Gunwalker: William Newell Circles the Wagons
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Internal Revenue Service were all aware of Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of military-style weapons to “walk” across the southern border to the Sinaloa drug cartel and other criminals.
These explosive revelations came on Tuesday, as Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) grilled the former ATF special agent who was in charge of the Gunwalker program, William Newell.
Meehan noted the so-called “plaza bosses” — mid-level bosses within the cartels who were the ones often purchasing the walked guns — expected to get what they’d paid for, when Newell insisted that it had never been part of the plan to allow guns to walk across the border:
You understand if he purchased $70,000 worth of guns he expects $70,000 worth of guns. Where does that come in with “there’s no strategy to allow guns into Mexico?”
Meehan pressed on, angrily, without giving Newell time to answer and demanded to know which agencies were involved with the operation. Newell replied that they had received assistance from ICE, DEA, and IRS. Apparently the FBI knew about it as well — indeed, some of the straw buyers ATF was targeting were FBI informants.
When Meehan, a former federal prosecutor, demanded to know if those agencies knew guns were being walked into Mexico, Newell answered: “they were aware of the strategy.”
It was a rough day for Newell. Several lawmakers grilled him about the program relentlessly, including South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy, a freshman congressman and also a former federal and state prosecutor.
Gowdy asked repeatedly if Newell interrogated the first straw purchaser the ATF knew for a fact was buying guns illegally. Newell said no, and several times during his testimony tried to make the case that taking down one straw buyer would have had little or no effect.
Gowdy insisted they should have interrogated the first straw buyer they knew had sold guns across the border, rather than walking more than 2,500 guns with an eye to getting a cooperative witness:
That’s an old fashioned investigative technique, it’s not as complicated as letting guns walk. It is more effective though, to go back and interrogate the person who made the acquisition.
Gowdy then demanded to know how exactly the ATF planned to extradite the drug kingpins, and was told there had never been any intention to do so. Gowdy was incredulous:
So once the guns made it to Mexico there was nothing you were going to do about those drug kingpins.
Newell said there was in fact a plan in place:
Yes sir, there was. One of the things we were going to do was as soon as we had solid information on who those drug kingpins were we were going to share that information with Mexican law enforcement.
Gowdy replied:
So they’re supposed to trust American law enforcement, who’s been conducting an investigation and knows guns are going into Mexico and you told them after the fact and they’re supposed to thank you and be partners in this endeavor? How are you going to dismantle the Mexican cartels if you’re not going to extradite the drug kingpins back to the United States, sir?
Newell:
We hoped the Mexicans would prosecute them for that.
Gowdy was derisive in his reply:
So you’re going to help the Mexican justice system, you’re just not going to tell the Mexican justice system about it? It was never going to work.
The former is possibly criminal, the latter merely incompetent, and either should exclude him from continuing as attorney general.
And either should be grounds to have him arrested and prosecuted.
erick holder should have been arrested a long time ago. he should be in federal prison making gravel out of huge boulders with a 9 pound hammer 12 hours a day for the next 40 years and a day, he like the rest of the obama regime is garbage,
From this, it looks like everyone knew about Gunwalker except Holder and Obama — if they to be believed.
And if you do believe them, I have a bridge to sell you.
If they DID know then they should both be in jail, and if they didn’t they should both be fired. As CIC Obama should be completely aware that he is ultimately responsible for the people under him. The best he SHOULD be able to hope for is firing Holder and claiming incompetence (which sadly isn’t impeachable) and should result in him not getting re-elected. Sadly I doubt anything will happen to either of them since the Media isn’t covering it any more than the initial blurb about it happening weeks ago. Most people don’t even know anything about this.
At the very least Holder has to be put under oath and questioned. There is no way he dosen’t know what is going on. The only way Obama gets implicated is if Holder sings. There is some hope & change I can go for.
Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009
http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090402.html
so why isn’t he in contempt of congress for his testimony. PERJURY …as well as criminal gun running.
for the same reason he and obama get away with all of the other crooked crap they pull. because our over paid congress people and senators lack the balls to challeng the sorry bastards,
Holder has to be questioned under oath. He is up to his ears in this. The only way Obama gets involved is if Holder sings. There is some hope & change I can believe in.
I have been trying to make the case for some time now that, given what we know, and what appears to have gone on, this operation amounts to terrorism conducted by the Obama Administration against the American people.
The basis for my accusation is that these agencies employed a strategy that they knew very well would result in bloodshed, and then would use that bloodshed to justify a political end. Deliberately putting guns into the hands of the criminal underworld, knowing full well that people will die as a result, is no better than if they had pulled the triggers themselves. This is especially true if arming those criminals is part of a calculated strategy that depends on bloodshed for propaganda purposes. They intended to create an atmosphere of fear, fear of masses of dangerous guns in the hands of ruthless criminals, to justify making an assault on our 2nd amendment rights. In fact, the more bloodshed, the more effective this strategy would be.
Killing people, or creating circumstances where people will be killed, to create fear to further a political end is, in my book, terrorism.
Suthenboy I agree with you 150%. this is all the more reason to make damn sure you have plenty of ammo. and keep your weapons cleaned and lightly oiled so they function propperly,
Suthenboy, there is another word that comes readily to MY mind, also begins with the letter “T”. Traitor. Surprised? Not me…. the pretender in chief has been about this aim since he first stood for his fraudulently gotten office.
And just what IS treason? Acts which lead, or can lead, to the destabilisation or security of these States United. And sending arms to a foreign power that are likely, or even possibly, to be used against ANY Americans meets that description.
and whoever said that supplying the weapons used in violence is equal to actually USING them is correct… and this is the view current law takes. When those four police officers were gunned down in a coffee shop in Washington, the man who supplied the handgun, and the man who drove the getaway car, were both changed with the murders as well. As should be.
Yes, Holder needs to be deposed and examined under oath.. for a LONG time. Now there is sufficient information to have a good idea of what went on, when, and who knew, Holder needs to cool that hot seat for a whole afternoon…. and answer some hard questions. He can’t use notes, either……
Newell was a joke!!!!!!!
He wouldn’t answer anything with a straight answer.
He’s the perfect employee of the chicago gangs in office!
Not only did Brewer know about the program
Should be Breuer? As in Lanny?
As for prosecution, that can’t come until 2013 at the earliest. And at that time, I’m afraid a cheery, forward-looking President Romney will assure us all, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
ACK! yes, should have been Breuer, 50 lashes with a wet noodle to be applied immediately.
I would remind everyone that there are precedents for Attorney General’s resigning for suborning high crimes and misdemeanors, and then going to jail. John Mitchell comes to mind, going to jail over the “White House Horrors; and then there was John Dean, former counsel to a president, talking about a “cancer” on the presidency. Didn’t John boy do some time for covering up? Curious, but he and Sy Hersh spent 8 years ranting about George Bush’s high crimes and misdemeanors, but they’ve been awful quite the last two years during the immaculate presidency of Barack.
Well, if Joe Blow citizen had pulled such a stunt, he would be looking at life.
I take issue with your characterization of these weapons as “Military Style”. So what? They are all lawfully manufactured and sold in the US. These were for the most part semi-automatic rifles, and some .50 rifles. The .50 rifles are frequently mischaracterized as “sniper rifles”.
Firearms supporters should not be sensationalizing these weapons as somehow being out of the mainstream. We have spent years trying to educate the public that just because a gun looks like a military weapon doesn’t mean it is a “Bad” gun.
This scandal is bad enough without resorting to sensationalizing the legal guns the government allowed to be diverted to criminal use.
I do understand your point, and the differences, the term “Military-Style” is merely descriptive in this case and allows me to convey what the weapons look like to people who do not know the difference without spending several paragraphs parenthetically describing them.
To do so would detract from the rest of the story as a whole. You will also note PJM has been very careful not to demonize or sensationalize the weapons in this case, which are more or less irrelevant when compared with the idiocy of the program.
It is necessary to note, however, that these were “military-style” weapons because it’s highly unlikely the cartels would be interested in purchasing bolt action or lever action hunting rifles.
As to the Barrett .50s which were purchased, while they may be used for other purposes such as extreme long-range target shooting, they were designed for use by snipers against both hard and soft targets, so it is wholly proper to refer to them as “sniper rifles.”
Ah, that clear it up. These .50 rifles have no legitimate civilian use other than to kill people…
Well, the problem is not that the ATF let them over the border then. The problem is that they are at all for sale to anyone other than the government.
Now, you’re merely putting words in my keyboard.
I have no problem with civilian ownership of .50 sniper rifles. In fact, I don’t care if law abiding citizens own .50 M2 Machine Guns. Or for that matter a fully functional M1 Abrams. I have zero fear that a law abiding citizen will do anything he should not with such arms. Should he break the law with said arms he would then no longer be law-abiding, yes?
If you read closely you’ll note my issue is not with the type of firearm they allowed across the border, but that they were letting known criminals purchase firearms they KNEW were going to end up across the boarder — into the hands of other criminals.
Simply because someone used words you don’t particularly care for does not make them your enemy sir.
The problem is not what your personal positions on the 2nd Amendment are. The problem is that, through the use of imprecise language such as “Military-style” (same as “assault”), you hand a weapon to the enemies of the 2nd Amendment.
The enemies of the Second Ammendment make arguments that fail no matter WHAT sort of arms are under consideration. giving them “weapons” such as specific “hot button” types of weapons terms cedes no ground. To those miscreants, my Daddy’s ancient old bolt action single shot Winchester .22 S, L, LR rifle works just as well.
How about we call those “black and ugly” rifles by their new term, “modern sporting rifles”? Would they be any less lethal? Of course not. In this instance, and as used here, the term “military style rifles” gives no offense. As the author said, it is a mere descriptive. Much akin to describing a car as a Ferrari or a Chevy. Everyone knows the Ferrari can break every speed limit in first gear, and keep on going through the other five or six gears. Does that change the story, though? Not hardly…..
don’t quibble over common terms. It is the story BEHIND these terms that is repulsive and shocking… and over which many official government sponsored head need to roll. It would be just as wrong and illegal if a few thousand copies of my Daddy’s ancient .22 bolt gun were walked across into Mexico. ANY firearm illegally sent across the border is still illegally sent into criminal hands, and should be prosecuted as such. End of story. Or so we can hope.
“The enemies of the Second Ammendment make arguments that fail no matter WHAT sort of arms are under consideration.”
No, and it takes but one example to falsify this statement – nuclear weapons.
“giving them “weapons” such as specific “hot button” types of weapons terms cedes no ground.”
I think you miss my point. The term “assault weapon”, as used by the anti-gun folks is ill-defined, in the sense that neither the media nor (most of) the viewers understand the meaning of the term. But it sounds bad.
I don’t understand the term “military style” weapon, other than in a generic sense. It doesn’t “offend” me. But I suspect that those who don’t know guns will not understand (just as you say), that it applies to the Winchester Model 1895 carbine that my dad gave me when I was ten.
Arguments are not won via the use of fuzzy, almost meaningless terms for what you are arguing about. Let the anti-gun people try, and lose, with that approach. Those of us who support the Second Amendment need to be precise.
It’s difficult to understand how government works (dysfunctional). This program was more like pissing of a big bear behind a sheet by poking it with a sharp stick. No plan on what to do when a) the bear ran away or b) the bear runs through the sheet at you? Perhaps National Institute of Health is conducting research on what happens to government employees without real goals?
Naw, the real goal was to give guns to thugs, so the thugs can shoot up the place, blame the thug’s actions on easy access to guns, and see if anyone notices.
They’ve just gotten caught. It does make you wonder about all kinds of other adventures our government has underway that we haven’t exposed!
Third possibility, Holder knew. Of course he knew and so probably did his boss.
hcl of course they both knew. and they both should be impeached and imprisoned for a term of 40 years and one day. making gravel from huge boulders 12 hours a day,oh. and make them share a cell with the meanest sex offender in the system and make sure they have privacy,
It says a lot about the sad state of justice in America if a so called Attorney General of the United States can and will do this, just to score political points, and walk away scot free.
Just think if Nancy had the position and the Boeing 757 she had a few months ago. They would be calling witnesses like G. Gordon Liddy because it had to be Nixon’s fault. This is hilarious if our government wasn’t so sickening.
This is becoming a serious Constitutional issue. Under our laws, the Department of Justice is responsible for putting criminals in jail. Now, Congress is uncovering, daily, conduct, by high level government officials, within the Department, and others, which seems to be criminal. Frankly it just boggles my mind; it is truly inconceivable. And it is sickening. Hundreds of innocents where undoubtedly murdered as a result of their conduct. Blood is on their hands. We have grievously injured our neighbor, Mexico.
The root of the problem is god-like hubris; it turns smart men into fools.
Keep shining the light. Our nation needs this reporting.
So in order to simplify this whole thing you have 2 choices.
1) this was a incompotent thought out incompotently executed plan to stop illegal guns going into mexico which nobody in their right mind would ever believe it would work and got American law enforcement personel killed.
OR
2)this was a incompotent thought out incompotently executed plan to set up american gun sellers and buyers in order to push an anti gun anti 2nd amendment agenda led by the president, multiple corrupt agencies and the justice dept which got American law enforcement personel killed.
or 3) All of the above
So what is the end goal of these hearings? will all thoes involved ever be brought up on charges? Will the american people finally start to ‘stop being civil’ or with this just get filed and forgotten under ‘oh that wacky govt’
This makes the Iran Contra affair look like child’s play. There, the arms were being sent to a group on our side (who eventually won BTW).
This is a Chicago alynskyite type operaation Surely zero dreamed it up; it has all the earmarks; he is stupid and arrogant enough to believe that ALL the ATF agents were as crooked as he is – projection. Hang.