GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS--
SADDAM FLED IRAQ IN
A CYLINDRICAL UFO?
A missing U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter and cylindrical
UFOs spotted over Baghdad may provide clues to the puzzle
of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's strange disappearance.
"Two U.S. airmen have been missing in Iraq since
their F-15E Strike Eagle crashed Sunday," April 6, 2003,
"U.S. Central Command said. The airmen, who are part of
the (USAF) 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force
Base in North Carolina went down about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Officials at Central Command are investigating the cause."
But on Apr 10, 03, USA Today reported,
"Coalition rescue teams were searching for the crew of a
U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter jet that went down Monday
near Tikrit. The cause of the crash was unknown."
As of this writing, neither the aircraft nor its crew
have been recovered by Allied coalition forces.
Tikrit is Saddam's hometown and was the last Iraqi
city to fall. Saddam reportedly has a large underground
base at al-Ouja, 3 kilometers (2 miles) north of Tikrit,
which is where the F-15E was lost.
Also, on Monday, Saddam was photographed taking a
stroll in Baghdad's al-Firdos Square, looking cheerful and
confident.
(Editor's Comment: I saw that photo and thought Saddam
looked almighty chipper for somebody who had half the U.S.
Marine Corps on his doorstep.)
Video footage of Saddam and his sons, Uday and Qusay,
meeting with top officers of the Iraqi Republican Guard
was shot on Monday and aired on Iraqi TV on Apr 9, 03. This was the last time they were seen in
public.
On Apr 6, 03, at about 1 a.m. Baghdad
time, five cylindrical UFOs were seen hovering over the
Khulfafa mosque in the Shebab district, on the east bank
of the Tigris River. The faintly luminous cylinders were
"caught by a fixed, night-vision camera" and aired live on
FOX (which would have been 4 p.m. Apr 5, 03
in the USA--J.T.)
"My friend Hiba Rashid said there was a UFO sighting
in Shebab early Sunday morning, but she provided no
details," said Ayesha al-Khatabi, one of UFO Roundup's
Middle East correspondents. "I have not heard from her
since Baghdad was overrun by the Anglo-American coalition.
She lives in Arassat (a residential area on the south side
of Baghdad--J.T.). Her family was preparing to flee
across the Tigris to Karada (district) when last I heard
from her."
On Apr 7, 03, a USAF B-1 Lancer bomber
dropped four 2,000-pound JDAM bombs on a house in Mansur,
an upscale residential neighborhood in western Baghdad.
Saddam and his sons were seen entering the house just 12
minutes earlier. The house was utterly destroyed, and
nine civilians nearby were killed.
"Multiple U.S. intelligence sources put Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein inside a Baghdad building before
it was leveled by American bombs, U.S. officials said
Wednesday."
"Intelligence officials described the information
that led to Monday's strike as solid but did not provide
details. One source was believed to be an eyewitness who
watched Saddam go inside the building."
"Britain's Guardian newspaper quoted an unidentified
intelligence source Wednesday as saying Saddam 'was
probably not in the building when it was bombed.' The
Times of London quoted an unidentified source who said,
'We think he left the same way he arrived in the area,
either by a tunnel system or by car.'"
"Ahmad Chalabi, the once-exiled leader of the Iraqi
National Congress, told CNN television Wednesday that he
had heard from sources inside Iraq that Saddam and his two
sons survived the bombing and were in a town northeast of
Baghdad when the U.S. Marines arrived."
This was the second "miraculous" escape by the Iraqi
dictator. Saddam survived a similar bombing during the
early morning hours of Mar 20,03, when the
war began.
By Wednesday morning, not only had Saddam and his
sons dropped out of sight, virtually the entire Iraqi high
command had vanished, including Abid Hammoud al-Tikriti,
Saddam's cousin and personal bodyguard; Barzan Ibrahim
Hassan al-Tikriti, a.k.a. "Uncle Barzan," Saddam's half-
brother and leader of the Mukhabarat (Iraqi secret police-
-J.T.); and Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's other
half-brother and former Minister of the Interior.
(Editor's Note: On Apr 13,03, Watban Ibrahim
al-Tikriti was captured by Allied forces in Rabia while
trying to slip across the border into Syria.)
"They just didn't show up for work on Wednesday," a
U.S. intelligence source was quoted as saying.
The "hot gossip" in Iraq's UFO community attributes
both of Saddam's incredible escapes to a group of alleged
aliens hiding out in Iraq. According to this legend, a
UFO crash-landed in Iraq during either Gulf War 1 in 1991
or during Operation Desert Fox in 1998. Saddam supposedly
granted the aliens sanctuary in Iraq in exchange for
technological information that would keep his armed forces
on a par with his enemies--the USA, UK and Israel. The
aliens were reportedly staying at an underground base in
Zarzi or the ancient citadel of Qalaat-e-Julundi, both
located in the as-Zab as-Saghir (Little Zab) river valley
north of Tikrit.
"Once again, they say the aliens saved the lives of
Saddam and his sons," Mohammed Daud al-Hayyat stated.
"They appeared at the Mansur house while the American
bomber was enroute. They shined the mysterious beam at
the wall, and once again the circle of light, or portal or
vortex or whatever it is you UFO Roundup people call it,
was created. Saddam, Uday, Qusay and Abid Hammoud stepped
into it, followed by the aliens. And then they vanished."
"When Saddam emerged from the circle of light, he
found himself at the underground base in Al-Ouja. He
discussed the situation with the aliens. Uday was very
loud and angry. He demanded that the aliens give his
father Drona Parva weapons so they could strike directly
at America. The aliens ignored him."
(Editor's Note: The Drona Parva is a book of the ancient
Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, describing energy weapons
that make nuclear bombs look like Fourth of July
firecrackers.)
"The aliens told Saddam that they could not save his
regime. However, because he had protected them from the
Americans, they would show their appreciation by helping
him and his family escape into space. They would not
allow Saddam to fall into the hands of his enemies, the
Zionists. A large UFO was summoned to Al-Ouja, and Saddam
and his family departed. As to where they have fled, no
one can say."
"And another thing--why is as-Zab as-Saghir north of
Tikrit the only part of Iraq that has not been invaded,
not even after the (Iraqi) 5th Corps surrendered? Why has
the Anglo-American coalition cordoned off this region?"
If Uncle Bandar's Mukhabarat agents knew about the
presence of the UFOs on Sunday, that might explain
Saddam's strange confidence when he was photographed
Sunday afternoon.
The critical question here is exactly when the F-15E
went down and what its mission was north of Tikrit. Did
an AWACS plane pick up the radar image of the cylindrical
UFO over Al-Ouja? Did U.S. Central Command vector the F-
15E Strike Eagle after this surprise "target?" Did the
same UFO that supposedly picked up Saddam shoot down the
F-15E?
As of this writing, the final fate of Saddam and his
sons is still unknown. (See USA Today for Apr 9,03, "Hunt underway for missing airmen" and "How
the strike against Saddam unfolded," page 4A; for
Apr 10,03, "No one ready to declare Saddam,
sons dead," page 4A and "Pockets of stubborn resistance
dot the map," page 5A; and the tabloid Globe for Apr 22,
03, "Saddam Fakes It!" page 27. Many thanks to Robert
Fischer, Ayesha al-Khatabi, Mohammed Daud al-Hayyat, Steve
Wilson Sr. and others for this report.)
FIVE UFOs SIGHTED NEAR
DIJON, FRANCE
On Apr 5,03, at 11:15 p.m., Patrick
Combes, 20, and his 30-year-old brother were watching TV
at their home in Marsannay-la-Cote, a town near Dijon in
the department Cote d'Or in eastern France. Patrick
reported, "Then, after the broadcast ended, my brother
went out on the terrace to have a cigarette. One minute
later, he called me loudly, but I did not react because I
thought he wanted to make a joke. He called me again,
wanted me to hurry."
"Then I went out very quickly. He asked me to look
into the sky in a northerly direction, and then I saw five
lights which I consider five identical objects. Because
these five 'objects' moved very fast, around each other,
mixing them like a swarm of bees. But they remained
grouped, going away northwards."
The elder Combes added, "I was smoking my cigarette,
then I saw a small light in the sky. At first I believed
it was a plane but then I looked at it again. I saw five
lights coming from the east, going westward. They moved
by jerks, then formed a triangle (formation). During the
sighting, we heard no noise. It was the first time my
brother and I had seen such a phenomenon."
Dijon is about 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast
of Paris. (Merci beaucoup a Robert Fischer pour ces
rapports.)
FORTY PEOPLE WATCH A
UFO IN CENTRAL POLAND
On Mar 20,03, at 2 a.m., about 40
people working the night shift at a local factory were on
break when they spotted a UFO over Kolbiel in central
Poland.
"They all watched a large flying object in the shape
of a drop-sphere, which was moving without making a
sound," reported Polish ufologist Tomasz Wierszalowicz,
"The object moved slowly from a high altitude down to the
ground. While it was near the ground, the people saw a
red circle of light, a kind of halo or glow, moving over
the terrain as if the object was shining a spotlight."
(Many thanks to Tomasz Werszalowicz of Polish UFO Reports
for this news story.)
UFOs SPOTTED IN COLOMBIA
AND BRAZIL
According to Colombian ufologist Edgar Arce, on
Mar 17,03, during a UFO watch sponsored by
the group Contacto OVNI, "eighty witnesses were present
and saw several orange-colored UFOs hovering and
performing aerial maneuvers over Mount Juaica, in the
Tabio region near the city of Cundinamarca."
"Two days earlier, on Mar 15,03,
between 10:45 p.m. and mdnight, the witnesses had seen
orange lights in the distance, which later seemed to dim
in intensity. Then, minutes later, they observed small
red and blue lights flying up from the ground into space
for a period of 10 minutes."
And, in Brazil, "daylight UFOs were photographed as
they flew over Ilha Porchat (island) and later Ilha
Urubuqueraba (island) in the South Atlantic." The islands
are just offshore from Santos, the main seaport of Sao
Paulo state. "These objects were of a spherical shape,
colored silver, and had small interior lights." (The
Colombia report appeared in NotiOVNI for Apr 6,03.
Muchas gracias a Daniel Munoz para esas noticias. Por o
caso do Brasil, muito obrigado a Pedro Teixeira.)
LARGE BLUE UFO APPEARS
IN NORTHERN ARIZONA
On Apr 2,03, Patricia F. and her
companions were hiking along the Kaibab Trail at the Grand
Canyon in northern Arizona. She reports, "We were taking
a night hike and we heard a loud noise in the sky. We did
not know what it was. Then we looked up and saw the
mysterious mothership. It was glowing bright blue, and we
were terrified."
"Then there was a flash of light, and the object
split in two. Then the objects headed in different
directions. One piece headed west and one east. The
initial object was huge, and it was cone-shaped, but the
ends were rounded. It was three miles up (5,000 meters)
and it was going at 70 miles per hour. We were too scared
to even think about it. This is the first time that we've
reported it." (Email Form Report)
PHANTOM PANTHER GOES
ON THE PROWL IN SPAIN
"The Ertzaintza (Basque state police--S.C.) has
availed itself of a boar to hunt down a 'black panther'
that has become lost in a community of Vizcaya province"
in Spain.
"The animal, whose origin is unknown, was seen by a
local resident and by a police agent in the vicinity of
Armintza," in Vizcaya province, "according to information
presented by an Agence France Presse photographer."
"The boar, named Kinito, belongs to one of the
Ertzaintza agents taking part in the panther hunt, in
which a helicopter is also being used. Authorities are
convinced that the wild boar's highly-developed sense of
smell, which is greater than a dog's by 20 percent, may
aid in finding the panther, which was also seen on
Wednesday (Ap 2,03) by a police officer."
"The feline's origin remains a mystery. Police
speculate that the animal may have escaped from some
property where the owner kept it as a companion animal.
The fact that no missing animal report has been filed with
law enforcement has led authorities to believe that the
owner kept the animal illegally." (See Agence France
Presse for Ap 8,03, "Ertzaintza employs a boar to
hunt for alien big cat." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales
y Jordi Ardanuy para esas noticias.)
(Editor's Note: It's been a bumper year for sightings of
this phenomenon, which is known as phantom panthers in the
USA and alien big cats in UK. For more on the UK
sightings, see UFO Roundup, vol 8, no 12 for Mar
19,03, "Phantom panthers run wild in United Kingdom,"
page 2, and UFO Roundup, volume 8, number 14 for April 2,
2003, "Woman photographs phantom panther in Somerset, UK,"
page 5.)
STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES
REPORTED IN ALGERIA
"Desert nomads were reported yesterday (Monday, April
7, 2003) to have discovered an abandoned vehicle and a
network of tunnels in a remote region of southern Algeria,
thought likely to provide clues about the mysterious
disappearance of 29 Western (European) tourists in the
Sahara over the past seven weeks."
"Germany's ARD television channel said the off-road
vehicles were found in a mountainous district north of the
Algerian town of Tamanrasset at the weekend by a camel
train (caravan--J.T.) of nomads passing through the
region."
"The vehicle was left parked outside the entrance to
a complex system of underground caves linked by tunnels.
The nomads said they suspected the caves 'were inhabited'
although they had not entered the system to find out."
"The nomads' find appeared to be the first clue so
far in an increasingly desperate search for the missing
tourists, whose number increased to 29 last week after
Austria announced that eight of its citizens had
disappeared in the region."
"Sixteen Germans, four Swiss and one Nederlander
(Dutchman) have gone missing in the Algerian Sahara since
the beginning of Mar (03)."
"On Sunday (Apr 6, 03), a team of five
investigators from Germany's Federal Criminal Bureau were
dispatched to Algiers to join Algerian and other German
police in the hunt for the missing tourists. All 29 were
in three groups that were exploring the region
independently in off-road vehicles."
"The last evidence of their whereabouts is a
photograph taken by a friend of the missing tourists that
shows six of the explorers with a car and three
motorcycles while taking a break on a pass in the Algerian
mountains on February 21, 2003. Two days later, the first
group disappeared."
"German and Algerian investigators suspect that the
tourists may have been taken hostage by a militant
Islamist group known as the Salafist Group for Call and
Combat (GSPC), which has links to Al-Qaeda. The GSPC is
fighting the Algerian authorities and has been active in
the central Sahara for years."
"However, no ransom demand has so far been made."
"'We cannot rule out any possibilities. There have
been no demands,' said a German Federal Criminal Bureau
spokesman. He said the search had been widened to include
the use of helicopters equipped with heat-seeking
cameras." (See the UK newspaper The Independent for April
8, 2003, "Saharan tunnels could solve mystery of missng
tourists." Many thanks to Robert Fischer and OVNI Maroc
for this newspaper story.)
(Editor's Note: Aside from the possibility of alien
involvement in these strange disappearances, the caves of
that region have links to the lost continent of Atlantis.
For more, see Atlantis Rising No. 39 for May/June 03,
"Atlanteans across the Sahara" by Frank Joseph, pages 38,
41 and 68.)
That's it for this week. Join us in seven days for
more UFO, paranormal and Fortean news from around the
planet Earth, brought to you by "the paper that goes home-
-UFO Roundup." See you next time.
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 2003 by Masinaigan Productions, all
rights reserved. Readers may post news items from UFO
Roundup on their websites or in news groups provided that
they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list
the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
E-Mail Reports to: Joseph Trainor Masinaigan@aol.com
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