Our prayers tonight are with the victims and their families in their time of terrible grief. Our hearts go out
to
them—to brave people like Kathryn McDonald, the wife of a Congressman whose composure and
eloquence on the
day of her husband's death moved us all. He will be sorely missed by all of us here in government. The p
rents of
one slain couple wired me: "Our daughter . . . and her husband . . . died on Korean Airline Flight 007.
Their
deaths were the result of the Soviet Union violating every concept of human rights. " The emotions of
these
parents—grief, shock, anger—are shared by civilized people everywhere. From around the world press
accounts
reflect an explosion of condemnation by people everywhere.
Let me state as plainly as I can: There was absolutely no justification, either legal or moral, for what the
Soviets
did. One newspaper in India said, "If every passenger plane . . . is fair game for home air forces . . . it
will be the
end to civil aviation as we know it."
This is not the first time the Soviet Union has shot at and hit a civilian airliner when it overflew its
territory. In
another tragic incident in 1978, the Soviets so shot down an unarmed civilian airliner after having
positively
identified it as such. In that instance, the Soviet interceptor pilot clearly identified the civilian markings
on the
side of the aircraft, repeatedly questioned the order to fire on a civilian airliner, and was ordered to shoot
it down
anyway. The aircraft was hit with a missile and rnade a crash landing. Several innocent people lost their
lives in
this attack, killed by shrapnel from the blast of a Soviet missile.
Is this a practice of other countries in the world? The answer is no. Commercial aircraft from the Soviet
Union
and Cuba on a number of occasions have overflown sensitive United States military facilities. They
weren't shot
down. We and other civilized countries believe in the tradition of offering help to mariners and pilots
who are lost
or in distress on the sea or in the air. We believe in following procedures to prevent a tragedy, not to
provoke one.
But despite the savagery of their crime, the universal reaction against it, and the evidence of their
complicity,
the Soviets still refuse to tell the truth. They have persistently refused to admit that their pilot fired on the
Korean
aircraft. Indeed, they've not even told their own people that a plane was shot down. They have spun a
confused tale
of tracking the plane by radar until it just mysteriously disappeared from their radar screens, that no one
fired a
shot of any kind. But then they coupled this with charges that it was a spy plane sent by us and that their
planes
fired tracer bullets past the plane as a warning that it was in Soviet airspace.
Let me recap for a moment and present the incontrovertible evidence that we have. The Korean airliner, a
Boeing 747, left Anchorage, Alaska, bound for Seoul, Korea, on a course south and west which would
take it
across Japan. Out over the Pacific, in international waters, it was for a brief time in the vicinity of one of
our
reconnaissance planes, an RC-135, on a routine mission. At no time was the RC-135, in Soviet airspace.
The
Korean airliner flew on, and the two planes were soon widely separated.
The 747 is equipped with the most modern computerized navigation facilities, but a computer must
respond to
input provided by human hands. No one will ever know whether a mistake was made in giving the
computer the
course or whether there was a malfunction. Whichever, the 747 was flying a course further to the west
than it was
supposed to fly—a course which took it into Soviet airspace. The Soviets tracked this plane for two and a
half
hours while it flew a straight-line course at 30 to 35,000 feet. Only civilian airliners fly in such a manner.
At one
point, the Korean pilot gave Japanese air control his position as east of Hokkaido, Japan, showing that he
was
unaware they were off course by as much or more than a hundred miles.
The Soviets scrambled jet interceptors from a base in Sakhalin Island. Japanese ground sites recorded the
interceptor planes' radio transmissions—their conversations with their own ground control. We only have
the
voices from the pilots; the Soviet ground-to-air transmissions were not recorded. It's plain, however, from
the
pilot's words that he's responding to orders and queries from his own ground control. Here is a brief
segment of the
tape which we're going to play in its entirety for the United Nations Security Council tomorrow. [At this
point, an
audiotape of Soviet military pilots speaking in Russian was played for 22 seconds.]
Those were the voices of the Soviet pilots. In this tape, the pilot who fired the missile describes his search
for
what he calls the target. He reports he has it in sight; indeed, he pulls up to within about a mile of the
Korean
plane, mentions its flashing strobe light and that its navigation lights are on. He then reports he's reducing
speed to
get behind the airliner, gives his distance from the plane at various points in this maneuver, and finally
announces
what can only be called the Korean airline massacre. He says he has locked on the radar, which aims his
missiles,
has launched those missiles, the target has been destroyed, and he is breaking off the attack.
Let me point out something here having to do with his closeup view of the airliner on what we know was
a clear
night with a half moon. The 747 has a unique and distinctive silhouette, unlike any other plane in the
world. There
is no way a pilot could mistake this for anything other than a civilian airliner. And if that isn't enough, let
me point
out our RC-135 that I mentioned earlier had been back at its base in Alaska, on the ground for an hour,
when the
murderous attack took place over the Sea of Japan.
And make no mistake about it, this attack was not just against ourselves or the Republic of Korea. This
was the
Soviet Union against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people
everywhere. It
was an act of barbarism, born of a society which wantonly disregards individual rights and the value of
human life
and seeks constantly to expand and dominate other nations. They deny the deed, but in their conflicting
and
misleading protestations, the Soviets reveal that, yes, shooting down a plane—even one with hundreds of
innocent
men, women, children, and babies—is a part of their normal procedure if that plane is in what they claim
as their
airspace.
They owe the world an apology and an offer to join the rest of the world in working out a system to
protect
against this ever happening again. Among the rest of us there is one protective measure: an international
radio
wavelength on which pilots can communicate with planes of other nations if they are in trouble or lost.
Soviet
military planes are not so equipped, because that would make it easier for pilots who might want to
defect.
Our request to send vessels into Soviet waters to search for wreckage and bodies has received no
satisfactory
answer. Bereaved families of the Japanese victims were harassed by Soviet patrol boats when they tried
to get near
where the plane is believed to have gone down in order to hold a ceremony for their dead. But we
shouldn't be
surprised by such inhuman brutality. Memories come back of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, the
gassing of
villages in Afghanistan. If the massacre and their subsequent conduct is intended to intimidate, they have
failed in
their purpose. From every corner of the globe the word is defiance in the face of this unspeakable act and
defiance
of the system which excuses it and tries to cover it up. With our horror and our sorrow, there is a
righteous and
terrible anger. It would be easy to think in terms of vengeance, but that is not a proper answer. We want
justice and
action to see that this never happens again.
Our immediate challenge to this atrocity is to ensure that we rnake the skies safer and that we seek just
compensation for the families of those who were killed. Since my return to Washington, we've held long
meetings,
the most recent yesterday with the congressional leadership. There was a feeling of unity in the room, and
I
received a number of constructive suggestions. We will continue to work with the Congress regarding our
response
to this massacre. As you know, we immediately rnade known to the world the shocking facts as honestly
and
completely as they came to us.
We have notified the Soviets that we will not renew our bilateral agreement for cooperation in the field
of
transportation so long as they threaten the security of civil aviation. Since 1981 the Soviet airline
Aeroflot has been
denied the right to fly to the United States. We have reaffirmed that order and are examining additional
steps we
can take with regard to Aeroflot facilities in this country. We're cooperating with other countries to find
better
means to ensure the safety of civil aviation and to join us in not accepting Aeroflot as a normal member
of the
international civil air community unless and until the Soviets satisfy the cries of humanity for justice. I
am pleased
to report that Canada today suspended Aeroflot's landing and refueling privileges for 60 days.
We have joined with other countries to press the International Civil Aviation Organization to investigate
this
crime at an urgent special session of the Council. At the same time, we're listening most carefully to
private
groups, both American and international, airline pilots, passenger associations, and others, who have a
special
interest in civil air safety. I am asking the Congress to pass a joint resolution of condemnation of this
Soviet crime.
We have informed the Soviets that we're suspending negotiations on several bilateral arrangements we
had under
consideration.
Along with Korea and Japan, we called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council which began
on
Friday. On that first day, Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, France, China, the
United
Kingdom, Zaire, New Zealand, and West Germany all joined us in denouncing the Soviet action and
expressing
our horror. We expect to hear from additional countries as debate resumes tomorrow.
We intend to work with the 13 countries who had citizens aboard the Korean airliner to seek reparations
for the
families of all those who were killed. The United States will be making a claim against the Soviet Union
within the
next week to obtain compensation for the benefit of the victims' survivors. Such compensation is an
absolute moral
duty which the Soviets must assume. In the economic area in general, we're redoubling our efforts with
our allies
to end the flow of military and strategic items to the Soviet Union.
Secretary Shultz is going to Madrid to meet with representatives of 35 countries who, for three years,
have been
negotiating an agreement having to do with, among other things, human rights. Foreign Minister
Gromyko of the
Soviet Union is scheduled to attend that meeting. If he does come to the meeting, Secretary Shultz is
going to
present him with our demands for disclosure of the facts, corrective action, and concrete assurances that
such a
thing will not happen again and that restitution be made.
As we work with other countries to see that justice is done, the real test of our resolve is whether we have
the
will to remain strong, steady, and united. I believe more than ever—as evidenced by your thousands and
thousands
of wires and phone calls in these last few days—that we do. I have outlined some of the steps we're
taking in
response to the tragic massacre. There's something I've always believed in, bu—which now seems more
important
than ever. The Congress will be facing key national security issues when it returns from recess. There has
been
legitimate difference of opinion on this subject, I know, but I urge the members of that distinguished
body to
ponder long and hard the Soviets' aggression as they consider the security and safety of our people—
indeed, all
people who believe in freedom.
Senator Henry Jackson, a wise and revered statesman and one who probably understood the Soviets as
well as
any American in history, warned us, "the greatest threat the United States now faces is posed by the
Soviet Union."
But Senator Jackson said, "If America maintains a strong deterrent—and only if it does—this nation will
continue
to be a leader in the crucial quest for enduring peace among nations. n The late Senator made those
statements in
July on the Senate floor, speaking in behalf of the MX missile program he considered vital to restore
America's
strategic parity with the Soviets.
When John F. Kennedy was president, defense spending as a share of the Federal budget was 70 percent
greater
than it is today. Since then, the Soviet Union has carried on the most massive military buildup the world
has ever
seen. Until they're willing to join the rest of the world community, we must maintain the strength to deter
their
aggression.
But while we do so, we must not give up our effort to bring them into the world community of nations.
Peace
through strength as long as necessary, but never giving up our effort to bring peace closer through
mutual,
verifiable reduction in the weapons of war. I've told you of negotiations we've suspended as a result of
the Korean
airline massacre, but we cannot, we must not give up our effort to reduce the arsenals of destructive
weapons
threatening the world. Ambassador Nitze has returned to Geneva to resume the negotiations on
intermediate-range
nuclear weapons in Europe. Equally, we will continue to press for arms reductions in the START talks
that resume
in October. We are more determined than ever to reduce and, if possible, eliminate the threat hanging
over
mankind.
We know it will be hard to make a nation that rules its own people through force to cease using force
against
the rest of the world. But we must try. This is not a role we sought. We preach no manifest destiny. But
like
Americans who began this country and brought forth this last, best hope of mankind, history has asked
much of the
Americans of our own time. Much we have already given; much more we must be prepared to give.
Let us have faith, in Abraham Lincoln's words, "that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end
dare
to do our duty as we understand it." If we do, if we stand together and move forward with courage, then
history will
record that some good did come from this monstrous wrong that we will carry with us and remember for
the rest of
our lives.
Thank you. God bless you, and good night.
My fellow Americans: I'm coming before you tonight about the Korean airline massacre, the attack by
the Soviet
Union against 269 innocent men, women, and children aboard an unarmed Korean passenger plane. This
crime
against humanity must never be forgotten, here or throughout the world.
Back to "On the Homefront. . ."