The spying president

So the beans have finally been spilt by the NY Times. GW Bush authorized the NSA to spy on terrorist suspects in this country without court warrants.
We are told such actions are necessary in the war on terror, and that revealing such techniques jeopardizes our anti-terrorist efforts.
Does anyone still believe these lies?
9/11 was an opportunity on the part of the wolves in this administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc) to seize power above and beyond legislated limits, all in the name of "protecting" us.
If GW Bush really wanted to protect us from terrorists, he would have paid attention to the daily intelligence briefing on August 6,2001 titled "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the US."
My mind is left boggling over those otherwise intelligent people I encounter who relate that they have no qualms about ceding absolute authority to this administration, in the name of preventing any future 9/11 attacks on our nation.
Such attitude makes me think of a precient lyric by Rage Against the Machine, from Vietnow, recorded in 1996 - "sheep tremble an here come tha votes."