"This story is to surveillance law what Abu Ghraib was to prison law," he said.

A spokesman for Doctors Without Borders, Michael Goldfarb, was quoted as saying: "The abuse of humanitarian action through intelligence gathering for military or political objectives, threatens the ability to assist populations and undermines the safety of humanitarian aid workers."

Both Kinne and Faulk said that their military commanders rebuffed questions about listening in to the private conversations of Americans talking to their dear ones.

"It was just always, that, you know, your job is not to question. Your job is to collect and pass on the information," Kinne said.

Sometimes, Kinne and Faulk said, the intercepts helped identify possible terror planning in Iraq and saved American lives.

"IED's were disarmed before they exploded, that people who were intending to harm US forces were captured ahead of time," Faulk told ABC News.