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Attn. Murdock: Representatives of the UN, members of this international jury and those here in witness to these proceedings, today we are here to find the answer to a question. And while it is a very polarizing question where the only two choices are as different as fire is from ice, it is still difficult to discern the truth from the lies. So, as in all such cases of this severity, we look at the facts. No morals, no good or bad, no heroes or villains. Just the truth.
And here is what we know of as the truth, Sergeant James Barnes was born in the United States of America in the state of New York on March 10, 1916. Early in his childhood, he met and befriended a small sickly child named Steven, who he would be best friends with from that point up until what was previously believed to be his death at the hands of Hydra in 1945. When the United States entered World War 2 Sergeant Barnes was not a man who was drafted into service, as so many others were, but rather he enlisted in the US Army at age 26. Sergeant Barnes was assigned to the 107th Infantry Division where he quickly distinguished himself and climbed the ranks to become a Sergeant First Class by 1943. Sergeant Barnes proved to be an effective leader, and a competent soldier fighting for his country.
In 1943, Sergeant Barnes was captured along with several hundred Allied prisoners by Hydra, what we know about his short captivity there is that Sergeant Barnes was experimented on by the Hydra doctor Arnim Zola; and this experimentation was interrupted by the rescue mission that was lead by Sergeant Barnes’s best friend, Captain Steven Rogers.
After his rescue, Sergeant Barnes volunteered to join Captain Roger’s Howling Commandos unit and return to fight Hydra. And for the next two years Sergeant Barnes fought side by side with those who had been fellow prisoners of Hydra, and Captain Rogers until the capture of Arnim Zola.
From what we know now, from the medical facts we know now, the experiments performed on Sergeant Barnes not only allowed him to survive that massive fall from that Hydra train, but also helped him survive the loss of his left arm, and the massive blood loss that would have accompanied the loss of such a limb.
What happened after his recapture by Hydra is near an unknown, aside from the grafting of a metal
Cybernetic arm to replace the one lost, the constant memory wipes and cryostasis freezes before and after a mission Hydra assigned him, and the dozens of confirmed deaths and assassinations that were carried out by the Winter Soldier over the 69 year period after World War 2.
Sergeant Barnes’s service record to the United States and the Allied Powers against Nazi Germany and Hydra are not in question, they are documented facts. They happened and are not in dispute nor are they the purpose of this trial.
The assassinations carried out by the Winter Soldier are not in question either, they are documented facts. They happened and are not in dispute nor are they the purpose of this trial.
Today, ladies and gentlemen, we are here to look at the facts in as cold and impartial a light as humanly possible; and answer the question: Is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes the worlds greatest, most cold and efficient assassin, or is he the longest suffering prisoner of war in human history?
My first witness is the only surviving co-founder and co-director of SHIELD, Margaret Carter.