Crime and Punishment

The war in Iraq has claimed many lives both those in service and civilians under siege in their rural and previously quiet villages. It is a war that, in general agreement, is totally superfluous and without foundation. Even in my smallish city in Ontario several kilometers outside Toronto, I know people who bear wounds from this war.

Vincent Bugliosi, LLB in his most recent published work "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" wages his own well thought out and masterful war on the current American president. My first question is "Is George Bush really the mastermind behind this mass murder?" I myself suppress a snicker at my question's use of the word "mastermind" and "Bush" in the same sentence. I somehow feel a small degree of pity for the man who, like the imbecile child has been manipulated into delinquency by his intellectual betters (Rumsfeld, Cheney et al), though by no means misunderstand my phraseology of misdemeanor in relation to the war.

My second question is, is this really the first time the American government has used manipulation and frank lies to initiate war (Pearl Harbor ring a bell) ? Can we persecute one without all who are guilty? It seems to me, and I'm certain most of the rational thinking and literate public, that Bush is a mere puppet to those who have had this planned long before Bush had sobered up from his last college bender.

But for the sake of argument and simplicity lets say this was his idea all along (pause for laughter) and he orchestrated the war in Iraq (for which he would be hard pressed to located on a map of the world), is he personally liable for damages caused to the service men and women and civilians alike or is his government also equally liable? And lets say that any one of the states that has suffered the loss of one of their own, that is to say all of them, were to bring forth legal proceedings against him/his government, what would his penalty be? Life imprisonment? Death? Financial remuneration? None of these hold any possibility due to varying penal procedures in each state. The jurisdiction logistics alone would take decades to tease out.

As much as I would love to see ol' Bush in a Texas chain gang digging road side pits, this dream shall never be. The truth, dear reader, is that he will quietly slink away from office at the end of this term to a quiet ranch in back water Texas (the man will never leave America, dumb as he is he is well aware of the price on his head. Also you have to know that France is in Europe to actually go there) only likely to be heard from again in twenty years when some distant relation with a publishing grant will write some watery tripe about the puppet president. He will retire with his decent pension and beloved dog(s).

So, my final thought (did I hear someone say 'finally!!' ?), is press on dear Bugliosi esq., though your vision is certainly a Utopian one, it does fail to inspire hope that at least one person had the stones to say what everyone thinks but was always too scared or too stupid to say. Here's to you. Cheers.