to military combat and redirecting it on the common people. The result of this is transforming this planet into a deeply entrenched, systemic Hell full of misery and chaos. I don't think I'm being too far out of line, considering the headlines we read every day. The MindWar has desensitized people to such an extent that the most grotesque, horrifying things don't even phase the average citizen when they wake up and read the daily dose of insanity in the paper or watching the news. .
It all comes down to the fact that while the theoretical MindWar approaches for eliminating the chaotic instability and bloodshed from conventional war may sound great on paper to some, it has opened up a pretext for inviting the war to each and every home front of everyday people by those in the upper echelons. This time, the MindWar will be used in combination with PhysWar. The results are already taking form and this is only going to get uglier, as Aquino concluded on the last page of his book, making Orwell's 1984 society pale in comparison:
If the reach is ambitious, so are the stakes - which as reviewed in Chapter 1 are human and material costs near or at unendurable extremes. Left to drift into the increasingly more dangerous currents of [PhysWar], not just the United States but the planetary population generally faces a dim and discouraging future, indeed far more lethal and terminal than anything George Orwell conjectured when the worst thing he could imagine were three authoritarian but stable superstates.
Need I say more?