Johnson, R.W. Shootdown: Flight 007 and the American Connection. New York:
Penguin Books, 1987. 450 pages.
When Korean Air Flight 007 was shot down hundreds of miles inside
Soviet territory on September 1, 1983, the Reagan administration had already
decided that the USSR was an "evil empire." George Shultz went on TV the
next morning and accused the Soviets of knowingly shooting down a passenger
plane, which is tantamount to the murder of innocent civilians. Many felt
that the Reagan administration was jumping to conclusions. Was someone
hiding something? This book by R.W. Johnson, a Fellow in Politics at Oxford
University, is one of the best on the events surrounding this tragedy.
The incident continues to be controversial, and there is still no
agreement on the actual flight path of KAL 007. Some technical analysts
point to one or more sharp turns in the path that brought the flight into
Soviet airspace, suggesting a deliberate spying mission. Others believe the
path was straight but on a wrong heading from the beginning, blaming
improperly-programmed equipment and an inattentive crew. Even when Boris
Yeltsin released some transcripts from the recovered flight recorder on
October 14, 1992, the evidence contained so many gaps and inconsistencies
that more questions were produced than answers.
ISBN 0-14-009474-1
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