I leave Rachel at 11 the next morning, and drive for hours, falling
into the desert. Pre-Cambrian rocks. I keep thinking, "I'm driving on the
bottom of the ocean floor in the desert sun." The oxymoron feels right.
And then I see Vegas in the distance, its casinos a crazy mirage of the
Sphinx ("with her sad showgirl's face," as a friend described it), the
pyramid at Giza, and the skyline of New York--the whole arc of
civilization playfully mocked. All whittled down to a few colorful toys
stacked in the sandbox of the desert, lost before the mute, harsh
circumference of those breathtaking mountains. How brief our history in
the face of eternity--and how much we long to be spirited away.
Secret Science & Criminal Acts
Stealth bombers can cost $100,000 an hour to fly and are more
beautiful than thoroughbred stallions. And these secret aircraft may have
often graced the skies of Dreamland. There's the dealing SR-71, commonly
known as the Blackbird, the fastest, highest-flying plane ever designed,
almost invisible on radar. In its place, military buffs speculate, will
come the top-secret Aurora, a hypervelocity craft that flies at over Mach
5 (five times the speed of sound, or 3,350 miles per hour). Other planes,
such as a version of the X-33, are said to launch vertically and fly 50
miles high at Mach 15. Some may use cloaking technology that involves
electrical charges or a fiberoptic suit of light that reflects objects
behind them; flares of light are deployed to distract observers on the
ground. Any of these aircraft could fall into the category of
unidentified flying objects.
This technology is so expensive, and so much at the hub of the
United States's military hegemony, that a moat of secrecy surrounds it.
Developing the Aurora may have cost as much as $8 billion, and each
additional plane could cost another bit lion, says Kemper Security
analyst Lawrence Harris. As Nick Cook wrote in Jane's Defence Weekly, a
respected industry publication, "Stealth has changed irrevocably the way
in which war in the air is being and will be fought. Groom Lake, Nevada,
is the epicentre of classified Air Force research into stealth and other
exotic aerospace technologies... Thirty years from now, we may still not
know the half of what is currently being tested in and around Groom
Lake."
But we do know the effect on the health of some Area 51 workers. In
1996 former workers at the Air Force base filed suit as anonymous "John
Does" (to avoid government retaliation) after becoming sick with
illnesses ranging from skin lesions to cancer. They claimed toxic fumes
and smoke from materials burned in open pits had made them ill. Two
workers died. Widow Helen Frost told the Wall Street Journal that her
husband's flaming red skin began peeling off his face. "Every hour I'd
have to take a washcloth and take off some more skin."
Environmental lawyer Jonathan Turley reports that nothing left the
Area 51 facility except the workers. Everything from office furniture to
hazardous chemicals was burned in 100 yard-long, 25-foot-wide pits. When
workers asked for protective gear, they were rebuffed. According to
Turley, a Rutgers University pathologist's report on the tissue of vie
dead victim found the tissue saturated with toxic chemicals.
It is against the law for anyone to handle hazardous waste without
an EPA in spection and permit. However, the military contends that all
activities at Area 51 must be kept secret in order to protect national
security, and last year President Clinton granted the base an
exemption.
This is the first time in history that any administration has
claimed that the evidence of government crimes can be withheld under
executive privilege. Turley is now appealing the case. "Area 51," he
says, "is the ultimate manifestation of the culture of secrecy and its
corrosive effects."
It doesn't stop at Dreamland, either. Out in the remote reaches of
another dreamland--Alaska--a potentially harmful military research
project is under way. Known as HAARP (High-Frequency Active Auroral
Research project), its executive summary states: "In 2025, U.S. aerospace
forces can `own the weather' by capitalizing on emerging
technologies...offering...tools to shape the battlespace in ways never be
fore possible. A high-risk, high-reward endeavor, weather-modification
offers a dilemma not unlike the splitting of the atom....[It also] offers
the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat an enemy." Not
surprisingly, a friend of mine who just returned from Alaska repeated
rumors that our recent droughts and floods may be due to HAARP. Yes,
aliens have finally landed.
PHOTO (COLOR): Lonliest road in America
PHOTOS (COLOR): TOUCHDOWN IN VEGAS
PHOTO (COLOR): Two person wearing an alien costumes.
BY JILL NEIMARK
Tags:
alien,
area 51,
dumping ground,
extraterrestrial,
flying saucers,
government,
government conspiracies,
nevada desert,
UFO,
ups,
war games
