As Tim Hebert, at
Reality Uncovered, at his own blog,
Did It Really Happen? at
http://timhebert.blogspot.com/, and at Frank Warren's UFOCHRONICLES (where Robert Hastings habitually deposits his leavings) has recently discussed (see :
http://www.theufochronicles.com/2012/04 ... e-but.html), Hastings' desire to chronicle the history of his oppressive UFO-Nukes nonsense has once again revealed that the center of his claims have a lot in common with the center of a donut: you have to recognize that there's just nothing there before you can really enjoy any of it. The second you think it's real, you end up spending a whole lot of down-time wondering why that tasty, tasty sugar cake filler doesn't have a taste and is oddly unsatisfying to your appetite department. Welcome to "Chernobyl Diaries".
Basically, what Robert Hastings managed to do in the course of composing the ongoing chronicle of his personal "remembrance of things past" was to relate a course of events that is contrary to what he has always asserted prior to this attempt. He was uncharacteristically honest for once, but also managed to relate an incident that confirms (once again) how far from the truth he is willing to wander. He has been asked on a number of occasions by a number of different people why he never invited Col. Walt Figel -- a man he insists has repeatedly confirmed the UFO-related events at Echo Flight that Robert Salas invented some years ago -- to present his alleged "testimony" at the September 27, 2010 press conference he organized to publicize his UFO-Nukes folktales. After all, if his version of this event is so strongly confirmative of Salas' 1996 claims in regard to a command and an event that Salas never served at and was never associated with, such testimony by an individuals who actually DID serve at and WAS associated with said command and event would presumably have some value to the claims Hastings has made. Prior to his most recent affirmations, Hastings has insisted that he did indeed invite Walt Figel to present his claims at the conference, but Figel declined. Figel, on the other hand, as always insisted that he was never invited to speak and knew nothing at all about the press conference. So what we had was two conflicting accounts, one of which confirms the dishonest approach that Robert Hastings has always brought to the table when this subject has been broached.
Very recently, however, Robert Hastings made some assertions to me during a minor back and forth discussion at
http://militarytimes.com/blogs/battle-r ... ent-142271 where it became evident that Robert was attempting to create from nothing another UFO incident. Had it not been a blog associated with the Military Times, I have little doubt that he would have let it go, but since the military represents his primary "resource" he must have felt a defense of his claims was warranted. He shouldn't have bothered. There was simply nothing there, a not untypical conclusion where his assertions generally take root. In any case, during the course of his defense, he made the following points that were recently assessed by Tim Hebert:
Figel, after accusing Salas of making up the UFO-related events at Oscar, as you mention above, never acknowledged that he had been wrong when he said that Salas’ statements were fiction, never called Col. Meiwald (whose number I provided to him) to verify the authenticity of Meiwald’s tape recorded comments in support of Salas—which contradicted his own uninformed opinions entirely—and frankly, never had the decency to apologize to Salas, even after Col. Meiwald supported Salas without reservation.
Figel’s tendency to talk out of both sides of his mouth is one of the reasons he was not initially invited to participate in my press conference—where seven USAF veterans *with backbone* stuck to their stories and talked in detail about multiple UFO encounters at ICBM sites, including the Echo and Oscar shutdowns.
With this caliber of witness (seven of them, actually) at the press conference, why would I include Figel, who told me on tape that he didn’t want to get caught up in the debate between you and me and fan the controversy further? That kind of wishy-washy attitude didn’t make the cut.
As Hebert notes above (and recently pointed out in his commentary to Hastings' recent reappraisal of his own personal "enemies list", that bit of tawdry nonsense "Science and UFOs: Part 4 – Sincere but Uninformed Skeptics Have Been Duped by Skeptical Inquirer Magazine" that was published at Frank Warren's UFOCHRONICLES), this commentary seems to contradict Hastings' previous insistence that Col. Figel was, in fact, invited to the Washington, DC press conference (presumably to affirm the presence of a UFO and thereby confirm Salas' claims in regard to Echo Flight), but had declined to participate. As Tim Hebert states on the commentary of his blog at
http://timhebert.blogspot.com/2012/04/o ... mment-form, "Hastings is on record as saying that he avoided Figel's participation due to his (Figel) lack of enthusiasm for the UFO theme surrounding Echo Flight." Specifically, his comments addressed at UFOCHRONICLES question Hastings' credibility on the grounds that his vitriolic response above illustrates notable deceit:
Robert states in his article, "Although I have roughly three hours of audio taped comments by Figel, he chose not to participate in the press conference."
I've asked Robert on at least two occasions to provide the reasons of Walter Figel's absence and he has stated to me that Figel "chose" not to attend.
How then does this published comment from Robert on the Marine Times (3-20-12) square with Figel's lack of participation.
This published comment being the same as the one noted above.
In response to this very appropriate question, Robert Hastings writes:
Tim Hebert didn't read my statement on the Marine Times blog carefully. Here it is again, with the key word highlighted in all caps:
"Figel’s tendency to talk out of both sides of his mouth is one of the reasons he was not INITIALLY invited to participate in my press conference'", adding that "after debunker James Carlson wrote to Figel, informing him of the press conference and copying me on the message, I emailed Figel and asked him to come, if he wished to participate. He was already working near Washington so I would not have to pay to fly him in, put him up in a hotel, etc., as I did with the other participants.
So, Tim, Figel was indeed invited, eventually, so there is no discrepancy with what I have written online. He chose not to participate, just I have said.
He's once again trying to rewrite his own history, and doing so in a very obvious manner, apparently forgetting that everything has already been documented. In Figel's email to me of September 24, 2010, it is obvious that he was not aware of the September 27 press conference until he read about it. That email was Figel's response to the 1996 tape transcripts Salas and Hastings had just released. In other words, three days prior to Hastings' press conference, Figel had still not been invited to make those imaginary UFO claims public. It was at that time, however, that both Ryan Dube and I began questioning the reason for Figel's noted absence in the list of witnesses presenting testimony at that press conference -- a list of witnesses that had already been established. So either Hastings' neglect of this witness (the only witness aside from Robert Salas that he has EVER used to confirm any incident whatsoever at Echo Flight) three days prior to his little masturbatory epic on the UFOs-Nukes theme was an oversight, or he never intended to invite Figel.
What I love most about Robert Hastings is the fact that we can so easily see how his weak little mind works by simply reading his own claims. The following is one of my favorites, posted at
Reality Uncovered on September 26, 2010, the day before his press conference, in response to the publication of Col. Figel's complete rejection of everything Hastings and Salas have claimed in regard to Malmstrom AFB in March 1967. Please note that Hastings did NOTHING in response to a communication from me informing Figel of the press conference as he now claims. Figel raised the issue all on his own in an article published on September 26, 2010 at
Reality Uncovered. I never even broached the issue with Figel; he did that all on his own after reading about it on September 24, 2010.
As for the "invitation" that Hastings refers to above, it wasn't extended to Figel until a few hours before that silly little press conference, as Hastings clearly established in his commentary to Figel's claims of September 26, 2010:
Walt Figel, who I assumed was in Colorado, can of course attend the press conference. He might learn something. I have added him to the non-media guest list. I have already printed up copies of “Witch Hunt” and will be distributing them at the event as needed. So, if he does show up, and decides to change his story – for whatever reason – he will be up against his own tape recorded words. That would be interesting. I think the media would love *that* story."
Comment by Robert — September 26, 2010 @ 4:05 pm
So are we to believe that this is an invitation? I ask, because it sounds more like a threat. Or is it just another dismissal of anything at all that doesn't fit in with what Robert Hastings wants people to believe, but lacks the ability and the knowledge and the honesty to convince them of?
During that same vitriolic endeavor, Hastings also wrote:
Finally, I also have Figel on tape – from a March 2010 conversation – saying other things which are at variance with what he has written to James Carlson over time. Those taped excerpts will appear in an article at The UFOCHRONICLES in the near future. Walt gave me permission to disseminate those tapes as I saw fit and I will certainly do so.
Comment by Robert — September 26, 2010 @ 4:05 pm
These are old claims. On Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 1:48 PM, Hastings wrote:
Fortunately, both Bob Salas and I have Col. Figel on audio tape, and he confirms talking on the capsule phone with his guards and a missile maintenance team member at Echo Flight, all of whom reported seeing a "large, round" object hovering over one of Echo's Launch Facilities (silos) moments after the missiles began malfunctioning. Salas spoke with Figel in 1996 and earlier this year. I spoke with him in 2008 and earlier this year.
The conversations on the cassette tapes are currently being transferred to CDs and, once that's finished, and some transcribing is completed, both written word and links to the audio will be posted at the UFO Chronicles website. Cutting to the chase, on tape Figel contradicts 99% of James Carlson's online claims about what the colonel did or did not say.
This is completely untrue, as Figel confirmed on Thursday, September 2, 2010, writing:
Salas's mistake about the time and place should say something. Think about it, if you are that passionate about the subject, you would not forget any detail about such an incident and he was dead wrong. He was never there and never involved. Dick Evans was the flight commander at Kilo (Oscar's parent site) and he has no recollection about any incident at Oscar ever.
Is this the type of commentary that "contradicts 99% of James Carlson's online claims about what the colonel did or did not say"? In addition, Figel mentioned nothing at all about the press conference on that early date. But he hadn't yet read about it either, so, of course, he wouldn't have mentioned it. What he DID mention was another wholesale rejection of Salas' and Hastings' claims.
On September 19, 2010, Hastings wrote:
Former Minuteman missile launch officer Eric Carlson is claiming no UFO involvement in the missile shutdown at which he was present, at Echo Flight, outside of Malmstrom AFB on March 16, 1967, and further claims the UFO-related shutdown at Oscar Flight, on March 24, 2967, that Bob Salas reports on never happened at all.
Fortunately, Salas and I have the goods that support our version of events. I am working on an article with links to audio tapes of my and Salas' phone calls to Eric's missile commander, Walt Figel, who contradicts *everything* both Carlsons are saying. James Carlson just flat-out lies about all of Figel's input, even though he had the evidence presented to him by me in 2008. I have the tapes, James has empty claims.
This is also untrue, as Figel had already confirmed in the above assessment of September 2, 2010, 17 days before. He had, in fact, been rejecting those UFO fables steadily since March 2010 -- the same month that Hastings continues to prevaricate on:
I also have Figel on tape – from a March 2010 conversation – saying other things which are at variance with what he has written to James Carlson over time. Those taped excerpts will appear in an article at The UFOCHRONICLES in the near future. Walt gave me permission to disseminate those tapes as I saw fit and I will certainly do so.
That was two years ago, pal.
Also on September 19, 2010, Hastings wrote:
Then, in 2008, I interviewed, on tape, Eric's deputy missile commander at Echo, now-retired Col. Walt Figel, who told me that he did indeed get a report of a UFO hovering over an Echo missile, just as the entire flight went down. He said Eric overheard the call, was debriefed with him, was told never to discuss it, etc. so, basically, Figel completely contradicts Eric.
So, Eric is either very forgetful these days or he is keeping his silence. Anyway, because Bob and I are not backing down and because I have posted online the verbatim transcript of my conversation with Figel, in late 2008, James has been slandering and libeling me, Bob, and Jim Klotz for well over a year now. He has increased his activities online in anticipation of our press conference.
Once my new article and linked tapes are posted, people will be able to hear Figel tell me that a UFO was indeed reported hovering over one of his missiles, and also hear Salas' missile commander at Oscar, Fred Meiwald, say that Bob is telling the truth about the other incident at Oscar Flight.
Figel's March 2010 claims had already refuted these points, but for months Hastings had been claiming that none of those statements were accurate, and that I had lied about Figel's testimony.
Is any of this getting through to you, Robert? On September 26, 2010, Figel wrote:
Your dad has not lied about anything nor do I believe that he is even capable of lying about anything at all. He was, is, and always will be an honorable man. You should remember that always – I will.
Is this what Hastings was referring to when he stated that "basically, Figel completely contradicts Eric"?
It should be noted, once again, that to date Robert Hastings has failed completely to produce any of those March 2010 recordings that he has been promising to publish since March 2010.
So, what's the matter, Robert? That was over two f---- years ago, you pathetic lunatic!Since then, those ridiculous alleged recordings from 1996 are the only thing he's bothered to produce at all these past couple of years, aside from the canker sores he gave to all those people who decided they would wait for him to present something, anything at all, that would show he's not merely a fraud without the ability or morality to present a simple case linking UFOs with the nuclear weapons at Malmstrom AFB in March 1967. I find it hilarious that Hastings has been making these threats since March 2010, initiating this strategy in personal emails to the owners of
Reality Uncovered in order to persuade them not to publish the information I had secured and written about. A simple phone call and an email to Col. Figel was all it took to convince everybody party to those communications that Hastings was indeed (and once again) lying about all of the contrary assertions Figel had supposedly made to him. And the fact that Robert Hastings had already promised to produce transcriptions and the actual recordings of that March 2010 conversation with Figel during which he supposedly made all those claims contrary to what we had already published -- claims that we already knew he did NOT make, being the completely false chimera of logistical corn flakes quivering within the sordid and fraudulent mind of Robert Hastings alone -- convinced me that Hastings was completely capable of doing exactly what he promised to do. Being so well acquainted by that time with his obsessive-compulsive need to lie about absolutely everything he has no immediate response to, the simple fact that he couldn't possibly produce such recordings without faking them wasn't even an issue. Col. Figel wrote to us and summarized everything that he told both Salas and Hastings, and that email -- one among many -- has been available for anyone to read since the day following Hastings' initial threat to publish the contents of that conversation. It is the "ghost" of that threat that he was once again channeling the day before his little dog and pony show at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
I think it's funny as Hell that Robert Hastings is once again trying to make claims that can be so easily revealed for the noise they actually represent by simply examining what he himself has written or said. This would never happen, if he were an honest man who refused to lie so publicly and so often -- but it seems to happen to him a lot.
Robert Hastings only invited Col. Walt Figel to his little press conference in Washington, DC because he was shamed into doing so by the interview with Figel that we published on September 26, 2010 -- one day before Hastings' pathetic circus with his seven inconsistent story-tellers who continue to change the "facts" of their claims whenever they publicly affirm the stories that are now little more than the group-authored compositions of whatever claim attracts the most attention with the least number of critical errors of fact -- a result of the unethical "troubleshooting" they have been practicing for years. These are not the "lies" that Robert Hastings insists we have been telling. They are statements and claims that he himself wrote or discussed in very public terms all by his lonesome self. It was only after he was shamed into "adding him to the non-media guest list" that his "invitation" was established at all, and it was done, as he readily admitted, only because he was made aware by the reporting of Ryan Dube at
Reality Uncovered that Col. Figel was in Washington, DC at the same time. He makes it clear that he had at least considered the possibility that Figel might have been in town to ambush his little show, and he was prepared for that eventuality.
Walt Figel, who I assumed was in Colorado, can of course attend the press conference. He might learn something. I have added him to the non-media guest list. I have already printed up copies of “Witch Hunt” and will be distributing them at the event as needed. So, if he does show up, and decides to change his story – for whatever reason – he will be up against his own tape recorded words. That would be interesting. I think the media would love *that* story.
Comment by Robert — September 26, 2010 @ 4:05 pm
Only Robert Hastings would have considered such an option, because only Robert Hastings is that goddamn paranoid. The rest of the world, Walt Figel included, was pretty much aware that "the media" wouldn't give a damn about that story, or indeed, about any story originating with Robert Hastings, which "the media" proved (and continues to prove) shortly after he and his "seven witnesses" packed up their bag of useless garbage and went home.
Whatever ... The point is, Hastings is once again rewriting history in a useless attempt to make himself seem somehow more respectable and therefore less likely to have made up these ridiculous UFO-Nuke fables he's been selling out of little more than the barely believable tales of old men looking for some extra attention and the well-inked remains of old H.G. Wells short stories scratched out on the low rag-content pulp of the 1920-30s. It's an unnecessary chore. His honesty -- or lack thereof -- is made clear in his own writings (which tend to make his insistence that my claims in regard to Walt Figel and Frederick Meiwald are all lies and fiction kind of a wasted effort, given that all I've done is examine HIS own works and publish what Meiwald and Figel have ACTUALLY said).
Get over it, Robert. If you want to know the source of the dishonesty we've brought into the light, try reading your own copy before you leave it scattered across the internet with the rest of your crap.