Plotters Discovered By Wire Transfers

Glenn Reynolds and the WSJ may be on to something with this report:

Let's emphasize that again: The plot was foiled because a large number of people were under surveillance concerning their spending, travel and communications. Which leads us to wonder if Scotland Yard would have succeeded if the ACLU or the New York Times had first learned the details of such surveillance programs. . . .
In short, Democrats who claim to want "focus" on the war on terror have wanted it fought without the intelligence, interrogation and detention tools necessary to win it. And if they cite "cooperation" with our allies as some kind of magical answer, they should be reminded that the British and other European legal systems generally permit far more intrusive surveillance and detention policies than the Bush Administration has ever contemplated. - WSJ

And from Glenn:

It's also worth noting, though, that a tip from a worried British Muslim played an important role, which is why measures that over-alienate Muslims and immigrants are likely a bad idea. Striking a balance is hard, especially with all the political posturing going on.

Ace and Allahpundit touch on the subject of the wire transfers as well, and ask some very important questions.

So they were monitoring a fairly large, and yet not infinite, number of people considered suspicious. Sort of like Bush tries to do. When liberals aren't trying to stop him.
BTW, money was wired to the men from Karachi, Pakistan.
Anyone want to bet that transfer was discovered through SWIFT?
Now that this plot has been exposed, and now that SWIFT will no longer yield much useful information thanks to the NYT-- now the federal investigation into the NYT and its treasonous leakers may begin. - Ace

Were some of the suspects pinched by following a money trail? Was the SWIFT program involved? And if so, does this prove that we were right about terrorists not having known of the program’s existence, or does it vindicate the Times’s decision to publish the story given the fact that the jihadis here weren’t tipped off by it?
I guess it depends upon when the money was wired. - Allahpundit

Heck, even the New York Times states that the plot had been under surveillance for some time.

The conspiracy, which British officials said had been under surveillance for months, again raised the question of how closely British-born terrorists were linked to Al Qaeda.

So the question is asked then;

Given we have people like the ACLU and anti-surveillance liberals, if the plot were going to happen FROM the United States to the U.K. would this have ended in thousands of lives lost?

And, if that is the case, is liberalism really looking out for your security? I think not.