Milton William Cooper

**Milton William "Bill" Cooper** (6 May 1943 - 5 Nov 2001) was an American author best known for his book *Behold a Pale Horse* (1991). Cooper was considered an enemy of the State, and was gunned down by Apache County sheriff's deputies in 2001 in Eagar, Arizona.

Cooper served in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1966, before the draft. Cooper was QM1, E-5, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), U.S. Navy. Cooper's duties included handling NTDS electronic equipment used in anti-submarine warfare; keeping logs and records; and weather observations.

Cooper was assigned a Naval crew who gave support to Balao-class maintenance teams working on a submarine that was docked at NSPH, Oahu, Hawaii for major overhaul on 6 December 1965. The overhaul included installation of an underwater noise reduction system, habitability issues, and conducting sea trials until 14 June 1966.

During one of the sea trials, Cooper and a number of undisclosed eye-witnesses apparently saw an unidentified metal craft larger than a football field exit the water, logged as the Tiru Incident. Cooper was decorated with two service medals and was honorably discharged for completing his tour of duty in 1966.

Bill Cooper statement:
“I had seen a flying saucer the size of an aircraft carrier come right out of the ocean and fly into the clouds. I looked around quickly to see if anyone else had seen it. Ensign Ball was still bending over the IMC. He was ordering coffee. Geronimo was looking down the starboard side aft. I was torn between my duty to report what I had seen and the knowledge that if I did no one would believe me. As I looked out over the ocean I saw only sky, clouds, and water. It was as if nothing had happened. I almost thought I had dreamed it.”
After his service, Cooper took up residency in California, USA, enrolling in Junior college courses. Because of the unexplained phenomenon he experience in the Navy, Cooper associated himself with UFO networks in the California, Nevada, Arizona areas. Cooper befriended John Olsen Lear, son of Learjet founder Bill Lear, in 1988.

After President George H. W. Bush gave his "New World Order" speech on 11 September 1990, a number of conspiracy researchers, such as John Coleman and Fritz Springmeier, authored and published books about the Illuminati, the Committee of 300 and the Club of Rome by 1991.

Amassing knowledge from various conspiracy and UFO circles, such as from Paul Bennewitz, Bill English, Robert Lazar and John Grace, and while including his own experiences, Cooper authored the book *Behold a Pale Horse* published in 1991. The Guardian described it as "the manifesto of the militia movement". Political scientist Michael Barkun characterized *Pale Horse* as "among the most complex superconspiracy theories", and also among the most influential due to its popularity in militia circles and mainstream bookstores.

In 1992, Cooper settled in the town of White Mountains, Eagar, Arizona, about 15 miles from the New Mexico border. He started his own radio show called *The Hour of the Time*. Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Cooper was well known within the militia movement for his anti-government shortwave radio program. Cooper broadcast conspiracy theories about the Waco siege in early 1993, which he believed had been the opening battle in a new Civil War. Cooper participated in the early radio shows of Alex Jones, an admirer of his broadcasts.

Cooper became convinced that he was being personally targeted by President Bill Clinton and the Internal Revenue Service. In July 1998, he was charged with tax evasion. An arrest warrant was issued, but Cooper eluded repeated attempts to serve it. In 2000, he was named a "major fugitive" by the United States Marshals Service.

On 28 June 2001, Cooper commented on a televised interview of Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Afghanistan, saying that bin Laden would soon be "blamed" for a 'major attack' on a large U.S. city, "but don't you believe it". Immediately after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Cooper said that the U.S. would soon be at war in 'two or maybe three countries'.

On 5 November 2001, Apache County sheriff's deputies attempted to arrest Cooper at his Eagar, Arizona home on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and endangerment. After an exchange of gunfire during which Cooper shot one of the deputies in the head, Cooper was fatally shot.

Spokesman Tom McCombs of the federal U.S. Marshals Service said of Cooper, “He had vowed that he would not be taken alive.”