Of the people who read Charles Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi’s best-selling “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder,” this 57-year-old Seattle coffee merchant Bob Alexander 57, is the only one jolted to act on it in a substantial way. The Seattle Times says Alexander has sent 2,200 copies of Bugliosi’s hardcover to prosecutors around the country. Alexander was inspired by Bugliosi’s premise: Bush lied to make a case for invading Iraq, so he’s responsible for each of the more than 4,000 American lives lost there, and prosecutors in counties that had Iraq war casualties have the jurisdiction to file murder charges against Bush.
Ian Goodhew of Seattle’s King County Prosecutor’s Office has answered about 500 e-mails from people who want charges filed against Bush. “Mr. Bugliosi has some legal theories that he suggests, but none of which have any legal merit,” he said. “The statutes of Washington state only give us jurisdiction for crimes that occur in Washington state. We can’t prosecute someone for a murder that occurs in California under Washington state law, so how can we prosecute for someone that was killed in Iraq?” Says University of Washington professor Peter Arenella, a nationally recognized expert in criminal law: “Regardless of whether Bugliosi offers a tenable legal theory for criminal prosecution of Bush for some of his decisions and policies in conducting the Iraq war, one thing is clear: There is a complete absence of any political will to pursue a criminal prosecution against Mr. Bush.”