Spying-the Target questions that should be asked.

Bush claims that the program is targeted. But the issues are: WHEN (at what stage) is it targeted) and HOW are people being targeted?

Since the NSA is using the telecommunications to sweep up all communications initially, without specific people, ALL PEOPLE (or, to be precise, all communications passing through telecom) are targeted.

Once the information has been mined and is then being gone through to find information of interest, on what BASIS (how) are people being targeted? If, for example, I call up my neighbor and talk about Bin Laden or Al Qaida, is the very fact that I mentioned those words going to flag my communication as requiring further inspection? It's the very opposite of probable cause.

What people ought to ask themselves is whether they have a problem with the government listening to all communications, saving and combing through them.

hear what you say but they can monitor your change in location.

Monitoring even a small PORTION of all US phone calls and emails in a single day would result in millions upon millions of calls and messages. So let's say they're run through a computer, to be searched for key words or word patterns - that still takes processing time, given the sheer volume here.

Then 'flagged' messages and calls have to be investigated further. Again, we're talking about MILLIONS of pieces of information, all of which would have to be passed down the chain for more scrutiny -- background checks on callers/message senders, addresses, location when call was made or email sent.

Now add to all of THAT the idea that in twenty-four hours, you are again SWAMPED with the same volume of emails/calls, which in turn have to be processed, et cetera.

Now, let's throw something else in the mix. So a NSA person actually comes across solid information about a possible terror threat - which would take LOTS OF TIME considering all of the aforementioned.

So now you've got 'solid intelligence' that so-and-so is planning something soon -- the problem being that by the time you've investigated that information and determined it's legit, IT'S ALREADY HAPPENED.

And if an agent did happen upon something in the offing (and given the aforesaid, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack) - WHY COULDN'T A FISA COURT ORDER BE OBTAINED IMMEDIATELY?

The 'official story' of this whole mess is way too full of holes, IMHO.

hijackers BEFORE they struck, and nothing happened (and assuming that the techniques for fishing for info are the same or enhanced), it made absolutely no difference that they found that info because it wasn't acted upon. OR it could have been acted upon with a warrant.

other piece of something or other and I call tech-support which is routed to where?...India. Pakistan somewhere over there. Now if the person I talked to knows someone who knows someone who thinks Al Qaida is right, am I under suspicion? We don't know where these calls are being forwarded too.