jmg@houxk.UUCP (09/15/83)
Last night I read a Jack Anderson column in which he stated that the reason that the soviets suspected KAL flight 007 was on a spy mission was that the soviet airline aeroflot constantly carries out spy missions. There is no doubt in my mind that what he says about Aeroflot is true, but he seems to imply that our side would never do such a thing. If you agree with that implication you should read "Bodyguard of Lies" by Anthony Cave Brown. The author's father worked in British Intelligence during WWII in a group that manufactured "disinformation" (deception schemes). In the book he relates one story about the British using a civilian aircraft with stereoscopic cameras mounted in the belly to conduct photo reconnaisance of Nazi Germany before WWII. As a cover the aircraft operators conducted "demonstration flights" for the German military supposedly to get German military purchases of the aircraft and while the miltary officers were being ferried all over Germany by the plane it was automatically clicking away with its stereoscopic cameras. The title of the book comes from a quotation of Winston Churchill at an all allies conference during the war. Winston Churchill thought that the Russians were allowing too much information about their operations to reach the Germans and he lectured Stalin on this point saying: "In time of war, truth is so precious that it should always be surrounded by a bodyguard of lies." For further information in this area you should consult "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" by Victor Marchetti (a former CIA official). I still believe that the shooting down of KAL 007 is completely indefensible. I support a strong national defense for the U.S. especially against the soviets until the day that the U.S. and Russia no longer act as enemies. But the U.S. should not get into situations where it is destroying human rights in other countries in order to defend "American interests" as it did in Greece a few years ago. My purpose in writing this article is simply to shed a little more light on the subject of international politics.