20.1.08

Watchman Report 1/20/08

Report: German Academic Compares Tom Cruise to Nazi Propaganda Minister
Tom Cruise


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324163,00.html


An esteemed German historian is the latest to take aim at actor Tom Cruise, comparing the "Mission: Impossible" star to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Angence France-Press reported Sunday.

Guido Knopp, a famed World War II expert, compares the actor's sermon to fellow Scientologists in a recently released Internet video to Goebbels' call for "total war" in 1943, AFP reported.

Cruise is seen asking fellow members of the church: "Should we clean this place up?"

"The scene in which Cruise asks if the Scientologists should clean up the world and they all respond 'yes' will remind any German with an interest in history of Goebbels' infamous Sports Palace speech," Knopp said.

Knopp's comments come as Cruise's role in the Church of Scientology is examined in an explosive, unauthorized biography of the actor by British writer Andrew Morton that was released in the U.S. earlier this month.

The book was rejected by the Church of Scientology, which calls it "replete with lies."





Electricity Plant Shut Down, Gaza City Plunged Into Darkness After Israeli Fuel Cutoff
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,324148,00.html


Gaza's only electrical plant shut down Sunday after Israel blocked the shipment of fuel that powers them, plunging Gaza City into darkness and sending already beleaguered Gazans to stock up on food and batteries in anticipation of long, dark, cold days ahead.

Israel blockaded Gaza Thursday as a pressure tactic against militants who have been firing rockets at Israel every day. The stricken power plant generates about one third of Gaza's electricity. The rest, which comes from Israel, was not affected by the blockade, Israeli officials said.

A U.N. agency and human rights groups condemned Israel, but Israel said they should direct their criticism at Palestinian militant groups that fire rockets at southern Israel every day.

Israel sealed all crossings into Gaza last week because of a spike in rocket barrages, cutting off fuel. Several weeks ago Israel reduced the supply as a pressure tactic.

In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel. Israeli officials said that supply would not be affected.

Hamas officials shut down the plant and plunged Gaza City into total darkness, Gaza Energy Authority head Kanan Obeid said. TV crews and reporters were invited to witness the shutdown just before 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). A candlelight protest march was planned for later Sunday.

The regular fuel shipment from Israel did not arrived Sunday because the fuel terminal was closed, and the plant has nearly no reserves, said Rafik Maliha, director of the power plant.

Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain warned that the fuel cutoff would cause a health catastrophe. "We have the choice to either cut electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients or stop operating rooms," he said.

Shlomo Dror, spokesman for Israel's Defense Ministry, said Gaza has enough fuel and accused Palestinian officials of trying to create the impression of a crisis that did not exist.

Residents of Gaza City were buying up batteries and candles, as well as basic foods like rice, flour and cooking oil, said grocery store owner Sami Mousa. More would be doing the same, he said, but "the problem is that the people don't have the money to buy."

Bakeries stopped operating because of the blockade, bakers said, because they had neither power nor flour.

There were no signs of panic, as Gazans have been living with fuel cutbacks, power outages and shortages since Islamic Hamas militants overran the seaside territory in June, triggering international sanctions.

Earlier, Obeid called on people to cut back their use of electric appliances. The U.N. organization in charge of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, warned the Israeli blockade would drastically affect hospitals, sewage treatment plants and water facilities.

"The logic of this defies basic humanitarian standards," said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

Human rights groups also condemned the fuel cutoff. The British group Oxfam called it "ineffective as well as unlawful." Gisha, an Israeli group that has fought the fuel cutbacks in Israel's Supreme Court, said "punishing Gaza's 1.5 million civilians does not stop the rocket fire; it only creates an impossible 'balance' of human suffering on both sides of the border."

Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but many see Israel as still responsible, since it controls most land, sea and air access to the territory.

Israeli Cabinet minister Zeev Boim said that rather than condemning Israel's move, the U.N. should condemn Palestinian militants for subjecting Israeli civilians to barrages of rockets. "I don't hear the U.N.'s voice," Boim said.

Alon Ben-David, military analyst for Israel's Channel 10 TV, said Israel could not maintain the blockade for more than a few days. "Israel understands that a humanitarian crisis is developing here," he said.

By nightfall Sunday, four rockets exploded in Israel through the day, a significant drop from the level of last week. The military said since last Tuesday, the start of the escalation, more than 200 rockets and mortars hit Israel. There have been no serious injuries over the past week, but residents of the Israeli towns have been traumatized by months of daily salvos.

Despite its seven-month blockade, up to now Israel allowed basic food items and humanitarian supplies into Gaza. That changed Thursday, when Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered all crossings closed after intense rocket fire.

A defiant Hamas said its attacks on Israel would not cease because of the sanctions.

"We will not raise the white flag, and we will not surrender, " Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Sunday.





McCain Edges Huckabee for S.C. Win
John McCain

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/mccain_south_carolina/2008/01/20/65940.html


COLUMBIA, South Carolina -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton looked on Sunday toward the next battles in a chaotic White House race after scoring tough wins in the first presidential voting in the U.S. South and West.

McCain narrowly defeated rival Mike Huckabee on Saturday in South Carolina -- a state where McCain's presidential hopes were destroyed in a bitter 2000 battle that set George W. Bush on a path to the White House.

"It took us a while, but what's eight years among friends," McCain, an Arizona senator, told cheering supporters in Charleston. "We are well on our way tonight, and I feel very good."

In Nevada's Democratic race, Clinton beat Barack Obama in a close struggle that featured voting in the state's famed casino hotels. The pair had split the first two Democratic contests and ended up disputing who held the upper hand.

"I guess this is how the West was won," Clinton, a New York senator, said in Las Vegas. She told reporters later, "This is one step on a long journey throughout the country."

Although Clinton won more votes, Obama said that because of his strength in some areas outside Las Vegas, he would have the support of 13 delegates to Clinton's 12 to August's Democratic convention. Delegates select the presidential nominee.

Nevada Democratic Party head Jill Derby issued a statement saying Obama had the edge if the delegate count held, but this would only be decided finally between now and April.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, won a Republican race in Nevada that his rivals largely skipped in order to concentrate on South Carolina.

No candidate in either party has claimed the front-runner's role in the race to pick the two candidates to contest the November 4 election to succeed Bush, as the first major state-by-state battles produced multiple winners.

The U.S. presidential nominating battle now turns to the South, where the next fights will be South Carolina's Democratic primary on Saturday and Florida's Republican primary on January 29.

Then both parties turn their attention to the February 5 "Super Tuesday" round of 22 state contests, a massive shift from the intimate politics of early voting states to coast-to-coast flights and big-budget advertising campaigns.

Clinton's first stop after her Nevada victory was in St. Louis, Missouri, a state that will vote on February 5.

"Talk to your friends and neighbors. Make it clear that we're going to be picking a president on February 5 and we have to pick someone who can be ready to lead on day one," Clinton said.

Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president, leads polls in South Carolina, where more than half of the primary voters are expected to be black.

GIULIANI RETURNS

The Florida Republican race will mark the debut of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has seen his once-substantial lead in national opinion polls disappear as he sat on the sidelines through the first presidential nominating contests.

Giuliani has gambled that a win in Florida will propel him to a strong day on February 5 in populous states like New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois.

For the victors on Saturday, the prize was a jolt of energy in a race where momentum has been short-lived.

Clinton, who would be the first U.S. woman president, won the Nevada Democratic race, 51 percent to 45 percent over Obama, with turnout reported to surpass 115,000 voters. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards finished a distant third.

"We ran an honest, uplifting campaign in Nevada that focused on the real problems Americans are facing, a campaign that appealed to people's hopes instead of their fears," Obama said in a statement.

"That's the campaign we'll take to South Carolina and across America in the weeks to come," he said.

McCain's win in South Carolina, which followed a New Hampshire victory, was fueled by support from conservatives, with exit polls showing 7 in 10 voters in the state primary described themselves that way.

More than half of the voters were religious conservatives, but that was not enough to give the win to Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher whose Iowa win was fueled by evangelical support.

The win was another step on the comeback trail for McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war whose presidential bid seemed finished last summer when he was low on cash, shedding staff and sinking in the polls.

South Carolina Republicans have been kingmakers in party politics, with the Republican winner in the state going on to capture the party's nomination every year since 1980.





Norris Says McCain Too Old for President
Mike Huckabee


http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/huckabee_norris/2008/01/20/66017.html


Campaigning for Mike Huckabee, actor Chuck Norris said Sunday that Sen. John McCain is too old to handle the pressures of being president.

"I didn't pick John to support because I'm just afraid that the vice president would wind up taking over his job in that four-year presidency," said Norris, who was hosting a fundraiser for Huckabee at his Lone Wolf Ranch.

"So we need to find someone that can handle it for four years or eight years ... that has the youth and vision and communication skills to make that work." Norris, 67, is four years younger than McCain, who will be 72 in August.

Huckabee, coming off a disappointing second-place finish in the South Carolina GOP primary to McCain, distanced himself from Norris' comments.

"Only John McCain and his hairdresser know for sure," he quipped, at a ranch house on the sprawling East Texas estate. "It is a very stressful position. ... I'm not going to say he's too old. I think he's got a lot of inner strength, good genetic factors by his mom."

McCain's campaign did not immediately have a comment.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina was supposed to be friendly territory for Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister.

"We obviously wanted to win and we really thought we would win," he said. "The fact of Fred Thompson's being in the race took some votes that we would have most likely had."

Huckabee also blamed late snowfall in parts of upstate South Carolina.

"The snow not only froze the streets of the Greenville-Spartanburg area, the votes kinda stopped once it started snowing," he said. "That was an area we were looking forward to having a significant vote margin."

Huckabee hoped the fundraiser would be the start of a momentum shift in his favor.

"Starting today, we reset the clock," Huckabee said. "I woke up this morning and I thought 'the momentum is back.'"

Huckabee next turns to Florida, which holds its GOP primary Jan. 29. He seemed to be preparing for a long haul.

"Even a contest of delegates isn't going to be over after Florida and probably even after February 5," he said. "So everybody's sort of retooled and said, 'No, this could go on all the way to the convention.'"

Norris estimated that more than 200 people had paid at least $1,000 for a plate of barbecue and a chance to watch Huckabee play bass guitar with his band, Capitol Offense. Some paid $2,300, but fundraising totals were not yet available.

After repeating his stump speech to the rural Texas crowd, the band joined Huckabee on stage for some classic rock tunes, kicking off with "Only in America."





Attacks on Christians in India spread beyond Orissa
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/attacks.on.christians.in.india.spread.beyond.orissa/16342.htm


As Christians in four districts of the eastern India state of Orissa continue to suffer attacks from extremist Hindus, the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh is now also witnessing atrocities against Christians.

Around 100 unknown attackers armed with lathis weapons (sticks) and petrol bombs attacked a prayer meeting led by Pastor Mohan C Thomas and Jose Kajur in Bothli village of Gurur area of Durg district., reports the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

The attackers rushed to the attack site in a truck where around 2,500 people from nearby villages had gathered to attend an open air prayer meeting last Wednesday.

The innocent Christian worshippers and workers were targeted on the pretext of forceful conversion. In a brutal attack lasting around 10 minutes, the attackers beat them mercilessly and burnt the huge pandal (tent) where they were assembled down to ashes, according to the EFI's General Secretary, the Rev Dr Richard Howell. The incident was witnessed by viewers on a prime News Channel IBN 7.

The Sub-Divisional Officer of Police of Durg, Shri Pipre, informed one of EFI's lawyers that a case was filed under sections 147, 148, 149, 426 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code and a few arrests were made. Due to a lack of sufficient proof, however, the suspects were later released on bail.

Dr Howell said that similar attacks on Christians by Hindu extremists last June meant that "the hand of radical Hindu extremist groups cannot be ruled out".

"It is disheartening that the print media has wrongly reported the incident, accusing the villagers for the attack and safeguarding the suspected Hindu militant groups," he said.

Dr Howell added that Christians in the area are unwilling to speak out against these anti-social elements because they fear that any such "provocation'' could adversely affect their educational and service institutions.

"Please pray that the police will take active part in finding and arresting the perpetrators of the crime and also pray for the safety of the Christians in this area," he said.

Dr Howell also reported the kidnapping of two believers in Madhya Pradesh, where a group of Bajrang Dal activists attacked a house church in Pathigawan village under Nayagadi police station in Madhya Pradesh on Friday morning.

They also kidnapped Gospel Echo Mission Society (GEMS) missionaries, Vijaya Kumar Morya and Keera Lal.

The activists attacked with swords, sticks, knives and other instruments. Two believers were critically injured in the attack and are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

According to EFI colleagues, eight men led by AP Sakhi, the Bajrang Dal area secretary, came on motorbikes with Bajrang Dal flags at around 8 am on Friday and surrounded the house where worship was taking place. They beat the two kidnapped believers mercilessly before taking them away on their bikes.

At this moment, the whereabouts of the kidnapped victims are unknown.

A case under sections 341, 294, 323, 506 and 39 of the Indian Penal Code has been filed in Nayagadi Police Station and the Rewa district Deputy Inspector General of Police has also been informed.

Dr Howell said, "We earnestly request your prayers for the safe return of our missionaries and the situation to be under control."





Rick Warren: How to handle opposition
Rick Warren


http://www.christiantoday.com/article/rick.warren.how.to.handle.opposition/16341.htm


You can’t have opportunity without opposition. One of the great tests of leadership is how you handle opposition. Do you panic under pressure? Do you get uptight, lose your temper, blow up, become discouraged, or give up? Part of the job description of leadership is dealing with people who oppose you and your vision for the church.

To find out how to handle opposition, we’re going to look at Nehemiah 4. You probably remember the story. Nehemiah had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around the city – a very big project for his team of Jewish exiles! And it didn’t take long for Nehemiah to start getting opposition. People were ridiculing him and his vision.

Here’s what we can learn from Nehemiah:

1. Rely on God.

“Then I prayed, ‘Hear us, O our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land! Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in the presence of the builders’” (Neh. 4:4-5 NLT).

Nehemiah is upset. He’s letting off steam. When you’re being ridiculed, you don’t suppress it, you confess it. Nehemiah doesn’t get caught up in a name-calling game. Instead of calling names, he prays.

The greater the opposition, the more you need to pray. Don’t take it out on other people; talk it out with God. That’s what Nehemiah does.

2. Respect the opposition.

“But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves” (Neh. 4:9 NLT).

How do we know that Nehemiah respected the opposition? His people guarded the city and protected themselves. He was prayerful and practical. It’s fine to lay in bed at night and pray, “Protect me from the burglars.” But you also need to get up and lock your door! Petition without precaution is presumption.

3. Reinforce your weak points.

“So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows” (Neh. 4:13 NLT).

Nehemiah reinforces the weak points, the lower points. These low points left people vulnerable to attack from the enemy. You don’t have to worry about fences that are 10 feet high. An enemy couldn’t get through a wall like that. But the shorter walls were a different story, so Nehemiah placed guards there.

Do you know where your church is most vulnerable to attack? Good leaders know where they are vulnerable, and they reinforce that area.

4. Reallocate resources, but don’t stop what you’re doing.

“But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The officers stationed themselves behind the people of Judah” (Neh. 4:16 NLT).

When his people were attacked, Nehemiah had three alternatives: give up, leave the wall and go fight, or build the wall and arm everyone. Nehemiah knew he couldn’t give up building the wall and couldn’t leave the wall to fight. He really had only one option.

Leaders must build and battle at the same time. You never leave the wall to fight the enemy. You could spend all your time putting out fires and never complete what God has called you to do.

5. Reassure the people.

“Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the leaders and the people and said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your friends, your families, and your homes!’” (Neh. 4:14 NLT)

Nehemiah rallied the troops. He relieved their fears and reinforced their confidence. That’s the task of leadership. When your church is under attack, your job is to raise people’s morale.

Nehemiah pointed people to the Lord. That’s where true confidence comes from. In American history, many wars have been fought with slogans that started with “Remember...” The Spanish-American War had a slogan of “Remember the Maine.” In World War I soldiers were asked to “Remember the Lusitania.” In the Mexican-American War, the slogan was “Remember the Alamo.” Troops in World War II were told to “Remember Pearl Harbor.” All of these battle cries were based on defeats.

Nehemiah does the exact opposite. He points people to God and the future he has planned for them. When you’re under attack, if the devil can get you to focus on the opposition, he’s won a major victory. You either focus on the opposition or you focus on the Lord. When you’re facing opposition, it’s your job as the leader to help your people “remember the Lord.”

6. Refuse to quit.

“When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall” (Neh. 4:15 NLT).

Leaders like Nehemiah model persistence. They are the last to give up. They are the last to jump ship. They refuse to quit.

Persistence is the ultimate test of leadership. How do you handle ministry when the going gets tough? The secret of success is to simply outlast your critics. There is nothing the devil would rather do more than make you stall on what God is calling you to do. Don’t let him do that. You’ve got to be persistent.

You’ll face opposition some time in your ministry. How you handle that opposition will go a long way in deciding whether or not you complete the task to which you’ve been called. Nehemiah completed his. Will you?





Christian Aid events to challenge scandal of poverty in Ghana
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.aid.events.to.challenge.scandal.of.poverty.in.ghana/16309.htm


A new series of events by Christian Aid aims to throw the spotlight on the poverty that continues to grip Ghana in spite of its wealth of natural resources.

In 2007, academic and theologian Dr Robert Beckford travelled to Ghana on a Christian Aid-backed trip to find out why Ghana is still struggling to break free from poverty 50 years after it gained independence.

His visit was filmed for the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Great African Scandal’, which lifted the lid on the scandalous reality behind the production of the rice, chocolate and gold that ends up in British high street stores. It also revealed the extent to which unfair economic policies are keeping farmers and their families locked in a life of grinding poverty.

Honing in on the issues raised in the documentary, Christian Aid will kick off its African Scandal? series of events on 8 February at London South Bank University, showing clips from the documentary and bringing together a number of guest speakers, including Dr Beckford who will lead panel discussions with questions from the audience.

Christian Aid and its indigenous partners have carried out substantial development work in Ghana since the 1970s, particularly in the rice sector where many local rice farmers have seen their livelihoods swallowed up as a result of World Bank and IMF loans.

These loans were granted on the condition that the country open its markets to foreign produce at the expense of the Ghanaian Government supporting its own farmers. Local farmers used to command almost 50 per cent of the domestic market, but that has now shrunk massively in the face of substantial imports of rice from the US.

Mohammed Adam Nashiru, a rice farmer from Botanga in Ghana said, “We are being cheated…pushed to the wall.”

Christian Aid funds programmes through eight local partner organisations, some of which campaign on economic justice issues.

Dr Beckford said: “As a theologian, justice and the ongoing fight for change are central to my writing, teaching and film-making.”


Tour Dates:

 London Friday 8 February 7pm
South Bank University Events Theatre, Keyworth Centre,
Keyworth Street, London SE1 6NG

 Birmingham Wednesday 20 February, 7pm
The Drum, 144 Potters Lane , Aston , B6 4UU


 Bristol Wednesday 27 February, 7pm
The British Empire & Commonwealth Museum ,
Clock Tower Yard, Temple Meads , BS1 6QH


 Manchester Wednesday 5 March 7pm
Zion Arts Centre, 335 Stretford Road, M15 5ZA


 Liverpool Wednesday 12 March, 7pm
The Foundation of Art and Creative Technology
88 Wood Street, L1 4DQ





Huckabee Says Race 'Far, Far From Over'
Mike Huckabee


http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/307179.aspx


COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Mike Huckabee lost the Republican primary in South Carolina, falling short in a state that was crucial to his presidential aspirations but promising the race was "far, far from over."

"Tonight is not a time to start asking what if; it is a time to start talking about what now," he told about 300 cheering supporters at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

Huckabee needed to win South Carolina to prove it was no fluke when he won the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Instead, he came in second to John McCain, who validated his own victory Jan. 8 in the New Hampshire primary.

The loss was particularly acute because, as the first southern primary, South Carolina was supposed to be friendly territory for Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister.

He insisted he would compete in the coming Florida primary and in the states that follow.

"This is not an event - it is a process, and the process is far, far from over," he said.

But now it is McCain, not Huckabee, who heads into Florida's Jan. 29 primary with the wind at his back.

So, too, does former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won the Michigan primary on Tuesday and won Nevada's barely contested caucus on Saturday.

Huckabee was counting on grass-roots support from born-again Christians to outflank McCain's superior funding and organization. Exit polls showed Huckabee did well among white born-again or evangelical Christians, winning 40 percent of their votes to McCain's 25 percent.

But among the rest, McCain had an overwhelming advantage - about four in 10, nearly triple Huckabee's support. McCain was virtually alone in vying for support from independents, who accounted for about a fifth of GOP votes, while Huckabee had to compete for support from the party's conservative base with fellow southerner Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and "Law and Order" actor.

Despite the rough-and-tumble history of South Carolina primaries - McCain lost an ugly primary to George W. Bush in 2000 - Huckabee soft-pedaled his criticism of McCain, refusing to utter McCain's name even while exploiting his weaknesses.

Huckabee called attention to McCain's support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, railed against Washington insiders such as McCain, who was first elected to Congress in 1982, and revived controversy over the Confederate flag and McCain's opposition to it.

He campaigned on a common-man theme of economic populism, often saying the government has its boot on the face of working-class Americans.

"We had a message that has connected and continues to connect with people all over this country who have feared that they have been forgotten and have become invisible to many political people," Huckabee said.

A snowy forecast in the more conservative upstate region may have hindered turnout for Huckabee.

Besides the weather, Huckabee may have been hurt by his decision to spend extra time campaigning in Michigan, where he came in third, instead of in South Carolina. Senior aides made a last-minute decision to return to Michigan last Sunday and Monday after seeing huge crowds there during a Michigan swing on Jan. 12 and 13.

His support from born-again or evangelical Christians was a double-edged sword for Huckabee; it propelled him to victory in Iowa, but it made many people think he appealed exclusively to religious conservatives.

Exit polls in New Hampshire and Michigan showed Huckabee had little support beyond evangelicals, and even among evangelicals, Romney beat Huckabee in Michigan and split the vote with Huckabee in New Hampshire.

Huckabee said he was proud they both ran a civil campaign.

"And even though I'd like the outcome to be just a little different, I had rather be where I am, and have done it with honor, than to have won with the dishonor of getting there by attacking somebody else," he told supporters Saturday night.





Group takes statements about UFO sightings
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5470949.html


DUBLIN, Texas — Interviewers with the Mutual UFO Network met with about 200 people who said they saw something mysterious in the night skies over Stephenville within the past couple of weeks.

"We believe there is some sort of phenomenon in action here," said Kenneth Cherry, director of the network's Texas chapter. "We see a pattern. But it will take months to investigate."

The network is dedicated to "scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity," according to its Web site.

While members of the organization met Saturday with the witnesses, at least a couple hundred onlookers gathered as well, some wearing aluminum-foil hats.

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, has said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when many sightings were reported.

James Huse, a retired electronics technician, said what he saw on Jan. 8 was neither a helicopter nor a plane.

Steve Allen of Glen Rose, who said he was a pilot, said the lights he saw while sitting around a campfire were brighter than the glare from welding.

"The first time we saw it, the duration was three minutes; then it started slowing down and passed us, and the lights in the back reformed into an arc shape, and they would flash on and off with no particular pattern," he said. "Then those changed into two vertical lines. It was totally silent."

Network investigators asked the witnesses to sketch what they saw and to answer questions about the direction, distance and flight of the object they saw.

Cherry said the organization will study the material and release its findings on whether what happened in Stephenville can be explained.

"We do not promote the existence of alien ships," Cherry said. "All we are trying to do is figure out if we can explain it or not, and then we'll let the chips fall where they may."

___

On the Net:

Mutual UFO Network: http://www.mufon.com

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