On the first of September 1983, a Korean jetliner en route from New York to Seoul was initially off its planned course over the skies of Anchorage, Alaska. After about 200 miles, it entered Soviet airspace and vanished from radar screens.

Initially, the Soviet Union denied any knowledge of the incident. However, it later admitted to downing the aircraft, alleging that the passenger plane was on a spying mission for the Americans over Soviet territory. The Soviet Communist Party’s Politburo claimed that the Americans were to blame for the incident, accusing them of deliberately provoking the Soviet Union to test its military readiness or even to provoke a war. The Soviets long obstructed American and international efforts to conduct rescue and search operations. Soviet authorities concealed all evidence of the incident, including the aircraft's black box and wreckage, as well as the bodies of the passengers and their belongings, from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the world for ten years until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the truths were revealed.

After an hour of tracking the airplane on radar, the Soviet Air Force deployed two Sukhoi-15 fighter jets to intercept Flight 007. The mission of these aircraft was to identify the unidentified plane, gather information, warn the pilot, and escort the aircraft. These fighters fired symbolic bursts from their machine guns to attract the attention of the Korean airplane’s pilots. Meanwhile, the pilot of the passenger plane, to save fuel after contacting the Tokyo control tower, reduced speed and increased altitude, actions that took the Korean plane out of the escort path of the Sukhoi fighters and were perceived by Soviet pilots as provocative, increasing the likelihood of the plane’s military nature. Consequently, the Korean airplane was targeted by missiles from the Sukhoi-15s, shot down, and all 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed.

But there was more to this incident. A crucial aspect was related to the passenger list en route to Seoul to participate in joint military exercises between America and Korea. The flight crew consisted of three professional and experienced members from Korean Air: the captain had 10,627 hours of flying experience, 6,617 of which were with Boeing 747s. The first officer had 8,917 hours of flying experience, 341 of which were with Boeing 747s, and the flight engineer, Kim, had 4,012 hours of flying experience, 2,614 of which were with Boeing 747s.

The number of crew members relative to passengers was higher than usual. Twelve special passengers were seated on the upper deck, and 24 seats in the business section were occupied. About eighty seats in the economy section were empty, and altogether, there were 22 children under 12 among the passengers. 130 passengers were ultimately headed to another city or country. And who were those 12 special guests?

Among them was Larry McDonald, a United States Congressman from Georgia who was at that time the second president of the conservative John Birch Society; Senator Jesse Helms from North Carolina was also on Korean Air Flight 007. Senators Steve Symms from Idaho and Carol Hubbard from Kentucky had canceled their reservations on Flight 007 at the last minute. They boarded another flight that left 15 minutes later for Seoul, South Korea.

Soviet documents claimed that Richard Nixon, the former President of the United States, was supposed to accompany Larry McDonald on Flight 007. However, according to a New York Post report and the Soviet Telegraph Agency, the CIA warned Nixon not to go; however, Nixon denied this claim.

Who was Larry McDonald?

Lawrence Patton McDonald (April 1, 1935 – September 1, 1983) was an American physician, politician, and a United States Representative from Georgia's 7th congressional district, serving as a Democrat from 1975. Before his death in 1983, McDonald became the John Birch Society president, established in 1958 and is a right-wing American political advocacy group supporting social conservatism and anti-communism. The society was actively involved with various radical right, extremist right, and right-wing populist associations. Its founder, businessman Robert Welch Jr., developed the organizational infrastructure of national chapters in December 1958. The society quickly grew in membership and influence and was also known for Welch’s conspiracy theories, particularly his controversial claim that Dwight Eisenhower was a Communist agent. This group is a collection of supporters of the Trump administration and today's American conservative movement.

McDonald admired Senator Joseph McCarthy and was a member of the Joseph McCarthy Foundation. He hired former staff of the House Un-American Activities Committee to work in his office and continued his investigations into left-wing groups in America. He considered communism to be an international conspiracy. He was a proponent of the Austrian School of Economics and a founding Ludwig von Mises Institute member. In the late 1970s, he supported strict monetary policies against inflationary recession and endorsed a return to the gold standard.

McDonald's called the welfare state a disaster and supported the gradual control over major social programs by the states. He also endorsed reducing foreign aid. McDonald was one of the supporters of a resolution that advocated against any governmental or judicial leniency towards actions for the homosexual community, believing homosexuality to be a personal issue and not to be politicized.

McDonald opposed establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, citing FBI evidence that King "had connections and was complicit with Communists and undercover Communist agents."

In 1979, McDonald, along with John Rees and General John K. Singlaub, founded the Western Goals Foundation. This institute's purpose was to counter subversive currents, terrorism, and communism, which were spread by infiltrators in politics and the FBI.

McDonald rarely spoke in Congress, preferring to enter his contributions into the Congressional Record. His work typically focused on foreign policy issues related to the Soviet Union and domestic issues centered on curbing non-Soviet and Soviet leftist growth. Several McDonald's writings regarding the Socialist Workers Party are collected in the book "Trotskyism and Terrorism and the Strategy of Revolution," published in 1977. Trotskyism is a political ideology and a branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and other members of the left opposition globally.

The similarity between this incident and how Soviet authorities dealt with the downing of the Ukrainian plane is undeniable. It seems that the Islamic Republic is either following the example of the other or in fact, the other is managing the Islamic Republic. The policy of eliminating left-wing ideological opponents and the Russian regime change project, which has become widespread today, began in earnest in the early 1980s and laid the groundwork for today's ambiguous global political events. Just imagine if we had the footage of the Ukrainian plane's passengers boarding, we would see who the real passengers were and who they were victims of elimination, whether of a person, an idea, or a political current. As long as the truths are hidden, we should not judge issues emotionally. Shortly, many of today's truths will be revealed, and I hope we come to a map that only a handful of us will slap on the back of our hands and be ashamed of their mistakes in supporting security information streams.

Written by Hirbod Hooman

January 2024