Just as the Iraq War inspires fundamentalist Christians to look for signs of the end times, rumors of a crashed UFO in Iraq and exotic mind-control technology on the U.S. side provide fuel for conspiracy buffs. With the war apparently settling down into a classic asymmetric war, however, evidence to back up both rumors is conspicuously absent.
On March 26, Joseph Trainor’s “UFO Roundup” website issued an update on “Saddam’s Area 51." The initial Dec. 17, 2002 report story was repeated almost verbatim by the Russian newspaper Pravda in January.
The report said that eight hours before the first cruise missiles hit Iraq on March 19, “strange lights were reported in the As-Zab as-Shagir (Arabic for Little Zab — J.T.) river valley, located about 72 kilometers (45 miles) west of Kirkuk and 88 kilometers (55 miles) south of Irbil. Kurdish militia known as Peshmirga … who were on patrol in the mountains east of the Little Zab valley, spotted unusual flashing lights over the region. Some Kurds said the lights might be UFOs.”
Trainor wrote that the Little Zab River valley “has been the subject of much speculation” since a caller identifying himself as a retired U.S. military man spoke on the Art Bell Show on December 2002 and claimed that a saucer had crash-landed in Iraq “either during the first Gulf War in 1991 or Operation Desert Fox in 1998.”
Trainor said “persistent rumors in Irbil province” said Saddam Hussein was holding the aliens at an underground base at Zarzi in the upper valley or at the ancient citadel at Qalaat-e-Julundi on the Little Zab river.
In the current conflict, however, Saddam’s forces have not shown any evidence of any but Vietnam War-era technology. Saddam’s aliens, if they really exist, haven’t done him a bit of good.
On the American side, expectations of a quick collapse by Saddam’s regime were dashed when stiffer than expected resistance surfaced in the rear lines and the Iraqi top command continued to function well after the vaunted “shock and awe” air campaign that was supposed to intimidate the Iraqi leaders into surrender. Stories that had surfaced during the previous Gulf War asserted that the United States had developed “mind control” technology that could render an enemy helpless through direct influence on the brain.
The conspiracy columnist “Nessie” of the “Nessie Files” describes so-called “electronic mind control” in the Gulf War citing an article by Judy Wall in Nexus magazine October/November 1998.
“For years rumors have persisted that the United States Department of Defense has been engaged in research and development of ultra sophisticated mind-altering technology. Confirmation of this came to me recently in the form of two ITV News Bureau Ltd (London) wire service bulletins. The March 23, 1991 newsbrief, "High-tech Psychological Warfare Arrives in the Middle East," describes a US Psychological Operations (PsyOps) tactic directed against Iraqi troops in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. The manoeuvre consisted of a system in which subliminal mind-altering technology was carried on standard radio-frequency broadcasts. The March 26, 1991 newsbrief states that among the standard military planning groups in the centre of U.S. war planning operations at Riyadh was "an unbelievable and highly classified PsyOps program utilizing 'silent sound' techniques."