Headline News

How ISIS Was Created In A US Prison Camp Called Camp Bucca

It was called Camp Bucca. To coalition forces in Iraq, it was the primary detention facility for enemy prisoners of war. It is the birthplace of ISIS.

Published

9 years ago

June 3, 2015

Geoffrey Grider

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The facility spread out below him, row after row of neatly aligned white aluminum roofs, looking like Chiclets set against the endless beige of the desert floor.

It was called Camp Bucca. To coalition forces in Iraq, it was the primary detention facility for enemy prisoners of war. To Mitchell Gray, then 48 and serving his country for the third time, it was simply the place where the US Army had decided his skills, which included a law degree and a fluency in Arabic, were needed most.

He and the rest of his unit, the 45th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard, were flying helicopters in from Kuwait. It was shortly after landing that he got a first glimpse at a few of the 26,000 detainees, staring at him from the other side of the concertina wire.

A soldier stands guard as detainees pray at a U.S. military detention facility Camp Bucca.

“You never see hatred on the faces of Americans like you saw on the faces of these detainees,” Gray remembers of his 2008 tour. “When I say they hated us, I mean they looked like they would have killed us in a heartbeat if given the chance. I turned to the warrant officer I was with and I said, ‘If they could, they would rip our heads off and drink our blood.’ ”

What Gray didn’t know — but might have expected — was that he was not merely looking at the United States’ former enemies, but its future ones as well. According to intelligence experts and Department of Defense records, the vast majority of the leadership of what is today known as ISIS, including its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, did time at Camp Bucca.

And not only did the US feed, clothe and house these jihadists, it also played a vital, if unwitting, role in facilitating their transformation into the most formidable terrorist force in modern history.

Camp Bucca started, as so many policy blunders do, with nothing but the best intentions. The Army simply needed a place to stick bad actors where they could not harm US troops.

The 800th Military Police Brigade, a reserve unit based on Long Island, were the ones who christened it Camp Bucca. It was fitting symbolism for a place designed to hold terrorists: Ronald Bucca was an FDNY marshall who died on 9/11.

For much of the war, Bucca might as well have been invisible to folks back home. The war correspondents focused their attention on Mosul or Fallujah, places where the bullets were flying and the blood was flowing. The only detention facility to gain real notice was Abu Ghraib, where abuses against Iraqi prisoners made headlines around the world.

Early in Bucca’s existence, the most extreme inmates were congregated in Compound 6. There were not enough Americans guards to safely enter the compound — and, in any event, the guards didn’t speak Arabic. So the detainees were left alone to preach to one another and share deadly vocational advice.

Adel Jasim Mohammed, a former detainee, once described the scene to Al Jazeera. “Extremists had freedom to educate the young detainees,” Mohammed said. “I saw them giving courses using classroom boards on how to use explosives, weapons and how to become suicide bombers.”

They were also networking in ways that never would have been possible outside the wire. A few months back, The Guardian published an extraordinary interview with an ISIS leader it called Abu Ahmed, who described his years at Bucca in glowing terms.

This is the US prison where ISIS was born

“We had so much time to sit and plan,” Ahmed said. “It was the perfect environment. We all agreed to get together when we got out. The way to reconnect was easy. We wrote each other’s details on the elastic of our boxer shorts. When we got out, we called. Everyone who was important to me was written on white elastic. I had their phone numbers, their villages.”

“It really was that simple,” Ahmed said later during the interview. “Boxers helped us win the war.”

Al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic state, spent 10 quiet months at Bucca. According to Pentagon records, he was released in December 2004. He was such a model inmate, a military review board deemed him not to be a significant threat.

Bucca also housed Haji Bakr, a former colonel in Saddam Hussein’s air-defense force. Bakr was no religious zealot. He was just a guy who lost his job when the Coalition Provisional Authority disbanded the Iraqi military and instituted de-Baathification, a policy of banning Saddam’s past supporters from government work.

According to documents recently obtained by German newspaper Der Spiegel, Bakr was the real mastermind behind ISIS’s organizational structure and also mapped out the strategies that fueled its early successes. Bakr, who died in fighting in 2014, was incarcerated at Bucca from 2006-’08, along with a dozen or more of ISIS’s top lieutenants.

The collusion at Bucca got so bad that when Marine Maj. Gen. Doug Stone was put in command of the camp in 2007, he became aware that some insurgents were allowing themselves to be caught so they could join their comrades.

“They showed up knowing about our intake process,” Stone said. “They would come in and say, ‘I believe this and such and therefore I’d like to get into Compound 34.’ These guys were using detention for their own purposes.”

Stone immediately set about breaking up the 1,000-man compounds into 10-man huts to limit inmate interaction. He released detainees who weren’t a threat, so they couldn’t be indoctrinated by the ones who were. He implemented an ideological re-education program, bringing in local imams to preach a moderate version of the Koran.

“It made a difference. And if we had done some of those things five or six years earlier, it might have made more of a difference,” Stone said. “At that point, it was probably too little too late.”

As the battle-weary US began scrambling for the exit in 2009, many former-and-future jihadists held at Bucca were simply let go. Others were released into the hands of Iraqi authorities, who proved inept at keeping them locked up.

One of the first priorities of the Islamic State when it began organizing and gaining strength in 2010 and 2011 was to spring its would-be compatriots, which it did through a combination of bribing corrupt Iraqi officials and staging coordinated attacks on the prisons.

“There were a number of detainees that when we left, we said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t let these guys out,’ ” Stone said. “But of course they all got free. There was a lot of talent and expertise there. They really broke out the Who’s Who in the Zoo.”

It is with sadness that Stone, Gray and other soldiers look at the chaos now in the region. They came to help an oppressed people build a new Iraq. The end result, as ISIS rewrites the rules of region, may be that Iraq is wiped off the map altogether.

“There were obviously mistakes made in how we handled Iraq,” said Greg, the ex-officer. “In retrospect, bringing every jihadi and insurgent into the same place and giving them all the time in the world to get to know one another may go down as our biggest mistake.” source

Free Bible Program

Bibles We Sent Last Year To The Wooster Bible Church Continuing To Bear Fruit As 10 Inmates At Richmond Correctional Received Jesus As Saviour Last Saturday

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Geoffrey Grider

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Last Saturday, 10 men at the Richland Correctional Institution prayed to get saved and were given a King James Bible from Bibles Behind Bars

Last November, we sent 1000 King James Bibles to the Wooster Bible Church in Ohio for their prison ministry, and we asked you at that time to pray that there would be fruit for the Lord Jesus as a result. Evangelist David Spurgeon went with a group of men in November of 2023 into the Richmond Correctional Institution, armed with King James Bibles we supplied them with, and men prayed to get saved as a result. Yesterday I received a text from Wooster Bible Church that the last of the Bibles were finally distributed last weekend, Bro. Spurgeon again preaching in the prison, and this time 10 men raised their hand to say they had received Jesus as Saviour. Praise the Lord!

“The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.” Psalm 68:11 (KJB)

NTEB’er Rob left this comment on an article the other day, talking about Bibles Behind Bars he said:

“This outreach of NTEB is the number one strength of this ministry!”

Guess what? I wholeheartedly agree with him, our multi-level and global free Bible outreach program is absolutely the strength of NTEB. God has raised up something very unique and powerful with both our Free Bible Program and Bibles Behind Bars, people need the word, lost and saved, and God has tasked us with getting it to them.

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

On the Podcast earlier today, I shared with our listeners that we are rapidly approaching 400 souls, that we know about, who have made professions of saving faith in Jesus Christ as a result of our efforts with Bibles Behind Bars since 2021. That is a bucketload of fruit that will follow us through in to glory and to the Judgment Seat of Christ. If you pray for this ministry, you will share in the rewards at the Judgment Seat, if you donate financially so we can purchase and send these Bibles, you will share in the rewards at the Judgment Seat. This is real, old-fashioned, boots on the ground ministry and people are getting saved in the hundreds. If God has prospered you, please click on the donate link to send us a generous contribution so we can purchase more King James Bibles, New Testaments and scripture portions. Thank you so very much… TO THE FIGHT!!!

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Headline News

NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST: College Campuses Across US Have Become The Flashpoint For Incredible Synchronized Hatred Of The Jews And Israel

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Geoffrey Grider

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Suddenly, 2024 has become 1933 with global hatred of the Jew and the nation of Israel reaching levels not seen since Adolf Hitler and WWII

1933 was a watershed year for global events, yet it is only in retrospect that these things are obviously apparent. Some people alive during that time saw the ‘writing on the wall’ while many, or even most, did not fully appreciate the importunity of their times. We who find ourselves alive here in 2024 stand at a similar tipping point, with many ‘asleep at the switch’ as ominous global events and indicators relentlessly fire away. Students of Bible prophecy know the supreme importance of the Jews and trials during 1933, and what that might mean for us here today.

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJB)

On this episode of the NTEB Prophecy News Podcast, we look at the sickening events unfolding across college campuses in America and Europe right now, where massive protests are calling for an end to the nation of Israel, and for ‘death to the Zionists’. The encampment at Columbia University has been among the most militant of the dozens that have spring up at university campuses across the nation, with pro-terror and antisemitic rhetoric rampant. Jewish students report being harassed by participants and excluded from entry, so much so that a Columbia rabbi encouraged them to leave campus for their own safety. The Columbia encampment has also tried, without any authority to do so, to keep out journalists. Today we look at what’s happening across America and around the world to ‘connect the dots’ to Bible prophecy regarding the Jews and the coming WWIII.

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Study Helps And Links For Today’s Podcast

• The NTEB House Church Sunday Service

Every Sunday morning, from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST, we invite you to join us for our NTEB House Church Sunday Morning Service where we lift up the Lord Jesus Christ in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and preach a message from the pages of the King James Authorized Version Holy Bible.

SUNDAY MORNING: All of our NTEB House Church Sunday Services are archived here.

• The RIGHTLY DIVIDING Radio Bible Study

Every Sunday and Tuesday evenings from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, we offer an in-depth rightly dividing and dispensationally correct rocket ride through the preserved word of God as found within the pages of the King James Holy Bible.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Our original Sunday Night Radio Bible Study, it’s from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, and we have praise, singing, testimony and of 90-minute King James Bible study. All our King James bible study programs are archived here.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Our Tuesday Night Radio Bible Study, it’s from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, and we have praise, singing, testimony and of 90-minute King James Bible study. All our King James bible study programs are archived here.

• The NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST Hour

Every Monday and Friday afternoons from Noon to 1:30 PM EST, we examine breaking news and current events in light of bible prophecy.

MONDAY AT NOON: Every Monday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.
FRIDAY AT NOON: Friday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.

Your Generous Donations Make These Live King James Radio Bible Studies Possible!

On our Sunday and Wednesday night radio bible study, we are preaching and teaching the gospel of the grace of God, rightly divided and dispensationally correct, to a truly global audience who is hungry for the word. These programs would not be possible without your generous support. Listen to just a few of the recent comments we have gotten:

I thanked God for sending to your website in 2015 , I live in the South of France near Nice and let me tell you here there isn’t any Bible Believing church at all, the sad reality of France is that is full of Freemasons and Muslims. You came to me at the time I was going to take my own life because of my job. You’re anointed person and I pray for you, family and ministry because you’re a blessing to all of us. May God bless you always. I know I’ll meet you in heaven one day. Lots of Love from your sister in Christ, Paula.
“Hi Geoffrey and staff, Today is my one year anniversary that I got saved on your podcast! I am now a KJB only, I threw away my other two versions I had. I was shocked to learn of the differences and how the new versions twist the words of God, and dilute the message at best. Thank you for the fabulous bible education and fire for the Lord. I donate on your website throughout the year. Thanks for all that you do.” Donna

“The sole purpose of this email to you is to let you know how much we have been blessed by your amazing ministry/website. ‘We’ is my wife and I, in our early forties, 3 kids, professing, churchgoing, bible believing Christians in The Netherlands. Since two months, I listen to your bible studies on Sunday evening, and since this week also to your prophecy podcast. I listen to them in the archives, because of the 6 hour time difference. The shofar and the blessing at 0:30 into the study never fails to make tears in my eyes. We are praying for you, we are praying for your voice, that it lasts in these incredible busy times for you. Listening to your podcasts, you seem to do it effortlessly, talking, scanning the chatbox for questions, diving into the texts, from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between, I love it when you realize after 1:30h into the study, actually a lot more subjects need to be addressed! Thank you for all your work and effort, you are doing an amazing job. Although it all seems effortlessly, I know it is not…Our faith is strengthened by your work and we are able to testify in a better way to the people around us!” Wouter D. van der Wiel
“Wanted to send you encouragement and thank you for all you are doing!! I’ve been reading from this website for about 5 years and I’ve been on this at least 10 times a day. It’s the most honest prophecy website in history. And you have ministered to me greatly. This lockdown has been amazing as God gets us unto himself and smooths out the paths for us. I was reading devotional from Kenneth Copeland and during that time you had really hit That ministries hard. I was not Word Faith but I was feeding off his teaching. During this time I have removed Kenneth Copeland I wanted to thank you for your exposure of his ministry. Holy Spirit is truly the leader of all truths. The bible study on Bill Gates was tremendous. And I had the same check in my spirit as you did. He’s the guy that gonna lead this one world revolution Amazing times we live in. I’m super excited and living in total victory and peace. Once again thank you for the time you put in your reward in heaven will truly be great. Looking forward to this coming week. My prayer tonight is this …Father send Your Son!! DG
“Thank you oh so much for sound teaching. I am so thankful and blessed for clicking on your channel. I have been on your Facebook page since 2011 and never subscribed to you-tube channel until today. I loved the live recording of singing, what a delight to hear the joy of the Lord in the voices of the congregation. So wonderful to hear the part about Luke 12:36, that has made my eyebrows furrow when I read and therefore I have always steadfast to not leaning on my own understanding. May God continue to bless you, your family friends and loved ones. All Glory be to Jesus, my Saviour Redeemer and King, Amen.” Susan Anderson
“Loved this teaching! Presented in a clear contextual manner that was easy to follow along. You connected the dots for me that had previously brought so much confusion, namely the 4th seal covenant, the 5th seal tribulation saints, and the 6th seal 2nd Coming of Christ AFTER the wedding of the Body/Bride of Christ IN HEAVEN. Wow, after 41 years since my being born again by the Holy Spirit in to the Body of Christ, I finally have the answers to end the confusion. What joy and peace has flooded my heart! Thank you for this encouraging teaching of the Word.” SB
“I am from Sri Lanka and listen to the radio Bible study every week.” Nihal Perera

Nothing thrills my soul like teaching the word of God, it is what the Lord called me to do 29 years ago, and Now The End Begins is the vehicle in which I am able to do it. How exciting it is to be able to teach the Bible to tens of thousands of people per year. Like I told you with the first post of 2020, I have dedicated myself now full-time to NTEB, and it is only through your generous support that such a thing is possible.

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Listen to What Our Donation Angels Have to Say About the Ministry of Now The End Begins

“You are truly an end time ministry and I appreciate how our Precious Lord is using you to educate his very own flock. There is a lot of confusion , but your ministry is putting scripture in the right prospective. Thank-you so so much Geoffrey S Grider for standing firm and putting in a lot of hours of your time. God Bless You , also your Ministry and your family. IN JESUS MIGHT NAME.” T. Muto
“Jesus. I am now 64 years old and never in all the years I’ve been a Christian was I able to grow in the Lord as much as I have in the last past year. All because of our blessed brother’s work Geoffrey Grider who as the bravery of standing fast forward without fear of claiming the truth of God by the power of his love in Jesus Christ. May God bless you abundantly to the end my dear brother… ROMANS: 8: 36,37,38” Mireille Anderson
“I met you at the car dealership earlier this year. We spoke briefly, then you handed me a card and told me to check out the website. You left. A few minutes later, you returned to tell me not to forget to look up the website. I told you…” I already did. I already subscribed.” In that short time we spoke, I experienced from you…a total stranger…peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, compassion, and love. I am convinced that God sent you to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. For that, and for the work you are doing for the Kingdom of God, I say…Thank you and God Bless You.” Sonia Merced
“I really enjoy the emails and Bible studies! I haven’t found a church and enjoy your services very much! Be blessed brother!” Marcia Mann
“You and your organization are on the front lines in the Battle For Truth…. current events, end times, and trying to awaken a sleeping laodicean Church. Thank you brother for fighting for us and all your teaching and insight God bless…” Daniel Cartrette
I just want to thank you for the teachings you give every Sunday night on radio. You are such a blessing to me. I absolutely love your way of teaching the scriptures. I don’t have a church where I can have fellowship and teaching, so you have been my teacher for many months now. Thanks God you are there for all of us who have no church to go to. I pray that the Lord will bless you abundantly in your ministry, and your loved ones too. You are such a blessing to me, and many others, in these last days before the rapture. Thank you so much Geoffrey, from the bottom of my heart. May the Lord keep you, until He comes back for us. You are in my prayers.” Donald Godin
“Thank you for the work you are doing brother. Your page and your testimony were a blessing to me this morning as I came across it for the first time. Thank you for the reality of your testimony and what God has done for you in introducing you to Jesus our Lord. God has brought me, in salvation, to Himself as well, through His love and mercy and grace in salvation. How can we praise Him enough? How can we not share this good news!? I pray this day for God’s blessing on your ministry that He may save many souls through the work He has called you to. Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)” Mark and Melissa
“Love the Sunday night bible study. I want to support someone who has the passion for the lost like Geoffrey does and rightly divides the word of God. God bless you.” Teresa Carey
“I give because not many news outlets are brave enough or Godly enough to tell these stories from a Christian’s point of view. I see stories here that will not be seen anywhere else.” William Grayshaw
“It’s hard to find solid biblical teaching in America these days. It’s a blessing to be able to take part in a ministry financially without being concerned about false teaching. All glory to God! God bless!” Maximilian Swan
“I donate because you are reporting the truth about the increasing wickedness of our time, as God’s word foretold. In so doing we are reminded to “Keep looking up” as we wait in joyful hope for the Lord’s coming, Maranatha! ” Anthony Sloane
“Geoffrey has the best End Times News out there. I have been receiving his emails for years now and always enjoy his Sunday night messages although I don’t always think exactly as he thinks. We are all in this “boat of life” together and as I come to the end of my life’s journey here, I am more aware of Jesus’s call for us to be one as He and the Father are One.” Deborah Cleaveland

STREET-TESTED NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS:

This is the official gospel tract of NTEB, used here on the streets of Saint Augustine and sent around the world as they are purchased through our website. We ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the work of Now The End Begins by purchasing a box of these full-color, high-quality gospel tracts. Thank you in advance!

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Headline News

Shocked Airline Passenger Sees UFO Flying Outside Her Plane And Snaps What Just May Be The Clearest Image Yet Of An Unidentified Flying Object

Published

3 days ago

April 25, 2024

Geoffrey Grider

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An airplane passenger took flying saucer speculation to new heights when she spotted a possible UFO soaring above the Big Apple — baffling experts and sending federal aviation officials on a fact-finding mission Thursday.

Back in March, airline passenger Michelle Reyes was coming home from a trip, and she started filming the impressive panoramic view outside her window when she was stunned to see a UFO hurtling past her. She immediately contacted the FAA who had no response, and then she posted it to her Facebook page. Now weeks later, people are talking about the UFO outside her window, and not coming up with any other explanation for what she saw that day.

“Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.” Zechariah 5:1 (KJB)

The UFO flies in and out of frame very quickly, taking up a mere 5 frames of camera time. But when those frames were analyzed, they revealed one of the clearest UFO images ever captured. Are we on the cusp of making contact with the beings driving these ships? I say not only yes, but we are overdue for this type of activity. The US government switched positions back in 2019 when they acknowledged UFOs are in the skies with Navy pilots on a regular basis. They are coming down as we prepare to go up on Flight #777!

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ARE YOU INTERESTED IN UFOS, GIANTS AND THE SPIRIT WORLD FROM A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE? CLICK NOW TO VISIT OUR ‘ALIENS & FALLEN ANGELS’ SECTION!!

Possible UFO over NYC baffles passenger flying into LaGuardia

FROM THE NY POST: Michelle Reyes was on a commercial airline flight above LaGuardia Airport on March 25 when she captured video footage of a mysterious “flying cylinder” out of her plane window, she said on Facebook.

“The first thing I did was email the FAA to let them know what I saw,” she told NewsNation Wednesday. “Maybe it was a safety hazard, but unfortunately I haven’t heard back from them, they didn’t acknowledge my email.”

Michelle Reyes caught a video of a mysterious “flying cylinder.”

She said another person on the flight saw the out-of-this-world object and was stunned.

“It’s a little nerve-wracking that someone else saw what I saw,” she said.

Thomas Wertman, the state director of the Mutual UFO Network in Ohio, reviewed the footage for The Post and said the dark object was traveling at roughly 2,500 feet and was “relatively close” to the plane as it prepared for landing. The object’s altitude, shape and location — near a major commercial flight path — appears to rule out that it could be a news helicopter, a drone or a military-operated aircraft, Wertman said.

The unusual round shape of the object struck him as “intriguing” because it debunks the theory that it was a second plane filmed at an odd angle.

“It does not appear to be a commercial aircraft because I don’t see features like wings or a tail,” he said.

The plane Reyes was aboard was roughly 15 minutes away from LaGuardia Airport likely traveling 230 mph when the video was shot, he said. READ MORE

Caught on camera: Possible UFO reported over New York’s LaGuardia Airport

Michelle Reyes caught an image of a mysterious “flying cylinder,” possibly a UFO, from her airplane window above LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Reyes joins “Banfield” to discuss. Ben Hansen, UFO investigator, also weighs in.