After 50 Years The Cover-Up
Conspiracy Goes On
Hamish Mackenzie, The Sunday
Express, June 16, 2002
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Summary: For
almost two hours, one by one, more than 20
"eye-witnesses" - nuclear missile silo commanders
and employees of large corporations - described
their experiences to the assembled press.
On a
raised platform beneath the galleried ceiling of
the prestigious National Press Club in
Washington, DC, a group of men and women, all
experts in their chosen field, waited
patiently as the large hall filled with more
than 150 journalists from newspapers and TV
stations all around the world.
For
almost two hours, one by one, more than 20
"eye-witnesses" - nuclear missile silo
commanders and employees of large corporations
- described their experiences to the assembled
press. Some spoke of inexplicable encounters
with unidentified lights and objects in the
air, others of the crashes of strange craft of
"unaccountable, un-elected and illegal projects".
Yet others even claimed to be involved with
the "back-engineering of advanced technology".
Many expressed frustration at their
failure to be taken seriously. All referred to
a world-wide conspiracy to keep the truth from
governments and public alike. As each individual
spoke there was hushed attention, as each sat
down applause filled the room. At one point a
cameraman for a US TV station was heard to
say: "Bloody hell, this is amazing - bloody hell."
and yet, since that day in May w001, the
silence has been deafening.
Last year,
the Sunday Express was the first newspaper to
publish an article on the Disclosure Project,
a US-Based UFO group whose stated aim is to
press the US Congress for an open hearing. The
group's founder, Dr Steven Greer, claims he is
continuing to gather "deep-insider witnesses"
who, if released from their security oaths,
would tell Congress what they know about an
alleged cover-up of the existence of UFOs and
extra-terrestrials as well as the possession
of their advanced life-changing technology.
But one year on, the Project seems nowhere
nearer achieving its goal, despite positive
feedback from US Senators and overwhelming
interest from the public via their website. Dr
Greer is now concentrating on a grassroots
effort to spread the word via a global network
of representatives.
"This is the best
chance we have had in 50 years to find out what
is really going on," say David Williams, on of
the Disclosure Projects UK representatives.
Now an IT director in the finance industry, he
is a former crypto-analyst in the Royal Signals,
once based in Whitehall.
"While I was
there I had Top Secret clearance, and the
continuous flow of UFO reports that crossed my
desk intrigued me." he says. "They came from
everywhere, and I forwarded them on to various
MoD and Government departments.
"I don't
know what happened to them after they left me. I
have been trying to find out ever since, and
after the 2001 press conference I decided to
get involved with the Disclosure Project. It
only needs the wider public to realise that one of
the witnesses, someone like John Callahan is
telling the truth for the whole thing to be
blown wide open."
John Callahan, a former
senior investigator with the Accidents and
Investigations Branch of the US Federal Aviation
Authority, is a bluff and imposing presence.
His story, like the man, is hard to dismiss.
At the press conference, he recalled how, on
November 18, 1986, the pilots of Japan
Airlines Flight 1628, flying over Alaska,
reported they were seeing "a huge ball with
lights running around it... four times as big
as a 747". The sighting was significant
because the object was simultaneously being
recorded on ground-based radar at Anchorage Air
Traffic Control. The flight crew and ground
radar operators watched as the UFO performed
aerobatics and flew at speeds beyond the
capability of any known aircraft. At one point
the captain expressed concern at the effects
the object appeared to be having on his
instruments.
After more than half an hour,
the "strange craft" disappeared and the 747
landed safely.
The following day Mr
Callahan attended a hurriedly convened meeting
at the request of Admiral Engen, then
Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Authority. This meeting was attend by all of
those directly involved and claimed Mr, Callahan,
three anonymous CIA men. He says these men
confiscated all the audio, radar recordings
printouts and documents associated with the
previous day's events and "told us this had
never happened and we had never had this
meeting." They never asked anyone if we had
copies, so I never told them I did."
There
was a flurry of clicking cameras as Mr Callahan
held up numerous documents and invited the
audience to inspect them later. But many who
were at the press conference were bemused at
the subsequent lack of publicity for the
event.
"Perhaps the media were taken aback
by the seriousness of what they heard and just
did not know how to handle it." David Williams
remarks. "It is surprising no one has even tried
to discredit the witnesses. Why have the big
US corporations [Lockheed Martin, Northrop,
Boeing and others] named as part of the
cover-up, not objected and sued?" Only last month
the US newspaper Florida Today contributed to
the continuing speculation on how an event
"with testimony designed to be so compelling
the [national] media couldn't possibly freeze it
out" had been left in the cold.
"We
were disappointed by not surprised by the limited
coverage." says Dr Greer, an accident and
emergency doctor who now devotes all his time
to the Project. "So we took our message direct to
the people - local radio, TV and well-attended
public meetings." Since the press conference,
it has emerged that Dr Greer is not alone in
seeking to persuade the US Government to support
disclosure.
Charles Huffer, a US-based
UFO researcher, met the then campaigning
Governor George Bush in 2000. Live on CNN, Huffer
secured a promise from Bush that when in
office he would 'get right on to" the UFO
issue and tell the people what was really
going on. Once in power this campaign promise
has been ignored and last year one of Huffer's
supporters went on hunger strike in protest.
This year US business development
consultant Stephen Bassett plans to run as an
independent in the 8th Congressional District
of Maryland on the UFO disclosure ticket. The
election, in November, is expected to be hotly
contested. Bassett's objective is to win
sufficient votes to have a say in bringing the
issue before Congress.
But interest
among the general public has also been
considerable. The Projects press conference
was broadcast and watched live over the
Internet by almost a quarter of a million
people. "it was the largest Webcast in
history." says Dr Greer.
Since then a
further million have downloaded a recording of the
even from the Disclosure Project website,
which has received more than six million hits
since May last year. Dr Greer reports that
more than 100 new witnesses have come forward,
several from the UK.
"This is not
surprising." says Denis Plunkett, head of the
British Flying Saucer Bureau, still an active
organisation though wrongly reported last year
to have closed down. "For 50 years I have been
receiving reports from military personnel and
police officers. Most did not want any
publicity, they were just trying to understand
what they had seen."
When asked if the
Sunday Express could interview a UK witness,
Dr Greer said: "We do not want to reveal any
of our new witnesses now. There will be
another press conference later in the year,
which we are planning to broadcast on cable and
satellite TV."
One concern for many
observers has been that the Project may not be
as rigorous as it needs to be when screening
witnesses. And there does appear to have been
some dissension within the ranks. Some
witnesses feel that the more exotic stories, such
as contact with aliens, should have been
excluded.
"There is enough out there -
unusual aerial craft that need explanation."
said a source who did not want to be named. And at
least one prominent witness has requested that
his name be withdrawn from the Project as he
feels some of the conclusions being drawn from
the testimonies are "a step too far". Edgar
Mitchell, the Apollo 11 astronaut, and one of
the few men have set foot on the moon, is no
longer a Disclosure Project witness, though he
continues to support its aids. "I still believe
that governments should open their files on
the UFO subject, but we don't seem to be much
closer to that, though likely it will happen
sooner or later." he told the Sunday Express.
"I am not a 'witness' of UFO events either
in space or on Earth. I don't have any
first-hand experience but I have discussed the
subject with some 'old timers' who do have
first-hand knowledge."
One of the big
tests of the Disclosure Project in the future
will be the quality of the new witnesses and
its openness to the sort of scrutiny it is
claiming should be direct at others. The
history of UFO sightings has been tarnished by
fabrication - not just by people seeking
attention but even by UFO researchers. In the
past few months, a prominent group has admitted
planting false information to discredit others
in an apparent attempt to prove that the whole
UFO phenomenon can be dismissed.
"Is it
possible we have been scammed by some witnesses?
Yes. Do I think it likely? No." says Dr Greer,
his hackles rising. "We are not the CIA, we
can't afford to run $50,000 background checks on
everyone. Our objectives are to disclose the
truth to the public and persuade Congress to
hold an open hearing.
"Over 20,000 letters
have gone out from constituents all over the
US to their Congressmen. We have received numerous
expressions of serious interest from Senators.
Only last week I had a Congressman ring and
ask us to give him a private briefing.
"To get a Congressional hearing one of
three things will have to happen," Dr Greer
continues. "The media will have to call for it,
or the public need to be heard asking for it,
or there has to be a massive, undeniable UFO
event."
What is clear is that a large
number of individuals have come forward and
made statements whose implications, if true, are
profound. If the witnesses are who they say
they are - and are found to be lying - then we
should be very concerned about the type of
individuals who fly our planes, control air
traffic, man the missile silos and protect our
communities.
If on the other hand, the
witnesses are telling the truth then - no
matter how extraordinary - this is a serious
issue. "If we believe them,' says David
Williams, "then we have to accept that we are
not alone. Someone is covering u8p and we should
want to know why.
"We may have been
deceived by some of our witnesses, but not by
all of them." he continues. "There are too
many people who have seen something they can't
explain. Those trying to keep the secrets rely
upon most of us being too busy with our lives to
be bothered. But more and more people are
getting interested, and one day there will be
enough to demand that governments tell us what
the know."
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