by Eric Ture Muhammad
Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com)�A recent news conference about the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and Unidentified Flying Objects produced dozens of private meetings on Capitol Hill with members of the House and Senate, according to a group that insists UFOs exist and the government is withholding proof from the public.

The Disclosure Project, which held a May 9 press conference at the National Press Club, wants "secrecy-free" hearings on the existence of life beyond earth and 50 years of government monitoring.

The group said it has 400 witnesses�including credible government and military insiders�who can attest to the truth of close encounters with alien beings and their technology.

Personnel with The Disclosure Project, a nonprofit research effort, declined to name lawmakers and officials it met with for two days after the press conference. But Project leaders expressed hope that congressional hearings could become a reality.

"We are very optimistic. We do have a core within the U.S. Congress who are understanding of the dilemma and at least one senator and one congressperson have volunteered to chair the hearings when they are scheduled," said Alfred Webre, congressional coordinator for The Disclosure Project.

The Disclosure Project believes secret government information could help solve global environmental and other problems.

The group also wants legislation that will ban space-based weapons.

"I know that we are not alone in the universe," said former U.S. Army First Sergeant Clifford Stone during the news conference. "I know that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. We have told the American people that there are no such things as UFOs, but I�ve been involved with the recovery of them and I have seen the bodies of extraterrestrial. Governments must never lie to the people for any reason," he said.

Some witnesses testified to seeing multiple wheels of light sometimes flying at recorded speeds of 3,000 to 4,000 miles per hour. Others claimed they took pictures of these crafts and some of their pilots during high-level tenures in the worlds� most sophisticated spy and military agencies, according to the Project.

The U.S. government has consistently denied reports of UFOs, crash landings, finding bodies or other extraterrestrial contact. Sightings have been dismissed as weather balloons, natural phenomenon and misidentified conventional aircraft.

During the news conference, which introduced 25 of 400 witnesses, a 10-year plan of cooperation between the U.S. and any extraterrestrial civilizations was presented.

"Legislation to ban space weapons will prohibit acts of war against extraterrestrial civilizations," Mr. Webre said. "They are here to help us. Space is made to be a conflict-free zone and the return to the Star Wars program under the current Bush administration is the opposite of that," he said.

In 1969, President Carter completed a report, saying he experienced extraterrestrial contact, Mr. Webre said. In 1976, during his presidential campaign, Mr. Carter promised if elected, that he would make all U.S. files on extraterrestrials and UFOs public, Mr. Webre continued.

Before his inauguration in January 1977, Mr. Carter personally met with then-CIA director George Bush, Sr., and requested that files related to UFO and extraterrestrial encounters be released, according to Mr. Webre. Mr. Bush refused, Mr. Webre said.

After his inauguration, Mr. Carter commissioned a study as a beginning to honor his campaign promise, but it was met with tremendous opposition Mr. Webre recalled.

Mr. Webre says in 1977, under President Carter�s administration, he was director of the Extraterrestrial Communications Study. But he got no cooperation and the study was shut down.

"The American government wants to escape what Allah has in store for them and they are busying themselves more than ever to revise and implement the Star Wars program that only a President Bush can implement," said Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, wife of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

In 1989, Mother Tynnetta, along with Min. Jabril Muhammad and the late Final Call Editor-in-Chief Abdul Wali Muhammad, attended a conference on UFOs that brought witnesses from around the world to testify of their encounters with UFOs and extraterrestrials and how world powers were hiding these truths.

"The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said that Allah would give them (whites) a peep into the heavens, and now He uses white counter-revolutionaries to make the same claims concerning life beyond earth and advanced life living above the earth, as the Messenger taught us of since the 1930s," she said.

Dr. Steven Greer, Disclosure Project director, urged congressional, White House and United Nations action to facilitate a hearing and allow former and current government officials to testify under a grant of immunity. At The Disclosure Project news conference, each of the witnesses declared they would go before the Congress if asked to.

But the group also maintains its success does not solely rest with the Congress.