Exopolitics Comment 98

Statement on Alfred Webre and his role in Exopolitics

January 27, 2011. Michael E. Salla, Ph.D.

Alfred Webre, M.Ed., J.D.

On Jan 25, Alfred Webre wrote about an incident that took place on the Exopolitics Institute discussion list where his posting privileges were suspended due to him violating forum posting guidelines. In retaliation for the suspension, he wrote an article claiming that he was being blocked for exposing my faulty research and Mars gatekeeping. In a fit of pique, Webre also chose to disassociate himself from the Exopolitics Institute on the spurious grounds that it is a commercial enterprise. As has been the case with Mr Webre in the past, he gives no evidence for any of his claims. He simply makes a series of claims and links them together to make a case he declares to be self-evident. First, how did the incident begin on the Institute discussion list which led to Webre's suspension and his allegation of "Mars gatekeeping"?

On January 18, Webre posted the following email:

Hi All - I just had a very wierd interaction a former member of this
organization. This is how Ed ended the communication:

"That's because you are not keeping up with the literature, like you just
apparently noticing my buyer beware article for instance. Folks in the
exopolitical community are really getting fed up with you, but nobody seems to
have the balls to talk to you straight about it but me. Ed"
So, I decided to ask - for the public record, if any body is 'fed up with me,
(whatever that means ;-)), please say so now or forever hold your peace.
In Light and cooperation, Alfred ;-)

Well, frankly, Webre got more than he bargained for. A litany of criticisms were then raised by Exopolitics Institute members about the sensationalist style of his Examiner articles, his self-promotional writing, use of blurry NASA images to prove "conclusively" the existence of intelligent life on Mars including dinosaurs, etc.

I offered some tempered criticisms of his support of Andy Basiago's interpretations of NASA images of life on Mars. I said that nearly two years ago, in a conversation with Basiago and Webre, I pointed out the need for at least three independent image experts to confirm Basiago's claims. I pointed out the ridiculous nature of some Basiago's image analyses, especially that concerning living Plesiosaurs on the surface of Mars. With regard to the Plesiosaurs on Mars thesis, this is what Webre wrote on Jan 23:

One of the Mars Rover Images revealing a Plesiosaur on Mars according to Basiago & Webre. Source

With regard to the Mars Plesiosaur, please note that there is independent whistleblower testimony on record by persons who have been on Mars and who have personally seen and confronted Plesiosaurs on the surface of Mars.

I asked for clarification on the "independent whistleblower testimony." In what appeared to be an attempt to cut short debate, Webre responded by inviting me to attend a Roundtable Discussion of Life on Mars in Kona Hawaii in June 2011. Presumably, I and others would have to wait until then to learn more. This is how I replied on Jan 24:

Alfred, when I spoke with you and Andy Basiago about his interpretations of Mars images almost two years ago, I said I would be supportive if you could find three image experts who could corroborate his findings. I mentioned Richard Hoagland as an example, and Basiago declined but I was told that you and he would endeavor to find others. In an earlier email in this exchange, you mentioned Andrew R. Stec, and Lewis B. Rhinehart. All I could find about Stec is a webpage where he sells mars image posters for exorbitant prices. I have not been able to find anything about Rhinehart other than a mention on him as author/contributor on two articles on Basiago's website. So far, neither of the two names you have given qualifies as an image expert despite their interest in Basiago's Mars research.

After all this time, it appears that Basiago & you have still not found credible image analysis experts to verify his work, even though there are many in the field who I'm sure would be willing to give an opinion, e.g., Mike Bara, Jim Dilettoso, etc. So far, the only credible image analyst to comment on your work with Basiago has been Hoagland, who has dismissed it as nonsense.

In response to the lack of image analysis verification, you cite audience polls where participants vote that an image may look like a plesiosaur, etc., as support of Basiago's interpretations. As Neil Gould pointed out, there are many natural rock formations that look like living animals from a distance, but up close, they turn out to be rock formations. So polling audiences is a very weak way of substantiating Basiago's image interpretations, but that appears to be the best you have after all this time.

Also, you mentioned some whistleblowers that have seen plesiosaurs on Mars. Can you please elaborate and give links, etc. This would indeed be independent corroboration if it does come from independent whistleblowers. So far, you have not responded to my request for names and links to support your claim.

So at this stage, unless you or Basiago can satisfactorily respond to the above points, I want nothing to do with Basiago and do not want to be associated with him in any way. He has built an elaborate house of cards that is based on little more than his interpretations of select Mars images, and a few like minded researchers that agree with him even though none have any reliable background in image analysis. Basiago's papers are little more than ego driven sensationalism where he portrays himself as the discoverer of life on Mars. Something that, as I pointed out to him in our conversation two years ago, dismisses the work of earlier pioneers such as Van Flandern, etc.

Your uncritical support of Basiago has brought nothing but acrimony in the exopolitics field, and led to your writing and good judgement being compromised by Basiago's sensationalism. So thank you for your offer to appear with you and Basiago on a life on Mars panel in Kona, Hawaii, but at this stage I have to decline.

Aloha

Michael

Finally, in response to my repeated requests to reveal the "independent whistleblower testimony" that Webre claimed supported Basiago's interpretation of images showing the existence of plesiosaurs on Mars, this is what he wrote on Jan 24:

Martian Plesiosaur - Andrew D. Basiago has publicly stated he has been on
Mars twice in 1981, once in the company of Courtney Hunt of the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency. During the visit to Mars with Hunt, Andy and Hunt were
confronted by a Martian Plesiosaur a short distance from the entrance to the
U.S. underground base on Mars where both had landed via teleporter from El
Segundo, California. Both Andy and Courtney Hunt made a dash for the entrance
to the underground base and reached it safely.
Reference: Red Ice Radio:

So Webre finally revealed that the "independent whistleblower testimony" supporting Basiago's interpretation of Mars Rover images of living plesiosaurs on Mars was none other than Basiago himself. So my argument that Basiago had built an elaborate house of cards to support his sensationalist claims on life on Mars was proving to be accurate. Problem was that Webre had bought into it and was not taking kindly to pointed criticisms of his support of Basiago, and the flaws in Basiago's intepretations.

Then in a clear attempt to deflect criticism by the time honored method of throwing mud at your opponent when your arguments begin falling apart, on Jan 25, Webre wrote: "I happened just now to be researching the issues of ET disclosure, specifically the issue of disclosure as a Zero Sum Game. Serendipitously, I came across the following article…" Essentially, Webre was claiming that he had "just discovered" an August 2009 article critical of my research, along with other articles with pointed personal attacks stemming from my research on secret meetings at the UN on UFOs and ET life. One of the guidelines of the Exopolitics Institute discussion list has been that members would not post articles that were overly critical or contained personal attacks of other members. This guideline has been in place for several years and Webre was familiar with it. Basically, Webre had openly violated the posting guidelines, and his posting privileges were immediately suspended, and his behavior referred to the Board of Directors for further disciplinary action.

Well that's the back story to the incident that Webre describes in his Jan 25 article. So in finishing, let me offer my frank assessment of Alfred Webre since he and I are no longer directly associated in any way.

I want to begin by saying that I have always admired Webre for the principled stand he took in 1977 when he refused pressure to have him abandon his research interests in extraterrestrial communications that the Carter White House had taken an interest in. That took guts, and Alfred paid a very heavy price. At the time he was a futurist with the Stanford Research Institute and his promising career came to a crashing halt. He had to flee the country to escape the electronic mind control that was being used against him. Unfortunately, Webre shows many of the classic symptoms of a mind control victim. Brilliant and deeply insightful at times, but also with an unsteady, unbalanced, narcissistic personality that is easily provoked, and with a huge chip on his shoulders. I understand his anger, after all who wouldn't be if your career was destroyed decades ago by unseen powers that used hidden technological resources to undermine you. My experience with Andy Basiago from the time I first met him in 2006, is that he is also a mind control victim, and is currently tasked to manipulate and handle Webre by cleverly massaging Alfred's fragile personality by claiming that he, Webre, would single handedly lead an exopolitics revolution on planet Earth.

Alfred Webre exopolitics writing is a mish mash of profound insights together with unsubstantiated claims, and non-sequitors that leave one feeling bewildered after reading one of his exopolitics Examiner article dumps. Always eager to promote himself as the Founder or Father of exopolitics, in fact Webre is a marginal and controversial figure in the network of exopolitics researchers and activists that has formed around the world. Webre's writing and behavior is seen as too bizarre and controversial for most credible exopolitics researchers to use; and who distance themselves and their national organizations from Webre. When this was clearly pointed out to Webre in a dialogue he initiated himself on Jan 18, in the Exopolitics Institute's discussion list, the final result was all too predictable.

Michael E. Salla, Ph.D.
Exopolitics.Org

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