Ooops!!

NYTimes (09.11.07):

"The government’s ability to eavesdrop on terrorism suspects overseas allowed the United States to obtain information that helped lead to the arrests last week of three Islamic militants accused of planning bomb attacks in Germany, Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, told senators on Monday."

New U.S. Law Credited in Arrests Abroad

On Monday, Mike rather unambiguously told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that "the information had been obtained under a newly updated and highly contentious wiretapping law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act."

On second thought. AP (09.12.07):

"The nation's top intelligence official on Wednesday recanted his claim that new surveillance powers recently given to the U.S. government helped foil a terrorist plot in Germany.

'Information contributing to the recent arrests was not collected under authorities provided by the Protect America Act,' Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said in a statement issued Wednesday."

New Law Did Not Help in Terror Arrests

"Representative Silvestre Reyes (D - TX16), chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence called bullshit. "'In fact, FISA, which [Mike] repeatedly [claims] is 'outdated,' was precisely the tool that helped disrupt this plot,' Reyes said. 'The new law did not lead to the arrests of the three terrorist plotters, as [Mike] claimed.'"

See? Getting a warrant isn't all that big o' deal.