What do Charles Manson, O.J. Simpson and George W. Bush have in common? Vincent Bugliosi believes they are all cold-blooded killers. Wow. Guess no one’s ever had to tell Vincent to pick on someone his own size.
It was Mr. Bugliosi — then working as an Assistant District Attorney in Los Angeles — who put the swastika-scarred Manson behind bars for life. In turn, Mr. Bugliosi recounted the proceedings in Helter Skelter, the best-selling true crime book of all time, having amassed over seven million copies sold. (Helter Skelter also earned the author the first of three Edgar Awards.) In Outrage, Mr. Bugliosi reviewed California’s case against famed footballer and infamous memorabilia-swiper Simpson, finding that the prosecutors presented the evidence incompetently and concluding that O.J. was indeed guilty of double homicide, whether or not the glove fit. Now, Mr. Bugliosi launches his opening statement with his latest book’s title: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.
Many close to Mr. Bugliosi questioned the wisdom of publishing this brilliant and brutal legal assault on the President of the United States. Some speculated that Mr. Bugliosi might befall a fate worse than Valerie Plame’s public outing (or members of Dick Cheney’s hunting party). Yet, the 75-year-old former prosecutor claims he “had no choice.”
“I am not courageous,” he says, “I’m not even very bright. I just see things differently. I see what other people don’t see even though it’s right in front of them. And what I see makes me sick.” What turns his stomach are the “needless deaths of 4,000+ American troops and the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians” killed during “Bush’s war.” And, the fact that no one in the mainstream media or mainstream politics seems willing to say a discouraging word about the commander-in-chief. (In particular, he scorns Nancy Pelosi for taking impeachment off the table despite the fact her Republican colleagues were willing to oust President Clinton for his consensual sexual peccadilloes.)
“This isn’t my war. This isn’t your war. This isn’t America’s war,” says Bugliosi. “This is George Bush’s war. This is Condoleeza Rice’s war. This is Dick Cheney’s war. Now I don’t know why they did it. I don’t need to prove motive. You don’t have to in a murder trial. However, I can prove intent. I do know and I can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that George W. Bush intentionally misled this nation into this war based on a series of lies. The evidence is incontrovertible.”
Indeed, reading The Prosecution, it is hard to conjure a defense for everyone’s favorite Crawford, TX vacationer. Mr. Bugliosi systematically details the contradictions and miscalculations of the Bush Administration in editing the national intelligence reports into the positively war-mongering white papers, the President’s own attempts to link Saddam Hussein and 9/11 through almost-subliminal pairing in speeches and the damning Downing Street memo that clarifies Bush as an imminent threat to Iraq and not the opposite as so broadly bellowed at news conferences and Sunday talk shows back in 2003.
Of course, some may wonder how America’s 43rd President could be tried for murder considering he’s never killed anyone — on the face of it, the worst George W. Bush has done is torture the English language. (Or should that read: subject English to advanced interrogation techniques?) Fascinatingly, Mr. Bugliosi uses the same tactic to accuse Bush that he did Manson. Others acting on behalf of both men, either under direct instruction or not, committed crimes that each irrefutably knew would lead to the deaths of others. In short, Bush had to know that people would die in warfare and if he sent troops into combat under false pretenses, his guilt is irrefutable. “George Bush’s actions were, have been and are conspiratorial… culminating in death.”
Given jurisdictional constraints, George W. Bush could only be tried in the U.S. for the deaths of American soldiers. Perfectly, the case would be brought in federal court in Washington D.C., though any State’s attorney could press charges for the murders of that particular state’s war dead. (In conjunction with the book’s publication, copies were distributed to prosecutors nationwide with Mr. Bugliosi offering his assistance in any way.)
“This case may never go to court. If it did, it might be struck down by a stacked Supreme Court. But at least I know I’ve tried to do something. I can’t stand by while this smug man smiles his way through every day, laughing while good American men, true patriots, are dying. If nothing else, I want to plant a seed in George Bush’s head. I want him to know he will never truly be a free man. There is no statute of limitations for murder. He could be indicted any day [after he is out of office]. I want him to have second thoughts for the rest of his life.”
To those “second thoughts,” here’s a third: Vincent Bugliosi won 105 out of 106 felony cases and was a perfect 21-for-21 in felony murder trials. To simplify matters for the former owner of the Texas Rangers, that means Mr. Bugliosi is batting a thousand. Batter up?
The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder
By Vincent Bugliosi
Vanguard Press