‘Gunwalker’ Under Fire
Rumors began to fly over a week ago that a .50 BMG weapon supplied to Mexican drug cartels by the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) was used to bring down a Mexican military helicopter in May. According to CBS News, the use of that weapon can be confirmed, and it turns out the helicopter was one of two fired upon by suspected cartel members.
The raid on the cartel that the helicopters were supporting was successful, netting more than 70 weapons, including the helicopter-down .50 BMG rifle and other weapons traced back to the botched ATF Operation Fast and Furious, also know as “Gunwalker.”
To date, the ATF operation, which encouraged gun shops in the American southwest to sell weapons to suspected criminals and let them carry the weapons across the border, has resulted in an estimated 150 Mexican law enforcement officers and soldiers shot with ATF-supplied weapons. While the theory behind the plot was different, the end result is no more deplorable than Iran’s arming of Iraqi terrorists.
At least two American law enforcement officers have been murdered with ATF weapons as well. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed with “Gunwalker” firearms in Arizona, while ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata was killed in an ambush in Mexico with a gun the ATF allowed to be sold to a cartel gun smuggler in Dallas.
The damning evidence that the U.S. Department of Justice agency is a major supplier of cartel weapons will go in front of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this week, in what could be a damning indictment of the ATF’s senior leadership and Eric Holder’s leadership of the Department of Justice.
Attorney General Holder has apparently ordered the DOJ to fight Congressional oversight, with the DOJ and ATF ignoring seven letters and a subpoena from the committee. Neither Holder nor ATF Director Ken Melson will answer questions — which may lead to them being held in contempt of Congress.
Holder and Melson have little reason to tell the truth about what happened with Operation Fast and Furious, which may be the most incompetent ATF operation since the agency’s ill-advised 1993 raid of the Branch Davidian compound left four agents dead and 16 wounded. (After the raid failed, the Justice Department then had the FBI take over a siege which ended in the deaths of 74 men, women, and children.) In responding to the subpoena and the letters directed to the agencies by Congress, they may reveal not just glaring incompetence, but perhaps open a door to political motives for the gun-running that point higher in the Obama administration.
I watched the hearing on Monday and I had to laugh because the experts made references to previous situations where administrations were not wanting to turn over evidence that in the end would make them look bad. The funny thing is, that some of the instances were from the Bush era and the Dems had “won” the argument then to get the admin. to turn over the documents, but now the shoe is on the other foot…
Interesting tidbit that came out, the first time that Congress had to request an investigation by their members into the executive branch was during the Washington administration. Washington, Jefferson and Knox weren’t thrilled to have to have Congress look into an incident, but realized that it was Congress’ Constitutional right to do it. That was before political parties were started….
“…the most incompetent ATF operation since the agency’s ill-advised 1993 raid of the Branch Davidian compound left four agents dead and 16 wounded…
We have a rogue federal agency in the ATF that has been rudderless…”
Tell me, where is constitutional basis for the existence of this Keystone Kops bunch of brown shirts (well to be accurate boyz in black”)?.
Thank you for calling them out again for their illegal raid on the Davidians.
Odd that a armed federal agency would be serving a warrant for child abuse, odd that their videotape of the raid was erased, and where did the front door of the Davindian residence (the one with all those pesky bullet holes) go after it was removed from the site?. You know the same site that the “feebs” bull dozed and graded flat? Too bad they were not Eric Holder’s people or panthers. /sarcasm
I assume your /sarc/ tag was to remind us that Eric Holder was Janet Reno’s Deputy Attorney General during Waco. And that he led the campaign to obfuscate the Congressional hearings after the fact. Along with Senator Charles Schumer, D- NY, who turned them into an anti-NRA show trial. (How Stalinist of them both.) Like a bad penny, Holder keeps coming back.
Holder’s present behavior is par for the course with him. He attempted to use the Clinton “assault weapon ban” (which affected self-loading weapons with detachable magazines) to ban the import or manufacture of replica lever-action repeating rifles (think; Winchester, Henry, etc., the types used in the Old West), which are neither self-loading or detachable-magazine types. He told the Supreme Court that “We intend to use this law to capture a whole new category of guns”, and refused to cease and desist even when warned he risked being held in contempt of the Court.
Holder is a gun-hating ideologue, who has learned that due to the anti-gun culture in the nation’s capital (which cuts across party lines) he can get away with almost anything if he does it in the name of “gun control”.
In Mexico, he has literally gotten away with murder. And he will very likely continue to do so. Until such time as he, and his boss, are shown the door by the electorate.
This time, we need to make sure this bad penny does not show up in the Justice Department, ever again. I think disbarment, plus jail time, should do it. After all, it worked on John Mitchell.
clear ether
eon
Issue the subpoenas and expect them to be ignored. At that point it is time to begin impeachment of Holder in Congress. While it is unlikely to be upheld by the Senate, the trial before an election for multiple offenses during his tenure will focus the pre-election attention on the misconduct of this Administration for which there is no shortage. I would suggest the House appoint J. Christian Adams to lead the charge.
“Attorney General Holder has apparently ordered the DOJ to fight Congressional oversight, with the DOJ and ATF ignoring seven letters and a subpoena from the committee. Neither Holder nor ATF Director Ken Melson will answer questions — which may lead to them being held in contempt of Congress.”
Well, it’s about time! And you are STILL not hearing much about this in the main stream media. Holder really needs to at least get fired over this, let alone have major charges brought up against him. This could be Holder’s “Iran-Contra” moment and the Republicans should certainly pursue this, especially since some Federal agents have already been killed because of this failed policy. I hope the House of Representatives keeps after Holder and his crew. You never know, the road could eventually lead to the White House.
“You never know, the road could eventually lead to the White House.”
I have no doubt it would.
Do you really believe Holder is doing this on his own?
I think Barack Hussein Obama (real name Barry Soetoro) has a lot to do with this.
“Will the Justice Department be held to account for arming lethal Mexican cartels?”
Thanks for the laugh.
But why even bother with the rest of the article when we all know the answer?
Time to blow up their ships, Ragnar!
Every one who was involved and everyone who knew this was going on needs to be jailed for not less than twice the time a “citizen” who did the same crime would be punished.
And when I say everyone I mean everyone. This whole deal is sad and inexcusable.
The dissolution of the ATF is long overdue. They have repeatedly exhibited a contempt for our most basic Constitutional rights. They abuse their authority as federal law enforcement officers, to implement the corrupt agenda of the Obama administration and the Holder Justice Department. How can the Federal government ignore Congress and the decisions of Federal judges and not be subject to arrest by US marshals. We truly have a lawless, run-a-way government.
Agree totally. And ATF should only be the beginning, let’s add HUD, DEA, Education and BLM to the list!
I see CNN is trumpeting American weapons in Mexico. Nothing about the administration sending them there. They don’t even fake it anymore.
Eric you missed an opportunity guy – 50 cal.distribution to the freedom seekers in North Africa. And what’s up with that effort in North Africa at ‘finding freedom’ – you remember – the one that spread like wild fire throughout the Northern part of that oil sogged continent.
Seems some liberal Harvard dude wrote an article comparing the American Revolution with the street riots in Egypt and he thought they were comparable .
Wow – American Revolution held up to the light by a very confused fellow.
Dude there was indeed an American Revolution – but comparing it to the riots in Egypt does a disservice to those who paid your school fees.
Intelligent men planned and discussed the methods of governance – the ways of war – the whys and the what ifs involved when a portion of the citizenry takes on the British Empire.
The patriots of the American Revolution were not encouraged to charge into the town square waving misspelled signage – by the likes of the AFL/CIO and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The planning that went into this ‘finding freedom fiasco’ will leave the seekers in no better shape than they were in – before they were ‘free’!
If you are going to reach out for freedom – get off of your camel – grab a handful of dates and look for a group of thinkers.
Find the quiet searchers – those who study history – those who study man and mans need for freedom – find kindred spirits and document your efforts as you plan for a real revolution. Turn aside the parasites from the International Unions and Brotherhoods – arm yourselves and surge forth with a total understanding of your goals .( Our Mr.Holder could be a good source for weaponry – his people did a great job in outfitting the Mexican Drug Cartels.)
By the way – ‘this revolution thing’]- you may not get on International Television – and you could die!
Espresso cares!
It’s just like a Sons of Anarchy or Law and Order episode, except it is done by a Democratic administration.
I am not given to conspiracy theories but in this case I think there is something there. Three factors went into the Gunwalker/Fast and Furious scandal. (1) Some bright young ATF agent thought that sending the weapons south would be an effective way of locating and taking out senior cartel leaders. (2) Someone in Justice or ATF is on the take from the Cartels and (3) it was a false flag operation by the White House to discredit gun ownership. It probably went like this. A corrupt mid level official heard about are bright fellow’s idea and worked a deal with the Cartels and then brought it to the attention of the AG. Then the AG thought he had a winning propaganda opportunity and sold it to the President as a sure fire way to create the right environment to restrict Second Amendment rights. The plan was set in motion. This probably is the Obama’s administration Watergate moment except the MSM which drove the Nixon era scandal is 100% behind the President and supports his anti-gun agenda. Issa might be able to bring some light to the subject. I think the acting ATF director is on his way to jail for contempt but Holder will not be held accountable.
Very likely, but as the ATF director is a long-time “insider” with the Obama machine (his previous post was in the Chicago ATF office- enough said), I expect a quid pro quo.
Something along the lines of “I’ll take the fall, but if I go to trial and they convict, I want a Presidential Pardon before my butt hits the bench in the wagon to the Big House.”
BTW, the guy who’s already being considered as his successor is (you guessed it) also an alumnus of the Chicago ATF office.
Hey, it’s the Chicago Way.
cheers
eon
“..except it is done by a Democratic administration.”
It’s called Freudian projection. The Left is deep into the behavior of doing what they accuse others of.
The real question is – will the next administration honor extradition requests from Mexico if and when arrest documents come in?
When Iran Contra hit the Reagan administration in late ’86, his approval dropped immediately by a little over 10 points and did not go up until HW won the election.
Whether this is Iran-Contra in scope who knows at this point, but for Holder and the DOJ to hold up an investigation for a few months is rather silly since it will only drag this deeper into the election period.
And just for kicks, going on Google News and typing in “Operation Gunwalker”, apart from conservative blogs and Arizona newspaper editorials, it looks like the only mainstream news media that is covering this in depth is CBS.
I don’t watch television so I don’t know whether the cable morning or evening news shows or CNN is actually televising any coverage of this as of yet. If PJM or a poster could supply that data I’d be grateful; just curious is all.
I also Googled this topic last night and found the same results. This IS a Watergate or Iran Contra moment. Time for the New Media to flex its muscle and put many reporters on this. Anyone remotely involved–hang ‘em high.
Under the radar huh? They miscalculated the scope of the radar. This was nothing more than an insidious attempt to pad the number of american guns the cartels have in order to force gun-control legislation. It was never about tracking guns or busting bad guys. Eric Holder, his boss, and everyone involved in the planning and implementing of this fiasco are the bad guys.
they owe it to the nation to explain both how and why
“Why”, exactly! They recovered some of the weapons, but so what? Were they trying to find out who the main narcoterrorists are, which is already common knowledge, or what?
Why do I keep thinking, “campaign contributions, campaign contributions, campaign….”?
Maybe Congress should start their own S.W.A.T. team and raid Mr Holder’s and Mr. Melson’s homes in the middle of the night and drag them off to a holding pen. Give them a taste of their own medicine.
Funny you should mention Congress sending someone to arrest Holder or Melson, since if the House should find them guilty of contempt of Congress for failing to answer the subpoena, the Sergeant-at-Arms for the House (and the Capital Police) would be sent out to arrest him, bring him before the House, and the House at its pleasure could hold him until he answers…..or as a punishment for that contempt as they so vote. While the last time that procedure was used was in the 1930s (by the Senate), they did sentence an ex-commerce secretary to 10 day imprisonment in the Capital basement. Moreover, the Supreme Court held that there was *no* right of judicial review or presidential pardon for these acts of the legislative branch.
So we’ve established that the Justice Department is an international terrorist organization and Eric Holder is its chief terrorist. And this was done in an effort to undermine the US Constitution at home.
Seal Team Six, where are you?
I went to TWEET and I recieved an ERROR. I tried to shorten url and got this….
” There was an error…
Sorry the domain pajamasmedia.com is found in the SURBL database for known spam abuse. Go to: http://www.surbl.org for more details on why it’s currently black listed and how to remove it.”
That’s because of what’s below the text entry area. It say’s “Click here to subscribe…” but the default is to “subscribe”, and there is no way to turn it off once you are “subscribed”.
Very, very stupid move. I stopped reading for several months because of it.
I just searched and found that “pajamasmedia.com is not blacklisted”.
How is it that just about everyone in the bozo admin, up to & including bozo, are so far above the law that even the law won’t or can’t touch them? This has got to come to a stop, we’re about to be living under a dictator.
About to?
There is only one good reason to advocate for the Second Amendment; self defense. Firstly to defend against a tyrannical government, and secondly to defend against criminals ( I am not sure there is a distinction to be made there ). Those who advocate for gun-control are by default advocating against self defense.
To advocate against self defense is to greatly diminish the worth of a person’s life. There is a consistent blindness from anti-gunners to the hard data showing that an armed citizenry is less likely to be victimized by crime. Flying in the face of the facts, they argue that gun-control will somehow lower crime , or that liberalizing gun laws will make crime rise. They argue these will the full knowledge that both are untrue because they dont care. They dont care how many people are murdered, raped or robbed. Only one thing counts for them and it isnt your life, its a disarmed citizenry. For them, the end justifies the cost and the means.
It is no surprise to see what Holder and Obama have been up to. The murdered U.S. agents, the murdered Mexican Police, and who knows how many murdered civilians mean nothing to them. They attempted to create a crisis that would justify a federal attack on the Second Amendment, and the bloodier the crisis was, the better it would serve their purpose.
Is an disarmed citizenry really their end or a means to another end? I dont think I have to answer that one for you.
Obama lies like a rug, as does Holder, but that’s no excuse for you to do it too. I refer specifically to the claim that Agent Terry was killed by a “Gunwalker” gun. Even our rabid press has never claimed that. A “Gunwalker” gun – actually, more than one – was found near the scene of Terry’s death. Which, of course, is not the same thing at all. As for Mexican agents shot by “Gunwalker” guns, I am not aware of any reliable (that is, non-hysterical) data. If true, it’s a big deal – but is it true?
Truth and accuracy are our major weapons – don’t destroy them.
How did they think they could get away with this while requiring the local gun shops along the border to cooperate with the cartels? The license holders could be threatened with the loss of their dealer licenses, but merchants, and salesmen, change businesses all the time. Once they are no longer gun dealers, no more hold on the merchant or salesman.
(PJ media is probably a “known spammer” because the “Click here to subscribe…” is a lie. We have to click to not subscribe and I have never found a way to get off the spam list.)
No action will be taken against the DOJ holder or the ATF. They are the law of the land now, forget your Constitutional rights, they no longer exist under the new monarchy and king barry the first!
When we get a new Administration Holder could be served raw to the Alligators. (IF the people get get a honest replacement. Oh and don’t worry we bought the helicopter the first time and will likely replace it with tax payers’ money.
You can go to snopes and do a search on every key word in this story and nothing will show up. surprised? not me…
What a dangerous,foolish thing to do….Instead of controling the border and apprehending criminals,drugs and guns, they encouraged more crimes,adding to the already existing threat to US citizens from illegals.
When will the deceit,deceptions,lies,criminal activity and financial raping of America stop in this administration ? Don’t they need congressional permission to carry out these acts? Nevermind,they’ll just lie also.
This is like wavers for buying guns right?
We are already engaged in a civil war. They (Obama and his comrades) know it. We’re having a hard time believing it. They are finding a way to arm our enemies and simultaneously use it as an excuse to disarm us. We must wake up fast.
JR Nyquist has been writing for years about the mostly hidden, until the recent times, attack on the free world. His book on a coming nuclear war has been out for some time, and after 9/11 he began writing a weekly column. The archive is here –it’s not what you probably think it would be, but you’ll have to scan the titles for yourself to judge the guy’s reportage and scholarship. Hearing on the tv news this afternoon that the fire in Arizona is now being classified as ‘arson’, i had the notion to dig up Nyquist’s column ”grey terror”. It’s a three minute read, and well worth it.
http://www.financialsense.com/user/164
(sorry if this multiplies –i can’t seem to get it to post –try, try again, maybe third time is the charm)
***
Holder’s law firm (he’s a partner) has been aggressively representing Yemeni AQ for ten years. Many of the lawyers from Covington & Burling are now in the DoJ. Holder himself defended, for Chiquita Banana, Colombian communist narcoterrorist army FARC in courts in America –against banana massacre charges of killing rivals of Chiquita Banana.
Now the news nearly weekly reports FARC and Hezbollah and/or AQ connections that are showing up on our southern border –IOW, very close to the GunRunner mess. So Eric Holder has more than just the ATF connection going on.
Also needs to be told, the very strange coincidence that the locus of the ‘banana massacre’ FARC operations was the Chiquita (United Fruit Company) plant in a town in Colombia named Aracataca.
Aracataca is the birth town of a communist author named Marquez, who immortalized in his Pulitzer-winning novel One Hundred Years of Solitude as “Macondo” –a ‘made up’ name which otherwise did not exist.
Another strange coincidence re the BP Macondo blown out well (the first such disaster of the 43,000 offshore gulf of Mexico wells drilled since WWII): a minority partner in the well, Mitsui, had recently sold its futures-trading unit Arcadia to the group just recently sued for the January-April oil futures manipulation (by two ex-BP traders) that caused the gasoline price spike that the rate of which so paniced American voters in the summer of 2008 –just before the Bank Panic took over the job of ushering in Obama with a ”crisis” –from Bush –on his hands (result, the 4 trillion in dollar-destroying, perhaps American way of life destroying, debt).
Arcadia is one of the companies Marc Rich put together, from a Moscow base, just after Eric Holder had gone to great lengths to arrange a Bill Clinton pardon for Rich that would stand up somewhat in the court of American opinion.
(i think i have too many hyperlinks already –pajamas may reject entire post –so pleease, just search these terms in combo –for instance [marc rich arcadia] and scan headers for the info –also [milio mitsui] –and then get creative with results, you will find the 20 year track –and/or just glance at this Business Week article)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_29/b3943080.htm
***
As to why this (i think we are beginning to recognize) 20 year combined attack on USA’s sovereignty, currency, and security would be so brash as to name the planned disaster ”Macondo” –it speaks to Latin America –and the various fronts of this ‘new world order’ movement do use naming, labeling, and statements written in stone in order to communicate power to those paying attention.
Just the facts, folks –you have to draw your own conclusions.
THe ATF is supposed to be tax collection agency; collecting taxes via liquor tax stamps, tobacco tax stamps, and a $200 tax on full-auto transfers. That is all they were duly constituted to be: revenuers. They became a corruption quasi paramilitary goon squad rather quickly. My father grew up in Kentucky down by the Tennessee border along the Cumberland. During the great depression he and my uncles helped grandaddy run a moonshine operation to pay property taxes. Folks back in that time and place knew what to do with revenuers that poked their noses into the hollers looking for stills.
We need to make sure our police will never obey orders to disarm the citizenry. There is a group call “Oath Keepers”, that is concerned about this issue.
I am disturbed that our police are union members.
What really amazes me beyond any understanding is how a police officer from any organization can blindly follow nefarious orders from higher authorities. I am an old fart and way back in my life, police would be given orders to ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ and the cops did it. A lot of innocent people would be killed for no reason other than unthinking, mind numbed, robots would go in shooting.
Just after WWII, these same cops would state that they could not understand how the German and Russian police would or could treat their own citizens with so much disrespect Even soldiers during war can refuse to follow an order if that order is against common decency. [common decency = an oxymoron of war.. Example.. If a military commander orders a platoon to attack a daycare center and kill every child that is there, the soldiers can legally refuse without reprimand...] The trouble is that this doesn’t happen in real life. The soldiers or police will march right in and execute their orders. The firing of weapons against unarmed civilians was carried out at Kent State, most of the soldiers held back while a couple of them fired away. Those couple of soldiers that fired would make perfect candidates for the modern Obama enforcement teams. Someone like Obama needs people without morals, ethics, or conscience.
Coming soon to a city near you……………………..
Please check your facts.
http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/LEWIHEN.htm
Let’s see…A government officer while undercover, fires the first shot, a National guard sergeant turns and fires his 45 cal pistol at the unarmed crowd of students, only one student was 71 feet away, while the rest were , on average, 300 feet away. It is suspected but unproved that this same sergeant ordered the troops to open fire. The one audio recording of the events is said to be too garbled to make a definite decision. 28 of the 77 guardsmen opened fire, killing four and wounding nine others. The closest kill was 270 feet away, the rest were an average of 345 feet. Two of the killed students were completely innocent and were just going from one class to another. A Kent State statement of the incident is like asking a priest to defend the church on the subject of pedophilia..
The Scranton Commission, formed to study campus unrest found “Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force. The 61 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified. Apparently, no order to fire was given, and there was inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill. The Kent State tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.”
Not in the mainstream media, on May 8, eleven people were bayoneted at the University of New Mexico by the New Mexico National Guard in a confrontation with student protesters, or on May 14, ten days after the Kent State shootings, two students were killed (and 12 wounded) by police at Jackson State University under similar circumstances
The guards used the reason that they were in fear for their lives from unarmed students at 300 plus feet… This is the same excuse used by police when they kill some unarmed person, I have seen it used when a cop shot a five year old girl and a sleeping thirteen year old kid.
Near where I live, a policeman, while driving drunk, passed a stopped school bus that was letting off students, hit a 13 year old, killing the kid instantly, then took off. Citizen witnesses gave chase and caught up with the drunk cop in the driveway of his home. They held him there while waiting for other policemen to arrive. [Everyone was amazed that the drunk cop hadn't opened fire on his citizen captors...] To make a long story short, all charges were dropped against the policeman and a lessor charge of ‘high misdemeanors’ was levied and a short prison sentence given. There were too many witnesses to invoke the usual white wash, so the misdemeanor sentence allows the policeman to return to work after serving his time.
I guess it’s different facts for different people and this is why Attorney General Holder, the ATF, and the Obama regime is going to get a free pass on this and many other things…
So when do we lock up these criminals? If these folks in the executive branch don’t get into trouble who cares. We need indictments. We also need to see this for what it is. A false flag attack on the 2nd amendment. (send guns to Mexico – blame it on the 2nd amendment – crack down on the 2nd amendment). This is classic problem – reaction – solution inside job stuff.
Drug War
Our drug policy is wrecking the world. I fear gangs in 250 major cities here in America. We gave them the money to arm themselves. Corruption is in most police forces.
We must admit to ourselves that the drug war does not work.
Put it in the medical arena, instead of the criminal.
Before its to late!!! May get messy, gangs looking for other ways to make money. But the longer we wait, the more they will have to fight us!
Gang members , got on the Memphis police force. They were selling drugs, Protection rackets, and of coarse knew what the police were doing!
1 Mayor in Mexico was taking a bribe of 1 million dollars a month. Can’t fight that kind of money. They kill them or bribe them. SAD SAD SAD!!
“We don’t need to just change the political parties, we need to change our philosophy about what this country is all about.”Freedom!! Ron Paul 2012.