In a passionate - yes, passionate - speech, the former vice president indicted George W. Bush for arrogating to himself powers that the Constitution does not confer on him or any other president. Gore accused the president of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants in violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act, of torturing prisoners in violation of the Geneva Conventions, of imprisoning Americans as enemy combatants without a charge.

Gore called for the attorney general to appoint a special counsel to investigate the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping, and he called on Congress to find the backbone to fulfill its constitutional duty to oversee the executive branch of government and check its power.

We believe that Gore is right, both in his analysis and in his proposed remedies. We second his call for a special counsel to investigate his claim - an absurd claim, in our view - that Congress' authorization of the use of military force in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 gave the president the inherent power to violate the Bill of Rights and the FISA statute.

We also believe it is time for the members of Congress, regardless of party affiliation, to stand up to the president and investigate in thorough hearings these abuses of presidential power in the name of the war on terror.

Like Gore, we do not for a moment discount the threat that radical Islamist terrorism poses to this nation, nor do we question that the Constitution confers on the president the inherent power to take unilateral action to protect the nation when it is attacked. But we do question this president's overly broad interpretation and misapplication of that power.

Gore also argues for new protections for members of the executive branch who report evidence of wrongdoing, particularly in national security matters, and he cautions against awarding the president new powers under the Patriot Act. We have made virtually the same plea where the Patriot Act is concerned. He also urges that telecommunications companies should not provide the government with access to private communications information without a warrant. Here we might differ with Gore in exigent circumstances.

But judge for yourself. Look up his speech at http://www.acsblog .org and read it. We do not believe he exaggerates.