Customer Reviews

Incident at Sakhalin: The True Mission of KAL Flight 007

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

No other book details the events related to KAL 007 like this one does. It is clearly the best book on the subject. The research presented is impeccable but very tedious at times to read. My criticism is that the author leaves the reader hanging at the end when I think he could've done a lot better. It is very disappointing. He offers detailed analysis of the events leading up to the disappearance of the plane but then strangely never offers a detalied analysis of what he thinks happened. He says it was destroyed. He never offers a theory about who destroyed it or what could've happened to the bodies or all the wreckage. The flow of the book leads the reader to expect this, but the author fails to do this. This ultimately detracts greatly from his contribution on the subject, concerning which the public will probably never know the real truth. I am incredulous to understand how he could not have made a well-educated theory on these- the most important details of the story especially in light of the analysis leading up to the disappearance. Still, it is riveting and I recommend it.

It's tough to find any holes in his comprehensive analysis. Excellent read, lots of detail to back up his theory. I'm came away believing that the U.S., USSR and Japan have blood on their hands. Shame on us for not demanding the truth.

An aviator and mariner, Michel Brun, through scientific methods, his personal collection of evidence, reviews of newspaper articles, probing of the Japanese military, and interviews with Soviet pilots, exposes how a nearly three hour air battle with the Russians was won by the Mig-31, and that KAL 007 was still in flight, and six minutes from safety, after the second hour of the air battle (that it wasn't directly involved in). The story of the manipulation of a civilian air flight, and the intentional provocation of the Soviet bear by Reagan's intentional over-flights of Pacific Russia by military aircraft, is the story of the century that you just can't miss! (Note: The satellite, mentioned on page 253 is Tracking and Data Relay Satellite One [Challenger's first mission], and Zellenyy Ostrov [Shibotsu-Jima] is part of the Habomai Islands, not the Kurils. Corrections courtesy: John Dugas).

Only a year ago, I watched a History Channel presentation of the "official" story of KAL 007, whose flight-number designation seemed so cruelly appropriate. Shortly thereafter I was recommended "Incident at Sakhalin" by a person who had been heavily involved in US Cold War strategies of the eighties. "Read this," he insisted, "if you want to know how close to the brink of nuclear war we came." He refused to say more, but the book is an eye-opener. On 1-Sept. 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, enroute to Seoul from New York via Anchorage, disappeared over the Sea of Japan. An extraordinary propaganda campaign and coverup ensued immediately following the events surrounding this incident -- on both sides of the Cold War Iron Curtain. In that perilous and paranoid time, the disaster nearly precipitated World War lll. To this day, the four governments involved in the Sakhalin Incident would prefer that the "official" conclusion remain in effect: that is, the passenger jet had innocently strayed off-course and was mistaken for the Cobra Ball spy plane which was detected at the same time in violation of Soviet airspace. That story generated much suspicion, which resulted in numerous Congressional investigations and accusations regarding CIA use of foreign civilian airliners for its surveillance missions over the USSR. Passengers were routinely and unwittingly used as pawns, a chilling revelation in itself. But Brun's book goes way beyond that. The author has impressive credentials; he is a French aviation expert and aircraft accident investigator, fluent in five languages. Moreover, his political neutrality ensures an unbiased presentation of the facts he had spent some ten years gathering. Several mysteries of the Sakhalin incident are widely known. For example, neither the wreck of the plane nor the remains of the 269 passengers has ever been found in the shallow area of the Sea of Japan over which KAL 007 was allegedly shot down. Meticulous research, aided by post-Cold War release of previously classified materials, reveals more of the disturbing story. In fact, Flight 007 was not lost over Sakhalin, but continued to fly and transmit messages for nearly an hour after other intruding aircraft were intercepted there by Soviet MiGs. The evidence shows that a poorly-conceived US intelligence and provocation operation launched a two-hour-long air battle with Soviet fighters over Sakhalin. In this battle, US Air Force and Navy aircraft and personnel were lost, and KAL 007 disappeared some 435 miles from where it was "officially" claimed to have crashed -- by means and reasons after all these years still unexplained. Boris Yeltsin, in his 17-June, 1992 speech to a joint session of the US Congress, mentioned Soviet-held American POWs in conjunction with the KAL 007 incident. This was interpreted by the American press as reference to the Korean and Vietnam eras; and the Reagan Administration offered no enlightenment to the public. We Americans have become accustomed to some misinformation and coverup on the part of the government, some of which is conducted in the name of national security. It appears that the Incident at Sakhalin was the result of a massive blunder with tragic, embarrassing, and nearly devastating ramifications. Get the book! Loaded with technical facts and stats, it is a fascinating read.

Brun's telling of the downing of KAL 007 has be refuted long ago. His supposed transcipts of Soviet air defense pilots and controllers doesn't agree with the actual recordings, his facts can't be double checked, and none of it agrees with the declassified records that have been made available in the wake of the collapse of the USSR.

So why do people continue to defend Brun, and claim that he alone is correct, and all others are somehow corrupt?

Conspiracy theorists are motivated by a great many things. Some are simply looking for verification of their existing predjudices. Many revel in the ideal that they alone are privy to secret information not available to others. And some find solace in conspiracy theories that mirror their own paranoid delusions.

Whatever the case, Brun's work has long been discredited- see, for example, the tremendous amount of research that Soviet aerospace expert James Oberg has put in on this at his own web pages (www.jamesoberg.com). And yet, the hysteria lingers on.

Michel Brun provides a detailed analysis of the KAL Flight 007 incident. Using exhaustive first-person research, Brun weaves a plausible explaination for and a true account of the secret military conflict between the US and USSR on the night of the shootdown that precipitated the killing of 269 airline passengers and loss of an unknown number of military personnel. Brun uses first hand investigation, official documents, analysis of airline communications, and radar returns to support the theory. The well researched book is extremely detailed and nicely readable.

Two criticsims:

Much of the theory involves an analysis of time and incidents. A chart detailing these relationships would be helpful.

The maps are somewhat difficult to read. Understanding the maps is critical to under standing the theory.

The dense text is an excellent read and impels a reader to seek the truth.

An excellent study of the KAL 007 shootdown. I was unable to put the book down and read it from cover to cover in one sitting. Anyone who has interest in military history/the cold war/aviation will be thrilled with the conclusions Brun discusses. Brun has obviously researched deeply for this project and he left me with no doubt as to what really happened to KAL 007.

At last, a logical and reasonable explanation for all the confusing radar and radio information. But he doesn't quite answer all the unanswered questions, ie, What happened to the bodies? Where is the plane? There should be answers, somewhere.

No doubt, that Ronald Reagan could have send the entire world to a nuclear oblivion.

However: I have a couple of questions:

In 1983 USSR was at the top of her military might.

1.What on Earth made Andropov and his comrades to admit to the world, they shot a civilian airplane, IF THEY DID NOT? (as the book suggest)

and:

2. Why on Earth did the soviets keep silent about the battle, especially after they won? If there was such battle, the whole World would have known. Things like this would not be kept secret, there would be books, and movies, and poems, and songs, and shows, abd statues to the heroes.

If you believe in toothfairy and in James Bond, then this book is for you.

Just, do not try to convince me, it is a true and documentary stry: Please, Gimme a break.

Prologue: If governments did not routinely lie to their citizens, there would be no need for conspiracy theories.

The loss of KAL007 came at a dangerous time during the Cold War. Gone were the salad days of détente. Reagan was a warmonger, and the Soviets saw him (fairly accurately, perhaps) as a cowboy with an itchy trigger finger. The Soviet Union's Operation RYAN in 1981 and the Reagan administration's own psychological operations throughout the early 1980s had escalated already unhappy tensions. That circumstances would conspire to account for the loss of almost three hundred civilian passengers and crew seems more a question of 'when' rather than 'if.'

In the end, my own opinion is that the KAL007 tragedy was, in fact, an accident, but one which the U.S. Government willingly capitalized on. Despite ever-improving technology and rigorous training, flights go off course with disturbing regularity. Considering the Soviet Union's Reagan-enhanced paranoia, a disaster was inevitable. Indeed, just five years prior, another Korean Air Lines flight went severely off course and was shot down by the Soviets. (KAL902: April 20, 1978)

The United States had an RC-135 operating in the area of the Kamchatka Peninsula the very night of 1 September 1983. The similarity between that military surveillance plane and the civilian 747 might have provided enough plausible deniability for the Soviets to justify shooting it down, except that subsequently released (1993) transcripts show the airliner not to be a threat and to be exiting Soviet airspace when it was attacked. Unfortunately for KAL007, historically antagonistic tactics by the United States (as during FleetEx '83) primed the Soviets for an aggressive response. Post-shooting, the U.S. Government continued its questionable actions, preempting the NTSB investigation, plus the (surely fallacious) claim that U.S. Air Force radar data from King Salmon, Alaska had been erased. Curious on both counts. And for those who believe the U.S.'s complicity in orchestrating the entire affair, all very convenient.

At the very least, the U.S. Government was guilty of milking this tragedy for political expedience. The "act of barbarism" (as Reagan preached days later) provided the final push to deploy Pershing II missiles to West Germany. And don't underestimate how much insight the U.S. (and Japan) gained through intercepting communications both during and after the incident. However (and unlike Brun), I remain unconvinced that the U.S. planned this operation from the start. I love a good conspiracy theory but I am not on board with this one, at least not yet. Brun tells us that, "The Departments of Defense, Transportation, State, and Justice were involved in the deception, sometimes illegally. The governments of Japan, South Korea, France, and Russia were drawn into the cover-up." (p.254) I have enough trouble believing that my own government can make it through the week without going broke. I am far from being convinced that the governments of four *more* countries can be made to work in harmony to effect a decades-long cover-up, or that the United States would continue to have the power to do so. Nor do I believe that "many U.S. military aircraft" were lost during this alleged engagement. The recovery of aircraft parts in that area could be coincidental. I am reminded of how the wreckage of a group of five Avengers found some twenty years ago off the Florida coast was thought to be the lost squadron of Flight 19. However, engine serial numbers ultimately proved otherwise in that case.

But where *are* the bodies and the luggage from KAL007, and, yes, the plane itself? Flight data indicates the pilots regained control of the aircraft and brought it down in a slow controlled descent. I believe they were able to ditch at sea, possibly near Moneron Island (in Soviet territory: U.S. and Japanese search and rescue teams were not allowed access there; furthermore, documents reveal the Soviets went to extreme efforts to disguise their own search efforts and sabotage those of their enemies). Records show the Soviets knew where KAL007 was coming down and sent personnel there immediately. I believe they rescued whatever crew and passengers survived the missile strike and crash landing. So where are they now? Were the passengers (including a U.S. Congressman) held as some sort of political capital? Some information was divulged by Yeltsin after the Soviet Union crumbled; perhaps more information will be forthcoming in the future? We have plenty of our own secrets that may never be solved.

_Incident at Sakhalin_ does not provide all the answers about Flight 007. But at least Michel Brun is willing to ask the questions. His theory: the destruction of the "accidentally" off-course civilian flight masked a massive clandestine spying and provocation operation. Essentially, his claim is that the primary U.S. goal was to collect information about Soviet rocket launches, submarine bases, nuclear weapons, defense systems, etc. The fallback plan? Lose an airliner but collect just as much information, maybe more. Unfortunately, Mr. Brun's argument as presented is neither elegant nor enjoyable. The book is a difficult slog at times, filled with leaps of faith, conflicting details, and confusing diagrams. To be fair, this was a translation from the French. A more succinct version of the same theory has been put forth recently by Ethan Rider. (See link in Comments section below.) Please note, however, that Mr. Rider's own final conclusion is even more shocking.

As for the book itself, the combination of typeface and ink density makes reading difficult in anything other than bright light. Some sloppy endnote numbering is frustrating. A personal annoyance: The author overuses the grammatical construction prefacing an evidential argument and starting a sentence with "That." That he is willing to present an argument is commendable. That he uses this method multiple times per chapter is tiring.

But less defensible than any readability issue is the author's willingness to make huge leaps in an attempt to bolster his case. An example of such an overreach is when he points to a piece of evidence found on a Japanese beach as being marked, "PVC10-MIL PIPEWRAP" and claims thusly, "The MIL on the fragment shows it was intended for military use." In reality, this is tape for sealing PVC pipe, easily found at home improvement stores. The "MIL" simply indicates the thickness of the tape (1 mil = 1/1000 of an inch). Even if it were tape manufactured to a MIL-SPEC (Military Specification)--for example, MIL-T-27730A, which describes "TAPE, ANTISEIZE, POLYTETRAFLUOROETHYLENE"--the argument would barely be more compelling, as many industrial and even commercial applications specify MIL-SPECs as a means of maintaining quality standards.

3.5 stars, rounded down.


Jason Kirkfield, (c) 2011