Gabourel Rhianna Gabourel Ms.

Gillhespy ENC 1102 23 April 2013 Aliens, Weather Balloons, Conspiracies: The Government is Covering Up Roswell, But Why? Roswell New Mexico, home to the most talked about UFO mystery in history, but as

with all mysteries comes the thirst for the truth. In early July of 1947 witnesses reported seeing a disc like object flying in the sky near Roswell, New Mexico (Korff 25). The next day local ranch owner William Brazel was out on his farm when he came across large metallic debris scattered across his ranch (Stover 1). He claimed that the debris looked like it was from some type of aircraft (Stover 1). The following day local newspapers printed the story of the strange alien flying saucer crash (Gildenberg 4). Before the government could cover up what really happened news of the unidentified flying object had already gone worldwide. Over the years the government has provided numerous cover-ups for the strange incident, including weather balloons, conspiracies, even destroyed evidence. But one thing remains clear, Roswell is a conspiracy, and the government is making sure no one finds out what happened that night. The first of many cover-ups was project Mogul (Stover 3). The Air Force claimed the incident was not UFOs, but debris from a weather balloon they had previously launched (Stover 3) Immediately following the hysteria that occurred the previous day, Air Force general Ramey ordered the retractile of the unidentified flying object claim made earlier by Major Jesse A. Marcel (Korff 27). After further review of the evidence Ramey dismissed the previous statements and announced that the debris identified as a flying saucer was really just a weather

Gabourel balloon (Korff 28). In early June and July the Air Force launched a series of weather balloons from the Alamogordo Army Air Field in New Mexico, to detect sound waves made by Soviet

atomic bomb testing (Gildenberg 3). The testing was top secret and was kept under high security (Gildenberg 3). The explanation and timing of the weather balloons have appeared to be a convenient, and an almost seamless cover story for what ever happened at Roswell. Kal K. Korff is the respectable author of The Roswell UFO Crash: What They Dont Want You to Know, he has researched Roswell for over 16 years and has left no subject on the event untouched (Korff 25) In his article What Really Happened at Roswell he says, If the Roswell incident did not involve the retrieval of wreckage from a genuine flying saucer, then why was the weather balloon story given as an explanation and what was the reason for the cover-up?(28). Korff presents a valid point, if there was nothing there, if nothing ever happened why the immediate dismissal of Roswell? And why provide and alternate explanation? Not to mention one Air Force offical was told to make a statement about what was seen, and the very next day he was overruled by another offical and a completely new statement was issued. The government expected us just to disregard the previous statement and take their word that it really was just weather balloons. Was it a flying saucer containing an alien life form? I honestly dont know, but there is no denying that project Mogul was put in place by the government to cover-up what really happened. As Roswell hysteria began to fade news of a new government conspiracy began to surface, only increasing the skepticism of the governments hasty cover-up. In the 1950s a project called case closed emerged (Gildenberg 4). Case closed was a government follow up to the events that occurred at Roswell (4). The follow up report was performed by the military; the

Gabourel military re investigated the initial weather balloon claim made by the government, and as B D Gildenberg said in his article the military was Quick to ridicule the first Air Force report on Roswell(Gildenberg 5) As wind of Case Closed reached the public witnesses began to come forward with new details of what they thought were UFOs. The government dismissed the UFO

reports and had the military shutdown the investigation (Gildenberg 5). The office was closed in the early 90s and the report was filed (Gildenberg 4). The evidence surrounding Case Closed proves the government wasnt satisfied with the project Mogul explanation. If they were completely satisfied then why set up a separate office to conduct further investigations? Also why wait so long to close the investigation office after the project was closed in the early 1950s? I believe the government took advantage of the fact that Roswell took place during WWII (Korff 28). Project Mogul was the perfect cover-up for that time period, weather balloons to detect Soviet nuclear activity worked then, but now. Project Mogul wasnt holding up so the government needed a new cover- up. So the government tried to discreetly reinvestigate Roswell with the military and tie up loose ends. Once again the government tried to cover- up the events at Roswell, and once again we find holes in their explanations. The Case Closed project was a hasty attempt to try and really investigate Roswell but it just left us with more questions. The abrupt ending and the mysterious 1997 closing of the offical office makes the case all to suspicious. In the last 20 years little news has come up about the events that had taken place at Roswell, however in 1994 another government slip up was brought to the light (Gildenberg 4). In July of 1994 the GAO known as the General Accounting Office conducted and extensive search of Roswell evidence at the request of Steven H. Schiff, the congressman of New Mexico

Gabourel (McAndrew 1). Documents from the pentagon that had been listed as classified for nearly fifty years were also released and analyzed (Klass 20). In 1995 Philip J. Klass wrote a special report entitled The GAO Roswell Report and Congressman Schiff. In the report Klass releases the statement issued by Schiff (Klass 20). The report in a nutshell is an extensive interview with

Schiff. The press release had the media in a frenzy, making everyone question what was found in those reports (Klass 20). Schiff was given access to every piece of evidence the government had, yet he failed to discuses any of the highly classified National Security tapes (Klass 20). Though he failed to discuss all the evidence Schiff did share this import piece of evidence:

Schiff said important documents, which may have shed more light on what happened at Roswell, are missing. The GAO report states that the out-going messages from Roswell Army Air Field for this period of time were destroyed without proper authority. (Klass 20)

Conveniently for the military they cant explain who, what, when, why, or how the messages were destroyed. Schiff asked continuously about the missing pieces of evidence but never got a straight answer from the government (Klass 21). How does a defining piece of evidence go missing? Why would the government release all the other information but when it came to these tapes they were just conveniently missing? Though some consider this release of information as a bust, Steven Schiff is also quoted saying At least this effort caused the Air Force to acknowledge that the crashed vehicle was no weather balloon. That explanation never fit the fact of high military security used at the time(Klass 21). This commission to release evidence did exactly what it was suppose to do,

Gabourel expose the government. None of the government explanations make sense anymore. Steven

Schiff combed through all of the evidence and seemed to have found a flaw in just about all of it. Each new cover-up produced even more loose ends, leaving the government with little to say about Schiffs press release (Klass 22). The evidence is clear the government covered up Roswell, and they used the release of evidence to their advantage. They released just enough evidence to silence America for lack of a better term. They quenched are thirst for the truth; they laid all their cards out on the table and expected that would be enough. Unfortunately for them we could care less about the information they handed us, we care about the information that wasnt released, the pieces of information that just seem to be missing. Thanks to Steven Schiff we are able to see that the government is doing everything they can to make sure that the truth about Roswell stay hidden. Whether Roswell was aliens, flying fish, or Thor what the government is covering up isnt the issue, the fact that they are does. The government has gone to extreme lengths to keep the Roswell incident under wraps. They have retracted statements, implemented acts like Case Closed and then mysteriously closed it down, and mysteriously destroyed military evidence. Its been over 50 years since Roswell and the government is still covering up what happened. They dodge just about every question and pile on cover- up after cover-up, and for what? Was what happened at Roswell so bad they cant fathom what would happen if we found out the truth? I doubt it. It is time the government stops hiding, comes clean, and gives us the truth we deserve.

Gabourel Works Cited

Gildenberg, B. D. "A Roswell Requiem." Skeptic 2003: 60-73. ProQuest. Web. 2 Apr. 2013 .

Klass, Philip J. "The GAO Roswell Report and Congressman Schiff." The Skeptical Inquirer 1995: 20-. ProQuest. Web. 2 Apr. 2013 .

Korff, Kal K. "What really Happened at Roswell." The Skeptical Inquirer 1997: 24-30. ProQuest. Web. 27 Mar. 2013

McAndrew, James. The Roswell Report: Case Closed : Executive Summary. Washington, D.C: Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, 1997. Internet resource.

Stover, Dawn. "50 years after Roswell." Popular Science June 1997: 82+. Academic OneFile. Web. 2 Apr. 2013.

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