【“LIFE ON MARS?” CNN/LARRY KING LIVE とUFO】

■おとといCNNを観ていたらLARRY KING LIVEで昨年に引き続き、今年1月8日にTEXASで起きたUFO騒動について、軍関係の目撃者やUFOLOGYの専門家、そしてもちろん懐疑派の専門家も出演して真剣なディスカッションを繰り広げていていた。(TRANSCRIPTS: UFOS: QUESTIONS & CONTROVERSY)

ところで、LARRY KING LIVEでは昨年11月12日にワシントンDCの記者クラブで開催された7カ国・15名の政府関係者、軍関係者や諜報機関関係者などによる大規模なUFOの目撃の宣誓証言の記者会見の出演者たちをゲストに、何本かの貴重な映像資料と一緒に、その内容を相当詳しく紹介していた。(CNN Video/ Larry King: Are UFOs for real?)(TRANSCRIPTS/UFOs: Are They for Real?)

この記者会見をオーガナイズしたのは、去年の3月に例のPHENIX LIGHTの目撃をCOMING OUTした、元アリゾナ州知事のFIFE SYMINGTONさん（上写真最後列の左から2番目）だという。（参考：【祝！フランス国立宇宙研究センターがUFO情報を公開】）

この記者会見でUFOに関わる自身の体験を宣誓した上で発表しているパネリスト達の顔ぶれが凄い、というかハッキリいって有り得ない。

PANELISTS IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY SPOKE AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE

Click on the name to read the statement

Wilfried DE BROUWER, Major General, Ret.
After spending 20 years as a fighter pilot, he was appointed to the Strategic Planning Branch in NATO while a Colonel in 1983. He then became Wing Commander of the Belgian Air Force Transport Wing and, in 1989, chief of the Operations Division in the Air Staff. It was in this function that he was confronted with the Belgian UFO wave. Promoted to Major General in 1991, he became Deputy Chief of Staff of the Belgian Air Force, in charge of Operations, Planning and Human Resources. General De Brouwer retired in 1995 and subsequently worked more than ten years as consultant in the United Nations to improve the UN Logistics rapid response capabilities during emergencies.

Dr. Claude POHER, engineer, astronomer and astrophysicist.
Had a 33 year career in space research at CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), the French equivilant of NASA and was awarded the National Order of Merit. In 1977, he created and directed, at CNES, the GEPAN (Groupe d’Etude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés ; Group for the Study of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena), the official French agency dedicated to the investigation and analysis of UFO reports. (Today, the agency is called GEIPAN.) He investigated numerous well-documented UFO cases while training investigators for GEPAN.

Jean-Charles DUBOC, Captain, Air France, Ret.
While piloting an Airbus A 320 over France in 1994, he observed a large lens-shaped UFO at about 25 NM to the left of the plane, also seen by the copilot and one steward. It didn’t move and then disappeared after one minute almost instantaneously. Duboc reported the sighting to Air Traffic Control and Air Defense Operations (CODA); simultaneously CODA recorded an unidentified object on radar crossing the track of the plane. The object seemed to disappear from the radar scope at the same instant as it did from the view of the crew. CODA investigations ruled out a weather balloon or any other aircraft.

Dr. Jean-Claude RIBES, Astrophysicist.
Radio Astronomer, Paris Observatory and associate director of National Institute for Astronomy and Geophysics. Member, New York Academy of Sciences. Contributed to the COMETA report, 1999, and the new book "Phenomenes spatiaux non identifies." As a long term consultant to GEIPAN, he was asked by the Steering Committee to represent GEIPAN at this event.

Parviz JAFARI, General, Iranian Air Force, Ret.
In 1976, as a major and squadron commander, he was ordered by the Air Force Command to approach, in his Phantom F-4 jet, a large UFO observed over Tehran. During a wild cat and mouse chase, he attempted to launch a Sidewinder missile at the brilliant object but at that instant his fire control consul became inoperable. The UFO exhibited an extraordinary degree of maneuverability. Other electromagnetic effects were reported. The object was pursued by a second pilot, recorded on radar and witnessed by a General and experienced air navigation crews. A US Government officer interviewed Jafari in Tehran and the incident was described in a detailed US Defense Intelligence Agency document, released through the Freedom of Information Act. The DIA assessment said “This case is a classic that meets all the necessary conditions for a legitimate study of the UFO phenomenon.” Later, as a General, Jafari became the coordinating officer between the Iranian Army, Navy and Air Force. He retired in 1989.

Rodrigo Bravo GARRIDO, Captain and Pilot for the Aviation Army of Chile.
In 2000, he was assigned to conduct an internal study titled "Introduction to Anomalous Aerial Phenomenon and their considerations for aerospace security" involving previous case reports military planes encounters with UAP. For the last several years he has continued this research on recent and current cases affecting aviation safety in cooperation with the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (CEFAA), a branch of the General Administration of Civil Aeronautics, Chile's FAA.

Comandante Oscar Alfonso SANTA MARIA HUERTAS
Commander with the Peruvian Air Force (FAP), Ret. Specialization as an Air Force fighter jet pilot. In 1980, while a FAP Lieutenant, he encountered a UFO while flying his SU-22 "SUKOI" jet over the La Joya Military Base. He fired at the object, strafing it with sixty-four 30mm rounds, but the UFO remained unaffected. A US Department of Defense document for the CIA and the NSA, titled “UFO Sighted in Peru,” describes the incident. “The Peruvian Air Force tried to intercept and destroy the UFO, but without success," it states, adding that the vehicle’s origin remains unknown. CMDT Santa Maris is currently a Flight Safety and Accident Prevention Consultant for the airline industry.

Dr. Anthony CHOY
Lawyer and founding member in 2001 of the Air Anomalous Phenomenon Investigation Office (OIFAA), of the Peruvian Air Force, with a Masters from the Peruvian Air Force in High Management in Defense and Aerospace Development. He conducted a three year investigation on a sequence of sightings and landings of a UFO on behalf of the OIFAA in 2002, which were recorded on video. In 2003, this case became the first official UFO investigation in Perú to be disclosed by the Air Force.

Ray BOWYER, Captain, Aurigny Airlines.
In April 2007 he observed a UFO estimated as being up to a mile long, visible from about 50 miles away, in the vicinity of the Channel Islands. Some of his passengers saw the object, as did at least one other pilot in the area. An anomalous radar return was detected and the incident was reported by the BBC.

Nick POPE, official for the UK's Ministry of Defence from 1985 to 2006.
From 1991 to 1994, he was the desk officer responsible for investigating officially documented UFO sightings to determine whether they involved any potential threat to the UK. As a result of his thorough study of some incidents involving the police and military during his watch, he and some colleagues became privately convinced that there were important defense, national security and flight safety issues involved with the unexplained phenomenon.

Jim PENNISTON, TSgt USAF Ret.
Also stationed at RAF Bentwaters, he witnessed a landed UFO with two military patrolman in nearby Rendlesham Forest. He conducted a 45 minute ground investigation and filed an official report. He has the original log book with drawings including details of symbols on the craft; radiation records; and plaster casts of landing gear imprints. He is the only person out the three witnesses that actually touched the UFO.

Charles HALT, Col. USAF Ret.
Deputy Base Commander of RAF Bentwaters, former US Air Force facility in the UK. He witnessed multiple UFOs at close range with six other military personnel in December, 1980, and documented this event on a pocket tape recorder. He also saw a UFO shooting beams into sensitive weapons storage areas at the base. He wrote an official memorandum for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) describing a UFO maneuvering through the forest and ascending, which was released through the US Freedom of Information Act.

John CALLAHAN, Ret.
Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations Branch of the FAA in Washington DC, for 6 years during the 1980’s. He investigated an incident in which a 1986 Japanese Airlines 747 flight was followed by an unidentified object for 31 minutes over Alaska. The UFO also trailed a United Airlines flight until the flight landed. Data includes visual confirmation, air-based and ground-based radar confirmation, videotape radar evidence, air traffic voice communications and official reports.

Fife SYMINGTON
Two term Governor of Arizona in the nineties; cousin of the late Missouri Senator Stuart Symington; former Captain, USAF. While Governor, he witnessed to a massive craft up to a mile across over Arizona in 1997, also seen by hundreds of citizens. Although he attempted to investigate at the time, he also publicly spoofed the sighting so as not to add to the public hysteria, while keeping his own observation secret. He first revealed his sighting last March, and states that the craft is of unknown origin and the incident remains unsolved.

アメリカをはじめとする7カ国の政府機関からは元政府高官、イギリスの元防衛省、アメリカやNATO、チリ、イラン、ベルギーの空軍関係者、フランス宇宙開発機構や天文学者、航空関係者、etc.・・・という錚々たるメンバーで、これはほんとにただ事ではない。

記者会見そのものは、アメリカを筆頭とする各国政府にUFOに関するオフィシャルな情報公開を求め、UFOの本格的な調査研究に対する、世界の政府・軍関係機関の国際的な協力をアピールするものだ。

会見の内容も目的も、極めてシリアス。しかもこれだけのパネリストが一同に会して行われたのは前代未聞のことだ。

なのに、僕自身数日前にCNNを観るまでは、その存在すら知らなかった。（このところ忙しくて、あまりこうしたニュースを追いかけていなかったということもあるけれど・・・）

ちなみに、この両方の番組に出演していたのは、UFOのドキュメンタリー映画「OUT OF THE BLUE」の製作者のJAMES FOXで、番組内ではその映像が大量に使用されていたが、この記者会見の企画自体JAMES FOX氏によるもので、彼のサイトで記者会見の模様を一部観ることが出来るし(OUT OF THE BLUE / NEWS)、近々に会見の模様をまとめたDVDもリリースされるようだ。

そういえば、前述のLARRY KING LIVE "UFOs: Are They for Real?"には、何とアノ“元祖NEW AGER”である女優のシャーリー・マクレーンも出演していて、非常に興味深い意見を述べていた。

KING: And you've got -- the Vatican said something?

MACLAINE: Yes. Now, this is interest in relation to the question and problem of religion and God. Padre Balducci -- a wonderful man, Monsignor Balducci -- very close to each pope. He has come out with a statement. You see how thick it is, so I can't read it. They're real, they have discussed what to do about it. Vatican intelligence would really like to discuss it.
That's the problem here. We need the governments to reveal these files. The Chinese have done it. The Brazilians have done it. The French did it about a month ago and it so lit up their switchboard it crashed their Net.
So I think the people are way ahead of military intelligence.

KING: Well, what is the -- since they're not attacking us and they have been seen for years, what's the fear?
What's the government's fear?

MACLAINE: That's an interesting question. I've been working with Paul Hillard. He's the minister -- the ex-minister of defense, Canada, under Trudeau. He is upset because the Americans are planning the weaponization of space, as though they are enemies.

KING: Really?

MACLAINE: Yes. And it is very troubling to him. It came out of a project called Project Paper Clip, in which -- and this is what Eisenhower warned us against -- the sustention of the military industrial complex. In order to extend the power and the funding of the military industrial complex, you have to be afraid of things. Number one was communism. If that petered out, number two is terrorism. That's here for a while.
Number three is asteroids.
And number four is extraterrestrials.
So there might be a built in reasoning here to have induced fear just to keep the military industrial complex going.

おまけに（かどうかは分からんが）、同じ番組の最後には、NASAの火星探査機「SPIRIT」が地球に送ってきた写真に、生物らしいモノが写っていたというビックリ仰天のニュース。

■Life on Mars? Amazing photos from Nasa probe reveal mystery figure on Red Planet (DAILY MAIL)

このニュースは早速翌日フジテレビの朝ワイドなんかでも取り上げていたので、見た人も多いと思う。

ただこの写真に関していうと、確かに“BIG FOOT”のような人影が歩いているようにも見えるけれど、DAILY MAIL誌のサイトに掲載されている他の写真と並べてみると、もしかしたら単なる光の加減で岩陰がそのように見えているのではないかとも思える。（NASAのサイトのイメージファイル：ファイルを拡大すると左の端っこのほうに居る）

それにしても、今年は正月早々、世界同時株安とかガザの壁の崩壊とか、まったく想像もしていなかった異常事態が同時多発的に起きているけれど、UFO関係のニュースもずいぶん多くリリースされているような気がする。

少なくともCNNのような世界中で視聴されているチャンネルで、しかもアメリカ大統領をはじめとする世界の主要な政治指導者や、ハリウッド・スターやセレブリティが頻繁にゲスト出演する（つまり極めて重要な番組として認知されている）LARRY KING LIVEのような番組で、しごく真面目にUFOが語られるのは、その内容もそうだけれど、よく考えてみれば物凄いことだ。

もしかしたら、LARRY KINGはアメリカ政府公認の“UFO広報担当官”だったりして？

ところで日本のマスメディアでは冒頭の記者会見は全く報道されていないけれど、どうしてなんだろうね？このサイト（Media Coverage of Nov.12th UFO Press Conference）を見ると、人民日報なんかも取り上げているのに日本のメディアは皆無・・・。まったくどうなっちゃってんの？

ちなみに、LARRY KING LIVEの番組の中で、出演者の一人が、「本格的な情報公開が近づいていると思う。ブラジルやイギリス、オーストラリアや日本など、次々に各国の政府機関がファイルを公開しはじめている。日本が打ち上げた月面観測衛星（かぐや）が撮影した映像の中に巨大な物体が写っていたことがわかり、その直後に突然日本の閣僚3名が、UFOの存在を認める発言をしているのは興味深いことだ。」というコメントがあって驚いた。

KING: Ken, was that you that wanted to say something?

CHERRY: Yes. Yes. I think we are getting closer to full disclosure. We have government after government that are opening their files -- the Brazilians, the British, the Australians, the Japanese. We've had three cabinet members recently express their belief in UFOs. And I find it kind of interesting that they now have a satellite crisscrossing the moon taking photos and there have been some anomalous objects in some of those photographs. And suddenly three high-ranking cabinet members that say hey, we believe in UFOs.

そんな話は初耳だったので、早速ネットを調べてみたけれど、今のところそれらしい情報や画像は何処にも見当たらない。誰か画像を持っていたら、是非教えて欲しい。