From Transcripts of War Crimes Trial of

Elizabeth Chang

The Hague, Kingdom of the Netherlands, European Confederation

January 27th 1999

"[...]"

"The prosecution calls John Hosperger."

<The man that entered the courtroom seemed tall but rather slim. His salt and pepper hair lent credence to a man of perhaps 60 years of age. His beard was fairly well trimmed, his suit was simple and black. He possessed a weird combination of gravitas, a college professor, and an aspiring country squire.>

PROSECUTOR, Alexandra NYERERE: "Could you state your name for the record?"

WITNESS, John HOSPERGER: "John Hosperger."

NYERERE: "What was your position in the United States Government?"

HOSPERGER: "I was a congressman from Florida."

NYERERE: "What did you do before becoming a congressman"

HOSPERGER: "All of it?"

NYERERE: "Start from the beginning."

HOSPERGER: "Well, I was born in a small rural town called Kissimmee. The funny thing is, it's still there and it's now the biggest town in that area. Of course it's not part of the US anymore. Well, anyway I had a normal childhood, I went the local high school and was the nerd. I went to college and this Grover Cleveland foundation took note of me. I apparently lacked the racism of my peers. Most people thought me odd. They sent me to University of Chicago where they had Austrian professors who taught economics and some of the best minds in America. After college I took a poli sci job in Florida."

NYERERE: "For the record, the University of Chicago was one of the primary academic centers of  liberalism in the former United States prior to the war and was a focal point of demonstrations and resistance against the Chang regime until it was closed in mid-1980. Continue."

HOSPERGER: "Well, I learned things, about my country and what it could have been. One of my professors had a theory that my country was on the right path with liberal markets and open door immigration until the 1840s when something went horribly wrong. The American Party captured the presidency and stopped immigration. Then our economy stalled and they blamed it on the immigrants. Because of the tightening of immigration laws it took nearly a decade longer than it should have to complete the transcontinental railroad. This corruption of the American republic caused decades of social, political, and economic retardation."

NYERERE: "How does this relate to Chang?"

HOSPERGER: "She would like you to believe this system created her. The truth is people like her created and maintained the system. The system didn't start the war, the war was started so that she could maintain the system."

DEFENSE CONSUL, Cecil THOMPSON: "Objection, speculation."

NYERERE: "Can you establish this as a pattern?"

HOSPERGER: "Yes. The Democratic party was fractured between the nativist social conservatives and state's rights factions. The state's-rights factions split off to form a group known as the Democratic Union party. This group in the 1970s formed an alliance with the Constitutional Liberty party, a group that wanted an open society and small government that was a combination of Libertarians and anti-Nixon republicans. The combined party became known as the Constitutional Union party. Unlike the ethnic parties we believed that America could be held together under the original idea of the Constitution. The Chang government was populist and democratic. We believed that was wrong."

NYERERE: "Why was this wrong?"

HOSPERGER: "Democratic states tend to become weapons of the tyranny of the majority. Lacking judgment and wisdom, these uneducated majorities are manipulated to whatever form of government and governmental decisions seductive politicians can impose regardless of their actual desires. The original government of the Founders realized people could run their own lives but not others, so the original plan was a republican form of government to have the people choose educated and honorable representatives who, even if they were corrupt, could do no harm because they had no power to do so. The Constitution as it was originally written was a very limiting document. The representatives had only a list of powers to choose from. Even with the bad immigration policies, the people in the United States could survive it until the people came to their senses."

NYERERE: "What went wrong?"

HOSPERGER: "They didn't came to their senses -- they tasted power over others and didn't start to give it up for almost a hundred years. They created more and more laws over other people. It was only when other nations grew much faster that we started to realize why. However, those who benefited from the old politics wouldn't let the system go. They grabbed even more power as the federal government got larger and larger. When Nixon came to power, his policies cost so much that they caused inflation and he instituted price and wage controls, but that only made things worse. However things were changing many people wanted immigration so that we would become cosmopolitan and get the government out of our lives. The Republicans hadn't challenged the status quo in 60 years, so then some groups got together that had been squabbling for several years and agreed on a simple common agenda."

NYERERE: "What was that agenda?"

HOSPERGER: "To end the harassment of political and racial minorities. Civil rights for all. The ending of trade barriers, deregulating the economy, and state's-rights."

NYERERE: "The previous expert witness implied that state's-rights in this nation was generally racist."

HOSPERGER: "It was, until late President Grover Cleveland spoke out against a ban on immigration as an impediment to farming and industry. That allowed the continuation of Hispanic immigration. The farmers and industry wanted open immigration. As the federal government embraced nationalism and racism. state's-rights factions within the Northeastern States and the southern states pushed for new parties. That's where we came in."

NYERERE: "So how did you come to run on this ticket?"

HOSPERGER: "The House Un-American Activities Committee hauled one of my old professors in front of the Congress and accused her of being a libertarian anarchist."

NYERERE: "What was that professor's name, for the record?"

HOSPERGER: "Dr. Ayn Rand, Chair of the Department of Philosophy."

NYERERE: "Would you object to us calling her?"

HOSPERGER: "No, but you better get a Ouija board -- she had just recovered from lung cancer when the nukes got her. Rather ironic, isn't it?" <chuckles>

NYERERE: "What did you do?"

HOSPERGER: "My Congressman was on that committee, so I ran against him. He was so sure of victory that he didn't campaign and his cronies didn't rig the ballot. You should have seen the surprise on his face when he lost."

NYERERE: "Did you try to fight Chang then?"

HOSPERGER: "I had bigger fish to fry, Chang had power but I and some others were fighting her acts in congress so she had to get them passed as executive orders."

NYERERE: "Such as the orders detaining suspicious immigrants?"

HOSPERGER: "Exactly."

NYERERE: "How well did your party do?"

HOSPERGER: "Well, even with Democratic cheating ... and don't even try to object, it was proven ... the Constitutional Liberty candidate polled 20% in the 1976 Congressional elections."

NYERERE: "So you were looking forward to 1980?"

HOSPERGER: "We thought we had a shot at the big chair, we never thought they would go so far."

NYERERE: "How far?"

HOSPERGER: The Constitutional Liberty party was polling 55% in September of 1980 when a series of 'incidents' concluded in the assassination of Nixon. Chang took power with the help of the "One Nation" ticket with sympathetic Nixon Democrats until 'order could be restored.'

NYERERE: "How did she plan on restoring order?"

HOSPERGER: "By arresting everyone who openly and defiantly opposed her who wasn't in office. She couldn't touch me because I was a congressman. The Congress, even as full of One Nation types as it was, was getting fed up with Chang's harassment. There was even talk of impeachment among members of her own party. They liked having a piece of the action, but with Chang centralizing power onto the presidency they wanted her removed. However, a few mysterious deaths shut the less brave members up. However, the speaker at that time -- Callender -- was a wily bastard and knew if he could get something on her he could get her out of power."

NYERERE: "What was that?"

HOSPERGER: "She was..."

THOMPSON: "Your Honours, my client requests a recess."

Judge PONCET: "Prosecution, any objections?"

NYERERE: "No, your Honours."

Judge MASARYK: "Very well, then, I call a twenty-minute recess."

***

NYERERE: "Mr. Hosperger could you state what secret the speaker had found out?"

HOSPERGER: "He found out that Ms. Chang had had two abortions."

NYERERE: "Why was that so significant?"

HOSPERGER: "The faction that supported Ms. Chang was ardently anti-abortion. She believed ..."

THOMPSON: "Objection, calls for speculation!"

HOSPERGER: "The speaker told me over drinks that if this information got out she would lose the support of her faction in Congress and the 1984 nomination of her party. The most honorable thing he could have done was dump it out there. Instead, he tried to blackmail her with it."

NYERERE: "What happened?"

HOSPERGER: "He turned up dead, but it was too late -- his staff leaked it to the press."

NYERERE: "In your expert judgment as a political analyst, would Ms. Chang would do anything to distract the public?"

HOSPERGER: "Yes, she demonstrated the ability to assassinate political opponents. Her hatred and fear of secrets of her being revealed and the willingness to use any means to do so."

NYERERE: "Including starting a war?"

THOMPSON: "Objection! Calls for speculation!"

NYERERE: "It's not speculation, we have provided evidence she did start the war, this merely goes to motive."

JUDGE MASARYK: "Overruled."

NYERERE: "When Ramsey came to your committee with the evidence of the strike, did you believe him?"

HOSPERGER: "Of course."

NYERERE: "Why? The opposing counsel has suggested many reasons not to."

HOSPERGER: "Well, for one you don't get a reputation like General Ramsey's by being a racist."

NYERERE: "Can you substantiate this?"

HOSPERGER: "Yes. This is a memorandum submitted by General Marcus Ramsey titled 'Recommendations for modernization and substantive changes of the armed forces'."

NYERERE: "We would like to marked Prosecution Exhibit 749. Would you read from the report marked?"

HOSPERGER: "Yes. 'Racial integration of the armed forces has happened in a far too lackluster manner. While units themselves are integrated, they sleep in nearly uniformly segregated quarters and eat at mess halls that are segregated. Promotions in the officer corp are routinely denied to officers because of race and gender. I believe this is not compatible with our mission to protect the constitution nor is it compatible with efficient operation and most importantly because it is no longer morally sustainable.'"

NYERERE: "Thank you. Now, you say you know Ramsey to be brave and just man. How did the fateful meeting happen?"

HOSPERGER: "More than that -- he is the bravest, most ethical officer I have ever met. If he thought you had done something wrong, he was the most determined sonofabitch around. When he learned Chang had attacked her own forces he walked right into her office and quit. He was smart enough to have his friends in the Army walk him over to the Capitol. He didn't even want to ride in a car."

NYERERE: "What did the congress do?"

HOSPERGER: "I introduced a bill to impeach her."

NYERERE: "What was her response?"

HOSPERGER: "She tried to had me arrested and tossed in jail on some b.s. charge. What pleasantly shocked me is that she thought once she had me, the Congress would drop the matter. Apparently her enemies in congress knew the charges weren't true and had a conscience attack. They believed if the Russians saw that we were trying to get rid of her, that perhaps a new administration could end the fighting quickly. Her Vice-President was a goob but he was better than Chang. Apparently the Congress had the cleverness to subpoena me as a witness springing me from jail. I told what I had reported and to my great surprise they voted to impeach her and they knew I was the only one with enough balls to butt heads with her, so, over my objections they made me speaker of the house. General Ramsey knew a friend of his who was a federal judge who dismissed the charges against me based on legislative immunity."

NYERERE: "That wasn't the end of the matter, was it?"

HOSPERGER: "Oh god, how I wish it had been! Had we delivered the papers to Senate a few days sooner, her ass would have been out of there."

THOMPSON: "Objection! Speculation!"

NYERERE: "Can you substantiate that?"

HOSPERGER: "I received a copy of a letter signed by 75 Senators stating that if Chang did not resign, they would vote to convict her and remove her from office and she probably would be tried for treason."

NYERERE: "This is a copy of that letter, marked Prosecution Exhibit 750. What was her response?"

HOSPERGER: "She had one of the groups that supported her attack the Congress. Those Capitol Police were the bravest men I have ever seen, it is because of them, nearly a dozen Senators that were off the floor  were able to escape DC and make their way to Virginia. The Vice President was dead."

NYERERE: "What was so special about Virginia?"

HOSPERGER: "I and many house members had been smart enough to leave town as soon as the impeachment bill was passed. The Governor of Virginia was a state's-rights Democrat and refused to extradite us. She sent troops after us, but several Army units loyal to us blocked their way and fighting ensued. The federal court in Richmond had the pluck to issue a warrant for Chang's arrest. I had become acting president by the time the bombs fell."

NYERERE: "You mean when the nuclear bombs fell?"

HOSPERGER: <haltingly> "Yes. Chang had launched a nuclear attack on Kiev, as a response for a Russian nuclear attack on Richmond."

NYERERE: "The Russians had attacked Richmond, Virginia?"

HOSPERGER: "No, she did it herself."

<gasps in the court>

THOMPSON: "Objection, speculative! I move for a mistrial!"

JUDGE MASARYK: "Prosecutor, you better have something to back this up."

NYERERE: "I would like to introduce into the record Prosecution Exhibit 751. These are the unedited NORAD satellite imagery tapes."

<tape documents trajectory of missile, launched from continental United States, and retaliatory strikes>

JUDGE MASARYK: "That's enough of the tape ... turn it off ... now."

NYERERE: "How did you know the Russians didn't launch that missile?"

HOSPERGER: "Because it was just too coincidental. The Congressmen, the governor that defied her, the pitched military battle -- all ended with one shot. Of course she had to make it look like the Russians did it."

NYERERE: "What did you do, once the bombs fell?"

HOSPERGER: "Frankly I was ready to kiss my ass goodbye, but I guess the small town in North Carolina mountains I had went wasn't a target. The shock of being in a nuclear war isn't nearly as great as the shock of surviving a nuclear war. Chang had left DC before it had gotten nuked. Me and the small number of congressmen joined with some remnants of National guard units from a half dozen states to form the Congressional Committee, to restore the Constitution. In time we simply became known as the Congressionals. In my authority as acting President, I was commander-in-chief."

"Within a few months I found General Ramsey and he became my first commander of troops. For the next three years we mostly ran, attracting sympathizers. Then, as the country realized how badly they suffered, and how even after the war was over Chang kept hold of power and even tightened her rule ..."

"In 1984, she cancelled the elections until 'further notice'. That's when the tide started to turn. People were tired of the summary trials, the executions, the detention camps. The Western states seceded -- unfortunately that means they dumped us too but the people in the Midwest were coming over to our side. Missouri had the balls to declare itself loyal to the Congressionals and to me as acting President. I told Ramsey if they have the balls to do that, the last thing I was going to do was let the poor bastards down. So, the Congressionals gave St. Louis the honor of being rhe capital of the United States. The bitch never had the forces to retake it. After '91 Chang's forces were east of the Appalachians and north of Virginia.

"Unfortunately that was good territory, they could use the remnants of the industrial base to keep them supplied while we were barely holding the line. We were quite happy when we had captured Western Pennsylvania, since several old steel mills there survived the nuclear blasts and we were able to forge new guns and ammunition. Guns from outside were also a big help, and so were the Canadians."

NYERERE: "So you were winning the war?"

HOSPERGER: "By the time the COC arrived, the war was practically over. Chang faced total defeat within a year or two -- even by her own general's estimate. She tried to trick the COCers into helping her, but they weren't stupid and she wasn't a capitalist ,and she pissed off the COC officers with her racist chatter. We offered them the same land with better terms. Some of my Congress friends got a little carried away, they thought the US was the US they knew, so they let the COC park their trailers everywhere."

NYERERE: "Now that war was over, what were you going to do?"

HOSPERGER: "Go home, but there was no home to go to. My town was still there, but the people I knew were long gone. My family was gone. This," <pulls out an a small American flag> "was all I had left, so when they asked me to President of the NAC, I didn't have anything else to do. They promised me I could build a little farmhouse and do the Jefferson thing."

NYERERE: "You mean the United States as a nation?"

HOSPERGER: "No, the United States was dead. I mean, look at the the flag, what it stood for. The white for innocence, the blue stood for liberty, the red for blood shed in defense of that liberty. I don't think ever really understood how much that meant to me until I saw those little flags in Arlington. The reason why we won't ever really say goodbye to this world is that our history is here. We've left so many on the field of battle here. I remember something Jefferson said -- 'The tree of liberty is refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants'. Liberty had lost its way in this land, and we paid the price."

NYERERE: "Do you have anything to say to the people of this world?"

HOSPERGER: "I'm sorry you paid the price for our mistakes. I'm sorry we didn't stop Chang before it was too late. Those who say our country created Chang was wrong, but we didn't do enough to stop her. If only we fought harder ... if only." <weeps>

NYERERE: <haltingly> "No ... no further questions. I reserve the right to recall the witness if necessary."

Judge: "Noted. We will take a 30 minute recess to allow the witness to compose himself, then defense may cross."

<general applause in court as Hosperger leaves the stand>