International Bank Spying is not all that effective

Many Americans were shocked?

Why?

Is anyone paying attention?

Moneylaundering.com:

"News of the Bush administration's clandestine bank surveillance program stunned many Americans, but Washington insiders say it didn't surprise them or the terrorists the program tails.

President Bush described last week's media reports exposing the U.S. Treasury Department's terrorist finance tracking program, covert scrutiny of international financial transactions through a Belgium-based cooperative known by its acronym SWIFT, as 'disgraceful' and Republican Senator Jim Bunning accused the reporters who wrote the stories of 'treason.'

'The rhetoric on this is way out of proportion on both sides,' said Victor Comras, a former State Department official and U.S. diplomat appointed by the United Nations Security Council to assess global anti-terrorist financing efforts. 'The people who finance terrorism and launder money recognized long ago that these transactions can be traced.'

Since the New York Times and other media didn't tell the public anything the terrorists didn't already know and since banks already monitor suspicious transactions for the U.S. government, many question the probe's usefulness. 'It's not a cost-effective way to deal with terrorism issues,' Comras said."