UFO sightings in Iraq
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since April 2006. (help, talk) |
This article details a number of UFO sightings that occurred in Iraq in 2003.
Contents |
[edit] Sightings
[edit] 2003
The first sightings were reported to occur on March 19, 2003 when unexplained lights were observed near Kirkuk by civilians and paramilitary forces. March 19, 2003 also coincides with the invasion of Iraq by United States and the Coalition forces, marking the beginning of the Iraq War. Many witnesses claimed to have seen actual flying objects. Other witnesses claimed they could identify the objects as flaming debris from air strikes, airplanes, or lightning. As of March 19, 2003, any explanation of the strange lights remained unknown.[1].
Another UFO was sighted in Kirkuk on March 23, 2003 when BBC News was making a report on the Iraq war situation when one of the reporters saw a triangular shaped UFO which was briefly filmed. The object flew by for a brief second before disappearing. There was no evidence that the UFO was a fighter jet or a cargo plane.[2] Four days later, another UFO was sighted by civilians and US troops, according to an internet source, someone allegedly took a photograph of the UFO. As of 2003, this claim is disputed however.[3] On April 3, 2003 a UFO was photographed flying over Baghdad, the craft was not seen by any of the civilians or solders (except the photographer) and its unclear of what the object really was.[4]
On April 6, 2003 five cylindrical shaped UFOs were sighted near the Tigris River and that the objects were filmed and televised live on Fox News although there's no evidence that Fox News actually filmed the objects. [3]
[edit] Theories and explanations about Iraq sightings
Numerous theories arose during the Iraq UFO sightings. Some Iraqi civilians believed that the UFOs were sent by God to protect holy and religious sites. [5] Others claimed the craft was from outer space. However sceptics refute this claim, saying that the UFOs were either UAVs - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, debris from explosions , planets or hoaxes.
[edit] Rumors of an Iraq base
Many UFO groups suggests Saddam Hussein has an Area 51-like base some where in Iraq.[6] According to these groups, they believe, the base housed a UFO that crashed either during the Gulf War in 1991 or Operation Desert Fox in 1998.[7] However there is little evidence that such a base exists or that the UFO crash even happened.
[edit] Disputed photographs
One of the disputed photo was the alleged photo of a UFO taken while one of the statues of Saddam Hussein was taken torn down. According to the source the, photo depicts a dark, rectangular shaped object. However, it is unclear if this is a UFO or a piece of debris that fell off when the statue was torn down.
