The Right continues to ignore what is at the heart of this discussion. The issue is once again, total disregard for the system of checks and balances that make this democracy work. Wiretapping? Sure, get a court order. And why do we do that? Because absent that, a President is free to wiretap his politial enemies, dissenters, and the opposition parties all under the cover of some BS claim he can make. We are now finding out that is exactly what happened in the case of illegal wiretapping.

Torture? Fine, get a court order. Can't get a court order because it is illegal? Fine, pass a law and set out the circumstances in which it can be used and the check and balance of the judicial system against the executive. And all for the same reasons. Absent this, and another step down the road to fascism, a President can torture dissenters, members of the oppostion party and his political enemies, all under the guise of some BS story. What these people did was illegal, and they should be prosecuted liked anyone else. Those who did so in good faith will be found not guilty. Those who did it for the reason I suspect they did it, which was to substantiate a pre-determined reason for the invasion or Iraq, should go to jail.

We have two classes of people who were tortured here, Al Queda captives and Iraqi citizens. It is beng alleged that the Iraqis were tortured in order to ellict some sort of information on an Al Queda-Iraqi link, one which Bush and Cheney claimed existed when in fact they had absolutely no solid information that it did. These people were tortured solely for the purpose of advancing the politial position of two men who had instigated a Hitler-style invasion of a country that did not attack us, and badly needed an excuse for their war, a war that to this day no one knows why it was started. Anyone involved in that should be sent to prison, and in their case, once the evidence is heard, I think a jury will agree.