Gunwalker Anger Goes Bipartisan: Joe Lieberman Joins Chorus
The scandal surrounding Operation Fast and Furious just became far more problematic for the Obama administration, as former Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, is now examining miscommunication between law enforcement agencies as it relates to the gunwalking plot:
A spokesperson told The Daily Caller Wednesday that Lieberman “believe[s] that the lack of interagency coordination along the border merits further examination, and as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he has directed his staff to follow up with the relevant federal agencies on that topic.”
Investigative reporter Matthew Boyle of the Daily Caller then cites a previous PJ Media exclusive as a possible trigger for Lieberman’s investigation:
For instance, PJ Media reported that the night Terry was killed, an FBI informant was in the drug cartel rip crew that used Fast and Furious weapons to murder him. Rip crews are armed groups of bandits who work for specific drug cartels and try to rob rival cartel shipments and illegal immigrants as they’re crossing the border.
Pajamas reports that the DEA also had some knowledge of that drug cartel rip crew’s whereabouts. Assuming the reports are true, the DEA and the FBI failed to “deconflict,” or warn other agencies including the Border Patrol about potentially deadly risks.
Both the DEA and FBI, along with other agencies using the Arizona Fusion Center, are alleged to have been aware of the FBI informant’s intentions. The informant planned to use a rip crew to stage a robbery of a competing cartel’s drug shipment in Peck Canyon to make up for a drug shipment that he had lost.
According to PJ Media sources, both DEA and FBI surveillance had solid information that the FBI criminal informant was going to be in Peck Canyon that December night. One source indicated that the rip crew may have even had an intercept window of when they expected the drug shipment to come through.
Neither the DEA nor the FBI warned the Border Patrol of the expected criminal activity in the area, avoiding the standard practice of deconfliction to assure the safety of other law enforcement assets in the area. As a result of this failure, a BORTAC team went into Peck Canyon that night. In the resulting, entirely preventable firefight that followed between the BORTAC unit and the FBI-criminal informant-led rip crew, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed.
While it is very early in the preliminary stages of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee’s investigation, it does not appear that the “missing third gun” will be in scope. The same PJ Media article that had cited the deconfliction failure had also cited the existence of an SKS rifle at the scene:
The existence of a third recovered gun, an SKS carbine, has been disputed by the FBI despite the fact it had been talked about openly in the beginning of the investigation among federal agents.Multiple sources tell PJM that this third weapon “disappeared” because it was the weapon carried by the FBI CI who ran the rip crew. When it was recovered near the scene of the murder and subsequently traced by the ATF, it traced back to the FBI CI via the gun shop in Texas where it was purchased.
I wouldn’t trust Joe Lieberman EVER. He pulls this stunt every time a COVERUP or a DILUTION is in the offing. This is meant to signal that since the most SERIOUS and ETHICAL senator is getting involved, now big consequential SERIOUS things are going to happen. Bull. His “reputation” is being used to whitewash another democrat scandal and you can always count on Joe to help his fellow lefties out of a jam. He went to bat for his best buddy Bill Clinton during the impeachment mess and he always pops up just when things start heating up for another BIG lefty. Joe Lieberman is a two bit phony who has gotten away with the canard that he is a sort of secular Senatorial saint and his opinions and pronouncements have the weight of Job. This game has been played for so long, it’s a wonder that anyone with half a brain can’t see through it by now.
Good eyes.
Betina – My sentiments exactly. Sen. Lieberman talks the talk, but he never walks the walk.
“Bersin’s resignation comes as a CNN report claimed Operation Fast and Furious could become Obama’s Watergate, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus promised to make the gunwalking plot and cover-up a major 2012 campaign issue.”
This scandal should have been Obama’s Watergate a long time ago and, at the very least, Eric Holder should have resigned. Holder’s “I don’t remember much about this” defense seems to be wearing thin now, even with the Democratic members of Congress. If 2012 is as tough an election year as they say it’s going to be, Democrats in Congress will, at the very least, throw Holder under the bus to protect Obama. But, even though a border patrol agent and hundreds of Mexicans are dead as a result of this program, Obama will not go down unless there is a direct link between him and the program. So far there does not seem to be one, unless Holder starts talking, which I doubt.
I feel you are correct that Holder(and Biden)will be cut loose like two sand bags from a hot air balloon before we get much closer to November.
Thank the good Lord nobody decided to call this “GunwalkerGate” – the only thing tying “gate” to the end of every scandal accomplishes is to instill in the general public the sense that Watergate was the original and worst political scandal, and that Nixon and the Republicans invented corruption. Every time a Democrat scandal comes along we remind the world that Republicans are just as bad, if not worse, doing their spin for them.
There were MANY scandals before Watergate. There have been many after, and will be many more.
It’s time to stop obsessing with “revenge” and concentrate on reality.
No more gates.
Oh, I don’t know, “finally”. I’ve always preferred the scandal be called “Walkergate” just because it makes it so much closer to “Watergate” in sound. I’d rather the original “gate” be replaced with a D-inspired “gate”
Holder has already been saying that the reason for the prosecution of this scandal is because both he and Obama are black, and racism is to blame. I don’t expect any justice to come from the investigation. Once the R work is invoked, the media will refuse to cover it and the republicans will be reduced to mealy-mouthed apologetic losers. Political correctness is America’s AIDS virus. Watch as our country wastes away to a shell of it’s former self and succumbs to all sorts of opportunistic tyranny.
I agree: there is no one in the public arena whether it’s journalism, politics or popular culture that is speaking out against this plague of political correctness. Part of the problem is that the right is resting so many of its laurels on what are basically entertainers like Beck and Limbaugh. Conservative politicians are not really identifying the problem like you just did.
Another part of the problem is that this is a somewhat nuanced debate in little evidence in larger American culture as it doesn’t really play well pundit segments on TV even if they had the nerve or knowledge to deal with the subject.
Against this you have a popular media on TV and in films that has adopted a default position of safe targets, namely Christians and white men, the very entities that care the least about oppressing anyone yet are the go-to guys for demonization. The other safe target is to act as if the 1950s are still here and that we need to guard against things long dead and gone.
Political correctness is what enables millions of illegals to stay and legals to emanate almost exclusively from the Third World, a failure factory flogged onto America as just another wave of immigrants, same as the old immigrants. The problem is the the Third World, if looked at in terms of their native ingenuity, particularly in the Middle East, is demonstrably not even as advanced as Europe in 1865. I’d like to see the average Third Worlder build a armored ship from scratch as did the Confederates the “Arkansas” during the Civil War which fought around Vicksburg.
Well said. Rushie and Beck are professional entertainers, compared to whom, professional conservative politicians look like “go along, get along” weazels. Which is what they are. Obama is an example of an entertainer (orator) who understands the effectiveness of political theatrics. And here we are matching people like “go along, get along” Romney against Obama’s entertainment machine … sigh.
right on wreck.I’ve followed closely.. No one Hardly knows A nation cannot be ignorant and free…
The only racism involved in the Fast and Furious scandal is Holder’s racist war of Genocide against the Mexican people. President Obama’s failure to fire him over this is a sign that the President is also an anti Mexican Racist. There are many American citizens of Mexican descent in the US. We need to understand that Eric Holder wants to kill us and President Obama supports this. We need to remember this on the 6th of November.
“Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus promised to make the gunwalking plot and cover-up a major 2012 campaign issue.”
Really??!! Bull stuff!! I’ll believe it when I see it… Priebus – you don’t have the stones to run a campaign to win, to really WIN. Republican leadership in this country is weak, afraid and stupid. “Promised to make it a major campaign issue” – yeah right! The first thing RNC & any Republican Presidential Campaign will do is declare they’re going to take the high road and avoid anything that might be percieved as a personal attack. They don’t want to risk losing the independents, they’ll say. They’ll take advise from their loser advisors and senior loser Republicans like Mitch McConnell, John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
As the MSM realizes F&F is an anchor quickly sinking the Obama re-election, and Obama isn’t getting rid of Holder, they’ll begin supporting Holders ludicrous racism claim. Perhaps slowly at first, but asking enough leading questions with the false pretence and sensationalizing the “racism’ storyline, they’ll force the RNC to back off through embarrasment. RNC will, like usual, lay down it’s weapons (figuratively) and agree to play nice. Meanwhile the DNC & Obama sharpens it knives and fights no holds barred to destroy the Republican nominee… It’s predictable – same old story repeating itself…
The fallout from Fast & Furious should destroy Obama’s presidency, but I’m afraid there is no one on our side with the guts, wisdom and determination to make sure it happens. They’re not willing to do what is needed, which is to cut off the head of the snake that is destroying our country.
Why is there no investigation into the United States gun running operation to the drug cartels and violent criminal gangs in Honduras? Could that operation possibly help explain why Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world?
What do we know? We know that several thousand military weapons were untraceably delivered to Mexican war lords with the full knowledge and consent of US Department of Justice employees (and possibly other US government organs). We know this is a crime. We know that a US peace officer, and hundreds of Mexicans were killed with these weapons. We know the Attorney General of the United States has said, in summary defense of his management, that he is not responsible for reading electronic letters addressed to him, and that those who criticize him do so because they are racists.
It is impossible that this will not be a major issue in the coming presidential campaign. Obama must defend this position, or no voter will trust him. He must explain why his executives did what they did. Every candidate for Congress and the Senate will be forced to take a position on this conflict.
We know, and they know, that Americans’ trust in the federal government, by any measurement, is as low as at any time in our history. Mr. Lieberman will not be the only one swept into the maelstrom. Careers will end because of Fast And Furious.
“We know that several thousand military weapons were untraceably delivered to Mexican war lords with the full knowledge and consent of US Department of Justice employees (and possibly other US government organs).”
And conveniently left at the scene of the crime(s) in order to be traced back to sales in the USA.
“We know this is a crime.”
We no longer live under the rule of law so its only a crime if a majority of the political class agree that it is a crime.
“It is impossible that this will not be a major issue in the coming presidential campaign. Obama must defend this position, or no voter will trust him. He must explain why his executives did what they did. Every candidate for Congress and the Senate will be forced to take a position on this conflict.”
I would like to believe your statement is true, but color me just another racist skeptic.
And conveniently left at the scene of the crime(s) in order to be traced back to sales in the USA.
Wow.
I have to wonder why they were left at the scene. It’s not like dropping weapons helps conceal identity in that terrain.
“We know that several thousand military weapons were untraceably delivered to Mexican war lords ”
No, we don’t know that. We do know that a large number of US gunstore legal semi-automatic weapons were untraceably PLANTED in Mexico. The “Mexican war lords” don’t want US gunstore semi-automatics when they can buy stolen US or black market AK platform fully automatic military weapons for much, much less.
The whole “F&F” scheme was not a gun-tracing operation gone awry; it was a propaganda operation intended to plant US gunstore weapons in MX to provide the cover for draconian restrictions on so-called “assault weapons” and further controls on lawful dealers and gun owners. Thankfully, some conscientious federal employees were willing to ruin their careers by becoming whistleblower and that seems to have ended the operation. That said, to this day the only people who know about it are the political junkies, the administration is dismissing all the inquiries as a partisan witch hunt, and nobody cares.
YAWN….oh, what’s that? More nonsense about “Operation Gun-pooper” on PJMedia? What a lark! This is the biggest non-story of the year! But it’s reassuring to see that the Cheneycons continue to hack at it….it proves that the Republitards have no ammo for the ’12 election and that the 4th Greatest President of All Time will be re-elected. You had to drag out Lieberman to get some attention? Lieberman is a joke! He bailed on the People’s Party! He’s a republican in sheep’s cloth and is just venting his frustration at being called out for what he is! Now, I understand that a few border agents were killed (as they tried to keep honest people from coming to THEIR ancestral land to earn a living, I might add), but we have to look at the bigger picture. Guns are a nuisance! The intentions behind the fiasco are what truly matter!
I saw a quote the other day linking this unimportant little Fast & Furious operation to the White House. As in the ultimate authority and approval for it originated with old jug ears, himself. Hmmmm, first rock thrown in that still and serene pond, hoping that the ripples will spread into the Oval Office by next November … ?
But you only care about the green green hills of home, and not about That Person being impeached for murder and treason, right?
Which lovely states do you wish to give back? New Mexico,Arizona,California? Wouldn*t it be easier for you to move to the land you love…Mexico?
Only the 4th greatest president? Perhaps if your great precedent had not been such a screw-up your drug supply would not have been disrupted by gunwalker. As a majority of the non-drug addled know your precedent made a point of using gunwalker to deny honest citizens of a Constitutionally guaranteed right.
I’m really not sure whether Poe’s Law is in effect or not with you. This is the biggest non-story of the year? Excuse me? This whole charade just made Mexico an even bigger risk to the lives of the people of the United States. I don’t care if you say that most of these illegal aliens are coming back to their ancestral land or not, because frankly it’s a moot point when they start shooting at people and selling crystal meth to our children. What’s worse is that F&F gave them the tools to do this more effectively, because Eric Holder wanted this to happen. He wanted people to get gunned down with AK 47s to promote his leftist–nay, Marxist, no weapons for the common man agenda. This was the intention. He wants to strip the American people of their right to take up arms against an oppressive government, and he’s using a belligerent neighbor to promote his case.
Personally, I would love to see how well we can defend ourselves from the thieves and bandits from Mexico when they have semi automatic weapons, and all the Obama administration allows us is a pea shooter. They’re just trying to return to their ancestral land, that’s a hoot.
I cringe every time I read the phrase “hundreds of dead Mexicans” because I have never, ever, read a breakdown of exactly who those hundreds of dead Mexicans killed by American guns were. I have a sneaking suspicion they might be dead cartel bad guys and that if they were named, everyone would be cheering for their demise. We need to focus on dead Americans killed by this plot, and if there were any dead women, children or elderly who were *not* drug-running mules, then let us know who they were. I’d also like to know whether American guns are *still* being used in the Mexican encroachments across the border which are happening at this very minute in Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico.
Well, if Nixon’s past is prologue, Obama will get re-elected, maybe gun gate, or it’s cover up, will hit the fan just about the time the Iraq Civil War is going down and the American army is trapped in Kabul. Fond of providing dates to end wars of choice regardless of outcomes, Obama is the anti-Wilson, but using the Wilsonian self-determination of peoples and the humanitarian prevention of genocide to wind down the American empire. Unlike the peoples left behind cutting each others throats, the Americans can at least fly home without the Khyber Pass. Once again life will be an ordeal for the ladies in Muslim lands, but life goes on in San Francisco, the city of Saint Francis–if not for Tony Bennet and the names marketability, the ACLU would have forced a name change on the city years ago. But threaten Obama, the second black American president with impeachment for Fast and Furious? Nah, that would be like the radical republicans trying to impeach Lincoln for the Emancipation Proclamation, the suspension of habeas corpus, and all those nasty POW camps north of the Mason Dixon line.
” the DEA and the FBI failed to “deconflict,” or warn other agencies including the Border Patrol about potentially deadly risks”
I think you meant “refused” to deconflict… Failed implies an oversight. There was no oversight.
I can’t help but suspect the whole intent of this is to set up a second congressional “investigation” that will whitewash the entire affair. This will allow a sympathetic MSM to declare the whole thing was a right wing conspiracy against Obama/Holder.
Ain’t Joe up for re-election?
Eric Holder doesn’t make sense until you accept that fact that his job is not, in fact, “Attorney General of the United States”.
That’s just the tool he uses to do his job.
This is not an administration. There is no moral imperative to support and defend the constitution – quite the opposite is the true case. The oaths taken by any of them are meaningless.
I see a lot of Congressmen tut-tutting about competence and lying.
It’s a criminal conspiracy spanning at least a half dozen agencies and it originated in the brain trust that runs Obama, from the White House.
Stop asking for resignations Start demanding impeachment.
I understand the next Holder-Obama strategy is to point out that only white people in the ATF and DOJ knew about Fast and Furious, and that the reason that neither Eric or Barry knew about it was that they were being discriminated against by racist subordinates.
Obama and Holder Murder Inc.
What makes this administration the worst ever? Murder or accomplice to it. Fast and Furious should be the millstone placed about B Hussein’s and Panther Pundit Holder’s neck! These guys are the scum of the world.
After Joe leaves at the end of next year it is going to be so much harder to admire a Democrat office holder.
let’s face it. holder isn’t about to resign and odumbo isn’t about to fire him. too much work left to do. got elections to fix, treasuries to rob, half-pint governments to overthrow and turn over to islamists, economies to ruin, and mirrors to stand in front of.
yep, lotsa work left to do.
Spot on Peter #12. Joe is just going to start a side show that WILL be publicized by the MSM. He is one of theirs after all.
Impeachment followed by imprisonment is what is needed, keep talking about this to EVERYONE you are in contact with. Lots of stooge Americans still have their heads up their a&& and have NO KNOWLEDGE of F&F. The media won’t report it, it’s up to you.
Powder is dry
At least a liberal is paying attention to this horrid situation and it hopefully call attention that the MSM might actually report on, he was a vice president candidate against George Bush and Dick Cheney wasn’t he along with who was that guy oh yeah…Mister Global Warmonger or was it Warming Or Climate Change AL BORE, I mean Al Gore Jr. from Tennessee whose father voted against the civil rights act in the 1960s yeah it was that guy who ran against George Bush in 2000!!
Democratic Watergate? Never going to happen. Obama owns the American media body and soul.