Vincent Bugliosi: Palpable Anger

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 2:12pm.

Guest Commentary

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Vincent Bugliosi

(Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from the book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi)

My anger over the war in Iraq, some will say, is palpable. If I sound too angry for some, what should I be greatly angry about -- that a referee gave what I thought was a bad call to my hometown football, basketball, or baseball team, and it may have cost them the game? I don't think so.

Virtually all of us cling desperately to life, either because of our love of life and/ or our fear of death. I'm told there is a passage in a novel by Dostoyevsky in which a character in the story exclaims, "If I were condemned to live on a rock, chained to a rock in the lashing sea, and all around me were ice and gales and storm, I would still want to live. Oh God, just to live, live, live!"

So nothing is as important in life as life and death. We fear and loathe the thought of our own death, even if it's a peaceful one after we've outlived the normal longevity. We fear not only the loss of our own lives, but the lives of our parents and sisters and brothers, as well as our relatives and close friends. We don't think of our children too much in this regard because our children, in the normal scheme of things, are supposed to outlive us. When they die before us, the already hideous nature of death becomes unbearable. And that's when they die a normal and peaceful death from illness. If the death is from an accident, like a car collision, the death of the child, if possible, is even more unbearable.

So one can hardly imagine the gut-tearing pain and horror when the only child of a couple, a nineteen-year-old son, call him Tim, the center of his parents' lives, whom they showered with their love and lived through vicariously in his triumphs on the athletic field and in the classroom, and who was excited as he looked forward to life, planning to wed his high school sweetheart and go on to become a police officer (or lawyer, doctor, engineer, etc.) dies the most horrible of deaths from a roadside bomb in a far-off country, and comes home in a metal box, * his body so shattered that his parents are cautioned by the military not to open it because what is inside ("our Timmy") is "unviewable." (To make the point hit home more with you, can you imagine if it was your son who was killed in Iraq and came home "unviewable" in a box? Yes, your son Scott, or Paul, or Michael, or Ronnie, Todd, Peter, Marty, Sean, or Bobby.)

No words can capture the feelings, the enormous suffering, of Tim's parents. But I think we can say that among a host of other deep agonies, they will have nightmares for the rest of their lives over the horrifying image of their boy the moment he lost his life on a desolate road in Iraq. As a mother of a soldier who died in Iraq wrote in a May 17, 2004, letter to the New York Times: "The explosion that killed my son in Baghdad will go on in our lives forever." She went on to say that "seared on" her soul are the "screams and despair" of her family over the loss of her son and the "sound of taps above the weeping crowd at the grave site of my son."

Just as Tim's young life ended before he really had a chance to live, so did the lives of thousands of other young men in the Iraq war. Not one of them wanted to die. As one wrote in his diary before he was killed in the battle of Fallouja: "I am not so much scared as I am very afraid of the unknown. If I don't get to write again, I would say I died too early. I haven't done enough in my life. I haven't gotten to experience enough. Though I hope I haven't gone in vain." In letter after letter home by young men who were later killed in combat in Iraq were words to the effect, "I can't wait to get back home and to start my life again."

All of the young men who died horrible and violent deaths in Bush's war had dreams. Bush saw to it that none of them would ever come true. It is impossible to adequately describe all the emotions and the magnitude of the human suffering that this dreadful war has wrought.

* It is not a casket or coffin, which the survivors of course later put the remains in. The military refers to the aluminum receptacle as a "transfer case," and the case is draped with an American flag.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

Vincent Bugliosi received his law degree in 1964. In his career at the L.A. County District Attorney's office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, including 21 murder convictions without a single loss. His most famous trial, the Charles Manson case, became the basis of his classic, Helter Skelter, the biggest selling true-crime book in publishing history. His forthcoming book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder, is available on BuzzFlash.com. For more info, visit www.prosecutionofbush.com.

Absolutely... but not far enough

Submitted by Clemsy Diggs on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 10:46am.

Bugliosi is correct on all counts. But while it's normal to reflect on the impact on our own tribe, we have to nurture a larger perspective.

All people are created equal, and are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, some of which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Those words do not apply just to Americans, regardless of the convenient political interpretation of the philosophy upon which the country is founded which says otherwise.

Add to the equation the American women killed (slipped up there Vin) and every single man, woman and child killed or maimed in this unbelievably FUBAR abortion of a military action. Our losses pale compared to those of the Iraqi and Afghani people.

Justice, currently, is reserved for those under a certain income bracket and everyone else is disposable.

We are, after all, so easy to manufacture.

True Justice, however, acrues interest.

Somehow, someday...

Bush's escape

Submitted by kevns007 on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 11:56pm.

I've verified with several sources that the Bush Crime Family, and I hate to use Mike Malloy's moniker of GWB since he won't let Mr. Bugliosi on his show, that thru Jenna, who supposedly went down to Paraguay on a UNICEF tour, purchased 100 thousand acres for the family at the same time. That scum-sucking coward knows what's up and is going where no extradition treaties exist.

Bugliosi is right

Submitted by GOPHater on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 9:45pm.

Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be in prison awaiting execution for war crimes, treason, torture, violations of international law, and violations of the U. S. Constitution.

That indictment, trial, appeal and Habeas writ part is missing

Submitted by grolaw on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 6:32am.

It is a crime to threaten any president. If an ex-president were given the full measure of due process of a state like Texas or Florida and found guilty of murder in the highest degree, well those state's laws would control.

Overall, the International Court of Justice is a better jurisdiction. The world gets to see the proceedings, the Court is Neutral and based in a Neutral country and the trial(s) would go a long way towards establishing that the US has come back from the Rogue-nation status it has and rejoined the civilized nations. That would also end the Bush "Preemptive war" doctrine once and for all.

"In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying."
- Bertrand Russell -

Thank you for the reminder...

Submitted by thefitconnection on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 5:21pm.

... because it IS easy to forget. I, for one, have a very hectic work schedule. My thoughts are normally from day to day, and making sure I get enough sleep to adequately perform throughout the week. Lost in all of this is the fact that I should be angry EVERY FUCKING DAY because a moron started a war for profit that has robbed American soldiers of their lives. This war has also robbed young and old Iraqis of their lives. These Iraqis simply wanted to live their lives without the fear of dying in an unbelievably dangerous situation started by a foolish turd, by the name of Bush, and his gang of thieves. The day Bush and co. pay for their war crimes is the day I'll feel there is some justice in the world. The most disturbing point about this war is that the motives behind it are so appallingly transparent, that in a just society Bush and his criminal junta would be in jail tomorrow - but this is not a perfect world and it is not a just society. Bush will continue his cushy life, and more US soldiers and Iraqi civilians will die.

We feel it

Submitted by vtjozef on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 5:07pm.

Of course the author's anger is palpable. Listening to the news one may easily break into dry screams (like dry heaves)of incredulity and anger over the unnecessary death and destruction. I wonder how many Iraqi mothers and fathers grieved, just as the US mothers and fathers grieve over the death of their loved ones. It's good to see this discussed on BF. Now, I ask: being that BF is unabashedly pro-Obama, what is his plan for ending this carnage? Outside of the same platitudes and tripe that spews from his mouth, what are the concrete steps, other than praying, that Obama has to bring this illegal brutality to an end? Does any Obama supporter know? What do ANY of the major party candidates say are the concrete steps they would take to end the Iraq occupation and war? THERE ARE NONE! For that we need to look at Ralph Nader's platform and solutions. And oh, Mr. Bugliosi, have you asked an Iraqi mother or father about losing their entire family?

(No subject)

Submitted by vtjozef on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 5:08pm.

young men

Submitted by lacques on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 4:44pm.

I'm glad Bugliosi noticed the young American men who gave their lives. Perhaps he can broaden his horizons to notice the possibly one million dead Iraqi men, women, and children, and the perhaps 4 million displaced from their homes. Get yourself a passport, bro. It's a big world out there, and we're really screwing it up.

They volunteered

Submitted by edpell@bestweb.net on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 4:21pm.

They volunteered. They chose to serve Satan and they got what whose who serve Satan get -- death. I am a member of the Religious Society of Friends and Friends tend to think that when G-d said "do not kill" G-d meant do not kill.

Well done there, pacifist...

Submitted by grolaw on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 5:24pm.

First you claim membership in a religious group commonly known as Quakers. Then you condone death as a violation of your "invisible guy in the sky's" edicts and invoke the name of an angel cast out of Heaven by your beneficent God.

Keep in mind that your belief in the myth of a God is no different than that of GWB, the majority of the troops and the Moslems / Kurds and assorted other myth-believers.

If you and your kind paid one jot of attention to the section of Bugliosi's book reprinted here you would know how horrible death is.

But, you believe in an afterlife. That myth makes for a large number of people willing to kill or be killed.

You believe in a God - specifically, a Christian God - the omniscient, omnipotent and inerrant being who controls everything. Every death then is a matter of God's Will - and Man best not question the will of the Mighty Christian God or the everlasting afterlife will take place in a place of fire and brimstone, pain and suffering forever - e.g. Hell.

Had it occurred to you that your belief in this nonsense - and your callous disregard for the lives of the "volunteers" puts you in exactly the same place, ethically, as those who engineered this war?

While we're at it, friendly-one, consider how the destruction of the US economy makes "volunteering" to serve one's nation just about the only "job" available to better than 50% of the young?

Minimum wage was finally increased - but $4.00/gal gas represents more than an hour of work/gal after taxes. Does your God condone starving the poor into the military (where more than 50% of our tax dollars go) or does your God prefer that these young people simply pray for Manna from Heaven?

Put your myths on ice and do something rational. Prayer is just a way to feel good about doing nothing constructive.

Blaming the victims is beyond the pale. You are as "good" a Christian as GWB. Nice work there - nobody since Nixon has made such outrageous statements while claiming membership in the Society of Friends. A pox on you and your house! Feh!

No punishment sufficient for this heartless mass killer

Submitted by monish on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 3:51pm.

In a recent interview, Mr. Bugliosi has expressed in clear terms of outrage and pure anguish the extent of monstrous mass murder and atrocities committed by the vile gangster occupying the WH since 2000. It was absolutely refreshing to find one powerful and reasoned voice express the deep revulsion felt by so many for so long regarding the group of foul murderers and profiteers that have willfully killed, maimed, destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives throughout the world, and put human civilization itself to shame with their relentless crimes. I have repeatedly described the evil mass murderer in Washington as the "worst human being to have lived in all of history." I have told friends countless times why I believe this to be the case, and am prepared to prove that the degree of evil and pure hatefulness embodied by this foul and putrid creature exceeds that of any other mass killer and perpetrator of evil in history. Many have pointed out, quite correctly I must say, that similar to the Nuremberg trials (where this same nation put on the mantle of high-mindedness and civility, even though before and since its many actions are at least as lethal and criminal as any committed by those they put on trial), the genocidal killer and his many enablers (Rove, Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney, Feith, Kristol, Perle, and on and on) need to collectively stand trial for their enormous crimes. Moreover, the do-nothing or worse, actively supporting Congress, especially such highly suspect figures as Nancy Pelosi and Diane Feinstein need to be seriously investigated for their willful participation in these crimes. I would go as far as to say that both Pelosi and Feinstein, among others, need to be severely punished for their abject betrayal of the people's verdict in 2006. I believe that along with the racist, profiteering, sadistic, evil gang that has sullied human civilization for the past 8 years (not counting the vile Reagan crowd), the Congressional Dimocrats (or Demcons, as some rightly describe them) have proven equally culpable, shameless, spineless and disturbingly unprincipled at so many levels. Their collective actions prove the correctness of Ralph Nader's long time assertion that American democracy is nothing but a corporate-controlled charade in the hands of corrupt thieves and scoundrels. This has been proven many times over. With vanishingly few exceptions (Kucinich, Wexler, perhaps Waxman and Feingold)- they are all handmaidens of the flesh trade. Nothing short of a major revolution will ever fix this rotting system or eliminate the enormous harm it is inflicting upon the world. In the current world, only a few places in South America seem to have advanced somewhat in fixing the capitalist imperial project of profits and genocide. I look with some pride at the experiments run in Venezuela, Bolivia and other places. As many correspondents have written- given their liberal inclinations, they feel intrinsically opposed to the death penalty, as I do also. Yet, as Bugliosi has loudly proclaimed, this utterly puny, filthy, contemptible beast named GWB(whose name itself is repulsive to me) richly deserves the death penalty many times over for the relentless grief he has brought upon countless lives. At the very least, as Bugliosi says- this vile piece of excrement needs to be haunted by mortal fear the rest of his living days, if possible hour by hour. The same should happen to the vicious gang-members that have collaborated with him in their filthy serial killings and rapes beyond normal comprehension. Barring criminal trials of such vicious murderers in control of a rogue government, the United States simply will add to its already sullied name as a rogue nation capable of the worst possible crimes against humanity, and will not be cleansed of such dreadful sins any time soon. I can only hope that a few other accomplished prosecutors with proper moral compass will join Mr. Bugliosi in this sacred and urgent task.

All that it would take is a signature

Submitted by grolaw on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 5:29pm.

All the new President has to do is to recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and allow extradition - then we can say "toodleoo" to the warlords from Henry Kissinger to the current mob. Let a fine Court in the Hague try them. Independent - and good enough for our enemies...why not our own?

Just have the president execute one document - and off they go.

Bugliosi book

Submitted by felinetta on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 3:00pm.

I'm in the middle of the book right now and this is a MUST read for every American. He doesn't hold back. The photos in the book speak volumes. I already new a lot of the heinous information given, but his case is just brilliant. I really hope the media gives this book the huge amount of exposure and crucial attention it merits, but I'm not overly hopeful!

What "Media" Murdoch?

Submitted by grolaw on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 5:35pm.

We have no media - save the Internet.

When I was young the New York Times and The Washington Post conspired to publish the documents leaked by Daniel Ellsberg - a/k/a The Pentagon Papers. Both had copies and if one were shut down by Court Order the other would continue publishing.

Today, the NYT has Judith Miller deeply involved in the Plame outing - and sat on the wiretap story for 18 months. The Post can't toady up to GWB fast enough and both papers have "embedded" reporters feeding us the administration's propaganda.

Wake up! I'm amazed that the book was even published!

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