I've listened to compelling arguments from both liberals and conservatives regarding the secret wiretapping of individuals in the United States with suspected terror ties. Frankly, my gut instinct is that President Bush broke the law (again, however, if he did, it was a conspiracy in which others should be indicted as well). And while my gut instinct is that I would like nothing better than to see him hanged from a yardarm (if indeed, we still hang people from the yardarms, as Lt. Chaffee in "A Few Good Men" pontificated...but I digress).

But the fact is, this is the United States of America and the law that governs us is the United States Constitution and not Gideon's gut. Some 200 plus years of legal precedent have given us the methods with which we should approach ANY allegation, from a homeless bum on fifth avenue right up to the chief occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania avenue. That standard provides for trial in a court of law, before a jury of one's peers. And it provides the standard of "innocent until proven guilty".

If there is one thing that President Bush did wrong, it is his repeated insistence that those who question him, those who hold him accountable to the people he was elected to lead are somehow "helping the enemy" with their questioning. But while that is patently offensive to suggest, it is nonetheless his right as a citizen to state such an opposition.

What President Bush did should be investigated, no doubt. But he did not do it in a vaccuum, and all of his co-conspirators should be equally investigated. If he DID break the law, he should find no quarter in the fact that he consulted with key members of the House and Senate before doing so. Ignorance truly is no excuse, ESPECIALLY for the chief individual empowered with its enforcement.

If an impartial investigation returns indictments, Bush and any co-conspirators should answer those indictments. But they should do so in a court of law, and not in the American media. And if he is found guilty, he should face the resultant penalties. But not until then. Bush is, after all, innocent until proven guilty and no amount of speculation can change that fact.