007: Accident or Conspiracy? - The Black Vault

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Gurj3, New Statesman, and The Listener. His previous books include African Perspectives, How Long Will South Africa Suriv.veZ, The Lona March of the French Left,, and The Politics of Recession." Several reviews repeat this same data; the conclusions drawn by them from Johnson's biographical information will be discussed later. Now, what Johnson says of his own investigation should be addressed. Johnsonls Personal Perspective At the outset, in his book's Forward, Johnson establishes his intent to investigate from a neutral, politically unbiased point of view. "1 wished to avoid as far as possible the accusation of political bias (in the end an impossible task, of course)." (2:xiv) He felt there were too many unanswered questions in the Reagan administration account of what happened and he was dissatisfied with that explanation (2:xiii). He wanted to explore all the other possibilities those unanswered questions implied, including the Soviet version of the events (2:xiii). This version contends that KAL 00,7 was participating in some kind of US sponsored reconnaissance mission (2:xili). But Johnson wants mainly "to lay out all the evidence that exists to date so that the world can make up its own mind." (2:xiv) Finally, he states his political neutrality b saying "..,I am, in any case, not a joiner-I am not a member of any political party or group. I was happy to stay that way." (2:xiv) In summation, Johnson has established his starting point as being politically unbiased, unprejuidiced by preconceived notions, and seeking only truth from the evidence available (2:xiv). Finally though, it is important to note Johnson's reasoning for his conviction that the reconnaissance mission hypothesis is the only one which makes sense. Johnson admits that his hypothesis of a reconnaissance mission scenario is a hypothesis because it is based solely on circumstantial evidence-there is no "smoking gun." (2:274) 3ut more important is his stated logic for his thesis. And, most of all, the hypothesis gains its strength not just from the way it fits-or can be made to fit-a very large number of disparate facts, but by the sheer inadequacies of all other possible hypothesea. That is, even if one did not consider the surveillance hypothesis on its own merits, one would be impelled +owards it by the simple elimination of possible alternatives (2:274), In short, Johnson's thecry works because none of the other ones can be made to fit the facts. This will be discussed later. 9
Book Reviews-Other Perspectives Now that Johnson's position has been established, the next step is to examine some of the many reviews that appeared after the release of his book. Some of these compare Johnson's work to other books on the incident. Some come from what must be considered biased viewpoints, such as The New American (5:20). Still, a common thread begins to emerge after going through the reviews. Some reviews, though rather limited in the depth of the review, get right to the point. Publisher's Weekly, for example, praises Johnson's method of replaying the events as if his reconnaissance theory were true; "...most readers will likely agree that it is the only one that makes sense." (10:67) The book review section of the Library Journal finds Johnson "acknowledging that the evidence remains incomplete," but, "he concludes that KAL 007 was most likely on a US directed intelligence mission.... " This is related to similar conclusions of one other book and contrary to another. Finally, this review concludes with "Readers will find more detail...than in earlier analyses as well as an accusation of Reagan Administration dishonesty on the matter. A readable and useful contribution to the debate. Recommended for most libraries." (10:60) The review in oList finds Johnson's hypothehis of the reconnaissance mission as "not definitive." (3:1582) Philip Windsor, reviewing for the Times Literary Supplement, was not totally convinced by Johnson's argument, but saw merit in the more political aspects of what Johnson was saying. For example, What does emerge about the Reagan White House during the President's first Administration certa'nly suggests that it was possible for a conspiracy to be mounted at the higher levels of the CIA or the National Security Council or both. The pictute is one of cynicism, Ignorance and a self-righteous brutality, all held together by the winsome bonhomie of a leader who delegated virtually all his reponsibilities and whose attention span on a good day was remarkably limited (13:669). As for Johnson's reasoning, Windsor wrote "Nobody can argue from the negative to the positive, and declare that Just because so many things look so very odd, a historical conspiracy was indeed afoot. But the least one can say in that R. W. Johnson's hypothesis holds water better than most .... " (13:669) Windsor has perceived Johnson to have a distinct political tone and he appeared to concur with it. However, other reviewers who also noted this political tone did not find it agreeable. 010
Page 2 and 3: ,~ Z" DTI AIR COMOAN ~M JON,, t-10U
Page 4 and 5: I REPORT NUMBER 88-0225 TITLE M- SH
Page 6 and 7: PREFACE In the wake of the tragic d
Page 8 and 9: I TABLE OF CONTENT S =....... .- .-
Page 10 and 11: "-CONTINUED the evidence strongly s
Page 12 and 13: Chapter One INTRODUCTION On 1 Septe
Page 14 and 15: Intelligence gatherinq mission (2:2
Page 16 and 17: esponsible for the two US organizat
Page 18 and 19: and William Casey (2:262). The Cons
Page 22 and 23: James J. Drummey in his review for
Page 24 and 25: ecause of Johnson's disinformation
Page 26 and 27: puts 007 6.5 miles north of the Bet
Page 28 and 29: "4•. Part of Sayle's reasoning ab
Page 30 and 31: 0. and that the tracers maintain th
Page 32 and 33: 6 Chapter Five SUMMARY AND CONCLUSI
Page 34 and 35: .. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Hersh, Seymour.

007: Accident or Conspiracy? - The Black Vault

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