Re: Korea War List of Aces

[<AMPSOne@aol.com>]

There is no reason for the Chinese -- let alone the Koreans -- to publish 
accurate accounts at this time, and probably will not be for decades. 

The Chinese have made up a lesser mythos about their achievements in Korea, 
and as such are not about to upset things with admissions that the government 
lied about it. Most of the pilots like Wang Hai are more than willing to keep 
up the "mystique" of their success, so you can't count on them for accuracy.

The Koreans, on the other hand, live on Fantasy Island and have made a great 
mythos up about "The Great Fatherland Reunification War" which is based on the 
"Ju Che" (self-reliance) philosophy of Kim Il Sung. Little of it has to do 
with reality or even bad rewriting of history, but the DPRK is a nation that 
cannot -- and will not -- ever admit it made mistakes of any kind. 

As for the reason that Congressman Cunningham can't get the answers any more 
than I can, NSA treats all as the same unless it is an official request in 
line with ongoing Congressional or Defense matters. What happened 32 years ago is 
interesting but not critical to their survival or national security, and ergo 
it goes to the bottom of the stack. The material IS there -- I already paid 
$135 (less a $50 "discount" for having been part of the SIGINT community at the 
time) so am sure it is going to eventually come out. 

Cookie Sewell
AMPS