They were spying on "purely domestic communications"

Okay, so now we learn that there was some "accidental" spying on communications that took place solely within the U.S.

A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.

The officials say the National Security Agency's interception of a small number of communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact "international."

Now, how soon before we find out that these weren't accidental or technical glitches? They've already lied about it:

Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the former N.S.A. director who is now the second-ranking intelligence official in the country, was asked at a White House briefing this week whether there had been any "purely domestic" intercepts under the program.

"The authorization given to N.S.A. by the president requires that one end of these communications has to be outside the United States," General Hayden answered. "I can assure you, by the physics of the intercept, by how we actually conduct our activities, that one end of these communications are always outside the United States."

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales also emphasized that the order only applied to international communications. "People are running around saying that the United States is somehow spying on American citizens calling their neighbors," he said. "Very, very important to understand that one party to the communication has to be outside the United States."

Very, very imporant to understand that Gonzales lies.

NOTE FROM JOHN: Oh, yeah, I feel much better now. Bush isn't spying on you when you talk to your neighbor, he's spying on you when you call your friends in France (or Canada). Well I feel much better knowing that. I mean, who cares if the Bush administration illegally spies on me, an American citizen, when I dare to call a fur-in country. I must be some kind of threat, calling those damn foreigners.