Hot Button Bush-Iraq Doc Hits AFM

In one of the more unusual films being sold at AFM, former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi stars in the docu feature “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.” The film bears the same title as a book Bugliosi wrote, arguing that the former president should stand criminal trial on the allegation he led the country to  invade Iraq using faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction that the White House knew was false. 

Bugliosi—most famous for convicting Charles Manson and his clan and turning that experience into the book “Helter Skelter”—got the cold shoulder from media when the book was published. His longtime agent, Peter Miller, thinks the global dislike for Bush and the war might lead to a better reception for the docu in theaters outside the U.S. Miller said this after entering negotiations with a publisher he wouldn’t name to get the book published in 22 Arab countries. The book, which became a bestseller despite media snubs, was also published in Germany, Korea, England, Australia and Canada.

In the film, Bugliosi bristles with anger and blames Bush--whom he calls a "draft dodging son of privilege"--for the death and destruction of a war sold to Congress by painting Saddam Hussein as an imminent threat. Bugliosi said that was done by using information that U.S. intelligence agencies discounted as likely false. Bugliosi then presents a blueprint and legal precedent for a prosecution. He's no crackpot: as prosecutor, he won convictions in all but one of 106 cases, he's written numerous bestselling true-crime books, and his 1612-page JFK assassination investigation, “Reclaiming History,” is getting miniseries treatment from HBO and Playtone. 

Still, the book wasn’t reviewed by a major newspaper when it was published, and Bugliosi was treated as a Don Quixote figure on the few interview shows that would have him. It would be easy to regard his campaign as a publicity stunt, but Miller said he hasn’t made a dime on the project, and Bugliosi said he is risking his legacy on it.   

Said Bugliosi: “How is it possible for Bush to take the country to war under false pretenses, resulting in cataclysmic consequences, and America does absolutely nothing about it, just gives Bush a free pass? No one even wants to talk about it. The mainstream media blacked me out for the first time in my career. I could not get on any national network and it got so bad that ABC Radio refused to take money from the publisher for a radio spot. We couldn’t raise a dime for this documentary in America.”

The notion of putting on trial a former president for actions taken while in the White House seems somehow unfathomable. Attorney Alan Dershowitz, after lauding Bugliosi’s record, says in the docu that he doubts the case will see the inside of a courtroom. 

Bugliosi understands the skepticism, but said he is too incensed by the death of over 4000 U.S. soldiers and significantly more Iraqi citizens, to let this go. He said he is determined to find a prosecutor to take the case, and feels the book and movie will help. There is a wide pool of potential prosecutors, as Bugliosi said that jurisdiction is possible in any state that is home to a soldier who was killed in Iraq.

“I’m willing to help any prosecutor, from serving as consultant up to being appointed special prosecutor,” Bugliosi said. “I have to measure my words here but I am making progress toward that goal and I’m not giving up. I may not succeed but I won’t be satisfied until I see Bush in an American courtroom.” 

Pic’s financier Jim Shaban, a Canadian-born exhibition exec who’s now building a production facility in Michigan, said he has assured Bugliosi the film will get theatrical distribution in the U.S. and Canada. That will possibly come through Independentbooking.net, a service run by ex-Cineplex Odeon exec Eric Ball. Ball said they will likely organize screenings for buyers, the goal being to open the film in February or March.