The Patriot Act. Any comments?

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When George W Bush signed the Patriot Act, did it really stifle terrorism? If it did, how come the terrorists could still finance their activities all over the world? Either President Bush is too lopsided in his opinion of the rest of the world or he is too blind to see how the terrorists operate. Terrorism thrives in the black market. Not everything requires having the US dollar to buy. Goods and services can be exchanged by other means like gold bullion, diamonds or other hard goods and services in the black market. I think the real victims of the Patriot Act are the citizens of the US as well as the innocent citizens of the respective countries which the US calls "terrorist" or "supposed terrorists". There are so many ways to tackle money laundering - but restricting banking services is not effective. Instead, I seem to think it works the other way round. IF terrorists have bank accounts, the US can seize such accounts. But how do you seize funds for terrorism when you don't know where and how terrorists get their money without a paper trail? You think terrorists are THAT stupid to put their money in banks and use credit cards that can be attached to a paper trail and subject to a total financial loss for them? But the US comes out with the Patriot Act that only cause suffering for legitimate businesses and individuals who need US banking services for legitimate activities. Especially when you reside in a non-US country. Why punish innocent civilians when it is the respective governmental authorities they should go after? Do you think citizens of any country can just have a big enough clout to go against their government without fear of a crippling reprisal? What do you think, guys?