DVD Review: The Prosecution Of An American President

When George W. Bush assumed the presidency, I lost any remaining faith I had in the political process of this country. And, as you know, things just got worse from there. George W. Bush and his associates got this country involved in the dubious war in Iraq, resulting in thousands and thousands of deaths. The Prosecution Of An American President details the possible criminal case against George W. Bush and his administration, and gives me hope that perhaps at some point those people will be held accountable.

The film opens with footage of George W. Bush speaking directly the camera: “The Iraqi regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.” Then Dick Cheney says, “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.” There is footage of those two, along with other key members of the administration, repeating the assertion that Saddam Hussein will soon have nuclear weapons. And the comedy of Bush never quite mastering the pronunciation of “nuclear” is far outweighed by the seriousness of the deception and blatant mendaciousness of these statements.

A title card tells us, “The Center For Public Integrity has documented over 935 false statements told by Bush and his administration.” That is followed by another title card: “No weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq.” That is something we all know, and yet there has been no serious attempt to hold George W. Bush accountable.

The Prosecution Of An American President is based on Vincent Bugliosi’s book, The Prosecution Of George W. Bush For Murder, and Vincent Bugliosi himself functions as a narrator of sorts for the film. Because his convictions are that which drive the film, we are presented with some background on his legal career, including his work on the Charles Manson trial. Vincent Bugliosi provides a brief overview of the situation with Iraq just before Bush took the country to war: “At the time of the war, we were actually Hussein’s biggest oil customer, financing his luxurious lifestyle. We had mutual enemies… In fact, we heavily supported Iraq in its eight-year war against Iran.”

The film focuses on Bugliosi’s passionate presentation of the case against George W. Bush at UCLA Law School in February of 2008. The two main lies that Bush and his administration told were that Hussein was an imminent threat to the security of the United States and that Hussein was involved in the attacks on September 11, 2001. Bugliosi provides the legal definition of murder and then presents a convincing case against George W. Bush and his administration, with plenty of evidence.

There is footage of Bush’s speech from October 7, 2002, in which he says Iraq could attack the United States at any moment. But on October 1, 2002, the CIA sent the White House its National Intelligence Estimate, which states “Baghdad appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks against the United States, fearing that exposure of Iraqi involvement would provide Washington a stronger case for making war.” The White House asked for a new report to be issued on October 4, 2002, in which the conclusion that Hussein was not a threat was deleted.

And there is information on the infamous Niger uranium claim, and the film includes footage of Condoleezza Rice blatantly lying about it later. The information on how Bush spoke to Tony Blair about ways to provoke Saddam Hussein into war should infuriate any viewer regardless of his or her political stance.

The film has interviews with some other people as well, including parents of American soldiers killed in the war.

Near the end, Bugliosi makes this good point: “Nothing would improve our image and restore our credibility more in the eyes of the world than bringing George Bush and his administration to justice.” I could, however, do without the overly dramatic music which plays beneath Bugliosi’s concluding remarks. The music detracts from, rather than adds to, the strength of his statements. The statements themselves are enough.

Will George Bush Jr., Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice ever face criminal charges? We can only hope so. However, early in the film former federal prosecutor Elizabeth De La Vega, having said the case could be prosecuted by a state, adds: “But actually you would need to find someone who had amazing courage. And in this day and age, I think that might be a very difficult thing to find.”

Special Features

The DVD includes six short deleted scenes, totaling approximately ten minutes. These scenes include a soldier talking about the results of his experience in Iraq, parents talking about their son who was killed in the war, and some more on George W. Bush enjoying himself at a time when he had taken the country to war.

The Prosecution Of An American President was directed by David J. Burke and Dave Hagen, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on October 7, 2014 through First Run Features.