Can you feel the irony?

Defense lawyers in several terrorism cases that authorities thought had been resolved say they hope to reopen them by asking whether prosecutors used information gleaned from the president's dubious authorization of warrantless National Security Agency surveillance of U.S. residents to gain convictions. It would be ironic, and more than a little tragic, if, instead of beefing up U.S. security, this program led to the release of the few terrorist suspects the authorities have managed to prosecute successfully.