NSA spying on US Citizens

[August]

Originally Posted by U-214

P.S:If Bush had hard proof that his abuse of power had indeed led to prevention of attack or arrest of terrorists,you can bet he would be running to call the journalists by now.Because:

-It would serve to soften his abuse saying "Ok,i did it,but look at this!".Instead,now they only defence is "Ok,i did it,but what if i had caught someone".
-It would boost the US citizen morale showing finally tangible fruits of the antiterrorist efforts and that the various "patriot" acts have proven their use.
-It would have given huge political gains and prestige to Bush himself and give the Republicans a strong card to play in internal politics.

No, thats the last thing a good leader would do because it tells the enemy how they were nabbed. It tells the enemy that whatever codes and other security procedures they are using have been compromised.

Take WW2 for example. Had the allies went public with Ultra it would have achieved similar objectives to those you mention, but that would also have rendered it useless for gaining subsequent intelligence.

And PS: The administration has mentioned several plots that have been foiled including one to blow up the Brooklyn bridge, so your analogy "Ok,i did it,but what if i had caught someone" is way off base..