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I'm five Symington in 1997 during my

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second term as governor of Arizona

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I saw something that defied logic and

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challenged my reality I witnessed a

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massive delta-shaped

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craft that silently navigated over the

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Squaw Peak

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area in North Phoenix in the evening and

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it was truly breathtaking to my

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astonishment it appeared that it

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appeared to be a solid structure it was

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huge it had a very distinctive leading

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edge with embedded huge embedded lights

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in it and it was just traveling quietly

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made no sound through the arrows on a

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night sky I still don't know what it was

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as a pilot and a former Air Force

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officer I can definitively say that this

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craft did not resemble any man-made

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object that I'd ever seen and it was

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certainly not high-altitude flares as

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put out by the the Air Force at Luke Air

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Force Base because I've never seen

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flares fly in formation the incident was

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witnessed by hundreds if not thousands

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of people in Maricopa County and in

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southern Arizona and my office was

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besieged with phone calls from very

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concerned citizens the growing hysteria

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intensified when the story broke

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nationally and so I decided to lighten

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the mood of the state and I called a

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press conference where I dressed up my

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chief of staff and a Martian outfit it

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was meant to be a spoof a good-natured

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spoof that worked we managed to lessen

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the sense of panic at the time but I

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also upset quite a few of my

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constituents well I'd like now to set

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the record straight I never meant to

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ridicule anyone my office did make

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enquiries as to the origin of the craft

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but to this day they remain on

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answered eventually the Air National

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Guard claimed responsibility stating

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that their pilots had been dropping

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flares they also another individual from

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Tucson said that a-10s had been flying

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in formation over Maricopa County but

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those of us in the airforce and those of

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you who know about a-10s they're called

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the Warthog it's a tank killing aircraft

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know that it's the noisiest machine in

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the sky and there's no way that a flight

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of a-10s could come over Maricopa County

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and be quiet that just doesn't work so

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we get these explanations that fly in

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the face of facts explanations like

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weather balloons swamp gas military

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flares and hardware and software

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problems I was never happy with this

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silly silly explanation there might

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there might very well have been military

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flares in the sky that evening but that

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sure wasn't what what I and what

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hundreds of my fellow citizens saw well

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I now know that I'm not alone in

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witnessing something extraordinary

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that's the bottom line

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there are many high ranking military

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aviation and government officials many

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of whom are here today who share my

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concerns some of them have truly

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exceptional stories to tell there's

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absolutely no doubt as to the veracity

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of what these men have told you they

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have fought in wars they have guarded

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top-secret weapons and they've flown

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countless passengers throughout the

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world skies incidents like these are not

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going away

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one year ago Chicago's O'Hare Airport

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experienced the UFO event that made

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national and international headlines

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pilots and many other airline employees

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observed a metallic-looking disc

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hovering over the United Airlines

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terminal for several minutes and then it

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shot straight up into the sky cut a hole

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in the sky disappeared

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the FAA apparently did not investigate

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dismissed the sightings as whether we

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want the United States government to

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stop perpetuating the myth that all UFOs

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can be explained away in down-to-earth

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and conventional terms instead our

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country needs to reopen it's a fish

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investigation that had shut down in 1969

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the United States government can no

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longer shun an international dialogue

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about this phenomena and we invite the

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government to work in cooperation with

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countries is represented on both sides

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of me here today when it comes to events

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of this nature dealing with the great

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unknown we deserve I believe more

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openness and a serious pursuit of the

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facts by our government thank you very

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much