Bush's illegal spying hurts terrorism prosecutions

The Washington Post reports that the suspect who admitted to working for Al Qaeda on a plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge should be let out of his plea bargain because he was illegally spied upon. While many Bush loyalists will claim that the harm comes from the NY Times publishing of the story that revealed the program, they are wrong. It was not the Times' responsibility that the President was very clearly violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which explicitly prohibits wiretapping U.S. persons (defined as those on long-term visas, citizens and U.S. corporations). The cause for the plea bargain to be scrapped is the illegal behavior of the government, not the fact that the program is known. However, that's not how the Republicans will spin it. But they are liars and have been for years.