Cronkite's crackpot theories

Austin Bay has a post on Walter's defeatist claims on Iraq. What I learned in the comments was even more interesting:

“Sometimes Cronkite’s aerospace history judgment has gotten even more questionable, as exemplified by his endorsement of the loony-tune book “Incident at Sakhalin - The True Mission of KAL Flight 007″, by Michel Brun, a retired French pilot. Brun argues that the 1983 Korean airliner shootdown was a hoax perpetuated by the CIA, during which American jets destroyed the civilian airliner and later engaged in a bloody dogfight with Soviet interceptors, an air battle both sides agreed to cover up.

“Despite the egregiously crackpot nature of the theory and the sloppy and cooked-up ‘facts’, Cronkite allowed (I verified this with his staff) his words to be published on the book jacket: “This book has importance far beyond its sensational and dramatic revelations of a Cold war intelligence ploy that turned into a military engagement - an aerial battle that could easily have escalated into World War III.” The book portrays US government officials as cold-blooded murderers as well as secret plotters and liars - but without any evidence that any serious aerospace historian considers valid. But that indictment was endorsed by Cronkite.”

I can't verify this, but if Walter did endorse this book and the thesis of the book is as represented, the man is a kook. We already know he's a delusional liberal. Didn't know he lived on planet kook, though.