by Russell Mokhiber

If Vincent Bugliosi were prosecuting George W. Bush for the murder of the more than 4,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq, he would seek the death penalty."If I were the prosecutor, there is no question I would seek the death penalty," Bugliosi told Corporate Crime Reporter in a wide-ranging interview.

Bugliosi is the author of the just published book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (Vanguard Press, 2008).

"I'm urging here that an American jury try George Bush for first degree murder. I want to see him on trial for murder before an American jury. And if they convict him, it will be up to the jury to decide what his punishment is. One of the options would be the imposition of the death penalty. If I were prosecuting him, absolutely I would seek the death penalty. As Governor of Texas, George Bush signed death warrants - 152 out of 152 - most of them for people who only committed one murder."

Bugliosi said he is sending a copy of his book to all fifty state Attorneys General, offering his assistance in prosecuting Bush for homicide.

"I'm herein enclosing a copy of my book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder," Bugliosi writes in the letter to the Attorneys General. "I hope you will find the time to read it and that you will agree with its essential conclusion - that George W. Bush is guilty of murder for the deaths of over 4,000 American soldiers who have died fighting his war in Iraq."

Bugliosi said he's also meeting with a high profile California District Attorney to urge him to bring the case.

"I am going to meet here soon with a very prominent DA," Bugliosi said. "I don't think he is going to do it. But I do think he will give me some ideas as to who would be likely to do it. I'm going ask him to do it. My guess is he is not going to do it. But he attends DA conventions. And he may very well know someone. There may be a case where a DA or an AG lost a son over in Iraq."

"I offer my services to help out in any way that they see fit," Bugliosi said. "But I want to convey the thought that this is a serious thing. This is not a fanciful reverie. At my age, I don't have time for fanciful reveries. If I had to guess what the probabilities are, my guess is that there is not a high probability of it. But I think there is a very substantial probability that George Bush, as a direct result of this book, will end up in an American courtroom being tried for murder. And the main reason that I say that is because of the great number of American prosecutors that I've established jurisdiction for."

Bugliosi said that the homicide prosecution against Bush can be brought by the U.S. Attorney General, any of the U.S. Attorneys, any of the 50 state Attorneys General, or any of the hundreds of district attorneys - if a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq is from their districts.

Bugliosi says that even if the prosecution of Bush doesn't come about for a number of years, he wants to plant in the President's mind the idea that such a prosecution is possible.

"The least I can do is put that thought in his mind until he goes to his grave," Bugliosi said. "That's the least I can do for the thousands of American soldiers who came back in an aluminum box or came back as a jar of ashes. And the parents are told - don't open the box, it is unviewable. They are getting back limbs and body parts. And this - I don't want to use a cuss word here - this small, horrible human being - while young men who never had a chance to live out their dreams, being blown to pieces by roadside bombs - and this guy is having a ball dancing. I want to put the thought in his mind that in any time in the future, five years from now, ten years from now, some aide is going to tap him on the shoulder and say - Mr. President, there is this prosecutor, I don't know how to pronounce his name, he's up in Fargo, and he's charging you with murder sir, and we are due for an arraignment next Wednesday in Fargo, sir."

"Bush will never know whether that will happen. They went after (former Chilean strongman Augusto) Pinochet for murder 33 years later. I want to put that thought in Bush's mind. This guy has been enjoying himself throughout this entire war. And the suffering and the horror and blood is unbelievable. And he has enjoyed himself throughout this whole thing."

At the center of Bugliosi's indictment of Bush is a October 7, 2002 speech to the nation in which Bush claims that Saddam Hussein was a great danger to this nation either by attacking us with his weapons of mass destruction, or giving these weapons to some terrorist group.

"And he said - the attack could happen on any given day - meaning the threat was imminent," Bugliosi says.

"The only problem for George Bush - and if he were prosecuted, there is no way he could get around this - is that on October 1, 2002, six days earlier, the CIA sent George Bush its 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified top secret report. Page eight clearly and unequivocally says that Saddam Hussein was not an imminent threat to the security of this country. In fact, the report says that Hussein would only use whatever weapons of mass destruction he had against us if he feared that America was about to attack him."

[For a complete transcript of the Interview with Vincent Bugliosi, see 22 Corporate Crime Reporter 22, June 2, 2008, print edition only.]
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