Wiretapping - Is it really that bad?

Ever since the public was enlightened to the wiretapping fiasco surrounding the Bush presidency after the terrorist attacks on September 11, people have been quick to shun the idea of wiretapping as if it were the black plague. Critics claim that wiretapping is an invasion of privacy and that it violates our rights as citizens, but in reality wiretapping does much more good than harm.
Following the attacks on September 11, the Bush administration made efforts to help secure our nation from within. One of those efforts included trying to pass a bill referred to as FISA (Foreign Intellegence Surveillance Act) that would allow wiretapping to monitor the conversations of US citizens via phone. Three amendments were presented and then denied by the House and Senate. Determined to push this amendment through legislation, the Bush administration tried one more time, and their bill was approved, allowing wiretapping between the years of 2001 and 2007 to monitor private phone conversations.
When the bill passed, critics were in awe. Many citizens felt that the idea of the government eavesdropping on their personal conversations was not only daunting, but scary. Others took the bill more personally and insisted that it was a complete violation of their rights. Former Vice President, Al Gore, expressed his distaste for Bush and his new amendment in a public speech by saying, "the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and consistently," by permitting wiretapping in this country. Even our own current President has changed his point of view on wiretapping. Previously, Obama advocated that he was against the FISA bill and that he would fight against it. However now, he is supporting the bill, despite the widespread criticism he is getting for changing his views. Its possible that he now sees the potential for this amendment as well.
Although Bush was nowhere being our greatest President, I feel that he did make amateur efforts to pass this bill with good intentions. The government wasn't making efforts to gather secret intel about grandma's secret recipe, or the latest gossip around Valley High School. The government could care less about such petty information.
In reality, the government was aiming to protect our nation, by guarding itself against people from within. By monitoring phone conversations, the government opened itself up to a new world of information. If even one of those phone conversations revealed any hint of another future terrorist attack, they would likely be able to control or at least buffer the situation. So in reality, wiretapping had the potential to save countless lives. And at what cost to us - nothing. In this situation, we must ask ourselves, is giving up a little privacy worth possibly saving thousands of American lives? Absolutely.