By Elizabeth de la Vega
In this book, former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega brings her twenty years of experience and passion for justice to what may be the most important case of her career. The defendants are George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell. The crime is tricking the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States.
If the indictment and grand jury are hypothetical, the facts are tragically real: Well over half the people in the U.S. now believe the President misled the country into a war that has left over 3,000 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, and countless Iraqis homeless. The cost is $600 billion and counting. Faced with an ongoing crime of such magnitude, de la Vega argues, we cannot simply shrug our shoulders and walk away.
Three sections of the book were originally posted on Tomdispatch:
De la Vega's introduction: Bringing Bush to Court
The hypothetical indictment: Indicting Bush
First day of grand jury testimony: A Predisposition to Invade
Chalmers Johnson: "In her truly engrossing study, former Federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega conducts a hypothetical but technically impeccable grand jury indictment of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell for 'conspiracy to defraud the United States.' She marshals the evidence to show that they deliberately misinformed the people about the reasons for our war against Iraq. It is much more powerful than the 9/11 report. A tour de force."
Karen Kwiatkowski: "De la Vega has accomplished an amazing feat with this singularly triumphant presentation of the intersection between political fantasy and legal reality. Reading the delightfully logical and clearheaded United States v. George W. Bush, et al. is both incredibly sobering, and yet strangely hopeful. Real American patriots can only wish the United States godspeed in this case, and this brief is destined to be well studied by principals in all three branches of American government, as well as by those who serve as the Fourth Estate."
Edward Asner: "Any American patriot who would like to see a Grand Jury challenge this Administration's blitzkrieg against our constitution will relish Elizabeth de la Vega's book The United States v. George W. Bush et al. Machiavelli believed fraud was laudable and glorious in matters of war. In her book; Ms. de la Vega invites us into the courtroom to consider the indictment of our modern day Machiavellis and the fraud they've perpetrated."
Ray McGovern: "With her imaginative Grand Jury approach, Elizabeth de la Vega gives us a front-row seat for the evidence of violent crimes by high officials of the Bush administration. Her lively style and sense of humor pierce the all-too-familiar melancholy and make for a fascinating read. Give this book to friends who cannot get their head around the notion that our president lied us into an unnecessary war. But alert them to the possibility that they may be moved to act more responsibly than the frightened Germans of the 1930s and the apathetic neighbors of Kitty Genovese. For it will be clear that we are all in this together."
