Operations Fast & Furious

[Ishmael]

Isn't everything free!

In a democracy it is. Led to the fall of ancient Greece. Looks like history is repeating itself.

Ishmael

 

[richard_daily]

In a democracy it is. Led to the fall of ancient Greece. Looks like history is repeating itself.

Ishmael

Quoted for moronofascism.

 

[Ishmael]

Quoted for moronofascism.

re-quoted.

Ishmael

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

... under the name of the state the citizens taken collectively are considered as a real being, having its own life, its own wealth, independently of the lives and the wealth of the citizens themselves; and then each addresses this fictitious being, some to obtain from it education, others employment, others credit, others food, etc., etc. Now the state can give nothing to the citizens that it has not first taken from them.
Frédéric Bastiat

 

[miles]

It's worse than Watergate, Obama should resign, nobody died in Watergate.

They will create a euphemism for "died," like "inactivated."... the government has already substituted "revenues" for "taxes."

Like we wouldn't notice.

 

[koalabear]

They will create a euphemism for "died," like "inactivated."... the government has already substituted "revenues" for "taxes."

Like we wouldn't notice.

The dead mexicans are counted as ones deported.

 

[koalabear]

On May 3, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified before House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa's committee that he only learned about the government's sale of weapons to Mexican drug cartels "in the last few weeks."

But Big Government found a 2009 speech by Holder on the Department of Justice's own website that proves the attorney general was well aware of Operation Gunrunner back in 2009:

The problem with Holder’s feigned ignorance is that he gave a speech in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on April 2, 2009, in which he boasted about Operation 'Gunrunner” and told Mexican authorities of everything he was doing to insure its success.


Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs...-about-operation-gunrunner-2009#ixzz1UJgCqqHT

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Holder to his fellow Democrats in the Press:




Who you gonna believe? me? or your lying eyes?

 

[koalabear]

Holder to his fellow Democrats in the Press:




Who you gonna believe? me? or your lying eyes?

One of the best Eagle songs.

 

[MeeMie]

DEA Pointing Gunrunner Blame Toward Eric Holder?


With a second federal government organization now admitting on record it worked in conjunction with the ATF, is there any remaining doubt Barack Obama’s Department of Justice was directly involved as well?



With the economy still front and center among the minds of both news outlets and the American public, the Gunrunner scandal took a temporary backseat in recent weeks. Not anymore.

Media reports are now circulating of an admittance by DEA administrator, Michele M. Leonhart, that her organization played a supporting role in the deadly and failed Operation Gunrunner that has resulted in the death of federal agents on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

This admission makes it highly unlikely that top officials within the Obama administration were unaware of the operations existence, as was earlier claimed under oath by Obama Attorney General Eric Holder.

Leonhart, in a letter to Congressman Darrell Issa, Chair of the House Oversight Committee that has been investigating the Gunrunner scandal for the past several months, indicated that her departments role in the operation included “obtaining phone numbers and addresses, issuing subpoenas for information on the phone subscribers, and paying linguist costs of $128,000 to help translate intercepted calls.”

Leonhart’s letter also indicated her department had no decision making authority for the operation- again suggesting those who did have such authority were far higher up in the Obama administration – namely the Department of Justice that would have had to have approved many of the activities described in Leonhart’s letter to Issa.



On May 3rd, under oath before the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Eric Holder testified he had only known about Operation Gunrunner for “about 3 weeks” prior to his testimony.

This, despite various media reports on the operation, as well as internal questions being asked by high ranking members of Congress months prior to Holder’s May 3rd testimony.

Now adding to the growing evidence that Eric Holder lied to Congress is the most recent release of DEA administrator Michele Leonhart’s letter to Darrell Issa that greatly expands the federal government’s role in the tragic operation – a letter that further indicates that Holder’s Department of Justice had to have been involved as well, a fact further supported by ATF Director Ken Melson’s secret Fourth of July interview with members of Congress in which he indicated Attorney General Holder’s DOJ was obstructing the Congressional investigation into Operation Gunrunner. The information provided by Melson was so powerful it initiated an equally powerful letter from Congressman Issa to Eric Holder stating the following:

“If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand. That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation.”


It now appears high ranking federal agency heads are pointing collective blame for the failed operation directly at Barack Obama’s Department of Justice.

A looming question yet unanswered is why would Attorney General Eric Holder make such an obvious and easily provable lie under oath to Congress?

Why risk both his career, reputation, and personal freedom in doing so?

His motivation to protect someone even higher up than himself in the Obama administration must have been significant.

Indeed.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

ANother mea culpa from the government:

Michele Leonhart, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency, has sent a letter to congressional investigators admitting her agency played a role in a criminal investigation that turned into a de facto gun-smuggling operation run by federal law enforcement agencies.

In mid-July, Senator Charles Grassley and Representative Darrell Issa sent a pair of letters to the heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration, asking them to explain their alleged roles in Operation Fast and Furious and to provide specific communications relating to specific agents and managers in those respective organizations.

Fast and Furious is blamed for the deaths of approximately 150 Mexican law enforcement officers and soldiers, along with an unknown number of civilian casualties on both sides of the border. The program was only shut down after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered in a nighttime desert firefight with criminals armed with at least two Fast and Furious-provided AK-pattern rifles.

The letters from Grassley and Issa were directed to FBI Director Robert Mueller and DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. According to Richard Serrano of the Los Angeles Times, Leonhart has responded:

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration has acknowledged to congressional investigators that her agency provided a supporting role in the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious run by the group’s counterparts at the ATF.

Michele M. Leonhart, the DEA administrator, said DEA agents primarily helped gather evidence in cases in Phoenix and El Paso, and in the program’s single indictment last January that netted just 20 defendants for illegal gun-trafficking.

The development marks the first time another law enforcement agency has said it also worked on Fast and Furious cases other than the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is under two investigations into why it allowed at least 2,000 firearms to be illegally purchased and then lost track of the guns’ whereabouts.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gunwalker-drug-enforcement-agency-admits-involvement/?singlepage=true

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Even the most faithful of left-leaning media outlets are concerned that Gunwalker may eventually be a serious problem for President Obama:

Now that Republicans in Congress won important concessions from President Obama in the debt ceiling debate, the next partisan battle is likely to be over what promises to be the first major scandal of the Obama administration: the botched gun sting known as “Operation Fast and Furious.” The administration should waste no time and come clean about what happened, who approved it, and how it can be avoided again.

Unfortunately, the early signs are that Obama is going to handle this controversy as poorly as he handled the debt ceiling debate.

The writer of that sentiment, Adam Winkler of the Huffington Post, can’t seem to get his head around the fact that Gunwalker is more than a political headache; it’s a deadly serious legal one as well.

Being an accessory to murder is a felony in the United States and Mexico, and that is just one of the many possible criminal charges that federal agents, supervisors, political appointees, and elected officials may face in both U.S. and Mexican judicial systems (for example, the ATF’s Newell).

As Gunwalker continues to unravel, it will be interesting to see who comes forward to testify in exchange for reduced charges or immunity. The line to turn witness could be long, and every indication is that it will point to the highest levels of the Obama administration.

Who died in Watergate?

 

[koalabear]

Who died in Watergate?

That's a trick question isn't it?

 

[koalabear]

When will the ATF be downgraded to F?

 

[koalabear]

Mexico's credit rating is now higher than thee USA's.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

And their government, for the first time, probably less corrupt...

 

[koalabear]

And their government, for the first time, probably less corrupt...

We may be able to thank the ATF for that.

 

[MeeMie]

"Fast and Furious" Goes All the Way to the White House



By now, “Gunwalker” and “Fast and Furious” have both entered the national lexicon. And although the amount of information known about the operations varies from person to person, the majority of Americans know they have something to do with the selling of guns to “straw purchasers” in the U.S., who were supposed to smuggle the guns into Mexico and put them in the hands of cartel members, who were then to be arrested.


What most people seem not to know is who exactly was behind the Gunwalker and Fast and Furious operations.

Was it the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)? Yes.

Was it also Attorney General Eric Holder? Well, there’s no doubt he was instrumental in Gunwalker, and it’s now known that his chief of staff was briefed on Fast and Furious.

So how about President Obama? What did he know? According to information that has surfaced during ongoing investigations by Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, it’s certain that knowledge of Fast and Furious went all the way to the White House.



And let me say at the outset that no matter how much you do or don’t know about Fast and Furious, the one thing we must all accept is that it provides a picture of a federal agency, the ATF, gone rogue, and of government at its worst and most dangerous. For regardless of what this operation was implemented to be when it began under the auspices of Gunwalker in 2009, it is now the reckless operation that flooded the streets of Mexico and Phoenix, Ariz., with upwards of 2,500 weapons (34 of which were .50 sniper rifles with an effective lethal range of approximately 2,000 meters).



What we know beyond a doubt about the operation is that William Newell, former ATF special agent in charge in the Phoenix area, was fully aware of it. And he has admitted in sworn testimony that “the DHS, IRS, DEA, ATF, ICE and the Obama Justice Department were all involved” in the operation.

Speaking of the Justice Department, Issa and Grassley … have identified a dozen Justice Department officials who they say knew about the program, and following Holder’s May 2011 testimony in which he told the House Judiciary Committee that he only learned of both Gunwalker and Fast and Furious in “recent weeks,” Issa has pointedly stated his belief that Holder had provided “inaccurate testimony.”


Now we can add the White House to the mix, because during recent congressional hearings, the ATF’s Newell told Issa’s committee he "discussed the operation with the national security director for North America, Kevin O'Reilly.” The means of communication seems to have been an e-mail that was designed both to be kept private and to keep O’Reilly updated. But regardless of the method of communication, the fact is that a Fast and Furious update was sent to a White House official.


Of course, Obama says he knew nothing about either Gunwalker or Fast and Furious, although the President set aside $10 million for the operations in February 2009 via the stimulus package, and talked about “gun tracing” and “gun enforcement policies during a joint press conference in Mexico City with Mexico President Felipe Calderon in April 2009” (which was the same month in which Holder gave a speech in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he bragged of the implementation of Gunwalker).


But although neither Obama or Holder have claimed they had knowledge of the operations until quite recently, both are now actively doing their best to “[stonewall] the oversight committee investigation” that is trying to get to the bottom of this mess.

Of Obama in particular, Issa has said, “President Obama has been keen to talk about who didn’t know about the program and who didn’t authorize it. These answers will not suffice. The American people have a right to know, once and for all, who did authorize it and who knew about it.”


It doesn’t take long to connect the dots on this one.

We have a president who funded these programs, who talked to Mexican President Calderon two months later about tracing guns, and whose National Security Director for North America received communications from ATF Special Agent Newell regarding the operations. The Justice Department is littered with people who knew about the program, and nearly every federal law-enforcement agency besides the Secret Service was involved.


The President gets away with laughing off the fact that “shovel-ready jobs” weren’t as shovel-ready as he thought they were. But there’s no way he should be allowed to laugh this one off.




http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45398

 

[koalabear]

"Fast and Furious" Goes All the Way to the White House



By now, “Gunwalker” and “Fast and Furious” have both entered the national lexicon. And although the amount of information known about the operations varies from person to person, the majority of Americans know they have something to do with the selling of guns to “straw purchasers” in the U.S., who were supposed to smuggle the guns into Mexico and put them in the hands of cartel members, who were then to be arrested.


What most people seem not to know is who exactly was behind the Gunwalker and Fast and Furious operations.

Was it the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)? Yes.

Was it also Attorney General Eric Holder? Well, there’s no doubt he was instrumental in Gunwalker, and it’s now known that his chief of staff was briefed on Fast and Furious.

So how about President Obama? What did he know? According to information that has surfaced during ongoing investigations by Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, it’s certain that knowledge of Fast and Furious went all the way to the White House.



And let me say at the outset that no matter how much you do or don’t know about Fast and Furious, the one thing we must all accept is that it provides a picture of a federal agency, the ATF, gone rogue, and of government at its worst and most dangerous. For regardless of what this operation was implemented to be when it began under the auspices of Gunwalker in 2009, it is now the reckless operation that flooded the streets of Mexico and Phoenix, Ariz., with upwards of 2,500 weapons (34 of which were .50 sniper rifles with an effective lethal range of approximately 2,000 meters).



What we know beyond a doubt about the operation is that William Newell, former ATF special agent in charge in the Phoenix area, was fully aware of it. And he has admitted in sworn testimony that “the DHS, IRS, DEA, ATF, ICE and the Obama Justice Department were all involved” in the operation.

Speaking of the Justice Department, Issa and Grassley … have identified a dozen Justice Department officials who they say knew about the program, and following Holder’s May 2011 testimony in which he told the House Judiciary Committee that he only learned of both Gunwalker and Fast and Furious in “recent weeks,” Issa has pointedly stated his belief that Holder had provided “inaccurate testimony.”


Now we can add the White House to the mix, because during recent congressional hearings, the ATF’s Newell told Issa’s committee he "discussed the operation with the national security director for North America, Kevin O'Reilly.” The means of communication seems to have been an e-mail that was designed both to be kept private and to keep O’Reilly updated. But regardless of the method of communication, the fact is that a Fast and Furious update was sent to a White House official.


Of course, Obama says he knew nothing about either Gunwalker or Fast and Furious, although the President set aside $10 million for the operations in February 2009 via the stimulus package, and talked about “gun tracing” and “gun enforcement policies during a joint press conference in Mexico City with Mexico President Felipe Calderon in April 2009” (which was the same month in which Holder gave a speech in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he bragged of the implementation of Gunwalker).


But although neither Obama or Holder have claimed they had knowledge of the operations until quite recently, both are now actively doing their best to “[stonewall] the oversight committee investigation” that is trying to get to the bottom of this mess.

Of Obama in particular, Issa has said, “President Obama has been keen to talk about who didn’t know about the program and who didn’t authorize it. These answers will not suffice. The American people have a right to know, once and for all, who did authorize it and who knew about it.”


It doesn’t take long to connect the dots on this one.

We have a president who funded these programs, who talked to Mexican President Calderon two months later about tracing guns, and whose National Security Director for North America received communications from ATF Special Agent Newell regarding the operations. The Justice Department is littered with people who knew about the program, and nearly every federal law-enforcement agency besides the Secret Service was involved.


The President gets away with laughing off the fact that “shovel-ready jobs” weren’t as shovel-ready as he thought they were. But there’s no way he should be allowed to laugh this one off.




http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45398

The shovel ready applied to Mexican citizens and BP Agents killed by this operation.

 

[unregistered]

 

[koalabear]

Obama gave a shovel ready speech yesterday.

Good ole Oblamer.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

The Left has spent as much time on this story as they did on SEAL TEAM SIX's Blackhawk Down...



They only love Obama's success stories, like when he bravely led the raid and shot Osama dead.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Did you note that not one thread was started by our Lefties noting the loss of their former heroes...

 

[koalabear]

The Left has spent as much time on this story as they did on SEAL TEAM SIX's Blackhawk Down...



They only love Obama's success stories, like when he bravely led the raid and shot Osama dead.

They were torn between two liberal ejaculating bonerisms, Obama's alleged heroism and our military getting whacked. Of course tar brushing American gun dealers and owners is an old stand-by.

Now they called in the CIA to water-board gun dealers to get more guns.