The terrorists have won

It all depends on what the meaning of "terrorist" is.

But if you want to take George W. Bush's remarks over the last five years at face value, that "the terrorists hate our freedom", then either he's projecting quite openly, or else he's telling us that HE, and those around him like Alberto Gonzales and Sam Alito are the terrorists.

Because THEY are the ones who hated our freedom so much that now our enforcement of privacy laws ranks among the lowest in the developed world -- right down there with those bastions of freedom Russia, China, and Malaysia:

U.S. privacy protections rank among the worst in the democratic world, a London-based privacy organization said Wednesday.

Privacy International ranked 36 nations around the globe, including all European Union nations and other major democracies, and determined that in categories such as enforcement of privacy laws, the U.S. is on par with countries like China, Russia and Malaysia.

Overall, the U.S. was determined to be an "extensive surveillance society,” the second-lowest rating in the study.

The survey identified Malaysia, China and Russia as the world’s lowest-ranked countries in terms of privacy. It ranked Germany and Canada as those that best protect the privacy of their citizens.

"The rankings establish for the first time that most of the world’s most economically advanced countries have failed to protect the privacy rights of their citizens, while some of the newest and poorest democracies have become best protectors," wrote Privacy International director Simon Davies in announcing the report.

"This is damning evidence that privacy is being destroyed by the very nations that proclaim to respect our rights," he said. "It is clear that there is a systemic failure of legal mechanisms to protect us against the emerging surveillance society. Those responsible for protecting our rights have failed to do so ... Australia, Britain and the United States have not only performed abysmally but they are embracing surveillance at an alarming speed."

The rankings were based on the “Privacy and Human Rights: report, a 1,200-page survey of privacy experts conducted by Privacy International and the U.S.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. The study has been published every year since 1997.

Mission accomplished.