July 10th, 2008
On March 20, 2003, the second Iraq War began under the orders of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. In spite of objections both at home and abroad, the Bush administration argued that war was necessary by labeling Iraq as an immediate threat, for its connections to al-Qaeda and its possession of weapons of mass destruction. In the five years since, these claims have largely proved false; no WMD have been found on Iraq soil, and the terrorist ties had more to do with exploiting American fears than any real danger. But while Bush's approval rating continues to plummet, there don't seem to be any tangible consequences for his actions, or any organized call for inquiry.
In The Prosecution Of George W. Bush For Murder, author Vincent Bugliosi—head prosecutor in the Charles Manson case, best known for his book about that trial, Helter Skelter, as well as his books on the O.J. Simpson case and the Kennedy assassination—argues that it may be possible to bring the president to justice. With palpable outrage, Bugliosi details Bush's actions—the false claims, the lies, the galling lack of remorse—and some of the victims of those actions, before laying out a legal strategy to charge the President with the murder of American soldiers. In the final section, Bugliosi details Bush's War On Terror record, which he presents as embarrassingly inept.
There's no doubting Bugliosi's passion, or the intelligence that drives it; his writing is forceful, and he never raises an argument without providing multiple sources to back it up. It's too bad he tends to get in his own way. Prosecution feels like the world's longest "I told you so," with as much time spent reinforcing Bugliosi's status as a lone voice of reason in the wilderness as on proving Bush's guilt. This doesn't affect the veracity of Bugliosi's conclusions, but it hurts the book's value as a rhetorical device. By putting anyone who even remotely disagrees with him on the defensive, Bugliosi alienates the audience with the most to gain from his legal mind. Prosecution is a great sermon for the converted, but less browbeating for the unconvinced would've helped.
A.V. Club Rating: B
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