NSA Intercepts Led to German Terrorist Arrests

Powerline connects the dots:

Der Spiegel has interesting information about the terror bust in Germany; as usual, however, you have to read between the lines:

Three suspected Islamist militants who were planning to attack U.S. installations in Germany had orders to act by Sept. 15....According to surveillance details published in Der Spiegel magazine, the men had been given a two-week deadline for their planned strikes in a late August call from northern Pakistan that was monitored by German police.

So al Qaeda's top leaders were anxious to precipitate an attack on Americans by September 15. Why? That's the date on which General Petraeus will deliver his report to Congress. Al Qaeda, as always, was playing to the Democrats in Congress, the press, and the American people. Undoubtedly, similar orders have gone out to al Qaeda's agents in Iraq and around the world.

Note, too, how German authorities found out about the planned attack. They eavesdropped on a phone call from Pakistan to Germany. This is the exact equivalent of the NSA program that is ritually, but inaccurately, described in the press as "domestic spying." Most Democrats denounce the program as unconstitutional.

Further, it was the NSA program that brought the German terrorists to light:

The arrests were the culmination of an investigation that began a year ago, when U.S. officials alerted German authorities to e-mails intercepted from Pakistan.

If the Democrats get their way, the NSA will not be able to use this tactic unless it has enough knowledge, enough days in advance, to get an order from a FISA judge. You can be sure, however, that the liberals will never mention this incident when they denounce the program as an invasion of constitutional rights.

It can't be emphasized enough that the very methods used to identify and track the terrorists are the methods the Liberals in government and the media are calling unconstitutional and want stopped.

UPDATE: From the TimesOnLine:

GERMAN police questioning “Fritz the Taliban”, a 28-year-old Munich-born terror suspect, revealed yesterday that they are hunting up to 49 Islamist plotters over a conspiracy to use truck bombs to blow up air-ports, bars and discos.

Just to coincide with the Democrats effort to discredit the surge.