Reviews

“A provocative, readable indictment for our time.”

“A sharp prosecution against the former president for the disasters of 9/11 and the Iraq War.
As Christopher Hitchens did with Henry Kissinger, so Markoff does with George W. Bush—without the literary flair, granted, but with every bit of the righteous indignation. In the manner of a prosecuting attorney, Markoff serves a brief that enumerates three kinds of actionable offense. The first is that Bush was criminally negligent in ignoring intelligence, from the moment he entered office in January 2001, that terrorists were mounting an imminent assault on the U.S. homeland. By way of evidence, the collective body of which is drawn from 600 annotated sources, Markoff analyzes the 379 speeches Bush gave between his first inauguration and Sept. 10, 2001, to show that Al-Qaida and/or Osama bin Laden turn up precisely zero times while Saddam Hussein, Iraq, and/or some combination of nuclear and chemical threats appear 143 times, oil another 41 times. ‘The numbers above,’ writes the author, ‘seem at least close to courtroom proof that George W. Bush was far more interested in Hussein and Iraq’s oil than the risks to our country from Al-Qaida and bin Laden so often communicated to him.’ Markoff’s second charge is that Bush—no puppet of Dick Cheney’s or some other master, he insists, but instead ‘an enthusiastic participant’—criminally wasted American blood and treasure in going to war with Iraq, at a direct cost of 4,400 American dead and $2 trillion, to say nothing of American wounded and psychologically shattered, along with untold numbers of Iraqi casualties. Bush’s authorization of torture and rendition for torture constitutes the third charge. Throughout, Markoff restrains himself from hyperbole and rhetorical flourish, at least until the very end of the book, when he asks, pointedly, ‘Did he think he was above the law or did he care?’ His answer, that we’ll likely never know, does not diminish his characterization of the offenses as ‘reckless, dishonest, and tragically unnecessary.’
A provocative, readable indictment for our time.”
Sept. 26, 2020

Rocky Butler

“In The Case Against George W. Bush, Steven Markoff addresses the very questions that haunted so many of us in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing costly war in Iraq. What did the Bush Administration know or should have known before that date, September 11, 2001? What role, if any, did Saddam Hussein and Iraq play in the attack? Why did the Bush Administration tell Congress and the world that Iraq had WMDs and links to Al-Qaeda when it had no evidence of such and, actually, evidence to the contrary? What were the costs in lives of American soldiers and the Iraqi civilian population and for what purpose? Did the Bush Administration sanction torture tactics in violation of US and international law and did the ends really justify the means?
Markoff systematically addresses all of these questions and others using the very words of the participants in the events. He carefully catalogues quotes, and their sources, from President Bush and others within the Bush Administration as well as other world leaders, journalists and authors. It is apparent that The Case Against George W. Bush is the result of extensive research through hundreds of books, memoranda, speeches, and articles and yet the book does not read like a documentary but rather a well laid-out case that the reader can easily understand, if not digest. The facts presented by Markoff answer the questions, but those answers are not so easily digested as we consider their implications and ramifications.”
August 2021

Victor Madeson, Valor Publishing, (The PDF includes notes and footnotes, not included in the text below)

“Steven Markoff is a prominent native of Los Angeles who was in the precious metal business to 2005, He also founded several public service educational websites (procon.org & SecondAmendment.org) and has a dozen producer/director movie credits. The Case Against George W. Bush is his first book and all the author proceeds will be directed to the nonprofit National September 11 Memorial & Museum in NYC www.911memorial.org.
The subject was of personal interest to me because back in 2008 ten of us, mostly veterans, filed criminal complaints against a Congressman and a Senator for dereliction of duty in regards to condoning the Iraq War. Our action was based on findings of an International Court and Vincent Bugliosi’s The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. After the Justice Department ignored the complaints most of us became disillusioned, which is better than being ‘illusioned,’ but we would never have full faith in our country again.
Steven recognizes that the semi-official line is to look at George W. Bush (hereafter Bush) as some sort of elder statesman, but says that if you have a neighbor who murders people and afterwards brings in stray dogs or seems a nice person, he is still a murderer. He adds ‘…I believe that one of the reasons that Donald Trump was able to attack our democracy in the way he did, is that he looked back at George W. Bush and said to himself ‘Look at all the terrible things that guy did, and he’s never had to pay for it.’
Such advocacy books often have facts on the other side, but in all material Steven went through–130 published books plus various government reports– there was no data to counter the quotes in the book. He offered the book to the ninety people he had quoted (Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Bush, etc.) and presidential libraries. He hasn’t heard back from any.
Ralph Nader noted ‘Censorship comes in many forms. One of [them] is a colossal moral indifference to official crimes at the highest levels of our government.‘
To be sure, this is not a comprehensive history. It is a collection of concisely presented notes told mostly by quotes of a hundred knowledgeable authors—from Hans Blix to Bob Woodward—with insights added by Steven for context and interpretation. The book certainly presents facts to resolve some conflicting theories about the Bush presidency. It dispassionately examines three major war crimes that the former president committed by invading Iraq. That’s a modest goal that started with the 35 Articles of Impeachment against Bush that were introduced by Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on 9 June 2008.
The subsequent Judiciary Committee hearings on ‘Limitations of Executive Power’ on 25 July, were partly based on these 35 articles. The corporate media ignored that very powerful two-panel hearing. It was finally published in 2009 by the Government Printing Office in 2009 (472p). It is not referenced in the book. Vincent Bugliosi, who testified on 25 July, had done a book (366p) on the same subject and it later became a film. Steven references neither. Two Neo-conned volumes (2005) were an especially rich source of expert commentary. Other documents, books, and films also deserved prominent mention. The brevity of the ‘Overview’ chapter reflects these omissions.
Unlike an over-enthusiastic prosecuting attorney, Steven limits his focus to three major crimes. Crime 1: Bush was criminally negligent after he entered office (Jan. 2001) in ignoring ample intelligence that terrorists were mounting an imminent assault on the U.S. homeland. Crime 2: Bush authorized both torture and the ‘rendition’ to achieve it beyond the reach of U.S. law. Crime 3: Bush was ‘an enthusiastic participant’ in encouraging the invasion of Iraq. It criminally wasted 4,400 American lives at a direct cost of $2 trillion, with about 32 thousand wounded and more psychologically damaged U.S. soldiers. Iraqi casualties exceeded 500,000 and they could be included under an international military tribunal.
For Crime 1 this shocking and important book lists 379 speeches Bush gave between his inauguration and 10 Sept. 2001. Neither Al-Qaida nor Osama bin Laden (OBL) is mentioned, but he talks about oil 41 times and warns of Iraq’s imaginary threat (nuclear/chemical) of mass destruction 143 times. It’s virtual proof that Bush cared about Iraq’s oil or about Saddam Hussein more than he did about the risk from Al-Qaida or bin Laden. So, despite being warned about 9/11 and OBL, Bush did nothing to prevent it and when it happened, as OBL escaped, he used it as an excuse to grab Iraq’s oil reserves.
In terms of damage inflicted in lives or treasure, my view is that Crime 2 is a relatively minor indictment. Compare it to nine articles listed by Amnesty International in their pamphlet: Bringing George W. Bush To Justice – International Obligations of States to Which Former US President George W. Bush May Travel.
On Crime 3, Steven could have made the criminal motivation clearer. He was obviously urged by Cheney and Neocons, but WHY did he buy their game. The seizure of Middle East oil goes back to the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations (when a friendly Iraq got U.S. military aid and intelligence against Iran). What motivated this self-professed Christian to commit murder? Was it merely ‘family’ business as usual? This Big Deal profoundly affected America culture and swings it toward a Nazi tradition. The former head of the National Security Agency, General William Odom, called the invasion the biggest blunder of the century. The ‘shock and awe’ gripped whole world, and millions marched to stop the bombing of Iraq. Wasn’t it part of a pattern that made the nation numb to Trump. How did it get ‘All better?’
Steven’s book does not opine about a bad president’s relative incompetence or that he was somehow a puppet of Cheney or a Neocon cabal. It cites de-classified memos; transcripts of hearings; public records, public quotations, etc., to prove criminal intent with evidence that can be cited by a trier of fact. It offers irrefutable proof to convict both Bush and Cheney of murder, a crime for which there is no Statute of Limitations. In evidence, Steven presents reputable scholars, eyewitnesses, and journalists. Why not also delve deep into probable guilt of the Neocon cronies? The list of these war architects is long and most of them are still alive. Why simply end with ‘Did he [Bush] think he was above the law or did he care?’
This book penetrates the bodyguard of lies around the Bush administration by someone outraged by injustice. Steven’s product was a project of years of scrupulous research. The scope of ‘reckless, dishonest, and tragically unnecessary’ offenses is presented in a timeline that builds a compelling case in failing to anticipate the 9/11 attacks. It then documents intentional deceit in shifting the US pursuit of OBL to an invasion of Iraq in defiance of international law. The devastating case against Bush et al, is mostly based on a dispassionate collection of facts presented in a way that encourages critical thinking. A lot of money went missing but that is not a focus of these crime charges.
The book is highly recommended for its historical significance in understanding the ‘War on Terror’ and why the U.S. has lost credibility overseas. However, it’s often like reading a compendium from the Nuremberg Tribunals. It is not smooth to digest unless you like reading legal briefs and encyclopedias. I give it 4 of 5 stars, not because of its sometime awkward format but because its narrow context missed key co-conspirators. This is my one big issue with the book. Were the Nazis evil because of a few dozen bad apples at the top or because millions went along? Why pile guilt on Bush rather than spreading it to minions, who also took an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies, foreign and domestic.
The book’s Foreword is by Richard Clarke, former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism (1998-2003). Steven wasn’t physically or emotionally involved in the run-up to the war until he read Clarke’s book Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror (2007), which calmly offered disturbing facts, including that Bush and some of his senior staff had ample warning about the dangers of OBL and Al-Qaeda. Clarke later strongly confirms that Bush took us into Iraq (2003) without having credible intel of Hussein’s WMDs. He ignored OBL’s real threat while planning to remove Hussein mainly to get Iraq’s oil.
So who is this book for? Steven stated the goals in the Preface. He wanted to document and explain three crimes of President Bush and show how those crimes caused the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, as well as bringing untold destruction to our people, our country, and others. He wanted to explain how Bush’s thirst for oil (for his friends and maybe for our country) may well have been the substantive or primary reason why he attacked Iraq in 2003. He sought to chronicle how Bush, as president and commander-in-chief, used secrecy, fraud, and deceit to scare our nation into the Iraq War.
Steven accomplished these goals. This book will help all who study it better understand the potential danger of misplaced loyalty. He hopes that the lessons learned will help protect this nation from again falling prey to such presidential trickery. I feel that the space taken for the section on torture could have been better used, but it’s his book and, as it stands, there’s plenty here to serve as a springboard for broader public effort.
In one exhaustively researched concise summary, the book compiles damning evidence for anyone who wants to dig a deeper into facts available before 9/11; for anyone who wants to see the narrative that justified invading Iraq; and for anyone who wants to see how torturing was being spun by the Bush gang. The Deep State leads by diversion deception, deconstruction, and disinformation. If nothing else, it might awaken Americans to see beyond illusions.
I really like the book, but only give it 4 stars because of the lack of context; not the need for added ‘polish’ in the format (a minor distraction). Too many details could have been used for deconstruction. The three crimes now offer a springboard in combination with other works. Many feel that Congress also has blood on its hands and needs to be held accountable in order for the country to heal.
The betrayal of the true 2000 presidential election by judicial royalty probably deserved more attention. Carter has called the United States an oligarchy and ‘the most warlike nation in the history of the world.’ Oligarchy ‘means not only rule of a small group, but a group that is not responsible to the many, that is corrupt, or that has otherwise excited disapprobation.’ Plato considered it corruption of aristocracy ‘as tyranny is the corruption of monarchy and mob rule the corruption of democracy.‘ Whether they rule as legitimate political party, a class, clique, or group in any form (monarchy, empire, dictatorship, theocracy, etc.), the question is if they are responsible to the many. It is not if a small elite or wealthy group rules that mainly distinguishes oligarchy from democracy.
As noted, even in full democracy, only a few individuals exercise actual power. Responsibility is the central point: does leadership derive its power from freely given public assent and conform to true public opinion. The Bush Presidency showed that no matter how highly leaders talked of precious principles, bad ones could empower the dark side of our national nature. The goals of American democracy now seem unreachable, even if we steady the ship. We can indict bad actors and hope for more responsible leaders. Given the blind pursuit of oil, maybe the problem will narrow to into ‘oily-garchy.’
Even with sufficient motivation, the cure for global oligarchs (führer, Duce, emperor) is beyond reach unless we pin down the true ‘enemy’. The excess power of rich oligarchs like Bush and Cheney could be solved by proper impeachment hearings if Congress doesn’t abdicate its oversight responsibilities. It certainly allowed war crimes in Iraq. The ‘Four Freedoms’ of World War 2 led to the United Nations, an International Criminal Court (ICC), and a UN Declaration of Rights. Since modern oligarchs are part of a global network staffed by lawyers, maybe we can find more of them to exercise human rights on our behalf. We might also seek a fifth Freedom from Lies.
At risk of digression, earlier killing could be traced to nuclear examples by a former senator from Pendergast as described by Covert Action magazine. Also, given his repeated attempts to obstruct justice, prosecutors have many potential crimes from which to choose when it comes to again indicting the twice-impeached Trump, but his incitement of the 6 January Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the Georgia election results are minor compared to crimes by the Bush Crime Syndicate.
One way to convey deterrence to future presidents is for the Justice Department to prosecute Bush for murder. There is also time to demand accountability of the Neocons. None of them has ever been held accountable for their crimes, not one of them. We can add Nancy Pelosi. Let’s ask her about her rapid dismissal of W. Bush’s impeachment immediately after Democrats swept them into both Houses of Congress (2006); after the Bush crimes motivated that victory. The Democrats Won Both Houses of Congress in 2006. In a stunning political switch the morning after, Nancy Pelosi made her now infamous declaration that ‘impeachment was off the table’. The hope of holding the W. Bush Crime Syndicate accountable was arguably why Democrats won both houses of Congress; so what did Nancy do the day after the election? She blocked impeachment. What was she hiding? Was there some conflict of interest with a husband in construction? Maybe take her off the table as activists work to prepare a readable indictment for a new generation. What’s next?
Even if most civilians don’t participate, about a seventh of the families in the country include a veteran. Many of them remember the oath they once took and might be willing to issue a ‘Summons’ to the their member of Congress to stand and deliver an indictment against the Bush crime family and its Neocons. Let’s remind them that war is war and murder is murder.
Errors, misconduct, and crimes rise when citizens reject democratic norms. As prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi showed thirteen years ago in The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, and Steven now warns more directly, if we allow such killing, then lying, cheating, and stealing will easily follow, as it has with Donald Trump.
Of course, some of this goes beyond what Steven suggested in the book. Dereliction of duty and murder are enough to start with. The silence of patriots enables criminal public officials to avoid accountability. I very much agree with Steven’s starting quote by Einstein:
‘…the world is more threatened by those who tolerate evil or support it than the evil-doers themselves.’ (1953)
How many devils dance on the point of our political pyramid? A reluctance to prosecute former minions may be based on legitimate concerns about politicizing the justice system, but filing such charges is not a radical step. Other democracies routinely prosecute former politicians without sliding down a slippery slope. Allowing unpunished murder sets a far more dangerous precedent. It now seems necessary to show that no person, particularly the president, is above the law. Will you help?”
June 12, 2021

Paul Haeder, Excerpt from his DissidentVoice.org review (PDF) – W’s Chickens Coming Home to Roost, yet the Media Cocks Aren’t Crowing: A deeper look into very recent history, The Case Against George W. Bush by Steven C. Markoff (Article also online at LAProgressive.com (PDF)

“Censorship comes in many forms. One of [them] is a colossal moral indifference to official crimes at the highest levels of our government.“

— Ralph Nader, April 17, 2021, Ralph Nader Radio Hour

“…Disclaimer: This is not a traditional mainstream or even left-stream book review. However, Steven C. Markoff’s book does play as the impetus and linchpin to my essay, more of an analysis/reaction to his book. I give The Case Against George W. Bush, high marks. Read Steve’s book. Press your respective legislators to push for an investigation of W.’s crimes. Markoff sets out in the book about how those crimes were committed. I reference those. He completes his case: The evidence is there to prosecute and find guilty the 43rd President of the USA, George W. Bush.
Nader’s Raiders of the Lost Warriors
I was hitting the old Ralph Nader podcast a week ago when I stumbled upon Steven C. Markoff’s book, The Case Against George W. Bush. Nader had Markoff on his podcast, and both talked about the crimes of W Bush, and even more pertinently, the lack of a criminal case against George W. Bush, as well as the crickets in the so-called liberal media (SCLM) as well in the left press concerning Steve’s book.
I quickly emailed Steve for a copy of his book to review, and he came back at me with a PDF of this book which, as I have stated, has been iced out of mainstream media: no interviews, no reviews let alone getting Steve into a room one-on-one, or onto a Zoom call with other guests to parse his well-researched, well-quoted book on the crimes of George W. Bush. …
I suppose this entire mess that Markoff catalogues in his book, as a triumvirate of crimes by George W. Bush, could for me, personally, be summed up, in my mind, with President George W. Bush, speaking at the annual AIPAC conference in May of 2004:
‘You’ve always understood and warned against the evil ambition of terrorism and their networks. In a dangerous new century, your work is more vital than ever.’
Steven Markoff doesn’t go there, for sure, and that is what makes Markoff’s book unique, too: a clean record of the mess and blunder and murderous trail George W. Bush left in his wake as leader of the so-called ‘free world.'”
April 28, 2021

Virginia Arthur, Goodreads.com review

“Importantly, 100% of the royalties from the sale of Markoff’s book go to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in NYC. It is dedicated to ‘all those who were killed or adversely affected by 9/11, and those tortured directly or indirectly by our government after September 11, 2001, and by our 2003 invasion of Iraq.’ The [foreword] is by Richard A. Clarke. He was National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism for the United States between 1998 and 2003.

Review

Martha Stewart. I’ll get to this later.

How fitting that when I sat down to write this review, Biden was declaring the end of the Great Fabrication and what do we hear from the architects that started it almost 20 years ago? Are they dead? No.

Nothing.

Imagine you’re in a room with other people and Guy A comes into the room and starts bashing another guy in with a bat. He tells everyone this is only the beginning. He intends to do a lot worse. Of course, many of you are trying to get Guy A to stop but then something very weird happens, all of a sudden, some of the people in the room start telling a story about another guy sitting in the room. A guy we will call Guy B, and while some of what they are claiming is true, Guy B has done some bad stuff, clearly, in the moment, Guy A needs to be stopped because he’s still at it with his baseball bat and threatening even more mass violence. They ignore Guy A (we call Osama Bin Laden) and implore everyone MUST get Guy B (we call Saddam Hussein) because, you just wait, they all implore, Guy B is the more dangerous. Guy B has weapons in the bag he has brought and even if he is sitting around, everyone still needs to go after Guy B. There is confusion. The ‘Guy B’ group of people we will call the ‘NeoCons’ as represented by Bill Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle who gather around them the post-911 presidency and administration as represented by W. Bush, The Younger, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, and many more of them, go for Guy B’s bag. They rip it open. There are no weapons in his bag but they tell everyone there are weapons in the room, somewhere! (Keep looking). What they do see in the bag is a lot of money (oil $$$$). They call in a bunch of innocents to start beating Guy B up. During this process, they damage the room and other people in the room. ‘Meanwhile’ (regards to Stephen Colbert) Guy A has taken off. The NeoCons don’t seem to care. Guy B has lots of money (oil $$$$) in his bag and they declare it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep beating him up. After taking his bag, they get other people to kill him, bombing the building, the neighborhood, then the entire country. By then, just about everyone these NeoCons know want a piece of the action ($$$$$$). Guy A is who the hell knows or cares, planning another violent mass attack, a little baffled (or satisfied?) because Guy B is ‘getting all the attention’…
Maybe you weren’t alive then or too young…If this all seems crazy, then you are getting a feel for what the W. Bush Crime Syndicate did to us, to Iraq, to our American soldiers, many still so messed up.
The worst president in the history of the United States was not Donald Trump. It was George W. Bush.
Every American has ‘their’ war and the Great (Iraq) Fabrication was my war. I didn’t need to read Markoff’s book because I lived it. I knew almost every citation in the book. I still have an Iraq War Fabrication section in my library that includes books such as Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s’ History of the United States’; Michael Ruppert’s ‘Crossing the Rubicon’; ‘American Dynasty’ by Kevin Phillips; ‘House of W. Bush, House of Saud. The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties’ by Craig Unger.
(Regarding Unger’s incredible expose’ published in 2004, after reading Markoff’s book, I wondered if one contributing factor to W. Bush all but ignoring Osama Bin Laden’s (OBL) threat was based on his family’s relationship with the House of Saud? Was there pressure put on the W. Bush Family by the House of Saud to ignore OBL? If so, why? Did W. Bush think of OBL as ‘just a kid’ in the House of Saud ‘family ‘ just ‘acting out’? Rebelling? Not worth taking seriously?)
‘Static’ by Amy and David Goodman; ‘Worse Than Watergate’ by John Dean; ‘Confessions of an Economic Hitman’ by John Perkins; ‘Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them’ by Al Franken. I have political comedic books, ‘101 Ways to Survive George W. Bush’ by Pat Bagley and ‘Loving the Cheney Within’ by Jeremy Hitchins (both still hilarious and strangely timeless). I have all kinds of sardonic anti-Great Fabrication toys, puzzles, even a talking stuffed W. Bush doll I took to a protest in D.C. (with push pins in it that people enjoyed using during the protest). In this section of my library is a program for a Town Hall in Sacramento called ‘Out of Iraq Town Forum’. We drove an hour to attend. There was one we went to at the Crest Theatre called ‘Iraq for Sale. The War Profiteers’. This was BIG. This was a BIG DEAL. It profoundly affected the culture of America at the time…and what? It’s all just magically disappeared now? ‘All better’? (This also brings up the point that maybe we need a museum to ‘commemorate’ this time even if all the architects of this disaster want us to just throw it all away, literally and figuratively).
I knew reading/revisiting this time would bring up so much, a time of tragedy in my personal life (the sudden death of my fiancee (only 41) from a heart attack. He was so profoundly disturbed by the prospect of bombing Iraq/starting what we ALL KNEW was a totally fabricated war, he told me if it happened, he was not sure he could take it; he died two weeks before the start of the bombing, not kidding, called ‘Shock and Awe’ by the W. Bush Administration. Maybe they named it knowing its double purpose because ‘shock and awe’ also described our horror at what was happening). My grief over losing Robert was only compounded by the tragedy of watching my country lose everything—not a war—but morally. Rob’s words haunted me–‘If they bomb Iraq, use 9/11 as an excuse to get their oil (we all KNEW what they were doing by the way!), I won’t be able to take it’. Then he left me alone with it all…
I was actively involved in trying to hold the W. Bush Crime Syndicate accountable including attending hundreds of local, regional, state, and D.C. marches. Stuffed in the books on my Great Fabrication shelf are photos of the marches in D.C. I attended. There is one where we are standing in front of the White House and you can see the Secret Service patrolling from the roof, holding their weapons. I have a hilarious photo of the satirical ‘Billionaires for Bush’. (‘Make War. Not Jobs.’ I loved them). There were stilt Uncle Sam’s, street theater groups, whole families. EVERY element of America was represented as we marched to stop the lie (The Great Fabrication is in fact The Great Lie). Cindy Sheehan spoke and elders from several Native American tribes presented her with a native American blanket they made to honor her and her son, an early casualty of the lie. I have photos of the Washington Monument showing hundreds of crosses commemorating ALL the dead (innocent Iraqi’s, American, British, Australian troops…). I will never forget the hundreds of pairs of shoes, shoes of the dead, mostly those of Iraqi children.
It was time of such overt destruction, violence (and not just from the direct war impacts–‘we believe in torture’, remember this? Waterboarding?), corruption (talking my government, not Iraq’s, and by the way, billions of public dollars were and never will be accounted for–ever), I know I will never recover especially if the W. Bush administration is never held accountable. I argue as a country, America will never fully recover until these people are held accountable.
I don’t need to provide a summary of Markoff’s book because the entire book is a summary, an indictment, that W. Bush knew, was warned, so many damn times. (And at that time, so many of us knew HE knew which is why we were so disbelieving when so many in Congress signed on to the fabrication; how in the hell could they believe the guy?). W. Bush was warned about OBL and 9/11 and he did little to nothing to prevent it. Then after it happened, urged by the NeoCons, he used it as an excuse to instead try to seize Iraq’s oil reserves. In the meantime, OBL got away…
Markoff’s book puts in one concise place, all the damning evidence, and here is where Martha comes in. Remember Martha Stewart? No, not her irritating perfect house. The charges against her for insider trading. She ditched some stocks before they crashed, like $240,000 worth. Honestly, if we’re talking high returns, not that much. She was convicted in 2004 and served five months in prison. Martha Stewart, for an inside trade deal. And this is when I realized justice is a big joke because none of the perpetrators of the Great Fabrication, the real Big Lie, have EVER been held accountable for the obscene egregious things they did, not one of them. Even more exasperating is in response to the horrors of the Great Fabrication, we swept the Democrats into office in 2006. THIS IS WHY THEY WON BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. The morning after, in what can only be called a stunning political bait and switch, Nancy Pelosi made her now infamous declaration that ‘impeachment was off the table’. Holding the W. Bush Crime Syndicate accountable, ending the fabrication, was the very reason we put the Democrats in both houses of Congress and what did Nancy do the next morning after the election? She betrayed us and blocked it. They could have done it. They had BOTH Houses of Congress. Why Nancy? Were you hiding something too? Your husband was in construction at that time? Was there some conflict of interest on your part?
Not a peep.
The Great Fabrication is the giant wart everyone is now walking quietly around, especially our media. Those photos of W. with Michelle Obama are so cute. But it’s still here, the wart, pus filled, bloody…Some where as I write this, an Iraq war veteran struggles to get out of his or her bed. They struggle to walk. Somewhere in Iraq, a mother mourns the senseless loss of her child.
The list of NeoCons/architects, fraudsters, that fabricated the war is long but of the major architects, who is still alive? All of them.
George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
Bill Kristol
Richard Perle
Colin Powell
Condoleezza Rice
Donald Rumsfeld
Paul Wolfowitz
You all have blood on your hands and you need to be held accountable in order for this country to heal.
There is still time to demand accountability. So why aren’t we? Let’s include Nancy Pelosi in this too, while we’re at it. Let’s ask her about her rapid dismissal of W. Bush’s impeachment immediately after we swept them into both Houses of Congress (2006), the very reason they took Congress.
Bottom line: I will never have full faith in my country again. Democracy in America is a crap shoot. This is all it is. Whether we function as a democracy or not now depends almost entirely on WHO holds seats in our government, the fears of our founders now realized. ‘We are a nation of laws’. If you are a nation of laws and guiding principles, you are not subject to corruption by the many that pass through your so-called hallowed halls. You are immune to the WHO, always going back to ‘the paperwork’ in this case our Constitution. The W. Bush Presidency showed all of us that no matter how precious and high the principles, we cannot overcome the dark side of human nature and we’re in big trouble when we empower it. And there can be no expectation of justice. What this means is the goals of American democracy are in fact unreachable, and yes, for now, we have righted the ship, but who the hell knows four years from now. All you can do, truly, is hope for the best and yes, prepare for the worst.”

April 2021

Milz Miller

“Stephen C. Markoff’s Book The Case Against George W. Bush is somewhat shocking but well written, and a well-referenced book that is an easy read for anyone interested in the benefit of our great country. This book is extremely well referenced with documents, interviews, arguments, and affirmations from politicians, journalists, eyewitnesses, etc. The Case Against George W. Bush is formatted in a way that makes it easy to follow and understand what both sides of the coin are offering. The evidence regarding 9/11, The Iraq War, Weapons of Mass Destruction and the accusations regarding the torture of captives is very moving and intense. The documents provided are another layer of evidence that makes a very compelling case. I must commend Stephen C. Markoff for the vast research and accurate referencing of this book. A lot of excruciating research and analysis went into the making of this historical novel, all of which has been presented in a precise and intelligible manner. The author does not push his opinion on you. He bears witness with evidence that clearly makes his case. I recommend this deeply evoking novel. The numerous references and documentation, along with the ease of interpretation, allows me to give this novel, The Case Against George W. Bush, 5 out of 5 stars.”
February 2021

Vincent Oswecki

“Incredible detail. Prime example of too big to jail. Nothing will ever happen. At least you have set forth the truth for history and why we should not blindly accept statements of our political leaders…”
January 2021

Herzie Santos a.k.a. SheySaints, blogger, content writer, book reviewer, editor, and fiction writer; Philippines

“Before reading the book, I was expecting that it would mostly contain the author’s personal beliefs, but I was totally wrong. This is truly a case against George W. Bush with very strong and shocking quotes and explanations verifying true accounts of criminal offenses committed by the former US president.
I’m giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. It’s the product of years of extensive and scrupulous research on the three crimes committed by George W. Bush. This is highly recommended for its historical significance.”
December 2020

Aisha Bello, Abuja, Nigeria

“The Case against George W. Bush by Steven C. Markoff is a political nonfiction that looks into crimes committed by the ex-president, George W. Bush. The author accused the ex-president of three crimes: Criminal negligence, torture and misleading America into a war with Iraq. He posited that the 9/11 and the 2003 Iraq war should not have happened. He also explained how the ex-president allowed the use of torture on detainees. How could he have let all that happen? Perhaps there was a form of misinformation. A dive into the book will answer these questions. The book is divided into three parts, one for each of the crime supposedly committed by the ex-president. Each part had sources which ranged from speeches to files from Federal agencies and even sourced quotes from published books. It would not be far-fetched that a book carrying such accusations would not be backed by concrete evidence. In addition, these sources were fully referenced at the back of the book. Readers who are interested to research further can easily look behind for these sources. The book is told in 3rd person. This allows the reader to have an overview of what went down. At the start of the book, there was an introduction as to the formats used in the book. This made reading easy and less confusing. A distinctive thing to note is, readers are to decide for themselves, with what the author has presented, whether or not these accusations are true. I like that the author created such an atmosphere because the topic is quite sensitive. Overall, it was an interesting and informative read. There was nothing I found displeasing. I noted no errors. There was also no sexual content due to the genre of the book. However, there were descriptions of torture techniques. There were not at all graphic, but can be sensitive to a few readers. I recommend this thought-provoking read to Americans, having had to go through 9/11 and to lovers of politics, crime and nonfiction. I do not recommend if you are not a fan of nonfiction. … Without much ado, I rate The Case against [George] W. Bush by Steven C. Markoff a 5 out of 5 stars.”
December 2020

Mike Gatto, California State Assemblyman (ret.)

“Before there was Trump, there was GW Bush. One might argue that the latter’s crimes and incompetence desensitized the nation to the former’s. In The Case Against George Bush, Steven Markoff masterfully details, in plain and forthright language, how Bush let the nation down by failing to plan for 9/11 and then taking us to war on pretextual grounds. Skeptical? Don’t trust opinion books? This isn’t one. Markoff makes his case by citing the plain text of public records: sources like de-classified memos; transcripts of hearings; widely disseminated quotations, etc. He weaves together the facts, and allows the reader to make a conclusion. And that conclusion does not reflect well on the Bush administration. Easy-to-read and engaging because of the short blurbs throughout, this book will be cited by historians for generations. A must-read if you want to understand the ‘War on Terror’ and why the U.S. has lost certain credibility overseas.”
December 2020

Pat McNall, former Deputy Chief Counsel, FAA

“I was lucky to receive your book [The Case Against George W. Bush] yesterday, and I love it! I’m particularly impressed by how you wrote it — each point clearly laid out and supported by succinctly stated but well-documented evidence. This made the book very quick and easy to read, and extremely persuasive without being dogmatic. You would have made a fantastic lawyer!”
November 2020

John Kiriakou, Former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former Senior Investigator, US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

“Steven Markoff’s ‘The Case Against George W. Bush’ will have a rightful place in the pantheon of the most important studies of the post-9/11 era. This is not just a book that details federal crimes. It’s not a long complaint about a President who ignored the constitutional curbs on his power. It is an immaculately-documented and powerfully-sourced indictment of everything that is wrong with our government. It explains in a quickly-paced, page-turning fashion how a president ceded power to a corrupt and dangerous vice president. And it forces the reader to ask the question, ‘What we were doing when all of this was happening under our noses?'”
November 2020

David P. Barash, professor of psychology emeritus, University of Washington; most recent book — Threats: Intimidation and its Discontents (Oxford University Press, 2020)

“Because of the dangers, outright vileness and genuine lunacy of the Trump years, it is all too easy for us to forget the many crimes of George W. Bush, who in many people’s eyes has begun to look downright benign by comparison. But don’t be bamboozled! W was not only a disastrous president but a genuine (if unindicted) criminal. Thanks to the Herculean efforts of Steve Markoff, the lesser Bush’s many malefactions are at last combined and cataloged in one easily accessed and highly readable format. It’s not a pretty story, but it is definitely an important one, focusing on three major arenas: criminal negligence, direct complicity in torture, and a sickening array of war crimes (both of omission and commission). Read it and weep? Yes. But also read it and be informed about the crimes of the Perpetrator-in-Chief. All the better to be empowered, my dears, to act upon that crucial post-Holocaust determination — Never Again!”
September 2020

Pierce O’Donnell, constitutional lawyer and author of In Time of War: Hitler’s Terrorist Attack on America

“Steven Markoff’s The Case Against George W. Bush is a meticulously documented indictment of President George W. Bush’s criminal dereliction of duty in failing to protect our country from the foreseen 9/11 terrorist attacks, manufacturing justification for invading Iraq in the pursuit of oil, and committing war crimes in approving, and then lying about his authorization of, illegally torturing captives in the so-called War on Terror. With almost 600 sources from government reports and documents, eyewitnesses, and reputable scholars and journalists, Markoff skillfully lays out his case in the best tradition of a brilliant prosecutor. As I savored his compelling narrative, it felt like I was once again reading transcripts from the Nuremberg Trials. If we want to avoid a similar future assault on our historic commitment to humanitarian values, The Case Against George W. Bush is required reading.”
August 2020

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