Would NSA surveillance have stopped the 9/11 plot ???

According to this essay on the CNN website, the answer is a definite NO:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/30/opinion/bergen-nsa-surveillance-september-11/index.html

On Friday in New York, Judge William H. Pauley III ruled that NSA's bulk collection of American telephone records is lawful. He cited Alexander's testimony and quoted him saying, "We couldn't connect the dots because we didn't have the dots."

Bullshit! Any dots the government DID have were feverishly being disconnected by the FBI:

http://sainthoward.blogspot.com/2013/05/fbi-still-disconnecting-all-dots.html

If the author is correct in his assertions (and I believe he is), WHY is the NSA still spying on us?

This has nothing to do with the sharing of the information they collect. It has everything to do with WHY they are collecting the information in the first place. They obviously are NOT collecting it to protect you and me.