The Truth is Out There movie poster (credit: Rational Exuberance)

Seemingly far-flung facts, perhaps, but not to actor/inventor Dean Haglund. Best known for his portrayal of Langly, one of the three Lone Gunmen who graced the X Files, is affable and inquisitive as cameras capture his 15-month quest to uncover the truth. Examining “what it’s like to live life so closely identified with a role [linked with] conspiracy culture,” the truth reveals itself in pieces, as this cinematic sampler finds Haglund first flitting from sci-fi fan conventions and UFO conferences—interviewing a string of folks either touched by angels and extraterrestrials or making a business of investigating them. Intercut with Haglund’s visit to psychotherapist Dr. Nicki Monti, are his interviews with Pete Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Service, David Sereda, the ubiquitous Richard Dolan (“How has the government hidden [UFOs] for 60 years? Through media, academic and political manipulation”), and Bob Dean, who opines, “The reason we have freedom of speech is because nobody knows anything.”

Somewhat abruptly, the film’s focus shifts from flying saucers to more serious business. Retired surgeon, radio host and health crusader Dr. Stan Montieth talks food conspiracies and the elites’ desire to sterilize most of humanity; former Stanford physicist Dr. William A. Tiller philosophizes on science and compassion; Mark Bennett discusses underground therapies and the producers of the play Reinventing Tesla champion the brilliant scientist—“The most famous person in 1900”—and his quest to bring wireless free energy to the planet. The Troggs’ Reg Presley, who is known for sinking the profits of “Wild Thing” into crop circle research, discusses the enigmatic formations and Jordan Maxwell, leading authority on occult and Biblical symbolism, who, although noting that we “live in the most despotic police state ever,” echoes earlier sentiments that there is a higher intellectual and spiritual force” which pervades humanity and life in general.

The helter-skelter interviews won’t rattle the film’s intended audience, and plenty of humor softens the tone (radio host Alex Jones whips himself into a trademark frenzy before cutting to commercial, as guest Haglund looks on). With a running time of almost two and a half hours, it is a stimulating if long and bumpy ride. While the conspiracy novice may find it somewhat muddled, this writer predicts The Truth is Out There will develop a cult following, circulating ala Zeitgeist.

DVD, and Collectors Editon DVD and BluRay (which feature 80 minutes of bonus material can be ordered here: The Truth is Out There

Stanton Friedman in Roswell, July 2010. (image credit: Alejandor Rojas)

I rarely review other people’s reviews except of my own books. But I think I need to make an exception. Two very scholarly sounding experts have reviewed at great length Annie Jacobsen’s strangely inaccurate and misleading book “Area 51” on their site Washington Decoded. It supposedly tells all about the mysterious highly classified base not far from Las Vegas, In addition it provides an entirely new and totally unsubstantiated and unbelievable explanation for the Roswell Incident. I ,too, reviewed the book in one of my monthly columns and could frankly find nothing to support  her extraordinary claim that beings manipulated by Joseph Mengele (in cooperation with Joseph Stalin) somehow piloted a German Horton Brothers flying wing vehicle to crash near Roswell to panic America..

In this instance two very formidable sounding professionals,  Dr.  Robert S. Norris and  Dr. Jeffrey T. Richelson, recently published a very lengthy negative review of her book and also  managed to somehow demonstrate the intellectual bankruptcy of the pseudo science of anti-ufology. They correctly note that she made no reference to a host of directly applicable sources and made loads of factual mistakes re Area 51 related matters. Then, amazingly, they commit many errors of omission and commission about Roswell and surprisingly some other items and also libel me. And frankly I am angry.

Area 51 book cover

I was surprised at some gaps in their knowledge. For example, they noted that Annie three different times falsely referred to a hero of mine, Dr. Vannevar Bush, as head of the Manhattan Project. That distinction fell to General Leslie Groves for the Army Corps of Engineers and the technical director, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer. But then they refer to Bush only as “Science Adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt and as such was chairman of a 3 member oversight committee known as the military Policy Committee, that usually rubber stamped decisions that Groves had already made.”. Their major source about Bush was G. Pascal Zachary, “Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century”. Zachary was a reporter for the Wall Street journal and as far as I could tell did not know much about Bush’s highly classified activities. One would think that the fact that VB was head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during the war might have been noted. Thousands of engineers and scientists worked on projects funded by the OSRD. These included such important developments as that of the proximity fuse, radar, and indeed the Manhattan Engineering District. Their description is a bit like referring to Harry Truman as a Missouri haberdasher and ignoring his service in the US Senate and as US President.

They refer to only 3 Roswell books,(and touted debunkers like Phil Klass) none of them by serious researchers who searched for and interviewed first hand witnesses, visited archives and crash sites, etc There is no mention of such books as “The Roswell Incident” by Charles Berlitz and William Moore and to which I was a major contributor;“The Truth about the Roswell Incident”  and ”The Real Truth about the Roswell Incident”, by Don Schmitt, and Kevin Randle, “Crash at Corona”,by Don Berliner” and myself and “Witness to Roswell” by Don Schmitt and Tom Carey .etc. They were aware of my existence as shall be noted later, but misrepresented my background and ignored a bunch of papers which I have published besides my books. They are upset that Annie repeats a nice comment about me by Larry King, but obviously couldn’t be bothered checking out me or my publications.

Vannevar Bush (image credit: U.S. Library of Congress)

They state “Strewn throughout her story, moreover are numerous mistakes and questionable claims”. That is certainly true. But it is true of them as well. They blindly accept the 2 big Government Roswell volumes seemingly accepting everything in them as Gospel though many errors have been described for many years.

Here is how they describe the Roswell Incident ”… refers to some metallic debris that was found on 7 July 1947 at a ranch approximately 75 miles northwest of Roswell, New Mexico. The rancher who discovered it contacted the local sheriff who contacted Roswell Army Air Field. Several Intelligence officers were sent and collected portion of the debris and took it to Roswell AAF that evening. The next day, the public information officer released a statement saying that a flying disc had been recovered. The front page headline of the July 8 edition of the Roswell Daily Record was “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region”. The debris was then flown to 8^th Air Force Headquarters at Fort Worth AAF in Texas and inspected. The conclusion was that the debris was the remnants of a weather balloon”. Later they said it was a balloon… since when are balloons made of metal??

The facts indicate that this is much less than accurate. In the first place the rancher had found the debris within a few days prior to Saturday, July 5, when he went to Corona and showed some to friends at the General Store there. The Rancher did not get a newspaper and had no phone and had not heard about flying saucers until the people in Corona told him about them and that there was a reward out for pieces. They suggested he go to the Sheriff in Roswell. He took a small portion of what was on the huge debris field to Sheriff Wilcox on July 6. The sheriff contacted RAAF and spoke with Major Jesse Marcel who actually handled the wreckage and was ordered by his boss Colonel William Blanchard to take a Counter Intelligence officer with him and follow the rancher to his place out miles from any road. They spent the night, viewed the debris field the next day, and brought back a small portion in their vehicles. Colonel Blanchard then ordered Major Marcel to have one of their B-29s take him and the wreckage to Wright field making a stop at their headquarters in Fort Worth. Somehow not only are the dates and sequence fouled up, but no mention is made of the fact that the Roswell group, the 509^th was the most elite military group in the world having dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 and 2 more during Operation Crossroads in 1946. Blanchard went on to receive 4 more promotions and was a 4 star general serving as Vice-chief of Staff of the USAF when he died of a massive heart attack at the Pentagon. He had served as Operations office for the Strategic Air Command when it had thousands of nuclear warheads at its disposal. Marcel was the intelligence officer of this most elite group. Both Marcel and Blanchard were very familiar with weather balloons since they were launched every day at the base,and would have immediately recognized the wreckage as such. Marcel handled the strange wreckage in Roswell. He would never have been sent out   without noting that the material was very strange.  Norris and Richelson praise highly, “The Roswell Report: Truth Versus fiction in the Roswell Desert” (by Disinformation specialist Colonel Weaver) without noting all the fiction supplied by the Air Force. For example, it claims it was Project Mogul, a Top Secret Program, launched 4 June. The fact is that the original newspaper accounts (the story appeared and grew in evening papers from Chicago West.) say the wreckage was found “last week” .The rancher had been in the area just days before. Outstanding research by Dr. David Rudiak showed it could not have been that Mogul launch. The program was not TOP secret. Only the purpose was TS. If it had been TS, there would have been a chase plane along at each launch and the balloons and equipment would never have been allowed to remain in the desert.

The foolish claim was made that the huge report was a declassification effort. It was a propaganda effort.

Norris and Richelson foolishly state the balloons were made of special material. They were standard neoprene weather balloons. They speak very enthusiastically of the Air Force report and seem not to have caught any of its many mistakes. For example it states a National Enquirer article about Marcel appeared in 1978. It was actually in 1980 and was a result of my putting outstanding journalist Robert Pratt in touch with Jesse Marcel because the first Book “The Roswell Incident” was due to be published.

The report makes it sound as though I worked separately from Berlitz and Moore and got my ideas from the Enquirer, when I actually worked very closely with Moore for years. I told Moore about Roswell.  They mention a strange grossly misleading book by three professors which also insinuated that Marcel was paid by the Enquirer. Of course none of these debunkers give any information about my background. To the USAF I am a UFO researcher. To Norris and Richelson I am “a UFO conspiracy Theorist.” No mention that I am a nuclear physicist, that I worked on classified advanced technology programs for 14 years for GE,GM, Westinghouse, Aerojet General Nucleonics etc. or that I have visited 20 different Archives , many times they claim that any ”positive reputation Friedman has is apparently restricted to those who believe in UFOs and Extraterrestrials.”

No source is given for these nonsensical charges. They might have mentioned that I belong to the American Nuclear Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Physical Society. No mention that I have lectured on topics such as “Flying Saucers ARE Real” and or “Flying Saucers and Science” to more than 700 colleges and professional groups in all 50 states, all 10 Canadian provinces and 18 other countries. I have had loads of favorable comments from these institutions. Are all of these “believers in UFOs and Extraterrestrials?” There is no mention of all the evidence I have provided such as dozens of TOP Secret almost completely blacked out CIA UFO documents, or 156 almost completed whited out NSA UFO documents. Seemingly they are unaware of the comments made by USAF General Carroll Bolender  “Reports of UFOs which could affect national security are made in accordance with JANAP 146 or USAF Manual  55-11 and are NOT part of the Blue Book System” and “Termination of Project Blue Book would leave no official federal office to receive reports of UFOs. However, as already stated, reports of UFOs which could affect national security would continue to be handled through the standard Air Force procedures designed for this purpose.” I located and spoke with General Bolender. I would bet these guys never heard of him. Obviously the USAF has been lying ever since his October 20, 1969, memo which resulted in the closure of Project Blue Book. The USAF has since then falsely claimed there is no national security concern with UFOs and they have been doing nothing about them. They don’t mention the Congressional UFO Symposium of July 29, 1968, which involved 12 presentations by scientists including me, or the biggest study ever done for the USAF, Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14. Of course, like Jacobsen they are guilty of “authorial malpractice.”

Norris and Richelson also buy into the 2^nd foolish USAF volume “The Roswell Report: Case Closed”. “The aliens observed in the New Mexico desert were probably anthropomorphic test dummies that were carried aloft by high altitude balloons. Some 43 high altitude balloon flights were launched and recovered throughout NM between June 1954 and February 1959.” Considering that the Roswell Incident occurred in July 1947 (Time travel, I guess) and the bodies, one of whose pictures is in the USAF Report, were 6’ tall and weighed 175 pounds, and was in a uniform and could not possibly have morphed even with time travel into a 4’ tall alien with a big head, one is astonished at their naivety. I talked to the head of the program, Colonel Madsen. Of course, he isn’t mentioned by them, nor did the USAF talk to him though they showed an old picture of him and one of the dummies.

In short, we have erudite people saying false and misleading things. I, of course, cannot know whether it is out of laziness, bias, ignorance or because they were conspiring to protect the reputation of the USAF. They owe us all an apology.

Super 8 promo photo (image credit: Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot Productions, and Paramount Pictures)

A coming-of-age teenage angst comedy-drama packaged in a sci-fi action UFO conspiracy story, Super 8 crosses genres and generations to make a movie that is appealing to all.

Super 8 pays homage to one of its producers, Steven Spielberg, with aspects of Goonies, ET: The Extra-terrestrial, Stand by Me, and Jurassic Park. However, it was written and directed by J.J. Abrams, who among other things created the TV show Lost and the movie Cloverfield. Many people are fans of the prior, not as many the later; I am a fan of both. Lucky for me, because I could see aspects of both in Super 8, and liked it.

From left: Movie making buddy and Joe Lamb. (image credit: Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot Productions, and Paramount Pictures)

Super 8 is the story of a 13 year old boy who, along with a group of buddies, is helping a friend make a zombie movie with a Super 8 camera. His name is Joe Lamb. During a shoot at an old abandoned train station, the boys, and one of their schoolmate actresses, witness a train crash. Eventually, they realize the train belonged to the Air Force and its cargo was important enough to bring Air Force soldiers to recover the mysterious cargo and create a stir in the kids’ small town. Things get scarier, and more Steven King-ish, when animals begin to leave town, and even worse, people start to go missing.

All the while our young protagonist must deal with the recent death of his mother, his grouchy father who is having a hard time balancing his career as a local police officer with the sudden responsibilities of being a single parent, his feeling for the cute new leading lady in his buddy’s zombie movie, and on top of it all he has to figure out how to save the town from whatever was on that train that is causing people to go missing. That’s a lot to handle for a kid. Lucky for him, and the audience, he has a gang of hilarious foul-mouthed pre-pubescent friends that are sticking with him on this journey of discovery, romance and adventure.

The crew hanging out at the diner. (image credit: Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot Productions, and Paramount Pictures)

This all leads to a delightful roller coaster ride traversing through moments of fear, action, nostalgia, humor, awe, and a moment or two of sentiment. The sentimental scenes were enough for at least one lady a few chairs away from me to bawl her a** off. I always like to partially grade movies off of their emotional depth and this movie invokes a wide spectrum of feelings. The ease, at which the filmmaker moves your through all of these emotions, is reminiscent of Spielberg’s movie masterpieces that were similar in this aspect.

Joe's dad confronts the Air Force. (image credit: Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot Productions, and Paramount Pictures)

For me, Super 8 is going to be a tough one to top when it comes to the summer movie procession. With UFOs, extraterrestrials (c’mon that isn’t a spoiler anymore), and the Air Force going too far to cover up the truth, it’s great for UFO geeks. It is also good for the family. It isn’t gory nor does it have any steamy sex scenes. The only thing to look out for is that the kids in the movie do some swearing. I give it a four out of five, and my advice is that you go see it.

Read more about Steven Spielberg and UFOs.

Area 51 book cover

When picking up Area 51, an uncensored history of America’s TOP SECRET military base, by author and Los Angeles Times editor Annie Jacobsen, you will immediately be surprised by the amount of pages (523 in total). It’s a thick book, and something you might find travelers reading on coast to coast flights. Readers should be advised from the beginning that this book represents a history of the BASE, and not necessarily the classified aircraft PROGRAMS associated with its operation. Jacobsen begins by highlighting the fact that Area 51 was originally created to support the CIA operated U-2 spy plane in 1955. Its location in the Nevada desert was chosen by CIA agent Richard Bissell. Jacobsen confirms that the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), National Security Agency (NSA), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), were all involved in classified operations at the remote test site. Area 51 would not become a household name until alleged government physicist Bob Lazar made his revelations about the base in 1989.

In the book, Jacobsen describes Lazar’s encounter with Dr. Edward Teller, and his later interview with EG&G which eventually led to his employment at the base (specifically the mysterious S-4). Lazar’s first trip to Area 51 on the “Janet” 737-200 aircraft is discussed, as well as the logistics of getting through security on base. After a bumpy thirty minute on a dusty road, Lazar claims he arrived at a location known as “S-4” where he allegedly worked on reverse engineering the propulsion systems of extraterrestrial flying vehicles. Although careful to quote her sources, Jacobsen provides no bombshell information or secondary independent confirmation from base workers who could authenticate his claims. As expected, readers are left with the same open ended question with respect to Lazar’s employment at Area 51/S-4.

Annie Jacobsen (image credit: Michael Hiller)

On a positive note, the book provides one of the most accurate descriptions regarding the design and development of the U-2 spy plane. Jacobsen highlights the fact that early U-2’s had no paint, and their highly reflective aluminum colored “X” shaped outlines were responsible for some UFO sightings in the mid 1950’s. In fact, the CIA even encouraged such reports. Designed by famed Lockheed Skunk Works aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson, the overall program was run by the CIA, with the Air Force providing test pilots and mechanics. Specifically designed to photograph Soviet military installations, the single seat U-2 could reach altitudes of up to 70,000 feet. In addition, Jacobsen presents a gripping account of the shoot down of Francis Gary Powers who was flying a U-2 over Soviet territory on May 1, 1960.

As Jacobsen points out, essentially everything that goes on at Area 51 is classified TS/SCI top secret/sensitive compartmented information. Secrets kept at Area 51 are done so by quarantining the information, so that only a selected few on top know the big picture. In Chapter seven of the book, Jacobsen touches on the multiple atomic tests which left major portions of Area 51 contaminated by radioactive fallout during the 1957 program known as “Operation Plumbbob”. Also contained in chapter seven are details pertaining to the super secret A-12 codenamed Oxcart. Designed by Lockheed as a single seat reconnaissance aircraft, the A-12 first flew on April 25, 1962 and could reach speeds of Mach 3.2 or 2,200 mph. It could fly five times faster than the U-2, and attain altitudes well above 95,000 feet. It required a staggering 186 mile section of land just to make a U-turn. The author stresses that the Titanium structure of the A-12 was completely original, and that entirely new manufacturing methods had to be developed.

A previously unknown fact about the base is revealed by Jacobsen in Chapter nine. According to Jim Freedman (property controller at Area 51), Howard Hughes even had a hangar on the site. No further information was provided regarding why Hughes was there. Later in Chapter Thirteen, the book highlights operations of the Mach 3 D-21 drone. The ramjet powered D-21 was designed to be air-launched from a specially configured M-21 “Mothership”. As Lockheed Skunk Works engineer Edward Lovick reveals, the D-21 could fly a predetermined flight path over China, take pictures along the way, and then head back out to sea. The book also highlights an accident involving the M-21/D-21 during a nighttime test flight on July 30, 1966. Jacobsen details how the smaller D-21 drone aircraft pitched down upon launch, effectively ramming itself into the larger M-21 carrier aircraft. The subsequent mid air collision split the M-21 in two pieces causing both test pilot Bill Park and flight engineer Ray Torick to eject over a pitch dark ocean. Later flights of the D-21 were launched by a pylon which was connected to the wing of a B-52 bomber. Chapter Seventeen discusses the flight test program involving recovered Russian MiG aircraft during the 1960’s and 1970’s. In this program, American pilots flying Russian aircraft could identify weaknesses in the enemy’s design, and thereby exploit them during air combat engagements. In Chapter Nineteen, the author briefly touches on the “Apollo Moon landing Hoax”, and how some believe that motion picture film taken on the moon by the astronauts was secretly shot near Area 51’s cratered landscape.

M-21 "Mothership" with D-21 drone on top. (image credit: USAF)

Surprising little is mentioned in the book regarding the aircraft programs that help America win the Cold War. Curiously missing is any mention of the Boeing Phantom Works “Bird of Prey” which flew 38 missions at Groom Lake between 1992 and 1999. Pioneering breakthrough low observable technologies, the Bird of Prey cost $67 million dollars, and is now on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio. Also missing from the book are any references to the Northrop “Tacit Blue” technology demonstrator. This strangle looking aircraft was the first to use a quad-redundant fly-by-wire flight control system. It also tested the same side-scanning radar used on the B-2 stealth bomber. Tacit Blue flew at Area 51 from 1982 to 1985. Also missing are any details of the McDonnell Douglas “Manta Ray” which flew along with F-117A stealth fighters during Operation Desert Storm as reported in Aviation Week and Space Technology June 10, 1991. This yet to be revealed reconnaissance aircraft first flew at Groom Lake in 1981. There is almost no mention in the book regarding the Lockheed “Have Blue” aircraft (predecessor to the F-117A). First flown at Area 51 in 1977, Have Blue demonstrated the feasibility of a manned fighter aircraft with a low radar cross section. Unfortunately, the book contains very little regarding Ben Rich (Skunk Works director from 1975 to 1991). Mr. Rich’s activities at the test site could have been significantly expanded upon. By excluded detailed information in the book on these significant aircraft programs, Jacobson has lost a very important part of our national history.

In the last chapter of the book, and also in the Epilogue, Jacobsen drops a very controversial conclusion regarding the “Roswell incident” of July 1947. The author claims (from an anonymous source connected to the government contractor EG&G) that indeed a flying disc was involved, and that bodies were recovered. However, according to Jacobsen’s source, they were not alien in origin. In fact, two were still alive upon impact. They were described as “child like”, and under five feet tall. They exhibited deformities including unusually large heads, and oversized eyes. As incredible as it may sound, Jacobsen’s source claims that the young crew members of the craft were originally kidnapped by Dr. Joseph Mengele, who performed horrific surgical procedures on them which resulted in their “alien” looking appearance. Everything relating to the crash was sent to Wright Patterson AFB, where it remained until 1951. In that year, it was moved to Groom Lake, hence the term “Area 51”. Apparently, according to Jacobsen’s source, anything having to do with the Roswell crash remains fell under the jurisdiction of the Atomic Energy Commission. A small team consisting of five specially chosen EG&G engineers were tasked to pick apart the Roswell craft, and to continue the work which began at Wright Patterson AFB. They were told that the project they would be working on remain secret forever. Jacobsen claims that the craft was Russian in origin, and was based on the advanced flying wing concepts originally designed by the Horten Brothers in Germany. It had been specifically sent by Stalin to fly over the United States to create panic, and to overwhelm America’s early warning radar system. Annie Jacobsen’s book provides a unique historical account of Area 51, but fails to breach new ground. Its lack of exposing dozens of additional classified aircraft tested in the 1980’s and 1990’s represents a huge gap in its coverage of the base. In addition, Jacobsen’s claims regarding Roswell remain unverified by any independent secondary source.

The front of a Horten Ho 229 (Horten H. IX) at the Smithsonian Institution's Garber Restoration Facility. The only Horton wing to be recovered. (image credit: Michael Katzmann)

The back end of the Horten Ho 229 (Horten H. IX) at the Smithsonian Institution's Garber Restoration Facility. (image credit: Michael Katzmann)

After reading Area 51, this reviewer was left with the conclusion that the author should have carefully studied Joseph Farrell’s ground breaking book Roswell and the Reich before going to press. Rating: two out of four stars.

The book sets the ground rules right off the bat; it is about speculation, it isn’t about debating the reality of UFOs, nor is it about presenting evidence. Normally, I wouldn’t be interested in a book based purely on speculation, if it not for the subject of the speculation in this case and the people doing the speculating. Speculation alone, of which this field has no shortage, can turn into chasing your tail, but in this case we have very educated and thorough speculation. At times the book reads more like a report prepared by a think tank.

The word “disclosure” is thrown around and taken in vain in the UFO research community, often, dare I say, in an irresponsible way. The longing for disclosure is like demanding that the police reveal the facts of a crime scene when we don’t know the details ourselves, and thus cannot fathom the repercussions, or the effects it may have on solving the crime. It is easy to demand, but it seems incumbent upon us as responsible researchers to examine in detail what we want, and prepare for what might happen when or if we get it.

A.D. After Disclosure is Dolan and Zabel’s first collaboration, and they make an interesting pairing. Dolan is a historian, who has been documenting the history of the UFO phenomenon from 1941 to 1991 in two volumes, and will bring us up to present day in his third installment, which he plans to have finished by 2012. I have always found refreshing his open-mindedness and devotion to unbiased, accurate observation. Given the task of researching the ins and outs of this phenomenon over the decades makes him ideal for the task of recognizing patterns from the past and making educated guesses about the future.

As for Dolan’s coauthor of A.D. After Disclosure, who is better at speculation than a Hollywood writer, producer, director, and actor? The entertainment culture is all about observation and speculation, and in true sci-fi fashion, Bryce Zabel has produced his speculation regarding this phenomenon in the form of Hollywood scripts. He created the NBC television series, Dark Skies, a science-fiction thriller based on UFO research. He also wrote the SyFy channel’s first original film, Official Denial, and worked with Steven Spielberg on his alien abduction miniseries, Taken.

In a creative mixture of historical examination and science fiction, the chapters of A.D. After Disclosure are punctuated by fictional vignettes. For example, one of my favorites was a letter petitioning for Thomas Mantell to get a medal of honor. Mantell was a pilot in 1948, who while in pursuit of a supposed UFO, crashed his jet and died. However, the speculation here is that perhaps in a world after UFO disclosure, we will be giving medals to those who died in UFO-related incidents, rather than suggesting, as the U.S. Air Force has done, that Mantell mistook Venus for a UFO, flew too high, blacked out due to a lack of oxygen, and then crashed—a conclusion that seems rather disrespectful.

The book is organized in a fashion that is friendly to any level of UFO education. Those who pick this book as their first venture into UFO research will probably need to follow up on some of the references cited. The first few chapters, however, do a good job of giving a quick and dirty synopsis of the history of this research as a base for the speculation that follows.

After the initial education section, the book moves on to presenting several scenarios of how each level of disclosure may play out or affect many different areas in society. For example, what does the president really know about the UFO topic,  how would he go about disclosing, and why would he choose to do so in the first place? How would he get educated on the issue, and who would give him this education? This is just one example of the in-depth treatment given to each topic. The book moves on to examine effects of disclosure on the economy, science, law, education, anthropology, biology, archeology, philosophy, religion, media, and much more.

Of course, there is the big “who are they?” question, a hotly debated topic in the UFO research community. Are UFOs friend, foe, neither, or all of the above? Whichever it is will have a large effect on what is disclosed, and how the public will respond. Dolan and Zabel try to examine this as thoroughly as possible, looking at the abduction phenomenon and popular theories by other researchers.

Finally, there is an examination of a new trend that may become even more important in a post-disclosure scenario—“exopolitics,” or the political relations with extraterrestrials. How might we interact with these beings? What does it mean if they choose not to communicate with society as a whole? Several very interesting possibilities are proposed in the book.

There are many factors to keep in mind about disclosure. I thought I had given thought to most situations in a post-disclosure world and how things might come about. However, reading this book sent my mind whizzing with new and different possibilities, and while this is a book about what might be, it helps one think about what the government and the public can do right now to either assist in shaping this bold future, or how to brace for it.

It is difficult to cover everything on such a broad subject. For instance, I thought that the examinations of the abduction scenarios lacked the incorporation of research performed by psychologists and therapists. As Dolan and Zabel identify in the book, this sort of discussion can never be complete, and with as much educated speculation that occurs about the future, so far no one has been able to predict it with one hundred percent accuracy. Endeavors such as the one these authors have taken on help to shine some light on an important path on which we will inevitably venture. It is the path to a world where it is no longer a secret that we are not alone in this universe, and we are indeed being observed and engaged by civilizations that are truly extraterrestrial.

All in all, I believe this book is an important benchmark, and I hope it brings the internal discussions of UFO researchers to a higher level; one in which we are not just asking the powers that be to make disclosure happen, but where we take an active role in helping to shape an atmosphere that is conducive for UFO disclosure. In a world plagued with heightened emotional knee-jerk reactions, stepping back and using some critical thinking always turns out to be more fruitful.

A.D. is available for purchase on October 25th, 2010. Click the image above to go to the website for the book.

You can listen to co-author of A.D., Bryce Zabel, talking about the book  on his recent Open Minds Radio appearance here.

You will also be able to see co-author Richard Dolan, and get your book signed, at the upcoming UFO Congress. More on that here.

Blair Underwood plays the President.

(SPOILER ALERT: This review includes the pilot episode’s story line, so go watch it here and then come back.)

It was one of the most anticipated Fall premieres for this season and NBC’s summer hype seemed to pay off. The event premiered to a 7.5/11 overnight metered market household rating and actually grew over the hour. What does this mean? They did well, but can they sustain?

With speculation swirling all summer about what “The Event” would actually be about, it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that word leaked out it would be about disclosure and alien life on this planet. However in the midst of hard bodies and beautiful faces, typical network casting, it really left you without many concrete conclusions.

From the beginning the show was a little hard to follow. I am sure it was intended to be that way. Jumping back and forth in time with parallel story lines, it keeps you paying attention while building to its revealing climax.

Usually when a show debuts character development is the main focus, in order to get people personally involved with the characters so that they felt a connection. Jason Ritter, actor John Ritter’s son, plays “Sean Walker”. A striking young man who at one minute is ready to propose to Sarah Roemer, whose character is “Lelia Buchanan” then we cut to him in an airplane with a gun trying to break into the cockpit to try to stop the pilot from some terrible incident that is about to happen. Blair Underwood plays “Elias Martinez” the president of the United States. I am sure it is no coincidence that he is modeled after President Obama. Martinez is shown standing up to the head of the CIA asking “how come I didn’t know about this?” After many beautiful locations and plot turns the show comes to a conclusion with the plane that “Sean Walker” is trying to divert headed right for the president. Suddenly the plane vanishes within a cloud of electric looking energy. Laura Innes, who plays “Sophia Maguire” from ER fame, turns to the president and says something to the effect that the “they saved us.” President Martinez then says “who are they” and Sophia responds (the line to bring you back next week) “Mr. President, I haven’t told you everything.”

The President and Sophia see the plane.

A couple of other plot twists were interesting as well. Lelia, Sean Walkers girlfriend suddenly turns up missing only to find out that his life, as he knew it, has suddenly been erased.

Whether this show will keep my attention through the entire season is still up in the air. I will watch next week there is no doubt. As far as if this show is preparing the public for some sort if disclosure, well that is certainly something we hope for. If it is, then I am hoping that they continue to grow their audience to bring more viewers. Hawaii Five-O, the remake of the old police drama, brought home a 7.4/12 in the Nielson ratings and the CBS show “Two and a Half Men” gathered a 9.5/14 rating. This shows that people still enjoy big action cop shows and cheesy comedies. My hopes are that “The Event” will be captivating enough to wake a few people up and ask questions.

Update: Week 2 of The Event

So now we know it is about aliens. But what is “The Event?” After watching the second installment of NBC’s Monday night series “The Event”, I am still not convinced that the show will keep me engaged. Apparently other viewers didn’t even make it to week two as the overnight ratings dipped 19% from last week.

This week picked up where last week left off. The jet that disappeared at the end of week 1 reappears to crash land in the Arizona dessert at the start of week 2. We do find out what happened to “Sean Walker’s” girlfriend, she apparently murdered under auspicious circumstances, and the president lets on that he was about to reveal the presence of extraterrestrial life.

How some of these scenes unfolded were pretty cheesy. My feeling is that the producer’s intent is not to make the smaller details believable as much as pushing the story forward. There were more time jumps back and forth, but not as much as in the first episode.

The acting seemed weak in this airing. That may be due to the scenes being less palatable. The way “Sean Walker” escaped from the crash scene and then from the hospital was really hokey.

Some of the more compelling elements were the reveals about the aliens themselves. Scientific references to DNA – the aliens have a 1% difference in their DNA and they age much slower than humans – made it thought provoking enough for me to stay engaged.

“The Event” itself now suggests it could be about the aliens’ agenda. It is obvious they are planning something. What that is, we do not know yet. However it does not appear to be friendly. It is revealed that they infiltrated the general population. One of them, “Simon Lee,” is a CIA agent.  The show ends back where it started, at the crash scene where the rest of the passengers are dead spread across the dessert, not victims of the crash, but by the aliens.

According to information on IMDB, the “Internet Movie Database” it looks as if there are only eight episodes scheduled for air. November is one of the largest Nielsen ratings months and if the ratings continue to decrease as they did this week, eight episodes are all we may see.

The alien drama is once again holding my opinion captive until after next week’s broadcast. I will say that if after next week they have nothing more to offer this human, I will plan my escape for more earthly viewing.

Book Cover

The book, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record, by experienced journalist Leslie Kean and a long list of distinguished collaborators, should be required reading for all skeptics and people who mistakenly believe that there is no credible evidence supporting the existence of UFOs. Those interested in the subject should also read it, since they will probably learn a lot about important foreign cases from firsthand witnesses and officials and scientists who investigated them. This is indeed a unique and much-needed contribution to ufological literature. Out of the nineteen collaborators brought together by Kean, no less than five are retired air force generals from Belgium, Brazil, Chile, France, and Iran. The other fourteen include former Arizona governor Fife Symington; military and civilian pilots from various countries who encountered strange craft; and official government investigators who dealt in one way or another with UFO investigations, such as Nick Pope, a former employee of the British Ministry of Defence, James Callahan from the Federal Aviation Administration, and Jean-Jacques Velasco, from the French space agency UFO department, GEPAN (now called GEIPAN).

The foreword to Kean’s books is written by a respected political figure, John Podesta, who was the chief of staff during President Clinton’s presidency and led the transition team for President Obama. It’s highly unusual to see such a well-known politician stating, in public, his interest in UFOs; Podesta calls himself “a curious skeptic.”  Then again, Podesta supported Leslie Kean’s efforts with her Coalition for Freedom of Information to obtain government UFO data a few years ago. “Kean and her distinguished co-writers call for the establishment of a small U.S. government agency to cooperate with other countries that are already formally investigating, reviewing, and releasing information relevant to UFOs,” states Podesta’s foreword. “This new agency would handle release of documents and any future investigations with openness and efficiency. It’s an idea worth considering.”

Leslie Kean

We here at Open Minds sincerely hope that the largest number of scientists, academics, mainstream-media commentators, and other influential people get a chance to read Kean’s book. It will surely dispel many beliefs and prejudices that people probably have about this subject. Where else can you open a UFO book and see, not just references and quotes from documents by important generals, but actually short essays written by those generals? General (Ret.) Wilfried De Brouwer, for instance, was once the Belgian Air Force point-man for the famous UFO wave that hit Belgium between 1989 and 1991.  In Kean’s book, De Brouwer tells the full story. Additionally, Kean’s book includes commentary by Iranian Air Force General (Ret.), Parviz Jafari, who was one of the fighter pilots involved in the celebrated UFO dogfight over Tehran in September 1976.  Jafari was also a panelist at the very important 2007 event at the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, DC, which was organized by Leslie Kean and filmmaker James Fox and would later become the basis of the acclaimed documentary, I Know What I Saw.

Most of the contributors in Kean’s book attended the NPC event, but Kean also includes others who didn’t speak. The bulk of the UFO cases and investigations described in the book deal with aviation and military incidents from a total of nine countries including Belgium, Brazil, Chile, France, Iran, Peru, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

Podesta (right) with Obama.

The other retired generals included in the book are Denis Letty from France, Ricardo Bermúdez from Chile, and José Carlos Pereira from Brazil. A former fighter pilot and head of the southeast zone of the French Air Defence, General Letty was the chairman of the Committee for In-Depth Studies, composed of a number of retired French military and intelligence officers, space officials, and scientists who released the now famous 1991 COMETA Report entitled, “UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare For?” It was this French study, in fact, that triggered Kean’s interest and curiosity on the subject, leading to her first UFO article featured in the Boston Globe. General Letty writes, in Kean’s book, about “The Birth of COMETA in France,” explaining that his interest was sparked in 1965 when he heard of fighter pilots scrambling to chase unknown objects over French skies. He was particularly puzzled by the case of Captain Jean-Pierre Fartek, who saw a UFO on the ground with his wife near Dijon, France in 1979. “I found the Farteks’ testimony so disturbing that I have been preoccupied by the UFO problem ever since,” wrote General Letty.

James fox with Leslie Kean in D.C. (image credit: James Fox)

In addition to testimony from multiple military officials, Leslie Kean analyzes the different official approaches that various nations have taken over the years. Some countries like the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Uruguay, among others, look at UFOs from a military standpoint—namely, whether these objects could potentially pose a threat to their air defenses. Other countries, such as France, take a scientific approach, conducting a thirty-three-year-long investigation of UFOS through its specialized unit within the CNES—the French equivalent of NASA. Jean-Jacques Velasco, who led this department between 1983 and 2004 (variously called GEPAN, SEPRA, and now GEIPAN) contributed a chapter on these investigations. Velasco was the case investigator of the Trans-en-Provence UFO landing case of January 1981. Yet other official agencies like Chile’s CEFAA (Spanish acronym for Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena), established in 1998, which is under the Department of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC, equivalent to our FAA), take a different approach, that of keeping a tab on UFOs to insure aviation safety.

Will Leslie Kean and her team of experts succeed in helping to create a new, open-minded official U.S. agency that can take a fresh look at this phenomenon and cooperate openly with other governmental investigations elsewhere in the world? That remains to be seen, but the publication of this book is an important first step.

Leslie Kean (middle) with the Generals, Pilots, and other officials in Washington D.C. (image credit: James Fox)

UFO Case Files of Russia by Paul Stonehill and Philip Mantle

To my knowledge there are very few books that have been written on UFO sightings over Russia from British authors so it was a great pleasure to be given this book to review.  Like most British UFOlogists, I was aware, as we all are, that Russia too has been touched by the UFO presence and has probably seen more UFO sightings than any other country.  This book, dot’s the I’s and crosses the T’s Big Style.  It is an enormously researched book which comprised of all you need to know about UFO sightings over Russia from the very early day’s right through to present day.

The authors have put a lot of work into this book, segmenting their case work into specific easy to find chapters.   Of course writing a book of this nature does rely heavily (for both authors) on the information coming through their Russian counterparts and both Philip and Paul have had to rely on their many Russian contacts in their little black diary.  Sceptics may question the reliability of UFO information coming through from their Russian counterparts, is it reliable, could it not have been better researched, how do we know for sure that the information imparted is truly factual?  Well I’ll tell you this, if even a tiny fraction of this book is real in the sense that all the reports happened as reported, then boy we really do have a UFO presence to ponder.

The authors themselves do accept the above, they also are well aware that quite a fair percent of these Russian UFO sightings may well be down to secret Russia Military rocket tests.  However, there are enough meaty cases in this book which go way beyond what would appear to be any rocket tests that certainly made me sit up.  For me though what makes this book a cracker is definitely the KGB Files of UFO & USOs (Unidentifiable Submersible Objects). Then there are the specific regions of Russia which hold mysterious areas where strange things happen.  Let us take a quick look at some of the interesting bits of the book that I came across whilst doing this review.

The Tunguska event of 1908 is carefully looked at and quite a diverse series of explanations are pondered over.  Whatever it was, it surely was the biggest event of its kind in the world.  But was it a flying saucer or something more mundane?  As I said, a wide variety of explanations are looked at.   Leonid Kulik was one of the main researchers who actually visited the Tunguska event and we learn about his expedition and the problems they faced.   We also learn that in the autumn of 1944 a Soviet Yak-40 aircraft flew over the area of the Tunguska event, its instruments failed and the plane crashed.  What could be an early example of animal mutilation occurred in the 1860′s (reported in the 1950′s), a man witnessed humanoid ‘beings’ standing next to a cow which had its belly slit open.  They seemed quite curious at the stomach of the cow; could this be Russia’s, if not the world’s, first reported animal mutilation?  Well if we believe in this report then maybe so.

The book moves onto the early years of UFO reports over Russia and we learn that under Stalin’s brutal regime, the occult and paranormal related subjects were all banned (although surprisingly Stalin himself had an interest in such matters, so what was the crack there!)    There was little if any material on UFOs and the paranormal during Stalin’s reign, it wasn’t until many years later that Russian citizens started to learn what was in their skies wasn’t all their own technology!

A quite incredible tale of a chest which contained drawings of orbital stations, hangers for spaceships etc, was found in Kiev in 1953 what was going on here?  Then there was the Petrozavodsk phenomenon of 1977 where a strange pulsating luminance fell on Karelia. Windows in houses melted and loads of UFO reports were reported in the area, all this and much more occurred in this Russian town.  Most people will have heard about Chernobyl and the terrible nuclear accident that occurred there, what some people might not know is that this area has a high concentration of UFO reports.

Probably one of the more stranger things that I found in this book was what the authors refer to as anomalous zones where weird things happen.  Take for instance the Dalnegorsk crash.  Three years after the crash of a strange object in this area, we learn that insects avoided the place; people’s bodies were affected in a whole manner of ways.  The area also affected mechanical and electrical equipment.  Again I ask, was it a UFO/Flying Saucer of something from the Russia Air force?

One of the biggest UFO cases that I was aware of coming from Russia was the Voronezh Incident where not only UFOs were sighted, but strange creatures as well!  Yet another strange anomalous area where strange things happen is the M Triangle and the authors go to great lengths to tell us all about it, believe me, this is really really bizarre.

There is so much info in this book that I seriously cannot get it all into this review.  The authors look at strange explosions, UFO hotspots, and buried UFOs (The Tallin Object). Another BIG chapter is the one on UFOs over Soviet Nuclear Installations, wow what an amazing chapter that is.  Triangular UFOs are also discussed as are Soviet Military encounters with UFOs.  Again, what an important chapter that is.  UFOs over Soviet battlefields are also discussed.  MIG jets chasing UFOs are also looked at.  There is no shortage of amazing UFO Incidents in this book.

Co-author Paul Stonehill

Another belter of a chapter was the one on USO’s (Unidentified submersible objects). This chapter contains some amazing cases most of whom were witnessed by high standing academic people.  Then there were the Soviet nuclear submarines who encountered strange sounds which they couldn’t account for.  Soviet Naval observers of UFOs are mentioned and several tales by them are looked at.

Yet another classic chapter was the one on the KGB and its UFO Files, again, what can I say?  This chapter really shows us that there clearly is something strange going on.   As if the book couldn’t get any better, IT DOES.  Soviet Cosmonauts and ‘their’ UFO sightings are looked at, and just like the American astronauts, their Russian counterparts have also seen their fair share of UFOs.  Russian astronomers and their UFO sightings are looked at, again these astronomers know their skies and yet what they have seen defies explanation.  The authors put together a chapter on some of Russia’s UFOlogists and we see how busy they have been over the years in trying to find out the truth as to what is in their skies.

At the end of the day, there is no denying that this book will be a classic in the annals of world UFOlogy, I say this because when you read this book you soon discover that it contains a mountain of research, the ground it covers is extensive.  These are not wily nilly wee lights in the sky, the vast majority of these cases are complex, they are above nuclear installations, and they have been followed by MIG jets and a whole lot more.  Russia as we know is a massive country there are undoubtedly thousands of UFO reports that we will probably never know as they may not have been recorded.  Thankfully UFOlogy in Russia has grown extensively over the years, those Stalin years are well behind them and people are not frightened any more to report these strange aerial devices.

Yes a fair percent of these UFO reports may well be down to secret Russian Military/Air Force testing of prototype devices, that goes without saying, but when all is said and done, this wonderful book will show you that the sheer volume of UFO reports in Russia is simply incredible.  One thing’s for sure, when you finish this book your scepticism (if you had any in the first place) will surely have gone, such is the masterful research by both authors in providing us with a book that is destined to be a classic.

The author (Come Carpentier) addressing a seminar on the world's future in New Delhi (image credit: www.ComeCarpentier.com).

James Cameron’s Avatar may well be one of those symbolic milestones. As the hitherto most sophisticated result of the technologies of virtual reality and computerized design, it takes place in an already long line of wondrous special effects extravaganzas which include George Lucas’ Star Wars, Steven Spielberg’s ET and Close Encounters, Cameron’s own Terminator and sequels, the Harry Potter series, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and so many others.

Yet, the message of Avatar synthesizes some of the most powerful calls that mankind is hearing nowadays: the appeal for a new communion with nature on the cosmic scale, the yearning for disclosure about the reality of other life forms from outside our planet, and the eternal nostalgia for legends and mythology which formed civilization from its origins.

The Avatar Movie Poster

Cameron situates himself in the sphere of mythology when he creates his heroic saga on the imaginary planet Pandora -“all gifts” in Greek, but also the name of the Goddess (Mohini) who brought them to Prometheus. The name hints at the pantheistic worldview that prevails on it and that the author advocates – inhabited by the peaceful and empathic Na’vi, cat-like, slender, blue-skinned humanoids who live in symbiotic communion with the magnificent but dangerous ecosystem of a primeval forest.

It is this ecstatic communion that the film’s hero, a paraplegic former Marine called Jake Sully, sent by the RDA corporation to help explore Pandora through the bio-engineered Avatar created for his late brother, learns from them and gradually becomes one of them. Though the story is set in 2154, Cameron seems to assume that little will change in America or on Earth by then. Our planet has been presumably turned into a biological wasteland by our industry, the economy is still in very bad shape, the US is still fighting wars in many poor and hostile lands on behalf of giant corporations dedicated to exploiting natural resources, but wounded US soldiers are still neglected and financially unable to undergo reconstructive surgery for the injuries incurred in the line of duty.

The contrast between the penniless, paralyzed and depressive discarded mercenary of the earth’s richest nation and the boundlessly free and luminous Na’vi is one of the many ontological antitheses presented in the film.

In building Pandora’s fictional world, the author borrows from the legends and traditions of many “primitive” cultures, as most myth-makers have from the dawn of humanity, to create monuments as diverse as the Book of Gilgamesh, the Ramayana, the Iliad and Beowulf or Cuchulain. The Na’vi remind us of all bow and arrow wielding tribal peoples of warm climes, but they particularly evoke images of the blue-green divine heroes of ancient India, Rama and Krishna, whose wisdom and omniscience reflected their profound union with the Cosmic Whole which Cameron calls Eywa, the universal mother who embraces and comprises all creation, according to a concept embedded in Tantric philosophy.

Those people of the Pandoran forest will also remind people familiar with Indic culture, from Mongolia to Indonesia, of the Monkey people or Vanaras met by Rama and his companions in the deep woods of Central India, and who became his allies under the leadership of their king Sugriva and their champion Hanuman. However, the alien people created by Cameron are not modeled on a single historic or mythical race, but are inspired by many diverse shamanistic and pantheistic cultures.

The fact that in order to roam on Pandora freely and meet the Na’vi on their own terms, humans have to go into a state of conscious dream through the medium of a biological Avatar identical to the natives (contrary to the homonymous Internet creation, Cameron’s Avatar, like its Indic archetype is physical and alive) reminds us of the Dreamtime described by Australian aborigines or of the parallel worlds evoked by South American tribals and to which one can accede in sleep, with the help of hallucinogenic drugs such as the Ayahuasca just as Vedic Hindus and Avestan Iranians used the Soma or Haoma plant.

Like the Vedic peoples, but also like many other ancient races on all continents, the Na’vi are said to go through a ritual process of second birth (samsrkt dvija) which ushers them in as full members of the social and universal community of life and soul.

The metaphysical question raised by the cosmology of the Invisible has occupied much of Buddhist and Hindu thought over millennia since there is reason to question the “rational” assumption that only the facts experienced in our waking state are real. Many ancient religious systems relied on the opposite conclusion, which the Spanish writer Calderon de la Barca expressed in five words: “La vida es un sueno”: life is a dream! Other traditions teach that the other worlds we sometimes visit in trance or sleep are as material and actual as our sphere of familiar awareness.

Until we accept and integrate fully the parallel universes that we can visit only in the various subtle and psychic dimensions of our selves, we are doomed to living tragic lives in blindness and “quiet desperation”. For the Na’vi, becoming aware of this transcendent reality is “seeing” the truth of another person’s being. The reference to the symbolism of darsana in Indian psychology and philosophy is transparent.

Avatar dares to proclaim defiantly what many people in the West, and especially in the USA, are still afraid to admit. Cameron squarely points to the American military forces and the associated “private security companies” as the major agents in today’s world of uncontrolled corporate greed in all its brutal destructiveness. The film builds towards a cathartic massacre of the Pentagon’s robotic mercenaries and the utter annihilation (history repeats itself many a time!) of its space age war machine, personified by a Colonel whose face and gait mirror those of the many warlords who regularly appear in the news, from Odierno and Petraeus to McChrystal, just as his corporate army represents Blackwater, Triple Canopy and other such outfits created to privatize war and occupation. The polar opposition between the gracefulness of the native people of the Planet Pandora, the luminous and willowy Na’vi and the mechanical ugliness of the human killing machines is as striking as it is expected to be in a myth which is made up of allegories and signs.

The humanoid natives of Pandora look more than a bit like some of the Aliens described by several witnesses from the 1947 Roswell incident until recent times. Their four-fingered hands seem modeled after the tetradactyle extremities that at least some of the Greys or Zetas are reported to have. Such evocations are hardly surprising in ET-aware Hollywood, all the more from a director who authored the film Aliens in 1986.

The sort of  intuitive intelligence that the Na’vi demonstrate in their collective, beehive-like harmony, reminded me of a striking observation made by Whitley Strieber once about the “visitors” who have appeared to him at various occasions in his life: “animals far more intelligent than us”. The Na’vi’s fusional connection with the horse-like quadruped and the flying dragons they ride – as the bluish God Vishnu flies on the giant bird Garuda – through the merger of the tips of their respective capillary appendices is at once technologically inspired (fiber-optics and hints of David Cronenberg’s Existenz) and related to the Indian and Chinese belief that the brain is rooted in the cosmic oversoul through the pituitary seventh cakra at the crown of the head and also through the Kundalini coiled at the base of the spine as a vestigial tail.

As the polar opposite those fluid, intuitive life forms, Colonel Miles Quaritch, commander of the Company’s private army, the SecFor, is a mixture of Nietzsche’s “beast” and of a ruthless, calculating and emotionally deaf and dumb weapon of mass destruction. He uses the well worn Pentagon jargon which has become so recognizable during the last decade of “pre-emptive” wars: “killing the hostiles”, “minimizing casualties”, “winning hearts and minds”. He is unquestioningly committed to carrying out his mission, which is to allow “free market access” to the corporation to extract the precious mineral Unobtainium (a metaphor for oil or any other coveted mineral) from Pandora’s soil, and he regards all unfamiliar life forms as dangerous nuisances that must be “domesticated” or eliminated at any cost if and when they cannot be simply ignored.

That very attitude is made manifest in the policies enforced by the US and many other governments which consist in systematically ignoring and denying the presence of “Alien” life, especially that which strikes us as being far more evolutionarily advanced than our own. Those who are minimally aware of the Ufological reality realize that Cameron, like most in Hollywood, is not duped by the current political-scientific-military consensus and is making in his film an appeal for disclosure.

Quaritch reports to a wimpish, self-absorbed and infantile corporate boss of RDA, Parker Selfridge – a George W Bush to Quaritch’s Cheney or Rumsfeld – and they both have a conflictual rapport with the scientist, Grace Augustine, played by Sigourney Weaver, who serves the operatives of the military-industrial complex in her research on Pandora in spite of her moral reservations. Yet, they finance her work so that she needs them to carry out her investigations. The ambiguous role of scientists as handmaidens of their corporate paymasters (somewhat like the missionaries of the colonial ages) is illustrated quite tellingly.

Another parallel is drawn between the wondrously strange and intensely alive but somewhat ethereal world of Pandora and the high tech, ugly and depressing artificial habitat in which the earthly invaders are imprisoned. Where is reality? In the scientifically controlled, drably military environment of the occupiers (where the only entertainment available is the mini-golf used by the corporate boss) or in the fantastic wilderness of Pandora, inaccessible to humans outside their heavily insulated and armored aircraft and “exoskeletons” (dubbed AMP for “Amplified Motion Platforms”).

The reference to the US bases set up in many countries and thoroughly cut off from the outside world, making the American soldiers and administrators the real aliens for the rest of mankind, is obvious, and the Na’vi are virtual icons of all the native peoples subjugated and massacred by colonizers, from the Aztecs, Incas and Patagonians to the Bantus, the Red Indians, and the aboriginal Australians.

The analogy with the Vietnamese, Iraqis or Afghans is not so transparent because those martyred people are not “pristine” children of Nature, though the attitude of the US occupiers towards them is similar to that of most conquistadors of yore, but as the hero of the film points out, those alien people cannot be won over with baubles or “light beer” or even by giving them American education and teaching them English. The endeavour of the conquerors is tragically flawed and is bound to fail, but not without causing immense destruction.

Predictably, the target of Colonel Queritch after he has destroyed the “tree of voices” (“first, cut off the target people from their source of traditional wisdom” seems to be the rule followed by colonialists and missionaries) and the “hometree” of the Na’vi (which disintegrates in a manner intentionally reminiscent of the World Trade Centre’s destruction in 2001 and happens to stand on the largest deposit of Unobtainium), is to “preemptively” take out the soul tree, Cameron’s allusion to the Aswattha of Indian mythology (and to the Nordic Yggdrasil) which, as Augustine tries to explain to the dismissive colonel and the bemused corporate executive, lies at the core of the planet’s bio-botanical neural network. She provides thereby a graphic image of the phenomenon of non-locality explained by quantum entanglement in contemporary physics as it applies to the eco-sphere, but such a holistic perspective is predictably beyond the grasp of her mentally autistic listeners, bent on quick territorial conquest and financial profit.

Cameron makes it clear that the only option for survival and for the preservation of our environment is to overthrow the tyranny of finance and technology enforced by the warlords of the Pentagon and their soldiers of fortune and misfortune. His film is a rousing call for defiance and rebellion that many in the US civilian and military sectors may eventually heed, and it is symbolically enlightening and also inevitable that he should conceive an iconography reminiscent of the Hindu sacred epics in order to convey this radical and apocalyptic message. What splendid depictions of the Indian myths and legends could be made nowadays by using the stereoscopic and virtual camera “motion capture” techniques, aptly called “3D Fusion Camera System”, pioneered in Avatar!

For more information about Come, visit: www.ComeCarpentier.com

The film was primarily based on the panel that Fox, and journalist Leslie Kean of the Coalition for Freedom of Information, assembled at the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 12, 2007. The 14 speakers included two retired generals and several other military officers, a former governor, civil pilots and government scientists from seven countries (Belgium, Chile, France, Iran, Peru, U.K. and the U.S.). It was one of the most credible UFO panels ever assembled.

James Fox and the panelists en route to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Nov 12th, 2007. (image credit: www.iknowwhatisawthemovie.com)

James Fox, who already made a name in the field with his previous “Out of the Blue” documentary, begins “I Know What I Saw” with the famous Phoenix Lights of March 13, 1997. The latest film’s title, in fact, comes from one of the witnesses.

Fife Symington, the Arizona governor in 1997, was also a witness of the huge, structured craft that crossed the Phoenix metropolitan area that March evening. Symington, who served as moderator for the NPC Panel, reveals in the documentary why he took the questionable decision of ridiculing the incident publicly. He says he was afraid the incident could lead to panic and distract the conduct of state government and business. Former presidential candidate and current Arizona Senator John McCain, in a radio interview and a written letter, also stresses in the documentary that the explanation for the Phoenix Lights has not been established.

The film then moves on to the equally famous incidents at the Rendlesham Forest and Bentwaters Air Force Base in Suffolk, England, in late December, 1980. Col. Charles Halt, the deputy base commander, and U.S. Air Force Sgt. Jim Penniston appeared on the NPC Panel. And, the film also includes interviews with Sgt. Nevills (who was on the patrol with Halt) and others. While the Bentwaters case is well known and was already discussed in “Out of the Blue,” Fox takes the original witnesses back to the Rendlesham Forest and then asks an expert in cryptology to try to decipher the symbols that Penniston jotted down in a small notebook on the first night when he and airman John Burroughs witnessed a UFO land in the forest. The expert can’t specifically decipher the alien symbols, but his comments are thought-provoking.

Among the number of important cases discussed by “I Know What I Saw” are the famous Iranian dogfight of September, 1976, the Belgian wave of 1990, the Japan Airlines radar-visual case in Alaska in November, 1986, as well as other airliner sightings in England and France. The more recent sightings in Stephenville, Texas, in January, 2008, are also discussed.

Two scientists who participated in the French Space Agency (CNES) UFO investigation,  doctors Claude Poher and Jean-Claude Ribes, attended the NPC Panel. Fox and Kean also traveled to Paris to interview the current director of that program, Jacques Patenet, as well as Ret. Gen. Denis Letty, who coordinated the semi-official COMETA Report. This last group of retired French military and intelligence officers and government scientists issued in 1999 a very strong report endorsing the reality of UFOs, and the resulting defense implications.

Leslie Kean with General Letty of COMETA and James Fox in Paris, Jan 2008. (image credit: www.iknowwhatisawthemovie.com)

Some critics may object that most of the cases presented by Fox were already well known and have been treated in his previous documentary, and other productions. Others may say that he didn’t go far enough because there were no discussions of Roswell, abductions, crop circles and many other issues. But these criticisms miss the point.

What Fox intended to do, both with the 2007 National Press Club Panel and in his new documentary, was to nail once and for all the issue of credibility and UFOs. He succeeded very well in his endeavor. Presented on camera were retired generals Wilfred De Brouwer from Belgium and Parviz Jafari of Iran, space agency officials from France, military and civil pilots, radar controllers and government scientists (there were also brief interviews with Jimmy Carter and astronaut Gordon Cooper).

These people were all involved with UFOs either as witnesses or investigators in an official capacity, and all the cases presented defy any explanation other than the fact we are dealing with an advanced technology and presence of unknown origin and purpose. If you believe that there is a lack of credibility to prove the UFO phenomenon, then you will have to revise your thoughts after seeing James Fox’s powerful “I Know What I Saw” documentary – unless you have a completely closed mind.

Note: You can purchase the unrated “I Know What I Saw” DVD on the History Channel’s website at www.shop.history.com.