Why is prosecuting Bush for murder even more critical – and strategically, more achievable — than prosecuting him for war crimes?
Granted, torture is absolutely despicable, but as The New York Times pointed out in a recent editorial, the number of Iraqi torture victims is in the neighborhood of two dozen. Even if that number were conservative, and the actual number could be as much as 100, the torture of 100 Iraqis pales in comparison to the suffering and death of over 4,000 American soldiers as well as the horrible violent deaths of over 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women, children and babies. Strategically, Bush can be prosecuted for murder in any of the 50 states, whereas “war crimes” prosecutions, if done in the U.S., would most likely occur in Washington D.C. There, the “powers that be” can exert pressure on the Attorney General and members of Congress not to prosecute, even if Congress and the Presidency are controlled by Democrats.
