BPR Mailing List Digest: 09/24/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
September 24, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | September, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israel readies for symbolic PA actions on sovereignty
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 09:33:03 -0400

Sunday, September 24, 2000

Israel readies for symbolic PA actions on sovereignty

By Aluf Benn
Ha'aretz Correspondent

Israel is preparing for the possibility that in coming months the Palestinian
Authority will launch a series of symbolic acts to signify Palestinian
sovereignty over territory still under Israeli control.

According to intelligence sources, these efforts will not be part of a unilateral,
formal declaration of an independent Palestinian state. However, sources say
that the Palestinian preparations have been under way since Washington
and the international community have begun pressuring the Palestinian
chairman, Yasser Arafat, not to declare an independent state unilaterally.

During meetings run by Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, who will
present a report to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, various options for Israeli
reaction are being examined.

A central idea in the approaches being examined by Sneh and his team is
that of "unilateral separation," which Israel plans to declare in case the
Palestinians unilaterally declare an independent state.

The "unilateral separation" approach will recommend a series of steps which
the political leadership of the country may choose to utilize when needed.
Among them is the unilateral annexation of territorial blocks in the West
Bank and Gaza where large settlements are situated.

In addition, economic agreements may be suspended, including the entry of
Palestinian workers into Israel, and the end to the collection of taxes which
the Finance Ministry carries out on behalf of the PA.

Israel would also strengthen its presence along the border crossings, both
within the territories and along the borders with Jordan and Egypt. This would
also involve reinforcing the Israeli military presence inside the West Bank.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/htmls/kat8_4.asp

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Saddam sells UN drugs on black market
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 09:38:58 -0400

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
To: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date sent: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 09:38:58 -0400
Subject: Saddam sells UN drugs on black market
Send reply to: moza@butterfly.mv.com
Priority: normal

September 24, 2000

Saddam sells UN drugs on black market
By Christina Lamb

CHILDREN'S medicines sent to Iraq by a British pharmaceutical company
under a United Nations programme are being smuggled out of the country and
sold on the black market in Lebanon to fund the lavish tastes of Saddam
Hussein.

Glaxo-Wellcome has made official complaints to the Foreign Office and to
the UN which oversees the Oil for Food Programme. This allows Baghdad to
sell limited quantities of oil to buy vital humanitarian supplies for
children, the sick and elderly.

The UN Security Council set strict controls to ensure that the medicines
went to civilians and not the regime. But a spokesman for Glaxo-Wellcome
told The Telegraph that the company has so far traced 15,000 units of
Ventolin, part of a consignment of asthma medicine shipped to Iraq,
circulating on the black market in Beirut.

The medicines had been transported to Lebanon using vehicles belonging to
Iraq's ministry of transport. This indicates that the smuggling is being
masterminded at the highest levels and undermines Saddam's claims that
people are dying in Iraq because of shortages caused by the trade embargo
imposed in 1991 after the invasion of Kuwait. However, with the Iraqi
dictator still firmly in power despite a decade of sanctions, Britain and
America are increasingly isolated as they continue to insist on the
embargo. A Foreign Office official acknowledged: "Sanctions are clearly
not working but they are desperately clinging on because no one knows what
else to do."

Saddam is using the supposed shortages as a propaganda tool, showing
pictures of sick children and blaming the West for his people's suffering
when his regime is actually smuggling out medicines that it does receive.
The Ventolin is thought to be just a fraction of the UN- approved Western
medicines illegally sold on by Saddam's lieutenants in a scheme run by his
son Uday. The Iraqi opposition estimate that millions of pounds are being
raised in this way and used to finance Saddam's regime and the activities
of his intelligence services as they step up their work in London and
other European capitals.

Glaxo-Wellcome has launched a campaign to warn pharmacists in Lebanon and
other Arab states not to sell the smuggled goods. The company is concerned
about the safety implications of prescription drugs being sold over the
counter as well as being undercut in markets to which it already exports.
Last week the Lebanese authorities arrested a number of those involved in
selling them.

"Obviously this is a worrying development," said an official at the UN
programme office for Iraq. A recent report by the office to the Security
Council projected oil revenues for Iraq from December 1999 to June 2000 at
Ł6 billion, which should be spent on health and food, and complained that
medicines worth Ł180 million were still lying in Iraqi warehouses and had
not been distributed.

However, there is now increasing pressure to end sanctions both in the
Arab world and beyond. Iraqi trade with Syria, Egypt and some Gulf
countries has been increasing, as has support for an end to the embargo,
and there have been several reports of oil being smuggled through Turkey
and the UAE.

Last week Saddam's regime celebrated the arrival of a Russian flight at
the newly-reopened Baghdad international airport and Aeroflot executives
are awaiting Kremlin approval for the resumption of what will be the first
regular commercial flights since the Gulf war. Passengers on last week's
flight included oil executives interested in making deals with Iraq.

On Friday, a French plane flew from Paris to Baghdad, carrying doctors,
athletes and artists defying a request from the UN committee that upholds
the sanctions regime against Iraq. The sanctions committee was informed
only on Thursday night of the Friday morning flight and France refused a
request to delay the flight for 12 hours so that the issue could be
studied. Welcoming the flight at Baghdad, Hussein Saeed, an Iraqi Olympic
committee official, said the French had taken "a big initiative in
breaking the embargo".

At the same time, boosted by record oil prices and the protests in Britain
and across Europe over high fuel costs, Saddam has begun an intensive
lobbying campaign to weaken the sanction regime. His efforts already seem
to be having some effect. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's new president, recently
made a trip to Baghdad, the first elected head of state to visit since the
Gulf war. Known for his anti-American rhetoric, President Chavez claimed
his visit was necessary because Venezuela currently holds the presidency
of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and suggested it was
time to end Iraq's isolation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=003511677918707&rtmo=3mxA8YxM&a
tmo=tttttttd&pg=/et/00/9/24/wdrug24.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Solar Travel
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 09:41:34 -0400

In sum, interstellar travel seems entirely possible for mankind, either by
staying aboard Spaceship Earth (and, perhaps, future terraformed planets
like Mars and Venus) OR following the construction of a "Class C" stellar
engine.

Full Story:
http://www.astronomytoday.com/exploration/solartravel.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - PA will raise a fuss if U.S. opposes bid to become full UN member
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 09:45:34 -0400

Sunday, September 24, 2000

PA will raise a fuss if U.S. opposes bid to become full UN member

By Amira Hass
Ha'aretz Palestinian Affairs Correspondent

Nasser al-Kidwa, Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, said that if the
United States objects to a Palestinian bid to become a member of the United
Nations, the PA will take the issue to World Court and argue that the United
States has become a side, rather than a mediator, in the Middle East
conflict.

The Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council decided two weeks
ago that the PA should submit a formal application in the coming weeks for
membership in the United Nations. He said that the United States has
promised not to impose a veto on the membership bid if the PA fulfills all the
application requirements. Currently the Palestinians have observer status in
the UN.

"If the United States imposes a veto, we will not sit idly by," al-Kidwa told the
Voice of Palestine radio station.

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials have been saying that any American
suggestion over Jerusalem that complies with UN resolutions would be
welcome by the PA.

But PA Planning Minister Nabil Sha'ath said that any written American
proposal should be drafted in consultation with the Palestinians. The
Palestinians are convinced that the Americans are cooperating very closely
with the Israelis in trying to come up with a formula to break the deadlock
between themselves and Israel over control of Jerusalem.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat ruled out any proposal of UN sovereignty
over contested parts of Jerusalem.

Palestinian ministers at the weekly PA cabinet meeting on Friday discussed
the talks on Jerusalem and also expressed concern over Israeli bypass
roads under construction in the West Bank intended to link Jewish
settlements while bypassing Palestinian areas.

Erekat told reporters at the end of the meeting that a formal request would be
made over the weekend to Israel to cease construction of a ring road around
East Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem municipality has recently announced that it was expropriating
some 658 dunams (about 140 acres) of Palestinian land in areas under the
municipality's jurisdiction for the road. Announcements of the pending
expropriation have been posted on walls and fences.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat10_6.htm

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Tzemach News Service items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 09:52:36 -0400

NEW DEAD SEA SETTLEMENT: For the first time since the 1960's, a new Jewish settlement will be established along the Dead Sea shore. The new town, to be called N'vei Zohar, will be comprised of 140 houses, the owners of which will each be licensed to construct and operate three or four "tzimmers" (bed and breakfast). The town will thus provide a cheaper alternative for international and Israeli tourists to the Dead Sea who do not wish to vacation in the area's hotels.

HAR HOMA UPDATE: Today it is the most successful best selling real estate projects in the Jerusalem area. Almost overnight Har Homa transformed from an ideological effort to just another Jerusalem neighborhood. A neighborhood, by the way, with a secular majority. That's not at all what opponents said it would be.

PA/PLO SECRET UNITS: Informed intelligence sources say the PA/PLO has deployed undercover units to locate and monitor collaborators on Israeli territory. The units have carried out intensive activities in collaborator centers in Tel Aviv, Kefar Saba, and Netanya. The units are named dubbed "mustahwidun" [Arabic for "disguised as Jews"] and work for the PA/PLO security apparatuses, primarily by the Preventive Security Service, headed by Jibril al-Rujub; General Intelligence, headed by Tawfiq al-Tirawi; and Military Intelligence, headed by Musa Arafat. The units are subordinate to special departments going under the title of Branch for Anti-Espionage Activities. PA/PLO security officials say that the persecution of collaborators is part of the Palestinian-Israeli sovereignty struggle. [Editor's Note: The PA/PLO is trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).]

THE CLINTON-BARAK-ARAFAT GREAT OIL SWINDLE (Emanuel A. Winston, Middle East Analyst & Commentator [gwinston@interaccess.com])

You may have been wondering why Prime Minister Barak was so anxious to make extraordinary concessions of Israeli land, water, Jewish Holy Sites, Jerusalem, et al and on such an accelerated time-table, regardless of risk. Perhaps you thought he was merely doing the Clintons a favor for the assistance they rendered during his elections. But, what leader would ever consider giving up half his capital city, let alone the Holy Jewish Capital, Jerusalem. There is an answer, one that should be addressed both in a Congressional inquiry in the U.S. and a similar inquiry by the Israeli Knesset.

When Clinton promised Barak upwards of $50 to 70 Billion of American tax-payers' dollars for withdrawing from irreplaceable water and defensive territory - with another $40 Billion of American money directly to Arafat, he needed deep pockets. Someone had to pay for Clinton's "Grand Gesture". Clinton needed even deeper pockets to pay for Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights - having to evict 17,000 Israeli citizens from their homes, factories, farms, vineyards, and famous wineries. He also had to pay for the redeployment of a complete Israeli Army and all its installations which faced the Syrian Army, positioned there in the Heights to keep Syria from moving down on Israel. Here the cost estimates ranged from $70 to $100 Billion to move all of that plus another $40 Billion of American money to pay Syria merely to accept this grand gift. (The money to Syria would enable them to buy U.S. high tech weapons that would give Syria overwhelming military superiority over the Israelis as well as the strategic Heights and water.) The total amounts promised to Barak and Arafat by President Clinton, an out-going President, were staggering. (1)

Where was all this vast treasure to come from? The U.S. Congress was certainly not going to simply foot the bill, even when Clinton threatened to blame them for standing in the way of his peace plan. How would Congress explain its actions to its constituents, the American public, that it would raid the U.S. Treasury of American paid-in tax dollars while cutting all sorts of American entitlement programs, like Social Security, Education, Medicare, etc. that are essential for the American people?

The scheme was quite simple. It could be called "Clinton's Foreign Oil Policy". (2)

Work with OPEC via a covert program to keep the price of oil at an all time high level and OPEC would accumulate a slush fund which would, in part, pay for Bill Clinton's promises. Keep in mind that this scheme is merely a direct transfer of dollars as a free gift from the pockets of unsuspecting American and Europeans without having to go through either Congress or the European Parliaments.

RAPE & REAP

This was to be the swindle that topped all other swindles. Each gallon of gas, fuel oil, diesel would carry a de facto hidden tax through the current manipulated price hike which would transfer the elevated cost of crude directly to the consuming public. They would, of course, complain bitterly about the cost of finished refined products but would go ballistic if they knew the REAL reason for the oil price manipulation. Keep in mind that in addition to this slush fund, the oil producers and the oil company processors were raking in excess profits in the hundreds of billions. This is a Rape & Reap Process.

When Bill Clinton sent Bill Richardson, Secretary of Energy to Saudi Arabia when the price of crude dropped to $10 a barrel, as a result of the oil glut the reason for his mission was astonishing. Clinton wanted Saudi Arabia to lead OPEC members into cutting production in order to raise crude oil prices. Several reasons existed for Clinton's pressure - in addition to this slush fund from excess profits.

When crude dropped to $10 a barrel, Arab countries began to cancel their weapons' orders and demanded to re-negotiate prior contracts. Clinton, who was using higher oil prices for his foreign policy, needed those profits pouring into OPEC from American pockets so weapons' sales worth billions would continue. (Note! The recent Saudi plan to purchase $3 Billions in U.S. weapons, used higher crude prices to buy these high tech arms -directly out of the pockets of American consumers.) (3)

Also, Clinton needed to transfer American wealth to Russia via oil -without re-payable loans to first Boris Yeltsin and now Alexandre Putin. This was one facet of Clinton's foreign policy wherein he bribed the Russians to collaborate. They took the money but, they didn't play ball. Remember, Russia is a large exporter of crude. That scheme of transfer of capital without having to go through Congress worked so well, he decided to apply it to his exit strategy from the White House. If he could get OPEC to set aside part of the profits being squeezed out of the American and European public for his Middle East promises, he could polish his tarnished record by being the great peace maker of all times.

To accomplish this, he needed a compliant Prime Minister in control of Israel. He helped buy the election of a person who was such a dedicated Socialist that the re-partitioning of Israel was consistent with the man's entire upbringing. Ehud Barak was raised in a pro-Soviet kibbutz and nurtured by the Leftist political Party into the PM's office. Barak was the perfect Manchurian Candidate - brainwashed - (as in the movie where the repatriated GI prisoner-of-war was brainwashed by the Chinese Communists and trained to kill on subliminal command.)

It is clear why Barak is in a panic to complete the Faustian bargain he has made with Clinton and Arafat. The manipulated transfer of money must occur while Bill Clinton is still in office because the next President may not continue to carry forward a plan that carries the risk of impeachment. The oil price manipulation must continue for as long as possible in order to create the slush fund to buy what Barak must give up. It must also pay Arafat to establish and people his neo-State of Palestine. Then there is the purchase of the Golan for Syria. All of this could amount to $150 to $200 Billion dollars.

Oh, Yes! I forgot to include the cost of the U.S. Military Base planned for the Golan Heights.

This swindle may be the greatest transfer of American and European wealth that has ever occurred. It is so massive that it cannot be seen in all of its parts at a glance. Therein lies its brilliance and ruthlessness.

Ehud Barak must close his end of the deal quickly before he's forced out of office by an angry electorate. He must make proclamations using the authority of office he does not really have but has now claimed. He is to make these concessions irreversible by having Clinton, the leaders of the European Union nations and Egypt immediately sign on the White House lawn before any debate or confirmation by the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) due to reconvene in October. Every effort is being made to achieve this monumental swindle very quickly. Note the swarming of the State Department team and Clinton's continuous intercession, pleading with Arafat to accept Barak's concessions.

There is yet critical another component to the swindle. U.S. based Multi-National companies have blamed the shortage of crude oil for their high prices. They are using this so-called shortage which they caused to evolve in order to demand suspension of laws that prohibit drilling in ecologically sensitive areas like estuaries, fish breeding grounds, etc. In addition to drilling in these prohibited areas, they are also lobbying for Congressional tax concessions, despite their excess profits. And, as we saw in the brief hearings earlier this year, the oil magnates are begging for this money 'to benefit the poor, small and wild-cat drilling companies'. However, under this manipulated oil price blackmail, IF Congress granted these financial benefits, it is the huge Multi-nationals who will reap the greatest windfall profits.

So, dear fellow American taxpayers and European citizens, you are being royally cheated by your leaders. The result is high gas prices for gasoline, diesel fuel for trucks and ships, jet fuel, home heating oil at extraordinary prices - all leading to tremendous price rises in consumer goods. This is the covert foreign oil policy of Clinton: one massive swindle and we all are the suckers paying for it.

Please do not blame the Israeli people because they will pay for this through the loss of lives and possibly their nation and probably a heavy financial burden that will bankrupt this vibrant nation for years. You can, however, blame the Leftist Government of Israel - so consumed with their plan to absorb Israel into the Arab nations that any trick or swindle is acceptable to them.

You can also specifically blame what may be most corrupt and invidious President so consumed with his personal self that he would easily cheat the American public IF it will polish his tarnished legacy. Fuel strikes in France, England and now Germany due to soaring oil prices are spontaneous eruptions by angry farmers, truckers, factory owners. Undoubtedly, American Unions will soon tie up U.S. roads in similar protests. Let their anger be properly directed against Clinton, Barak and Arafat, (the notorious gang of three) as well as OPEC which aiding the Clinton foreign oil policy. The victims of this Rape and Reap policy are the American and European public, plus the Israeli people who are losing their land, water, holy Jewish sites and will probably also have their taxes raised to pay for Barak's folly.

There are many pigs feeding at the oil trough, including the U.S. government which has a 25% tax on gas - with the European Governments taxing gas at a 70% rate. (4)

Clinton has just stated on CNN News that he doesn't thinks high oil prices will lead to a world wide recession.(5) Many nations and many companies have been walking a financial tightrope. All they needed was a slight tip in the global economy to push them into a default on debt. Take a hard look at Japan and China - followed by the rest of Asia. Will Bill Clinton's manipulation of oil lead to his final legacy of global depression? Bill Clinton has just told us not to worry about a global recession. Take that to mean he has just looked over the horizon at what his manipulations have started. Telegram arrives: "Start worrying; letter to follow."

Finally, the nay-sayers will pop up with their verbal obfuscation stating there are no conspiracies in government, only conspiracy theories. Well, folks, the fact is that every scintilla of planning in government is a plan to undercut some nation or some competitor. There is no other description except 'conspiracy'. Whether Iran-Contra or Oslo, be assured conspiracies are the rule and not the exception.

###

1. "COST OF ISRAELI-SYRIAN ACCORD COULD TOP $80 BILLION: PUTTING A PRICE TAG ON THE GOLAN HEIGHTS" by Barbara Opall-Rome U.S. DEFENSE NEWS 11/15/99
2. "A LOOK AT THE COST OF OIL: HOW THE WHITE HOUSE HELPED PUMP UP THE PRICE. Wondering why it costs so much to fill your tank? One writer believes the answer may lie close to home." by Andrew Hamilton WASHINGTON POST 4/30/2000
3. "Saudis Plan to Purchase $3 Billion in Weapons with Oil Price Rise" U.S. DEFENSE NEWS 9/16/00
4. "Euroland Tax Revolt is Good for Europeans" by Lawrence Kudlow ING Barings LLC 2000 9/15/00
5. "Clinton Doesn't Think Oil Price Rises will Lead to World Recession" CNN NEWS 9/15/00

Week Ending: 23 Elul 5760/23 September 2000

Tzemach News Service - http://www.tzemach.org/fyi

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Celestial sculpture in space?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 15:59:33 -0500

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 24 2000

[For pics see the URL at end of article]

Celestial sculpture in space?
Dr. Tom Van Flandern discusses controversy over 'human face' on Mars

The question of whether there is, or has been, life on other planets
has been discussed by scientists and laypeople alike for millennia.
Dr. Thomas Van Flandern, a renowned astronomer and author of "Dark
Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets," has dedicated much of his
research to this age-old question, specifically in relation to Mars.
Van Flandern, who holds a Ph.D. in celestial mechanics from Yale,
directed the Celestial Mechanics Branch of the Nautical Almanac
office of the U. S . Naval Observatory, has taught astronomy and has
been a consultant to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Zoh Hieronimus
interviewed Van Flandern on her syndicated radio show about a
controversy surrounding a photo of the "human face" on Mars and
whether information garnered using public funds has been purposely
withheld. The Zoh Show can be heard weekdays from 12-3 p.m. Eastern
time.

Question: Explain what happened with the change in access to
scientific information -- from NASA and its subcontractor, the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory -- and why it is impacting the progress that
could be made in determining whether a prior civilization existed,
for instance, on the planet Mars?

Answer: JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is an independent
contractor for NASA that is owned and operated by the California
Institute of Technology. JPL and NASA recently had some disputes over
some important issues. NASA takes the credit when things go right and
tends to get the blame when they go wrong. The problems can be
attributed directly to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, rather than to
NASA itself. I am referring, of course, to the Mars anomalies, where
JPL was asked to get additional photographs. At first, JPL refused
and then, when bribed with money and personnel, they took some
pictures and then disclaimed them on the grounds that they are waste
of public funds and a slap at the integrity of the scientists. So,
that's the kind of dispute that has arisen between the two and that's
the kind of issue that works against the public interest.

Q: There are hundreds of scientists in this country requesting access
to data that's garnered from publicly financed space missions. Maybe
you can give us few recent examples of how JPL and those that work
for them have, according to some researchers, been involved in what
some have called scientific fraud.

A: I would personally stop short of using a word like fraud. Let's
just explain what happened with the picture that they released to the
press. The Planetary Society for SETI Research is a group of
independent scientists who have donated some of their professional
time researching the issue of anomalies on Mars and the possibility
of artifacts, such as the famous face, on Mars. In the fall of 1997,
they approached NASA with enough evidence to justify giving priority
to taking high-resolution pictures of the Cydonian region of Mars.
NASA agreed and asked the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to get the
pictures. After the aforementioned incident where they first refused,
they finally took the first of those pictures on April 5, 1998. In a
press conference on the afternoon the pictures were released, instead
of releasing the actual image that came down from the spacecraft, the
JPL Public Information Office released one that had been passed
through a high-pass filter.

Q: What is the purpose of that kind of filter?

A: The purpose of a high-pass filter is to suppress detail in an
image. It is ordinarily used only with line art or with something
where you need to sharpen up borders or something that is in black
and white but not gray scale. We know of no appropriate reason for
its use in connection with this image but it is documented on their
website that that is indeed how they obtained the image that they
released to the press. Many people in the world saw only that image
and, everyone looking at that image, would agree that it doesn't show
much more than a pile of rocks.

Q: So, then, the filtered image impacted both public and scientific
inquiry. How does it differ from the unfiltered image?

A: The unfiltered image gives a very different impression. Now that
we have been able to bring advanced computer processing techniques
and proper lighting to bear on it, we see that the actual object
looks remarkably like a humanoid face. There are some things about it
that have enabled us to prove that, indeed, they are artificial
rather than of natural origin.

Q: If there are artificial structures on Mars, how did you, as a
scientist, look at the evidence supporting the possibility of a prior
civilization on the planet Mars?

A: It's important to realize that if you just look at something and
it looks very much like a face, that is not a proof -- because there
are things that look like faces in clouds, mountain side profiles and
other natural settings by chance. All kinds of regular shapes can
occur. In science, there is a distinction between the kind of
statistics you cannot trust and the kind you can. The kind you can is
distinguished by making a prediction before the data is in and not
altering it afterwards according to what you see.

Q: You have written about the Viking pictures of the 1970s as being
part of the baseline data for the research on this subject. Explain
what data you're talking about.

A: In 1976, the Viking pictures showed us something that looked like
a face on Mars. We were impressed to see that it was an actual
three-dimensional face and not a profile, not a light and shadow
thing, and we were impressed to see that it was symmetric. Looking at
the impression of a face in those low-resolution photos, an eye, a
nose and a mouth, we made a prediction that if this were intended to
be built as an artificial object, there would be secondary facial
features. Whereas, if it was a natural object when seen in
high-resolution, it would look much less like a face.

When we got the high-resolution photos, every single secondary facial
feature you would expect to see is actually present in the mesa.
There is an eyebrow over the eye socket, an iris inside the eye
socket, a symmetric eye on the other side with an eyebrow, the mouth
that consists of parted lips. The nose has nostrils at the end
tapered towards the forehead and so on. In other words, when you look
at this in high-resolution, there is just no question it was actually
built to portray a humanoid face. All of these additional features,
the eyebrow, the irises, nostrils and so on, could not surely have
arisen by chance in a natural feature when they were predicted in
advance.

Q: So that is the proof you were speaking of?

A: At a statistical level, definitely, at a thousand billion, billion
to one chance.

Q: There are also other regions on the surface of Mars that you say
suggest evidence of a prior civilization of some sort.

A: That is true. Now that we have the strong evidence in one case of
artifacts, we are looking at anomalies all over Mars. None of the
other cases have quite such a compelling interpretation, at that
level of significance, but there are things that if any of us saw in
a photograph on earth, we would immediately assume were the product
of the activity of man. We have dozens of photographs of things of
that caliber on Mars that are unquestionably associated in our minds
with intelligence. But, without an onsite inspection, we can't quite
prove that they are artificial as opposed to accidents of nature.

Q: Returning to yours and others findings that JPL as a subcontractor
to NASA has impacted the quality of the images that are released to
the scientific community, what reason might there be for preventing a
real look at this phenomena?

A: The spacecraft continues to orbit Mars and take high-resolution
photographs. In the remainder of the spacecraft's lifetime, it can
only photograph less than one percent of the total surface of Mars.
So, we have to hope for a combination of good luck and scientific
goodwill on the part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the team
that operates the camera -- that they will point at these interesting
objects and photograph them during the remaining part of the mission.
If we miss this opportunity by the time the spacecraft runs out of
control fuel, in six months to a year, we face the risk that it could
be another generation before we learn the truth about the matter.
Just as it's been that long since we've had astronauts fly to the
moon. Even though we are planning other missions to Mars, they will
not have cameras capable of doing this.

Q: If there was a filter deliberately applied to the image so that it
wasn't clear for the world to see, one may think that there is a
reason NASA doesn't want us discussing this possibility. That's very
disconcerting. Just like your work all these 35-some years on the
issue of comets and near-earth objects posing a threat to earth. Only
now is the space community saying, "Yeah, this Dr. Van Flandern was
right." How does this change one's perspective, that maybe there
isn't this uniformity in the evolution of earth, that maybe
catastrophes are very much a part of Earth's history and perhaps Mars
as well?

A: There is a tendency in science to always prefer non-catastrophic
explanations over catastrophic ones. But, gradually, we are learning
that catastrophe is a real part of both nature and history.
Scientists need to overcome that bias.

For the explanation about why they did it, I am not as convinced that
there is a conspiracy to keep us from knowing as it's more of a
reaction to being accused of being conspirators. That happened before
these recent pictures were taken and it so angered and upset the
scientists involved that I think they went into taking these pictures
with the view that they were finally going to take this nonsense off
the table. When the initial pictures didn't seem as though they were
going to end the controversy, they let their good judgement slip away
from them and released a filtered version that they hoped would kill
the controversy in the media. They were very successful at doing
that. I think it was more because they were insulted by being accused
of being conspirators then there was any intent to keep us from
knowing.

The outcome has been very unfortunate for the advancement of science.
At this point, all any of us are asking is for additional, fresh,
high-resolution photographs overhead, under good lighting conditions,
and let the results speak for themselves. The scientists interested
in investigating this are calling for that every day. JPL has shown
no inclination to go out of their way to take such pictures, unless
perhaps the spacecraft were to pass right over one of these targets
by chance.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/20000924_xex_celestial_sc.
shtml

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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