Transcripts of Special Prosectutor,

Jim Garrison

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America

August 15th 1982

Opening Presentation to the Federal Grand Jury

GARRISON: "Ladies and gentlemen, the facts I am to lay before you present a conspiracy of enormous proportions. I shall present evidence of high crimes against Federal officers, up to and including high-ranking members of the executive branch [...]"

"[...] We all know the horrors that have afflicted our country in the last decade. We have all seen the terrorist gangs killing wildly. We have seen the government -- under two administrations -- involve itself in the mysterious disappearances of so many of its critics. We have seen our government involve itself in a war in Asia, a war that has already seen the use of nuclear weapons there and carries the risk -- I pray to God every morning that I am wrong, but I'm still worried -- of our own cities between destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. We have seen that for the first time ever in the history of our United States of America, people are afraid that their government is actively trying to do them harm."

"Shakespeare's Hamlet said that there was 'something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark.' [...] Ladies and gentlemen, Hamlet knew that something was very wrong in the highest reaches of Denmark. I tell you, now, that there is something just as wrong with our country, when we have a President who has ordered the murder of so many of her opponents and of our own boys, sent off to fight Chinese for her amusement in Asia."

"[...]"

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[Note: Many historians view Garrison as a man perennially misled by appearances of conspiracies, but who, in his convocation of a grand jury to investigate Chang, happened upon a very real conspiracy. Although Chang, as President, could intimidate witnesses, the independence of Louisiana from Changist threats could enabled her prosecution on numerous charges before the end of the Third World War. Although the nuclear exchanges of 2-3 September 1982 intervened and prevented this prosecution, Garrison -- and his records -- survived in New Orleans. Indeed, the records of the Chang Administration's domestic crimes have lasted to this day, and constitute an invaluable criminological and historical resource.]