The US government has secretly monitored banking transactions around the globe since the September 11, 2001 attacks, top officials said, defending the program as a "lawful" part of the war on terror.

It is the latest in a series of covert programs that is likely to spark fresh concerns about potential privacy infringements and Americans' civil liberties.

US Vice President Dick Cheney defended the secret finance-tracking program as vital to national security and criticized several US newspapers for leaking the report, saying it played into the enemy's hands.

"These are good, solid sound programs. They are conducted in accordance with the laws of the land," Cheney said during a visit to Chicago.

"They are carried out in a manner that is fully consistent with the constitutional authority of the president," Cheney said, adding he found it "offensive" that newspapers would publicize the secret program.

"What I find most disturbing about these stories is the fact that some in the media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people," Cheney said.

The New York Times stood by its coverage saying editors had judged after careful deliberations that releasing the information served the public's interest.

The collection of domestic telephone records and the eavesdropping on international calls by Americans without a warrant had already put the administration of President George W. Bush on the defensive.

Treasury Secretary John Snow said the Bush administration was using only specific banking statements linked to terror suspects and taking care to preserve Americans' privacy.

Was this not almost exactly the same line they gave before it was announced that the "few records that we have access to are directly related to potential terrorists" had actually become the phone records of 50 million Americans?

"Skillfully followed, they (the records) lead us to terrorists themselves, thereby protecting our citizens."

Then, with almost five years of doing this behind them the string of terrorists that this system has led them to convict must be massive. How many people have been successfully tried for terrorism in the US so far? Not bloody many, that's for certain! Clearly there is a lack of skilled spies in the US!!!

Snow said the monitoring specifically targets suspected foreign terrorists and "is not 'data mining,' or trolling through the private financial records of Americans."

THAT IS A LIE...They have already admitted that they look for patterns in these transactions so why would they suddenly only look directly at the suspects? You are either looking AT the suspects or FOR the suspects through patterns...It cannot be both.

"This is part of an overall governmental effort to map terrorist networks and apprehend terrorists around the world," he said.

Again, with so few actual convictions one has to accept that either the story is a complete lie or the people running the scam are simply not very good at their jobs.

The spying program, conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency and overseen by the Treasury Department, was launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

"By following the money, the US has been able to locate operatives and their financiers, chart terrorist networks, help bring them to justice and save lives," Snow said.

And again...Which lives, exactly, have been saved by all of the convictions that you don't have?!??!

The program relies on records of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), which routes millions of financial transfer instructions every day.

It is based in part on the president's emergency economic powers, Treasury Department Under Secretary Stuart Levey told the Times.

The searches rely on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from SWIFT. That access to large amounts of confidential data has raised concerns about legal and privacy issues inside the administration, the Times said, citing several officials.

Treasury officials said multiple safeguards are in place to protect unwarranted searches of Americans' private banking records.

Since when? Since the administration claimed to have laws that explicitly allow warrantless searches of peoples homes without even telling them that a search has taken place. Laws that threaten imprisonment for anybody that witnesses one of these searches and tells the owner of the house as they are "with the terrorists". Laws that allow for the warrantless phone-tapping, record-keeping and now, it seems, the collection of private and confidential banking information. It doesn't sound like there are many safeguards in place if the law itself is written to allow this sort of behaviour does it?!??!

SWIFT was approached shortly after September 11 because of its vast international database.

The Times said that SWIFT, which is owned by more than 2,200 banks and financial organizations, routes about six trillion dollars daily, most of them in cross-border transactions.

If anybody uses the SWIFT system may I suggest that you stop until these idiots can get their act together and sign sworn affidavits guaranteeing that no further records will be handed over without publicly available warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.

The Belgium-based cooperative serves 7,800 financial institutions in more than 200 countries.

So Dubya is actually spying on THE ENTIRE WORLD!

Its database, which a former US official described as "the mother lode," has provided clues to money trails and ties between possible terrorists and groups financing them, and directly led to the capture of Al-Qaeda operative Riduan Isamuddin, believed to have masterminded 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, the Times said.

It has also helped identify a US man convicted of helping an Al-Qaeda member launder 200,000 dollars through a Pakistani bank, prosecutors told the Times.

Two...TWO...Two rotten cases that you can claim this system of lies and spies has actually helped. But let's look at those two cases a little more closely... Riduan Isamuddin was, according to the CIA, allegedly videotaped by them at an al-Qaeda summit in 2000 meeting with 3 of the alleged 9-11 hijackers. Not only that but he was also one of men that forced the Russians out of Afghanistan for the CIA black-op of the century! If the CIA needed this guys bank records to bust him then they really should have a look at their intercommunication skills!!! As for the second man...WHO IS HE? WHAT IS HIS NAME? WHEN AND WHERE DID THE TRIAL TAKE PLACE? What a load of old pony!