European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine Jim Garrison appellate court judge for Louisiana s 4th circuit court of Appeal pursues his theory that the Cia killed president John f. Kennedy in his new Book on the Trail of the  Jim Garrison and the Juk conspiracy by Austin Wilson associated press hey killed the Symbol of Jim Garrison s dreams and he still can t let it go 25 years later. That would be the practical thing to do just let it go. But the former prosecutor who is a judge believes the Cia killed president Kennedy that top government figures helped cover up the crime and that the american people need to know that. Garrison tried before and got labelled a Lunatic and worse. For three years As the 60s Drew to a close he was an International topic of debate quizzed by Johnny Carson grilled by network anchors interviewed by other authors cited in footnotes in All sorts of publications. Then disillusioned he withdrew from the Public Eye for 18 years except for a Type cast Cameo appearance As a judge in the big easy a steamy cops and robbers movie set in new Orleans. As a District attorney there in 1969, Garrison prosecuted businessman Clay Shaw for conspiring to murder the president. The prosecution turned into a nationally publicized farce. Garrison s Star witness died under mysterious circumstances and another witness related under Cross examination How he fingerprinted his daughter each time she came Home from school to make sure a spy had t taken her identity. Garrison s first Book heritage of Stone was an attempt to do in print what he could t do in the courtroom. Then came a novel the Star spangled contract and now his third Book on the Trail of the assassins testimony to the tenacity with which he has pursued and developed his theory As new information became available. His interest is spurred by a deep undying affection for Kennedy As a person and As a Symbol. He had ideals. He inspired dreams he says confessing that he still gets tears in his eyes when he reads some of Kennedy s speeches. Garrison was recently elected to a second 10-year term As a judge on Louisiana s 4th circuit court of Appeal. His comfortable Oak and leather Chambers Are at the end of a Maze that circles Between the Chambers of the other appellate judges. His 68 years sit Well on him. His 6-foot-7 Frame is erect dwarfing his massive desk when he leans Forward to emphasize a Point. For the first time in 19 years he granted a lengthy interview on the subject of the assassination and his investigation. He remained silent so Long because his experience with news reporters soured him he says. I m not talking about the average reporter but there Are certain organs of the National Media the new York times the Washington Post Abc ass that once they adopted the official fiction there was no variation. They were like the new York rockette he says. The official fiction As stated in the findings of the Warren commission is that Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone killed Kennedy he says. Garrison maintains Oswald was one of several red Herrings what he Calls false sponsors arranged in Advance to divert attention away from the Cia. The mafia is another false sponsor he says. Garrison Felt a conspiracy was obvious from the Start and it stung when reporters began regarding him As a publicity seeking opportunist or a Buffoon. By that time when i was saying look there is no mystery about this they would just kind of Roll their eyes he says. We went about As far As we could go before our wings were clipped in reaching a Point in 69 where i could t say anything without being pictured As a fool or a madman. I continued to have my interest in the assassination investigation but i returned the District attorney s office to its primary function about which we had no disagreement with anybody. It was a Good office. In fact in the election of 1968,1 had the biggest vote i had Ever  in 1972, a Federal grand jury accused Garrison of taking bribes to protect illegal pinball gambling. He was tried and found innocent after conducting his own defense. The trial contributed to his defeat in a bid for a fourth term and he contends vengeful Federal authorities cooked up a Case against him using fraudulent tapes secretly recorded by an old army buddy. They got me he says. They sure got me. When they set that trial that Federal trial for a few months before the election they sure got me. I found out it s All Well and Good to try your own trial i would t have it any other Way but when that Case is Over and you be Only got six weeks or whatever it is to try and raise Money and do the other things there s not enough time for a citywide election. So they got me. It was the Best thing that Ever happened to me because i would t have found my Way into the 4th  serving As an appellate court judge is the most satisfying thing he has Ever done he says. I truly love  the son and grandson of lawyers Garrison graduated from a Public High school in new Orleans and entered the army a year before Pearl Harbor. He flew Light planes As an artillery spotter in Europe and arrived at Dachau the Day after it was liberated by troops supported by his artillery unit. He enrolled at Tulane after the War and earned his Law degree briefly trying to earn a spot on the football team As a walk on. It did t take Long to realize that was not for me he says. Old fashioned values shape Garrison s conversation. He talks of truth duty and Honor of Good wars such As the one against the nazis and bad wars such As the one in Vietnam. Kennedy planned to pull out of Vietnam so the cold warriors in the Cia had to have him killed he says. By Garrison s estimate there were about 18 people involved in the actual assassination a minimum of three riflemen a couple of coordinators with radios two team members to distract a strategically placed police officer and divert a standby ambulance away from the shooting site roughly a half dozen members of the homicide unit of the Dallas police department and three or four conspirators who handled training on site planning and logistics. Somebody had to authorize changing the Parade route from main Street to Elm Street and somebody had to authorize leaving the bulletproof Bubble off the presidential car he says. Somebody he says had to Call off the usual Security Check of buildings and rooftops along the new Parade rout. Orders had to come from higher Levels in the Cia he says but he would Hazard no guess about the number involved in that decision. He never tried to get Down to the names of trigger men and never could understand reporters fixations on the subject he says. They All have Nom de  after the assassination people As High As Lyndon Johnson and chief Justice Earl Warren loaned themselves to validating the official fiction Garrison says. Let s take the Best Case scenario for Johnson it was a terrible thing to happen but it had happened and what else could you do but put a lid on it for the Good of the country he says. I think there was an awful lot of that. People will say How could chief Justice Earl Warren have let himself be dragged in put it in the words of a forceful Man like Lyndon Johnson. Put his meaty hand on your shoulder and hear him saying look or. Chief Justice this could be War. This could be misunderstood. The country has never needed you like it will now then coming Down to it could be much More involved but we be got to put the lid on for the Good of the country for the Good of the people i think that was the magic phrase from there on. A lot of people who you would not Call bad people and who were not villains responded i think with Active participation in the cover up As a  key figures in the Fri and secret service immediately became involved in the cover up he says. Wednesday february 15, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13