This page hosted by
Get your own Free Home Page
Subject: Letter from Roswell Producer
Date: 5 Jul 1996 18:20:41 GMT
From: videodog@cybergate.com (Joe Thor)
Organization: Cybergate Information Services
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors, alt.conspiracy
Producer of Roswell UFO movie responds to Cecil
From sjf36@aol.com (SJF 36)
Organization America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Date 3 Jul 1996 09:16:07 -0400
Newsgroups alt.fan.cecil-adams
Message-ID <4rdrqn$5a@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
(NOTE: This is a cross-post from "Cecil's Junk Drawer" in The Straight Dope site on America Online. -D)
[The Straight Dope column to which Paul Davids refers below can be found in the "Recent Columns" section.]
Dear Mr. Adams:
Regarding your column on the Roswell UFO Incident, May 31, 1996, I was Executive Producer and Co-writer of the movie mentioned in the letter to you, called "Roswell" starring Kyle MacLachlan and Martin Sheen. I have also produced a commercial video ("Reply to the Air Force Report on the Roswell Incident") which contradicts everything you wrote, most of which you collected from Phil Klass, a now well-past-the-age-of-retirement debunker who has never even passed muster as a dispassionate skeptic and who is reviled by everyone I know as a disingenuous and intellectually dishonest writer on UFO's who's followed a slash-and-burn agenda on every UFO case for decades, while enjoying a cozy relationship with the defense establishment during his career as an editor for an aviation magazine. He should have stuck to his promise in OMNI magazine to retire from writing about UFO's five years ago and saved me the hour or so it's taken me to draft this letter.
Your Straight Dope on the Roswell Incident is uninformed malarky, as far as I'm concerned, after nearly ten years of examining this case and after passionately fighting through four years of rejections to finally get the movie "Roswell" made. I fought for one reason -- which had nothing to do with entrepreneurship or fostering a cottage industry. I wanted the truth to get out there, and it has, and here are the known facts which your readers -- and you -- deserve to read:
The Government Accounting Office (the GAO) recently reported that the military documents that could have explained the Roswell Incident (outgoing messages from the commanding officer and others at the Roswell Army Air Field 1947) were destroyed without proper authorization decades ago. The Air Force never fessed up to that in their 1994 report. Instead, they wrote a 22 page report with about 1,000 pages of virtually worthless "supporting materials" that have no provable connection to the Roswell Incident whatsoever. I long ago concluded that the Mogul balloon report is a weak effort to "spin" the issue and contradicts or ignores witness testimony -- and much of that testimony I personally delivered on tape to the GAO, which found no support for the Air Force's and Charles Moore's claim that the incident can be explained by a Project Mogul balloon train. In fact, Charles Moore's attempt to explain the "strange writing" on the Roswell debris as being flower designs on tape that held together a flimsy balsa wood radar reflector is disputed by the only living witness who has testified about the writing he saw on the debris: Dr. Jesse Marcel, Jr. He categorically states that the symbols he saw on the debris were embossed on metal, they were not designs on tape. He is a flight surgeon and practicing physician, and has investigated crashes for the military. His father was Jesse Marcel (upon whom we based the main character in our movie, played by Kyle MacLachlan), a Roswell Intelligence Officer who described the Roswell Debris in about 1978, on videotape, as having been "not made on this earth."
The dates of the Mogul launches and the written records of the then-secret program do not indicate any launch with instrument packages that coincides in time with the Roswell Incident. The soldiers at Roswell were among the best trained and most trusted in the country -- don't forget, it was the only base at that time that had responsibility for the atomic bomb and also had the planes to deploy the bomb. These men, many of whom later claimed in "video depositions" that what crashed was "not made on earth" did not make an error such as mistaking five pounds of conventional debris (balsa wood, conventional foil, etc.) for something extraordinary, and to claim they did is ludicrous. There's reliable testimony that it was the Base Commander (Col. Blanchard) who ordered release of the original announcement that a flying saucer had been captured -- it was not initiated by low ranking soldiers.
Three generals have publicly gone on record (and are on tape -- see my "Reply to the Air Force Report") as supporting key aspects of the fact that there was a major coverup, and that includes (1) Senator (and General) Barry Goldwater, former head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has written letters stating and has stated on TV that he takes the "crashed spaceship" explanation very seriously, (2) Brig. General Arthur Exon, former Base Commander of Wright Patterson Air Force Base (where the debris and alien bodies were reportedly taken), who confirms on tape it was an extraterrestrial crash with bodies and that "the coverup won't end until all those originally involved with the coverup are deceased," and (3) Brig. General Thomas DuBose, who said the "revised explanation" in 1947 that it was a weather balloon was a cover story concocted on orders that came down from those reporting directly to the Commander in Chief, President Truman, and that false debris that had nothing to do with the Roswell Incident was shown to reporters in Gen. Ramey's office and passed off on the public as the Roswell debris.
At the time I executive produced the film, I felt the weight of the testimony, which I reviewed, from dozens of military men and townspeople, made the extraterrestrial explanation credible, and not one alternative explanation has fit the facts as reported by people involved whom I came to know, or their families, or their testimony which I had to hear on tape because they were deceased when I became involved.
After making the movie, I knew enough about the case to be able to dismiss the Mogul Balloon explanation offered in 1994 by the Air Force as another ruse to obscure the issue, though the New York Times and Associated Press accepted it without investigation or inquiry, to the considerable disservice of the public. Last July, I was invited to make that point as the keynote banquet speaker at the White Sands Missile Range Pioneers 50th anniversary celebration, attended by about 200 members of all branches of service, including reps from the Department of Defense and major defense research labs.
Within the last several months, I have been personally informed by Astronaut Gordon Cooper, in a face to face meeting, that Roswell did involve the recovery of a crashed extraterrestrial spaceship, that our movie (which he saw) was largely accurate, that there has been a half century of official denial and official lies about it continuing to this day, and that he has a very close friend who saw the alien bodies. Gordon Cooper was one of the original Mercury Seven Astronauts. He filmed a flying saucer that even landed at close range while in the service and said the filmed evidence of the inexplicable and technologically advanced craft was "buried" by the Pentagon and ignored by Project Blue Book, which said it could find no credible evidence for the existence of flying saucers.
Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who walked on the moon, believes the weight of the evidence is that Roswell was an extraterrestrial event and he publicly suggested, recently, that those who knowingly withheld the facts from astronauts who went to the moon are "criminally liable" for essentially using astronauts as guinea pigs while not telling them the truth about what is known about alien life forms visiting earth. Recently, I received correspondence from President Clinton, thanking me for sending him video testimony which confirms the coverup and which thoroughly undermines the Mogul Balloon disinformation that was served up to him by the Air Force. His personal letter, expressing gratitude for my materials that demolished the Air Force report, was overnighted to me coinciding with a much-publicized press conference in Washington D.C. by science writer and former NASA consultant Richard Hoagland, presenting evidence that NASA has buried or ignored mysterious lunar and Martian anomalies that strongly appear to suggest artificial structures. The President's letter to me (which followed mine to him by about three months) also preceded by one or two days an announcement by NASA that finding evidence of ET life will be its highest priority for the future, including the search for evidence of such life (even from the distant past) in our own solar system on Mars and the moon.
I have no information to support the "alien autopsy" film broadcast by FOX and have been very skeptical of it from the outset, when it suddenly "came to light" in the months after our film was broadcast. (By the way, "Roswell" was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best TV Movie of 1994 by the Hollywood Foreign Press.) I do not endorse the FOX autopsy film, though I note that there has been no conclusive "smoking gun" one way or the other yet, and most statements are "going on instinct" or on personal impressions rather than personal experience, personal knowledge or proof. Nevetheless, the special effects people I have worked with dismiss it, and it does seem to obscure the issue and the facts of the Roswell case. The fact that someone unknown released less than convincing film of a purported alien autopsy in no way diminishes or detracts from the evidence and testimony that there was the crash of an ET craft at Roswell. In fact, there is every reason to believe that real exhibits, in the form of artifacts, debris, specimens, photos and motion picture film does exist and is still being withheld.
Former Command Sergeant Major Bob Dean, formerly of SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) states that as part of his job in the military in Europe he was shown a classified document, "The Assessment," that revealed that the military has evidence and exhibits of numerous extraterrestrial craft conducting a surveillance of the earth, and that this certain knowledge has demoralized those of high rank who are in the know.
Recently, billionaire Laurence Rockefeller released 1000 copies of a report he sponsored to various heads of State and key Senators and Congressmen, as well as key people in the Clinton Administration. The report on UFO's presented in a sober and somber way many cases which offer overwhelming support of the thesis that flying saucers are real and that there may be no alternative to confirming the extraterrestrial hypothesis in the near future. Interestingly, the report avoided the debate on the Roswell Incident and presented powerful evidence on the UFO issue, dated up to the very recent past, without it.
Mr. Adams, may I suggest you change the name of your column to "The Dope," unless you're prepared to show some hubris and admit in print that you leaped before you looked. Your "Straight Dope" on the Roswell Incident is fiction, and not even consistent or well thought out fiction. If you want the version closest to the truth, as Gordon Cooper and so many others have confirmed, advise your readers to rent the movie "Roswell" at any local video store. The Alexandria II Bookstore in Pasadena has my "Reply to the Air Force Report on the Roswell Incident" for rent.
Sincerely,
Paul Davids Executive Producer / Co-Writer of "Roswell"
I think the word you're looking for in your last paragraph is "humility," not "hubris." But let's not nitpick.
I have attempted to address some of the contentions in your letter below.
1. PHIL KLASS IS INTELLECTUALLY DISHONEST, REVILED, ETC.
Nonsense. I spoke with two prominent UFO researchers, Karl Pflock and Kevin Randle. Both have written books about Roswell and believed there was some basis to the stories about crashed spaceships. Pflock no longer believes these stories but Randle still does and in fact he was a technical consultant for your movie. Although both men had fundamental disagreements with Phil Klass, they spoke well of him and said he was a person of integrity. Both said they found you rather credulous.
2. THE MILITARY DESTROYED KEY DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE CASE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION.
Three years' worth of outgoing messages from Roswell were destroyed during housecleaning, apparently when the military records center was moved from Kansas City to St. Louis. The destruction of records was handled somewhat casually but government archivists doubt this can be attributed to a conspiracy. In any case indications are that the Roswell affair was handled largely by telephone.
There is no question that the military was genuinely concerned about UFOs during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Secret documents declassified in the mid-1980s reveal anxious discussions on the subject among high-level officials. However, none of these documents indicate that the government had any physical evidence of crashed saucers or the like. On the contrary, a number of documents lament the lack of such evidence.
3. JESSE MARCEL, JR., SAYS THE STRANGE SYMBOLS HE SAW ON THE DEBRIS WERE EMBOSSED ON THE METAL, NOT PRINTED ON TAPE.
Jesse Marcel, Jr., was a child at the time of the incident. Nearly 50 years have passed. Marcel's statements regarding the debris have made him a celebrity on the UFO circuit. 'Nuff said.
4. THE DATES OF THE SECRET PROJECT MOGUL BALLOON LAUNCHES DO NOT COINCIDE WITH THE ROSWELL INCIDENT.
Baloney. A 600-foot-long string of two dozen weather balloons and several kitelike radar reflectors was launched from Alamogordo, N.M., on June 4, 1947. Contact with the balloons was lost when they were less than 20 miles from the Brazel ranch. Mac Brazel found the mysterious debris June 14. Contemporary descriptions of the debris suggest its appearance was similar to that of a wrecked balloon train.
5. BARRY GOLDWATER TAKES THE "CRASHED SPACESHIP" EXPLANATION VERY SERIOUSLY.
So? Sen. Goldwater has no personal knowledge of Roswell. Neither do any of the other famous names you cite.
6. GEN. EXON SAYS IT WAS AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL CRASH WITH BODIES.
Gen. Exon's statements were based on hearsay. He did not become commander at Wright Patterson until many years after the Roswell incident. He never saw any debris.
7. GEN. DUBOSE SAYS THE "WEATHER BALLOON" STORY WAS CONCOCTED ON ORDERS FROM ABOVE.
Of course. The weather balloon story was intended to conceal the Project Mogul experiment, a secret Pentagon project to develop a way to detect anticipated Russian atom bomb tests.
8. FORMER SGT. BOB DEAN SAYS HE SAW A SECRET MEMO SAYING THE MILITARY HAS EVIDENCE OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL SPACECRAFT.
Neither Pflock nor Randle found Dean's statements believable.
Although I don't suppose there's much chance of persuading you, Paul, others may be interested in Karl Pflock's story. He describes himself as skeptical about Roswell but says "there's still a chunk of [UFO] data that can't be explained by known science."
Pflock initially was inclined to believe the Roswell UFO stories and spent nearly four years researching them. However, "when I got into it, a whole lot of what had been claimed turned out not to have been true at all," he says.
Pflock says he now doesn't think Roswell had anything to do with aliens. "The congruence between the Project Mogul equipment and what we know about the [Roswell] debris is just too great to be dismissed." He plans to discuss the matter in a book to be published on the 50th anniversary of the incident entitled, "The Roswell UFO Mystery: Legend and Reality."
Everybody says you know how to make an entertaining movie, though.
Get your own Free Home Page