A follow up to an earlier post of mine for anyone that’s interested…
Conclusion: At best the DIA analyst (Col. Evans) believed the reporting official’s secondhand source to be credible [then again analysts believed there were WMD in Iraq] and Maccabee’s “analysis” is based in large part on a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts, errors of omission, and obfuscation… in other words, this case is nothing more than unsubstantiated National Enquirer material.
In light of some extensive additional original source documentation found here….
1976 Iran Part 1 MUFON Case File (lots of interesting stuff)
On the provenance of Lt. Col. Mooy’s “Memorandum for Record” that’s being upheld as the “Holy Grail” in this case by some UFOlogists, the late Phil Klass states in a (rather heated) letter to UFO researcher Todd Zechel dated September 2, 1988…
[emphasis Klass]
“On 07 August 1977, Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Miles, Chief of MAAG in Iran, in reply to my request, wrote to enclose several items about the UFO incident. (See Exhibit "A"). One of these items was a photo-copy of a two-page UNCLASSIFIED summary of the debriefing of the second F-4 crew in which USAF officers participated. (See Exhibit "B") Why a security classification of "Confidential" was added, and by whom, when this unclassified debriefing report later was sent by teletype dispatch to Washington is beyond me!”
And here’s what the General wrote to Klass…
”Attached is all the information that we in the MAAG-Iran have regarding the UFO incident which occurred 19 Sep 76. I am unable to provide any additional information or insights beyond the attached. I share your view that there is no evidence to suggest that the earth is being visited by extra-terrestrial spaceships. We looked at these places the next day but were unable to find anything. Sorry I cannot be of more help but hopefully this will substantiate the news article.”
And here’s the list of attachments to the letter…
1. ARAF-0 MFR, undtd
2. Newspaper clipping, "UFO - Phantoms in chase over South Tehran."
3. Newspaper clipping, "The Air Force and the bright thing in the sky."
And here’s how Mooy’s memo is addressed…
FROM: ARAF-0
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
SUBJECT: UFO Sighting
TO: ARCG
I wasn’t able to decipher those two office symbols but it appears intended for MAAG internal use only. As Astrophotographer would say, this amounts to nothing more than “stamp collecting” as there’s no accompanying analysis or recommendation for further action… it’s simply a memorandum for the record outlining what the Iranian’s reported to them.
Note that while the memo is undated, the General states they actually did visit the alleged “landing” site with the IIAF and Klass tells Zechel…
“While examining Exhibit "B" you will discover you made still another error. The debriefing summary was not written by USAF Col. Frank McKenzie, as you claim, but by Lt. Col. Olin Mooy, who signed the report. When I interviewed Mooy in his home last December, he told me that he and Col. Jerry Johnson (now retired) were invited to the debriefing by the Imperial Iranian Air Force. Mooy said that Johnson wrote the original draft report and that Mooy wrote the final version.”
[funny how the roles have seemed to reverse here in the present isn’t it?]
End of story? I think not…
Note that the first newspaper article dated Monday, September 20 states that somebody had already leaked the story to the press the same night (early Sunday morning) of the event…
”Late Saturday night the Ettela'at evening daily reporter who broke the story in Tehran, said that highly informed sources had told him that the pilots tried to open fire on the object when it became obvious it was changing its course against them but, inexplicably, their electronically-operated devices failed to respond.”
This would seem to indicate the basic narrative of Mooy’s memo had already been established before the “debriefing” the MAAG (the IIAF’s local “Help Desk”) was invited to and the ”treasure hunt” that occurred later that day.
[the object remained visible in the sky for four or so hours I believe]
Note the second article (that Maccabee basically hand waves away in his “analysis”) dated Tuesday, September 21 states that an unidentified official stated that although the reported loss of instruments, attempt to fire, and turnaround chase did not occur, he was still puzzled by one of the reports…
“The official summed it all up by saying the reports, which first appeared in afternoon papers on Sunday, were "exaggerated" A reported verbatim conversation between Pilot 'J' and ground control, in which he reported the different lights and the chase, left the official "frankly puzzled."
But he agreed that there was no apparent explanation for what the pilot DID see.”
This probably reflects the general consensus that came out of the “debriefing” and (failed) “treasure hunt” and would explain why there was no follow up on the US side.
Note that the letter from General Miles to Klass was sent approximately one month before the McKenzie teletype (aka “routing slip”) was officially declassified on August 31, 1977 and released to the public via the FOIA. The Mooy memo, which was obviously never classified to begin with, is worded almost exactly the same as the teletype except the memo has a little more detail (in the form of some specifics like Yousefi’s name) and the teletype has this one sentence at the end originally marked [C] for “Confidential”…
RO COMMENTS: [redacted] ACTUAL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS REPORT WAS OBTAINED FROM SOURCE IN CONVERSATION WITH A SUB-SOURCE, AND IIAF PILOT OF ONE OF THE F-4S.
Note again that this sentence was redacted in the first copy of the teletype released by the Air Force but present in the latter DIA release. (Evan’s wide-eyed “analysis”)
Recall that McKenzie claimed the teletype was based on secondhand information from no single source and that most of the details of the incident had already appeared in the papers and also recall that the information contained in the teletype had already been “leaked” by someone shortly after (or in light of this new analysis, possibly even before) it was sent up the chain for review on (I think) September 23. (~4 days after the incident occurred)
So now the question is who actually wrote this “official” narrative? Mooy claims he and Johnson wrote it while Mckenzie claims he did. I see no reason for Mooy to lie to Klass or for McKenzie to try and hide the fact he got it from Mooy if that was the case given that the MAAG never classified it or tried to conceal their involvement. So then the question becomes if indeed Mooy did write it as it appears, where did McKenzie get the copy he edited slightly [and psst, added his confidential comment to] from?
[now some of you out there might be thinking “Who cares?” and I don’t necessarily disagree]
Note the original National Enquirer article ran on November 30, 1976 which is a little over a week after the sighting and note what Pratt says in this letter dated March 3, 1977 about thier interview a few months later with General Azarbarzin…
[one of the 6 Iranian officials awarded $5,000 each for the story by the Enquirer]
“Perhaps the most interesting item in this package is Cathcart's interview with the Iranian general. Several things the general said were quite interesting but the most significant was a statement to the effect that the Iranian and U.S. air forces exchange information on UFOs. We were never able to verify anything of this nature from the Pentagon or the Air Force or the Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) in Tehran. The best we could get out of the U.S. military in Tehran was that the Iranians invited MAAG to have someone sit in on the debriefing of the two jet pilots. An Army colonel in charge of public information for MAAG told us that two relatively low-ranking staff officers from the U.S. Air Force did sit in on the debriefing but no report was ever made on the session and none was ever sent to the Pentagon.”
And here’s what Azarbarzin said in that interview dated January 1, 1977…
“Q. Are you planning to take any further action?
A. No, no, we do not but we have—all we have done we have given all the information—of course that was the request from U.S. We have given all this information to our [something crossed out and MAAG written in by hand instead -AD]
. I think they send it to the organization in the States and—we haven't done anything since that time.
Q. You mean you passed the information to the United States Air Force?
A, Yes.
Q. They requested it, did they?
A. Well, actually, they have this procedure if we have some information on UFO we're just exchanging all this information and we did it.”
Note this was months after the Mooy memo had already been “leaked” and months before Klass talked to Mooy and the McKenzie teletype was declassified. Like Pratt said, there’s some interesting (albeit for a different reason than his no doubt) stuff in this interview that Maccabee et. al. has failed to address like…
“Q. But as far as you were concerned, we had one report there was an order went out to fire the missiles but you say in fact that wasn't true?
A. Oh, no! Why should we.
Q. They were posing no danger to anybody?
A. No, why should they? And actually since it was unknown we just wanted, to identify it, so we did.
Q. But so far you haven't been able to identify these UFOs and as far as you're concerned they go down as unexplainable?
A. No, that's true. But I think that if you get the report from our military attache, it would give you more information and more detail. So we’re trying to send this information to (military attache)”
Now why did Pratt (or whoever) write in MAAG when it seems to me what the General was actually concerned about is what McKenzie’s office would be involved with?
(the Defense Attaché Office in Tehran)
Any lights come on for anybody besides me?
[Ramjet can’t answer that one since he has already proven himself unfit for duty in the dot-connecting department]
Also, does this sound familiar to anyone…
NICAP UFO INVESTIGATOR (November 1976)
From: NICAP UFO INVESTIGATOR (November 1976)
Sighting: Sept. 19, 1976
IRANIAN AIR FORCE JETS SCRAMBLED
Attempt To Fire On UFO Fails
Shortly after midnight on September 19, 1976, the Iranian Air Force command post in Tehran, Iran started receiving calls from local citizens reporting a strange object in the sky. The object was variously described as, "Bird-like," "A bright light," and "A helicopter with a shining light." The command post duty officer, knowing there were no helicopters in the area, called B.G. Yousefi, Assistant Deputy Commander of Operations for instructions. Yousefi told the citizens that they were observing a star. However, after talking with control tower personnel, he decided that possibly something unusual was being observed and that he should see for himself.
The object he saw was like a star but much bigger and brighter. So much so that he made the decision to scramble a F-4 jet from Shahrokhi Air force Base to investigate.
<big snip>
Editorial Comment
Every important policy making and investigative branch of the United States Government is aware of this excellent report, but no public announcements have been made. A great deal of political rhetoric covers the public's right to know, but when it comes to UFO activity, the public is only informed by private organizations.
Pfft… Note the November 1976 publishing date is within a week or so of the sighting and that it’s almost an exact word for word [save the use of words like “mothership” in place of “object”] copy of Mooy’s memo…
[as opposed to McKenzie’s slightly less detailed teletype]
AD
Afterburners also make a bright light. Daylight visible, in fact; so it must be very impressive at night, I have no doubt.
, as I still have a number of points that need to be made.
