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THORN: Famed prosecutor puts Bush on trial

By Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 22, 2008 at 5:50 p.m.

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Noted prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi outlines a murder case against President Bush in his new book.

Noted prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi outlines a murder case against President Bush in his new book.

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Last week, I wrote about eye-catching titles, but nothing I mentioned holds a candle to the one that just crossed my desk: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.

Talk about an idea guaranteed to bring polite dinner conversation to a sudden halt.

Written by famed prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, the book is due out Tuesday and comes with an agenda as bold as its title. According to publisher Vanguard, it "presents a tight legal case against President Bush as being criminally responsible for the deaths of more than 4,000 American soldiers in Iraq."

Bugliosi argues that Bush took the country to war under false pretenses and can't claim he acted in self-defense - as he has previously via his "pre-emptive strike" rationale - because:

* Before the war, Bush was told by 16 federal agencies that Saddam Hussein wasn't a threat to the United States. In fact, in a top-secret, classified report, U.S. intelligence agents told the president Saddam would likely only use force against America if he feared he might be attacked by us.

* Less than two months before going to war, the president spoke "of ways to 'provoke a confrontation' with Saddam that would justify going to war." Bugliosi contends Bush was frustrated with the United Nations' inability to find evidence that could justify U.S. intervention in Iraq at that time.

It takes confidence - er, some would say cojones - to go after the president in such an in-your-face manner. But Bugliosi has never been short on self-assurance, or results. In his career with the Los Angeles Country District Attorney's Office, he won 105 of the 106 felony jury trials he prosecuted. He's also penned three best-selling books (most famously, the book Helter Skelter, based on his prosecution of Charles Manson).

This time, however, he's not likely to win a unanimous verdict among readers. In today's highly charged political environment, the book is bound to elicit a variety of opinions, including the conclusion that the author has lost his mind.

Bugliosi isn't fazed. "What I'm proposing is very real," the author says in the Vanguard press release. "I don't have time for fanciful reveries."

Or titles, for that matter.

Paperback picks

Here are some novels Rocky critics loved last year that were recently released in paperback:

* The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon (HarperPerennial, $15.95)

* Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan (Ballantine, $14)

* Boomsday, by Christopher Buckley (Twelve, $13.99)

* After Dark, by Haruki Murakami (Vintage, $13.95)

* The Broken Shore, by Peter Temple (Picador, $14)

Hot reads

Don't miss our annual summer reading issue in Saturday's Spotlight. This year, we offer great political titles, in honor of the coming Democratic National Convention, as well as a slew of offerings for those who would rather escape all the campaign chaos.