Roswell File

These errors have led some sceptics to turn on Corso and attempt to discredit the entire book. However, it is probably reasonable to expect some factual errors to creep in thirty years after the event of who worked where, dates, times etc. However, the major feature of the book that Corso saw an alien and headed up a department that reverse engineered alien technology is something unlikely to become confused in time. It either happened or it did not. To confirm that it did happen, Corso stood up to his critics and initiated a court action to acquire military records to support claims made in his book. To this end he signed an affidavit (the signing of which could have left him open to charges of perjury if his claims were found to be false) which read as follows (the defendant was the US Army): [Appendix 3]

"I, Col. Philip J. Corso, (Ret.) do hereby swear, under the penalties of perjury, that the following statements are true: That at all times hereinafter mentioned, I was a member and officer of the defendant. That during my tenure with the defendant I was a member of President Eisenhower's National Security Council and former head of the foreign Technology Desk at defendant's Research & Development department. That on or about July 6, 1947, while stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, I personally observed a four-foot non-human creature with bizarre-looking four fingered hands, thin legs and feet, and an oversized incandescent light bulb-shaped head. The eye sockets were oversized and almond shaped and pointed down to its tiny nose. The creature's skull was overgrown to the point where all its facial features were arranged frontally, occupying only a small circle on the lower part of the head. There were no eyebrows or any indications of facial hair. The creature had only a tiny flat slit for a mouth and it was completely closed, resembling more of a crease or indentation between the nose and the bottom of the chinless skull than a fully functioning orifice. Then in 1961, I came into the possession of what I refer to as the 'Roswell File'. This file contained field reports, medical autopsy reports and technological debris from the crash of an extraterrestrial vehicle in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. That I have personally read the medical autopsy reports which refer to the autopsy of the previously described creature that I saw in 1947 at Fort Riley, Kansas. That said autopsy reports indicated the autopsy was performed at Walter Reed Hospital, which was under the authority of the defendant at the time of the autopsy. That said autopsy report referred to the creature as an 'extraterrestrial biological entity.' [Signed] Colonel Philip J Corso (ret.)"

Attorney Peter Gersten, head of CAUS (Citizens against UFO Secrecy) prepared to represent Corso in the court action, having an established track record with Freedom Of Information enquiries. The scene was then set: a former senior military officer who was prepared to swear on oath to what he had seen and the nature of his former work, and the might of the US government and military. Truth was the victim as Corso was dead within weeks; having suffered a massive heart attack on 9th June 1998. He was buried in a military cemetery near Orlando, Florida. Truth has often been a victim. Although over the years a number of individuals with impressive credentials have come forward with information that throws light on what was really going on behind the scenes since World War II, even more individuals with less credibility and some with mischievous intentions have also stepped forward and promoted themselves as harvesters of the truth.

These fraudsters have captured the headlines and have been used effectively by those involved in the suppression of genuine information to camouflage and distract attention away from facts that can only serve to embarrass and undermine political and social infrastructures. Of course, most of the significant events occurred over half a century ago, and as such the opportunity to scrutinise and cross-examine witnesses is now becoming lost forever. As Dr Edgar Mitchell commented at a conference in October 1997: "... in our briefing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Intelligence Group, it became very clear to us that they were naive. They did not really know any more about this effort than we do, if as much. That is because, as Bob Dean pointed out earlier, most of the people in government were not in government when I retired twenty five years ago, they are younger people. The files going back fifty years just no longer exist. They've either been purged, compromised or whatever.

"They don't exist. So when we blame government for not being forthright, they really don't have anything to be forthright about, at least on that level. Now, somewhere there's knowledgeable people ... and in my own efforts in talking with these folks, and talking with government, the question often comes up as to how they could have kept this a secret for so long. And friends they haven't. It's been around us all the time, but it has been denied, and obscured ... There's been a massive effort at creating that, of denying the obvious, of saying that you're not seeing what sitting right in front of you right now, thus causing doubt in your own mind. It's amazingly effective. So documentation and evidence, that is probably the smoking gun type of evidence, has been totally compromised by saying that it's simply not true. So it is not true that they [government] have kept the secret. They haven't kept the secret, but it has been totally compromised by misinformation and disinformation."

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