In addition, what is the likelihood that these meteorites, if they really are from Mars, happened to be ejecta from near the surface where life would presumable be? Any event large enough to blow pieces of Mars away at velocities in excess of escape velocity would consist almost entirely of interior material and a minuscule proportion that was close to the surface. This "science" appears to be little more than a convenient fund raising trick to appropriate more tax money.
Agreed. This has GRANT APPLICATION written all over it :-)
The science behind identifying some meteorites as being pieces of Mars is pretty solid. Most are identified with specific impacts, in fact.
Yes, the chances of any one rock getting to Earth is slim, but there are lots of them around the Solar System. Some make it, and a few of those get found and identified.
What’s controversial is identifying the “fossils” as evidence of life. The origin of the meteorite isn’t scientifically controversial, though it may be hard to believe if you’re not acquainted with meteorites and the science around them.
We’ve got pieces of meteorite on Earth associated with specific asteroids in the asteroid belt, too, with good reason, though we haven’t even sent robots there. And a piece of a small body like Vesta seems even more unlikely to make it to Earth, yet so far as we can tell that’s not only happened, but is far more common than Martian meteorites.