Obama Admin’s Comments on ‘Gunrunner’ Scandal Strain Credulity
On June 15, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, held another hearing into the failed “Operation Fast and Furious” program, which has also been dubbed the “Gunwalker” scandal. “Gunwalker” allowed literally thousands of weapons to walk across the border into Mexico.
The guns, which included semi-automatic AK-47 variants and Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles, were purchased by straw buyers in Arizona, who then allegedly passed them on to Mexican drug cartels.
Issa issued subpoenas to the Department of Justice several months ago, demanding to know exactly who had authorized a program he called “felony stupid.”
At least two of the firearms the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) allowed to walk were found at the scene of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, whose family testified earlier in the week.
To date, DoJ has refused to comply with those requests, citing an ongoing investigation.
This is an assertion Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) both claim is false.
In a sharply worded letter earlier this year, Issa and Grassley, who is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said such an excuse for failing to comply with a Congressional subpoena might hold if the committee and DoJ were conducting concurrent investigations. But they pointed out that Congress is investigating DoJ, not gun traffickers.
In the meantime, the ATF and DoJ have both maintained no guns were allowed to walk, which was refuted by testimony during the hearing.
“We monitored as they purchased handguns, AK-47 variants and .50 caliber rifles, almost daily at times,” said John Dodson, an ATF special agent in Phoenix, during his testimony. “Rather than conduct any enforcement actions, we took notes, we recorded observations, we tracked movements of these individuals, we wrote reports but nothing more.”
As whistleblowers continue to blow up the idea that this was a well organized operation with good oversight, even the White House is perpetuating the myth that DoJ is cooperating with the investigation.
What do you think would happen to any of the American people if they ignored a subpoena? Wouldn’t men with guns come and take them away? Why shouldn’t the political class be treated the same? Put Obama et al in jail until they comply. He’s got time to golf, maybe a little jail time will help him live up to his promise to be the most transparent administration in history. I rather doubt it.
Who, exactly, is going to put them into jail? The federal police forces all answer to Holder.
Here is the hole in our system. If the DoJ flouts the law, there is nothing anyone can do about it, and they know it. Congress cannot make the arrest. All they can do is Impeach. That takes 2/3 of both chambers. Democrats would never Impeach. They, too, are lawless.
What needs to happen is for the House to being Impeachment proceedings against Holder. That would get the public’s attention. Ignore our subpoenas, will you? If you do not use force against the lawless, they will just laugh at you.
Our Declaration of Independence has the answer and it relates to our duty to rise up against the government in these situations: “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Questions???
No—————Let’s!!!! go!!!!!
Not true. Both the Secret Service and ICE work for DHS and while the Marshal Service falls under DOJ they work for the Federal Courts
You say:
“Both the Secret Service and ICE work for DHS and while the Marshal Service falls under DOJ they work for the Federal Courts”
I would remind you that there is a contempt citation out for this Administration from the Federal Courts on the Obamatorium. Has any FedPig done anything about that? And yeah, SS and ICE may indeed work for DHS. But do you REALLY think that Mr. Napolitano is going to tell them to arrest the Muslim in Chief?
The stench is overwhelming. And it smells like pig.
It sure does have a porky smell. Isn’t it our responsibility to act? The Dir of ATF is surely gonna resign shortly and he’s gonna be blamed for it all. Resigned, its over. Holder is gonna stonewall it and the press will let him get away w/it. Don’t we have the obligation to act?
Actually, the House of Representatives Sergeant of arms can execute such an arrest for failing to answer a subpoena issued by the House.
The Sergeant at Arms was elected by the U.S. House of Representatives in the first Congress of the United States. As the chamber’s primary law enforcement official, the sergeant at arms in the House of Representatives maintains security in the Capitol, especially on the House’s floor.
He has the power to serve warrants, subpoenas, and when directed by the Speaker of the House arrest anyone who refuses to answer such subpoenas as part of this role, including the president.He also arranges important events like funerals for House members and along with the Senate sergeant at arms, he has a position on the Capitol Guide Board and their police board.
I ask again: Why aren’t Eric Holder and the top management at ATF in jail? And, frankly, I’m beginning to wonder why Obama isn’t there with them.
The problem is the men with guns might break down the wrong door and start shooting at the wrong people. There is so much wrong with our justice system today.
Wait a minute… your headline suggests that the Obama Administration had some credibility to start with!
In a sane world this, combined with the War Powers/Libya thing would have most of this administration impeached.
To bad a large percentage of the population run on emotion and apathy instead of rationality and the strong defense of the constitution.
Quite true… The American electorate is profoundly ignorant… But the problem
is much deeper than that.. The people that make up the politcal class in Washington today have all sold thier souls in thier qwest for power..
The marxist/progressive democrats, as well as the feckless, spineless, check-pants republicans have failed time and time again to honor thier oath to protect
and defend the United States Constitution..
We no longer live in a nation governed by the rule of law, we now live in a nation governed by the rule of men… Combine this with the fact that a usurper has illegaly occupied the White House, and it should be abundently clear as to the magnitude of the problem that America is faced with
The best, that is, the most credible explanation for this ATF fiasco is that it was a political gambit that, had it worked as intended, would have enabled the administration and the democrats to hammer the GOP over loose gun laws and given themselves license to clamp down on gun sales and engage in some gun grabbing. Holder’s explanation doesn’t hold water.
I don’t thing that Federal Agents can violate federal laws, including accomplice to murder is OK or part of the job description. If they can violate laws at will why can’t I bribe them and only say I was trying to find dishonest agents only when I get caught. The ATF has almost no value to the American People.
There is a supposed rumor that the next project is to send 9 tons of heroin into Mexico and then carefully observe its path of destruction with hidden cameras while people sell it and use it and kill each other over it and then prepare a really nice essay all about it.
And considering that Mexico is now a major pipeline for “black tar” heroin from the Far East into the U.S. (bypassing the West Coast ports), this would be entirely in line with the Department of Justice’s planning on Operation Fast and Furious.
In the “carrying coal to Newcastle” sense.
cheers
eon
The kingdom of lies is run by Obama, Holder and their enablers in the democrat controlled media and academia. They are criminals who have hijacked the US constitution and have done so willingly with the help of the sheeple.
The NRA’s magazine “Rifleman” has a very thorough article in the July 2011 issue (just came in the mail). Three important things should be noted:
1) The gun suppliers that sold these guns did so at the express request of BTFAE. The suppliers would call in a questionable sale and be told to make it, and that the sale would be monitored.
2) While the ostensible purpose was to “track” the guns to their end users in the cartels, the BATFE and Justice Departments did not tell the Mexican authorities about the operation, nor did they tell the BATFE agents that would have done the tracking. “I, as the attache, the head agent in Mexico for the
ATF,did not have access,” Gil said. (Darren Gil was a source for the CBS expose’ on the operation). There was, in fact, no mechanism for tracking the guns set up at all.
3) As the article succinctly points out, the Mexican drug cartels are multi-billion dollar operations that routinely expend jet cargo aircraft making drug runs. They purchase the vast majority of their weapons in bulk from international arms traffickers such as Viktor Bout (a retired Soviet Air Force officer). They don’t need to get their weapons from the U.S. gun stores. What U.S. weapons they do get are stolen (or purchased) from the Mexican and various South American government military and police stores.
The only purpose for “Fast and Furious” was to attack the rights of U.S. gun owners and the Second Amendment.
I read Friday, some Mexican Judge got murdered by one of those guns the ATF let move to the Cartels.
As of Friday, the ATF web site was defending the operation.
BTW, I read the Washington ATF office was in charge of this operation, and gave the go ahead to let the weapons be sold. Edgar Domenech is in charge of the Washington ATF office. Does anyone know if this person is a CFR member?
Sell lethal weapons to the enemy. Now there’s a strategy.
There’s precedent. Back in the midst of the Cold War, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, sneering at the Western powers, once said, “We will hang you … and you will sell us the rope.” http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3336/is_3_17/ai_n27557317/
this is corruption and murder sanctioned by u.s. employed criminals. Issa should continue on and on and on. congress should be asking questions. everybody who blocked any attempt to get info. should be arrested same as any criminal.
if we don’t stop this scum now there is no way they are going to pay atention to any election laws. they are not going to suddenly start doing what is right. and if the minorities want to riot and cause havoc in the streets, then i suggest we release havoc upon them. we are tired of this crap. my country will not go down w/o a fight.
i think i know where we can find the head guy behind all this. golf anyone?
The people who authorized this mess probably violated U.S. law and certainly violated Mexican law. This situation begs for an independent counsel’s investigation.
Incidentally, the Holder DOJ spiked a renewed SFPD investigation into Bernadette Dorhn’s and William Ayer’s complicity in the murder of a San Francisco police officer by claiming that they (DOJ) were conducting an investigation. Coverup more like, nothing more has been heard of that ‘investigation’ since the SF police were pushed out. Holder’s DOJ needs an investigation and, hopefully, prosecution. Nothing would please me more than to see Holder sent to Gitmo.
I would love to see obummer and his cronies, holder, the whole bunch frog marched out the front door of the white house, in chains, prosecuted for Treason, if found guilty, executed by a firing squad. Intolerance for this sort of conduct, when dealt with properly discourages further criminal activity.
People.
The ELITE does not care what we/you think, after all they have helped many of “us” become laughing-stock-irrelevant using “birther” madness against us.
While “we” are thereby distracted the “majority” wields the “redistibution” drug.
The Elite will not learn from the crises in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Detroit, or – God Bless them – even Ireland – because they are the “elite” and they DO NOT CARE WHAT WE THINK because they are convinced they know better than we what is “right” for us.
Nor do they have any fear of “our” Laws. They long ago learned how to circumvent them.
“We” know they have no honor – something which makes their “vow” to “preserve and protect” somewhat irrelevant – but THEY know we’ll still vote for the incumbent and perpetuate the scheme.
Basically, they fear the defiant, the watchful, the distrustful; those who can read the Declaration of Independence and see, not an irrelevant 18th-Century document, but a fundamental Contract between the governed and those few entrusted to enjoy the consent thereof.
It is a sad fact of history that eventually the “us” who seek to hold “those few” accountable must “throw off the chains” when their accountability is no longer their concern. They are not ignorant, they are “elite.” It is their mindset.
But WE watch their “Oprah” and WE nod like back-window-dogs when they express their “View” and WE buy their movies and consume their pablum and WE buy their moldy philosophies just like the Trojans wheeled in the horse …
Every once in a great while, throughout history, some small group of people rises up to demand a different result. God bless them for keeping their focus.
“an independent counsel investigation.” Now, there’s a thought. However, can you imagine Patrick Fitzgerald giving as much attention to a real criminal as he did to “Scooter” Libby? Yeah, thought so.
Am i missing part of the story?
How were they going to track the guns to a cartel and then prosecute them in Mexico ? Was 1 gun out of the 2000 going to be carried by a lone illegal from the store ,through Mexico and directly into the hands of a cartel leader? The ATF/DOJ would then swoop down at this cartel leaders compound,in Mexico ,and waltz in and take him into custody?
No, you’re not missing a thing, dear lady. Such a procedure would be illegal because Mexico is outside of U.S. jurisdiction. It would also be impossible to justify even if it weren’t, because since the weapons were not tracked, there is no way to confirm the chain of possession from strawman buyer to cartel gunman.
If you cannot establish provenance, you have no case. I learned this as a first-year criminology student under “Rules of Evidence”. It seems odd that the BATFE, and the lawyers at the top echelon of the Department of Justice, should be unable to grasp this principle of the law, and incorporate it into their planning.
In fact, they did just the opposite. By ordering ATF agents on the ground not to track the weapons once they were sold, they were in essence ordering their own agents to destroy the case. Which leads me to conclude that they had no real interest in the ostensible objective of the entire operation.
Either that, or every single ATF supervisor, and every single DoJ attorney involved, flunked Criminal Law, Laws of Arrest, Search, and Seizure, and Rules of Evidence in college.
Mind you, that would not particularly surprise me. But I can’t help suspecting that this was more of a PR “media event” to “dramatize the need for more gun control” up here in the U.S. than it was to do anything about the drug cartels in Mexico.
They just didn’t expect it to backfire on them. Let alone anticipating how badly it would do so.
cheers
eon
“They just didn’t expect it to backfire on them. Let alone anticipating how badly it would do so”
Funny how often this administration suffers “disappointment” with “unexpected” results, or seems so clueless when the unintended consequences of their actions seems clear to the majority of the populace with a wee bit of common sense. They’re either criminally inept, or simply criminal. Without the stomach to bring them to justice, we should at minimum usher them back to their sty in Chicago posthaste.
“They just didn’t expect it to backfire on them. Let alone anticipating how badly it would do so”
Funny how often this administration suffers “disappointment” with “unexpected” results, or seems so clueless when the unintended consequences of their actions seems clear to the majority of the populace with a wee bit of common sense. They’re either criminally inept, or simply criminal. Without the stomach to bring them to justice, we should at minimum usher them back to their sty in Chicago posthaste.
Agree with your analysis, completely. This entire fiasco has Obama and Holder written all over it. Instead of a “drug deal gone bad”, we have a full blown “gun deal cover blown”. This truly was an anti-gun, PR operation, designed to benefit the Brady crowd, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his minions. The main stream media continues to gloss over just what has taken place. Why? Congressman Darrell Issa knows only too well why. That is exactly why we are seeing BATF Agent Melson being lead to the gallows, guillotine, gas chamber, firing squad . . . .well, you get the picture. Remember, in the criminal vernacular, he is now the “fall guy”. You didn’t really think Eric Holder was going to “take the rap, did you?”
“Fast and Furious” aka “Gunwalker”, a classic Alinsky operation to create a crisis, that could be capitalized on to advance an agenda. That agenda, further encroachment on the Second Amendment. The reason, an armed people are a free people, and much harder to coerce, oppress, and subjugate.
Lock the SOB up for contempt of Court as you would any other American for the same action, or lack of in this case. Plain and Simple
This story just smacks of another small arms project gone bad: Iran-Contra; the difference boys and girls is that I-C was under a Republican administration, and F&F is not. Therefore, the likely trajectory of this storyline will be no indictments, no convictions, no pardons, and no book deals. Just good old-fashioned obfuscation 101 because the media has no story to sell that doesn’t hurt its baseline self-interest.
Can’t help wondering where and to who else some of these weapons went to. After being in Mexican hands, and there were plenty of guns there already, there’s always a peso to be made on a sale. Perhaps the occasional aspiring muslim murderer? Not that it would bother Holder & Obama.
This is Obama’s “Iran-Contra” and if the Republicans investigate it right, it will blow up in the administration’s faces early next year. Which means that next spring and summer will be filled with this scandal, just before the November elections. That, added to a lousy economy and a foreign policy that is going down the toilet, should put Obama in a “fine” position for next year’s elections. Just shows you how a badly-handled administration can be disastrous for this nation. Elections have consequences. Hope America has learned its lesson with Obama and will do the right thing and elect a conservative Republican in 2012.
Do you suppose that Obama was intentionally plucked from his comfortable Chicago digs to push the country into the muck and mire of socialism with no regard for the chaos or consequences, and why that might be? Why Holder, a Clinton holdover sits at Justice? Obama, who stated he wouldn’t mind being a successful one-term President, probably won’t run again- it could all be a head-fake.
My fear is that he’s simply setting the stage for the appearance of Clinton II which will feature Hillary atop a large draft horse coming to the rescue. The Clintons are just that selfless and if asked, I’m certain Hillary would oblige. A lot will depend on how effectively toxic the media-provided Apple is on a particular Snow White from the tundra. She’ll seek guidance from a mirror in a way similar to Obama’s dependence on a teleprompter. Also, a late entry into the race will be to her benefit- less time to vet her. I just don’t think they realized what a wrecking-ball they unleashed on the country. Fast and Loose with other people’s lives, money, and property.
This is exactly what I have been telling people. There is much more going on behind closed doors. Obama is not seeking re-election, nor do the democrats want him to have another 4 years. Remember Obama’s comment last week about his family not being invested in another term. I think he is planting the seed that, due to family obligations, he needs to step down. Looks stage left and you will find Hillary waiting to be front and center.
BTW, CBS did not “break” the story. Check Mike Vanderbaugh and David Codrea at Sipsey Street Irregulars at blog spot and examiner respectively. They had CBS beat by at least a month. Other than that, great article, and thank you. I hope this brings real reform to the out of control BATF&E and the DOJ. Be nice to get an impeachment, not to mention jail for Holder on down, but that is most likely a pipe dream. Instead, I will hope for the election in 2012 to settle things.
When Gary Goes to Washington, We All Go. GARY’S TRACK RECORD SPEAKS VOLUMES.
http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/record
Operation Fast & Furious — or as we have been calling it, “Project Gunwalker” — is becoming a large scandal very fast and most furiously.
One media outlet referred to it yesterday as “worse than Iran-Contra.”
As you know, the anti-gun brass at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) conspired to force gun dealers to sell firearms to criminals who in turn walked those firearms across the border into Mexico and into the hands of dangerous drug gangs.
The BATFE administration blatantly ignored its own agents’ warnings in order to advance their anti-gun political agenda. By sanctioning and encouraging the sale, literally thousands of firearms ended up in the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels.
The result?
At least two American law enforcement agents killed, one Mexican military helicopter shot down and over 100 Mexican officers killed or wounded.
That’s not counting the crime that could come in the future.
The BATFE purposefully armed men who are considered by our own Federal law enforcement agents to be more dangerous than al Qaeda.
And now, thanks to thousands of gun owners — patriots who took action and called their Congressmen — the anti-gun zealots who run the BATFE are facing a Congressional inquiry.
On Wednesday, after a full day of hearings, the Chairman of the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee had this to say regarding guns going into Mexico:
“Could that be a political decision? Could that be a decision that basically, we just want to substantiate that guns in America go to Mexico…?”
You see what’s going on here.
Let’s retrace the steps:
The Obama administration and Hillary Clinton State Department assert that most of the guns used in Mexican crimes come from America, and that in the name of regional stability “more restriction on law-abiding American Firearms owners are needed and the United States must sign on to the United Nations Small Arms Treaty.
The BATFE begins investigating this “claim”, and creates a “sting operation” to ensure American guns end up in Mexico. Then they force gun dealers to sell firearms to known criminals who smuggle the guns to violent Mexican drug cartels.
Agents on the ground in this investigation said that it was a horrible idea, but the operations were authorized and supported by leading officials in the BATFE and the Justice Department.
The mantra of the anti-gun Left is simple: “never let a crisis go to waste.”
And if there isn’t a convenient crisis, go ahead and make one up.
This is exactly the strategy Obama and his anti-gun allies have been practicing for years.
They will use this “crisis” to ram federal gun control legislation down the throats of American citizens.
But I know you won’t stand for it.
What’s worse:
AG Holder giving “Fast and Furious” a green light, or
an AG Holder so clueless that the BATFE can send illegal guns across an international border, to murderous drug cartels, without his knowledge?
All professional executives have only three choices. They can be correct, they can be stupid, or they can be crooked. None of us know all of the facts, but we know enough. Our BATFE management allowed or facilitated the flow of weapons to Mexican criminal elements which resulted in the murder of a US peace officer. Thus we can have reasonable suspicions about conduct in the highest levels of the US BATFE, or higher. This Congressional oversight must continue. Executive careers, and/or criminal prosecutions must be on the line.
And the silence of those who screamed about banning all Assault Weapons is deafening. Their hypocrisy smells. Our AG is on record of endorsing the re authorization of this law to prevent blood shed in Mexico. One might hope that he would act forceably to prohibit his own subordinates from violating current law in this matter. He has forfeited being correct; his options narrow.
This scheme served two purposes:
1) Backup anti gun claims that too many guns are being shipped to Mexico, therefore, delete the 2nd Amendment
2) Somebody in our trusted government had to be making money on this
About two months ago, in Sunday School—and, dishonesty being mentioned—the class was informed—told—that, every human being has told at least one lie; and well, if that’s so, maybe it’s Eric Holder’s and Barack Obama’s turns, . . . and maybe the same for some of the people who run the BATFE, . . . I don’t know, . . . but, the poor dead officer, probably, he—and, his family—would have wished that, some citizens somewhere had “risen up and thrown off” that part of bad government, . . . maybe the bad guys can be “voted out”—can “the good guys” just “vote out”, “the bad guys”?
Hey, if it works, we can do it, again, . . . you know, like they say: “vote ‘em out”, “vote the bastards out”—does that even make sense?
Anyone who can believe anything out of the mouth of obama`s,our DOJ, and our HLS please tell me what meds. you are taking, they are doing a great job of hiding reality from you!
If Obama says the sun is rising in the morning, take a flashlight.
Rep. Issa, thanks for your efforts. Please continue up the chain of command until all of these rats are expunged from office.
Read Michelle Malkin’s “Culture of Corruption”. This should come as no surprise. Holder should have been gone a long time ago. Obama’s administration is the worst in U.S. history.
The Black and the Mulatto both deserve, No! should be ordered, to appear before a Special investigator to answer the questions under oath about just how much they were instrumental in orchestrating this operation and when and to whom they gave the order to carry out this tragedy. Where in the hell are those that should be backing Rep Issa and what the hell are they afraid of?
It just burns me up that mixed-race politicians choose to call themselves Black while proclaiming minorities don’t get a fair shake in this “mean” country. Whites, especially white men, have been the discriminated class my entire adult life. I’ve thought about checking the Black box myself when applying for jobs and loans.