America is at war, and while it may be a war against an enemy with no flag, no country, and no standing army, it is a war nonetheless. As a result, our fight against terrorism takes us to all quarters of the globe and demands new and innovative techniques of warfare.

One approach by the Bush administration was to follow the money. Successful, it helped the United States monitor international banking transactions and resulted in the arrest of terrorists who had Americans and others in their lines of sight. Unfortunately the program, publicly spoken of in general, was outlined in detail by the New York Times. Shame on them.

The paper's editor, Bill Keller, said that part of the Times' decision to run the story was based on its believe that the public should be informed not only about the activities our government is taking that are "illegal or outrageous" but also those that are successful.

If the New York Times was so impressed with the success of the program, it should have forgone the gnawing urge to emasculate it by splashing it across page one. More than that it should have weighed the benefits of its chest-thumpin' decision to print this classified information against the lives of its readers.

To the detriment of every American, it chose arrogance over temperance. Again, shame on them.