Remember, 9/11 changed everything:

Nacchio’s account, which places the NSA proposal at a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, suggests that the Bush administration was seeking to enlist telecommunications firms in programs without court oversight before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as the main impetus for its warrantless surveillance efforts.

Liars.

Update: Someone over Atrios’s place points out that assuming other telecom companies went along with this program when Qwest turned it down, this program failed to prevent 9/11. There is a lot of conjecture here (program implemented by other telecoms, it was implemented a meaningful time before 9/11), but the fact that these companies are lobbying hard for amnesty for violating any laws seems to indicate that they’ve done something they’re worried about. This program seems to fit those parameters…