11-07-2011, 07:49 AM
M.D. Harmon: Project Gunwalker reveals rot buried deeply in D.C.
What do you think should happen to those responsible for a secret plan to obtain high-powered guns from U.S. firearms dealers and furnish the weapons to Mexican drug cartels for the express purpose of killing or injuring innocent people?
Hideous, right? A horrendous plot by despicable people to violate U.S. laws in a conspiracy that should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, right?
Now, what if it already has been conceived and carried out and actually has been linked to the deaths of at least one prominent Mexican lawyer and a U.S. Border Patrol agent?
Even worse, right?
Now, what if you found out it was an agency of the U.S. government that did it?
And, to finish off this list of horrors, what if the agency responsible was the specific one charged with enforcing our firearms laws -- the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE)?
Well, it is. And that's what's driving Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, aided by Rep. Darryl Issa, R-Calif., and his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to conduct a full-fledged investigation of what our government called "Operation Fast and Furious."
Also known by the nickname "Project Gunwalker," the plan ran from 2009 until the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in a shootout last Dec. 15. A gun found at the scene was on the plan's tracking list.
Gunwalker was designed to identify gun smugglers and link them to illegal gun purchases in the United States.
However, these specific purchases, which involved somewhere between 1,700 and 2,000 semi-automatic rifles and pistols, were directed by the government with the (apparently forced) cooperation of U.S. firearms dealers, whose licenses to do business are controlled by the BATFE.
USAToday reported last week that Agent John Dodson, testifying to the committee, said that in his entire career, he had "never been involved in or even heard of an operation in which law enforcement officers let guns walk."
He continued: "I cannot begin to think of how the risk of letting guns fall into the hands of known criminals could possibly advance any legitimate law enforcement interest."
The paper quoted Agent Pete Forcelli, a supervisor in the Phoenix BATFE office, as saying, "What we have here is a colossal failure of leadership. We weren't giving guns to people for killing bear, we were giving guns to people to kill other humans. This was a catastrophic disaster."
The paper also quoted Forcelli, Dodson and BATFE agent Olindo Casa as saying they repeatedly raised concerns to their bosses about the risks associated with Fast and Furious, which was named after a movie in which a civilian drag racer cooperates with the FBI in a sting operation. But, they told Issa's committee, their warnings were dismissed.
And once the guns crossed over into Mexico, BATFE had no way of tracking them unless and until they were found at a crime scene.
That is, these weapons were apparently furnished to known gun-runners in violation of U.S. law for the explicit purpose of being used in a crime, so that a follow-up investigation could disclose their paths from the dealer to the crime scene.
That's how the weapon found at the scene of Agent Terry's murder was identified (the specific weapon that killed him has not been recovered, but it certainly could have been a Gunwalker firearm).
The Justice Department says Attorney General Eric Holder was "unaware" of the plan, which if true makes him totally out of touch, and if false is an indictment of his leadership.
Grassley and Issa said the operation was a failure, netting only 20 low-level suspects.
"Who thought it was a good idea?" Grassley said. "Why did this happen? The president said he didn't authorize it and that the attorney general didn't authorize it. They have both admitted that a 'serious mistake' may have been made. There are a lot of questions and a lot of investigating to do. But one thing has become clear already -- this was no mistake."
Indeed, Issa said top BATFE officials in Washington were briefed weekly on the program.
Justice says it is conducting its own investigation, but with the department so compromised, a special investigator with no ties to the government should be appointed.
Finally, the conservative blogosphere sees a deeper agenda that is worth mentioning. For some time now, Holder and the Obama administration, right up to the president himself, have been linking U.S. gun dealers to illegal sales to Mexican cartels.
President Obama has claimed that "90 percent" of cartel guns seized by Mexican authorities are linked to U.S. dealers.
However, those assertions have been countered by firearms rights advocates, who point out that percentage only applies to the small minority of guns captured from the cartels that can be traced.
Fully automatic machine guns and antitank rockets (which are illegal to sell in the United States) used by the cartels likely come from international arms dealers, while other weapons, including some U.S. guns, are from Mexican military deserters who have joined the gangs in large numbers.
According to Bill McMahon, a BATFE deputy assistant director cited in Investor's Business Daily, the quantity of non-military U.S. weapons found in cartel hands is 8 percent, not 90.
Given the obvious distortion, these sources wonder if Gunwalker didn't also have the goal of driving up the number of weapons traced to U.S. sources to help push the administration's anti-gun agenda.
It's hard to believe our law enforcement officials would lie to support a political scheme.
However, it's also almost impossible to believe they would give guns to drug gangs.
But they did.
M.D. Harmon is an editorial writer. He can be contacted at 791-6482 or at:
mharmon@mainetoday.com
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Fast and Furious Fiasco: Time to Abolish the ATF
Voltaire observed "It's a good thing to kill an admiral now and then to encourage the others." This observation inspires me to suggest that when an agency carries out such a bit of idiotic malfeasance as the ATF's operation "Fast and Furious" with the cooperation of agents at all levels of the spectrum, an operation which resulted , among other things in the murder of a U.S. customs agent and prominent relative of a Mexican official, it's time to dissolve the operation and dismiss all of its employees. To encourage the others.
If there are agents in the Bureau unconnected with this operation who have valuable skills and experience we wish to retain, the successor agencies of the Bureau are free to rehire them. As to the others -- those who went along to get along -- it will encourage federal employees working for an out of control agency to take advantage of the federal whistleblowers procedure and turn in the wrongdoers before such egregious harm comes to pass. It simply is not enough to accede to a pattern of what Darrell Issa calls "felony stupid" conduct and keep your place at the federal table.
A Brief History of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms( ATF)
In its most recent form, the Bureau was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice in 2003, a move in accord with the 2002 Homeland Security Act. In one form or another it has existed since 1789, when the Treasury was given responsibility for collecting a tax on imported spirits. It has in time established a laboratory for analyzing alcohol and tobacco products as well as firearms and explosives. It has had a prohibition unit in the 1920's, and since the 1930's has overseen the collection of taxes on firearms.
For decades , until 1972 the alcohol and tobacco tax division was under IRS control. When it was separated from IRS, it took on control over explosives , and shortly afterward the ATF and its lab became involved in arson investigations. If the ATF as it's presently constructed is dissolved, there's no reason why the revenue collection side of the operation shouldn't return to the Department of the Treasury and the firearms and explosives investigations (and laboratory) shouldn't be given to the FBI. As the brief history of the bureau shows, its functions have operated under various organizational models in the past and there is no reason why it cannot be yet again reformulated.
Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious was a bit of nincompoopery worthy of the creative genius of Joseph Heller of "Catch 22" fame; it has all the hallmarks of the ludicrous "Syndicate" of that work. Briefly, the ATF violated the National Firearms Act and the Arms Export Control Act, requiring arms sellers to allow straw purchasers to buy more than 2,000 firearms --including 1,700 AK-47 style rifles and other high powered weapons -- and smuggle them across the border to Mexico. Two of these weapons were found in Arizona at the site of a shootout which took the life of Brian Terry, a Customs and Border Protection agent. Others turned up at the scenes of over 150 murders in Mexico, including a high profile lawyer whose brother was the attorney general of the state of Chihuahua.
The proffered purpose of this operation was to trace the smuggler's trail to the Mexican criminals to track the major Mexican weapons dealers but if that was the purpose it failed to meet its objective. One ATF whistleblower, Vince Cefalu, charges "there is no huge gun-trafficking operation, no Iron Pipeline" of firearms traveling from the U.S. to Mexico -- just lots of buyers who can make a couple thousand dollars selling weapons across the border."
Mr. Cefalu also charges that the Mexican Government and the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico were not apprised of the operation.
Some commentators believe the real purpose of the operation was to provide "evidence" that U.S. arms were behind the gang violence in Mexico to provide a basis for further restrictions on U.S. arms sales, pointing to comments by Hillary Clinton and the New York Times editors on the need for further restrictions to limit the weaponry of the Mexican drug cartels. While the supposition is far from unreasonable, stronger evidence supporting such claims is to date missing.
Who Okayed the Operation?
At the moment, the Department of Justice is trying furiously to protect Attorney General Eric Holder from being implicated in this fiasco. Vince Cefalu says that Holder had to be involved because no one would run an operation this size without approval from the boss, in this case Holder. There are other indications of his involvement. Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa says:
"They had to go to Justice to get money, to get FBI agents [and] all of the other people that helped coordinate this and to get the wiretaps they used," said Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
As for Holder, said Issa, "he should have known. It was his obligation to know." And other committee officials insist "it's quite certain that Kenneth Melson was not the principal architect of this plan."
Much remains to be learned about this fiasco -- and an internal Justice Department whitewash won't get the job done.
The acting Bureau Head Kenneth Melson was expected to resign this week, but as of Friday night he had not and it was bruited about that he wants to testify before Chairman Issa's Committee but Holder is refusing to grant him permission to do so:
ATF Director Kenneth Melson, who was heavily involved in Operation Fast and Furious, doesn't look like he's willing to fall on his sword for Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama just yet. In fact, Melson is ready to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee where Rep. Darrell Issa will ask him who above him ordered the operation within the Justice Department. Eric Holder should be very, very worried. Rumors have been swirling around Washington all week that Melson would resign, yet it is now Friday and no resignation has been made. [Snip]
Between the Obama Justice Department submitting 900 pages of black, redacted material to Rep. Issa and now the DOJ stalling to give Melson permission to testify, there is no question the authorization of Operation Fast and Furious goes much higher up in the department than Holder wants us to know about.
Melson was closely involved in the operation and his testimony would certainly be welcome:
At a House hearing last week, testimony from ATF agents portrayed Melson as closely involved in overseeing the venture. At one point, according to documents released by Congress, he asked for and received log-in information and a link to an Internet feed in order to watch some of the illegal straw purchases.
Aside from the inference of Holder's involvement based on the way such operations are run, there are strong indications of it because of the fast and furious efforts to attack Issa, the stonewalling of the committee by his Department and the false information his aides fed the gullible reporters at the New York Times and the Washington Post in an effort to undercut Issa.
Thus, the Washington Post reported (based entirely on anonymous sources) that Issa had been briefed about the operation in April of last year, an event which is unlikely for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the inconsistency of Department of Justice senior officials claiming they were unaware of the operation at all. How could Issa have been briefed on the operation by people who knew nothing of the very operation?
Issa's spokesman, Frederick Hill, said the Department of Justice is the source of these false claims and potshots and that other publications were told of them, reported that to Hill and refused to run these claims. Matthew Boyle in the Daily Caller:
"There are lots of people in the Justice Department who were involved in the gun walking of Operation Fast and Furious," Hill said. "And, I suspect a lot of people, right now, are looking at their mirrors in the morning and wondering if they're still going to have a career six months from now because of the wrongdoing that occurred there. There are people who are clearly in a desperate position at the Justice Department."
The Washington Post also ignored a major part of Hill's statement when writing their story on the matter. "They left the parts out where we told them that a staff member from Ranking Member Cummings's [office], who has been working on the Fast and Furious investigation, was also in that briefing," Hill told TheDC.
That part of his statement walks through how the Wall Street Journal had already debunked the meme, too. "The April 2010 ATF briefing on weapons smuggling by criminal cartels included a staff member of the Democratic staff of the Oversight Committee who has been working for Ranking Member Cummings on the Fast and Furious investigation," the part of Hill's statement to the Post that its reporters ignored read. "This Democratic staff member has never indicated to Republican staff that he had any prior awareness of the gunwalking that took place in Operation Fast and Furious and the recollections of Republican staff who attended this briefing have already been reported in the Wall Street Journal."
I believe there were a lot of people involved at the Department of Justice and I doubt there'd be so much stonewalling and mudslinging were Holder in the clear.
Besides wanting Melson's testimony and a more forthright response to the Committee's document requests from the Department of Justice, Issa wants those agents who did come forward and speak to the Committee to be granted the federal whistleblowers protections they are entitled to by law. CleanUpATF.org. which asserts it is run by ATF agents, claims abuse of agents and mismanagement in the agency is common.
In the meantime, here's Holder's dilemma in a nutshell: If he doesn't fire Melson, the issue will continue to boil on the front burner. If he does, Melson is free to talk to the Committee, and if my suspicions are correct, Melson's testimony will lead to Holder's long deserved downfall as Attorney General.
Clarice Feldman is a former federal prosecutor.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/f...e_atf.html
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Assault weapons linked to ATF strategy turn up in Valley neighborhoods
Phoenix: The ABC15 Investigators have uncovered new information showing weapons linked to a questionable government strategy are turning up in crimes in Valley neighborhoods.....
embedded video at link
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news...ghborhoods
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June 28, 2011
'Project Gunrunner' Whistleblower Says ATF Sent Him Termination Notice
Agent Vince Cefalu, a 24 year veteran spoke out about the ATF's gunrunner scandal and says he was served with termination papers last week. House Oversight and Reform Chairman Darrell Issa warned the TSA last week not to retaliate against whistleblowers
foxnews
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is being accused of retaliating against an agent who helped publicize the agency's role in allowing thousands of guns to cross the U.S. border and fall into the hands of Mexican drug gangs.
The agent, Vince Cefalu, who has spoken out about the ATF's so-called "Project Gunrunner" scandal, says he was served with termination papers just last week, and he calls the move politically motivated.
Cefalu first told FoxNews.com about the ATF's embattled anti-gun smuggling operation in December, before the first reports on the story appeared in February. "Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border," Cefalu said at the time.
Since then, Cefalu's claims have been vindicated, as a number of agents with first-hand knowledge of the case came forward. The scandal over Project Gunrunner led to congressional hearings, a presidential reprimand Obama called the operation "a serious mistake" and speculation that ATF chief Ken Melson will resign.
Yet last week, Cefalu, who has worked for the agency for 24 years, was forced to turn in his gun and badge. Cefalu's dismissal follows a string of allegations that the ATF retaliates against whistleblowers
http://www.hapblog.com/2011/06/project-g...-says.html
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BREAKING: ALIPAC CALLING FOR IMPEACHMENT OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
Posted by helen
June 28, 2011
For National Release
Contact: Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC)
(866) 703-0864 / Press@alipac.us
The Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama for his involvement in the Operation Gunrunner scandal, as well as his recent edict instructing federal employees to establish a form of amnesty for illegal aliens in defiance of the Congress, existing federal laws, and the US Constitution.
http://www.t-room.us/2011/06/breaking-al...ein-obama/
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Dem Lawmaker Decries Illegal Firearms in Rival Panel on ATF's 'Fast and Furious' Operation
The free flow of illegal guns through the U.S. -- which prompted the controversial, now-defunct sting "Operation Fast and Furious" -- undermines the mission of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Thursday.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., held a forum Thursday to rebut what he said is a too narrowly focused investigation and not "real oversight" by the the committee's chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., into the operation, which ended in January after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's corpse was found near two guns purchased under the program.
"As I have stated repeatedly, I believe the allegations regarding Fast and Furious are serious and deserve a thorough, even-handed and full investigation. But we cannot ignore the broader problem and its devastating effects on both sides of the border," he said in a statement. "Real oversight requires us not just to hold hearings, but to convert our findings into action."
Cummings released a report ahead of his forum entitled, "Outgunned: Law Enforcement Agents Warn Congress They Lack Adequate Tools to Counter Illegal Firearms Trafficking." It comes just two weeks after Issa held the latest in a series of hearings on the ATF operation, which was designed to track major weapons traffickers on the Southwest border but resulted in agents being told to let guns "walk" across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Cummings' forum sets up the latest battle between the two top members on the committee, who have fought over a number of issues this year, from federal regulations on businesses to an investigation into the housing crisis to the ground rules over calling witnesses to testify.
Issa questioned Cummings' motive.
"This is a predictable maneuver from a minority that has sought to obstruct the investigation into Justice Department sanctioned gunwalking," Issa spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins said in an email to FoxNews.com. "It will not affect the committee's continued focus on a reckless operation that has been linked to deaths on both sides of the border."
Issa's hearing focused on how the operation spiraled out of control and who at the Justice Department authorized it. Three federal firearms investigators said they were repeatedly ordered to step aside while gun buyers in Arizona walked away with AK-47s and other high-powered weaponry headed for Mexican drug cartels.
Issa berated one witness, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weigh, because the Justice Department of which ATF is a component has not turned over documents that Issa has subpoenaed. When Issa demanded to know who authorized the operation, Weich said that question is the subject of an inquiry by the department's inspector general.
Cummings' forum adopted a less confrontational tone and offered a sympathetic ear to the ATF.
Michael Bouchard, a retired ATF assistant director, said one of the ways his former agency strives to prevent crimes is by "disrupting and dismantling large and small firearms trafficking schemes, which put guns into the hands of violent criminals."
"Unfortunately, criminals bent on acquiring guns can be very clever in the methods that they use to circumvent the law and avoid detection," he said. "ATF and law enforcement must continually adjust to the criminal's changing tactics and develop new strategies and tactics of their own."
Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke blamed America's gun laws on the illegal flow of U.S. guns into Mexico.
"Yet as the six-month anniversary of Tucson approaches, we have still seen no change in our nation's weak or non-existent gun laws," he said. "We still have no federal law criminalizing gun trafficking, banning assault weapons and magazines or closing the loopholes in our Brady Background Check system that help arm dangerous killers and supply gun traffickers.
"I ask Congress what we should all be asking ourselves: What are you going to do about it?"
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/...z1QnobVeFM
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he Gunwalker Scandal Made Simple
There are five key accusations against ATF and DOJ made by ATF whistleblowers and other sources within FedGov:
1. That they instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.
2. That they allowed or even assisted in those guns crossing the U.S. border into Mexico to "boost the numbers" of American civilian market firearms seized in Mexico and thereby provide the justification for more firearm restrictions on American citizens and more power and money for ATF.
3. That they intentionally kept Mexican authorities in the dark about the operation, even over objections of their own agents.
4. That weapons that the ATF let "walk" to Mexico were involved in the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata, as well as at least hundreds of Mexican citizens.
5. That at least since the death of Brian Terry on 14 December, the Obama administration is engaged in a full-press cover-up of the facts behind what has come to be known as the "Gunwalker Scandal."
Sipsey Street Irregulars
Friday, July 1, 2011
More Gunwalker Miscellany
Elijah Cummings gestures with one of his bloody hands. When he ran the Oversight committee he did nothing about ATF abuses.
Politico pimps the Democrats Gunwalker meme: 'Fast and Furious' inquiry broadens
Houston Chronicle: Dems use forum to push tighter gun laws. Lawmakers introduce new legislation and stricter penalties.
Watkins said that though she hadn't seen the discussion at the Democratic forum, the majority believes gun control issues simply aren't relevant to the investigation of Fast and Furious.
"We're really on two different planes here," she said.
From BlueRidgeNow: Did Justice create a false flag operation?
There may be some reason, other than false flag, that high-ranking officials in the Justice Department encouraged the transfer of legally purchased guns to Mexican drug lords, but I can't think of one. If you can, let me know.
John Richardson on Fisking The Obfuscators.
The Obfuscators, otherwise known as the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, issued a report today entitled Outgunned which sought to shift the blame for Operation Fast and Furious from ATF to gun control laws. As I said yesterday, they are merely diversionary tactics to divert attention from the Obama appointees in the Department of Justice (and maybe DHS) who more than likely authorized this project in order to build support for more gun control in America.
It looks like CNN and the LA Times are buying into it which doesn't say much for the intelligence and integrity of much of mainstream journalism. CNN took much of what Rep. Elijah Cummings and the rest of Democrats at the "forum" said as gospel. . .
Just posted on Senator Grassley's website: Focusing on the Facts of the ATF's Flawed Gun Strategy.
Link.
Focusing on the Facts of the ATF's Flawed Gun Strategy
Since January, I've been hounding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Department of Justice for answers about a deeply flawed policy that allowed guns to be sold to known straw purchasers and then transported across the border to Mexican drug cartels.
Until this week, my efforts to conduct my constitutional responsibility of oversight have been stonewalled by the Justice Department. Finally, the administration agreed to provide me the same access to documents and witnesses that are afforded to the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrell Issa, and the Justice Department Inspector General.
In the meantime, in an effort to distract from the investigation Congressman Issa and I are conducting, the ATF released selective statistical data that inaccurately reflects the scope and source of the problem of firearms in Mexico and the drug trafficking organization violence. The implication made by the ATF and various press reports that 70 percent of the firearms found in Mexico come directly from U.S. manufacturers or U.S. Federal Firearms Licensees selling guns to drug trafficking organizations is incomplete and misleading. Not only does this paint a grossly inaccurate picture of the situation, but there's also evidence that the U.S. State Department doesn't believe it either.
I received additional documentation from an ATF database of firearms, and learned that the actual percentage of firearms found in Mexico and traced back to U.S. based federal firearms licensees in 2009 and 2010 was only 24 percent. It turns out the discrepancy lies in the fact that most of the firearms found in Mexico may actually have been sold between governments in direct military to military transactions or were exported directly from manufacturers approved by our government. In either case, U.S. gun dealers are the last people who should be blamed.
And, to make the release of the misleading numbers even more egregious, I obtained an unclassified U.S. State Department cable that dispels myths about the source of weapons trafficked to Mexico. The unclassified cable includes sections such as: "Myth: An Iron Highway of Weapons Flows from the U.S." and "Myth: The DTOs (Drug Trafficking Organizations) are Mostly Responsible."
When the ATF promotes this kind of misleading data, it distracts from the real questions of our investigation: Why was the ATF was involved in a policy to allow guns to fall into the hands of straw purchasers who were then transporting them to Mexican drug cartels and who approved this reckless strategy? Congressman Issa and I are committed to getting to the bottom of this irresponsible decision, regardless of agency attempts to manipulate the truth.
July 1, 2011
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Justice Department Obstructing 'Fast and Furious' Gun Probe, ATF Director Says
The Justice Department is obstructing the congressional investigation of a U.S. law enforcement operation intended to crack down on major weapons traffickers on the Southwest border, according to the embattled leader of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Ken Melson, the acting director of the ATF, lobbed the accusation when he sneaked in for an interview with congressional investigators on July 4, two days ahead of his scheduled interview with the inspector general about the operation known as "Fast and Furious," Fox News has learned.
"If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand," Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder. "That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation."
The Justice Department is reportedly looking to oust Melson, who has been acting ATF director since April 2009, as the agency deals with its biggest scandal in nearly two decades. Andrew Traver, who was tapped in November by President Obama to become the permanent ATF director, could be named as acting director until the Senate acts on his nomination, sources have said.
In a separate development, congressional sources have learned that not only was U.S. taxpayer money being used to buy guns that were later sent to Mexico, but the main target of the investigation was actually a FBI informant and former drug dealer who had been deported years ago.
"Fast and Furious" has been at the center of an investigation by Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. The operation began in the fall of 2009 as an effort to trace and stop the trafficking of illegal guns on the Southwest border, but instead allowed thousands of guns to get into the hands of Mexican cartel members.
The two say they learned about the program after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010. At the crime scene were two guns linked to the "Fast and Furious" operation.
At an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing last month, three federal firearms investigators testified that they wanted to "intervene and interdict" loads of guns, but were repeatedly ordered to step aside to allow suspected smugglers to carry the weapons over the border.
Issa and Grassley have urged Holder to cooperate and turn over subpoenaed records that would reveal the scope of the government coverup.
The alleged coverup involves three law enforcement agencies: the ATF, FBI and the DEA, or Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to sources, unbeknown to the ATF, the target of their operation was a FBI confidential informant, a fact that only became known to them in April of this year after an 18-month investigation that cost millions of dollars of tax dollars.
"They were going after someone they could never have," a source in Washington told Fox News. "The Mr. Big they wanted was using government money to buy guns that went to the cartels. The FBI knew it and didn't tell them."
The confidential informant is a former high-level drug dealer who had been deported by the DEA. The FBI, however, recruited him as a counter-terrorism informant, providing information on potential dirty bombs or Al Qaeda suspects moving through the border region.
The FBI informant was picked up on a DEA wiretap, and forwarded to the ATF.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/...z1RLDVMKNG
What do you think should happen to those responsible for a secret plan to obtain high-powered guns from U.S. firearms dealers and furnish the weapons to Mexican drug cartels for the express purpose of killing or injuring innocent people?
Hideous, right? A horrendous plot by despicable people to violate U.S. laws in a conspiracy that should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, right?
Now, what if it already has been conceived and carried out and actually has been linked to the deaths of at least one prominent Mexican lawyer and a U.S. Border Patrol agent?
Even worse, right?
Now, what if you found out it was an agency of the U.S. government that did it?
And, to finish off this list of horrors, what if the agency responsible was the specific one charged with enforcing our firearms laws -- the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE)?
Well, it is. And that's what's driving Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, aided by Rep. Darryl Issa, R-Calif., and his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to conduct a full-fledged investigation of what our government called "Operation Fast and Furious."
Also known by the nickname "Project Gunwalker," the plan ran from 2009 until the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in a shootout last Dec. 15. A gun found at the scene was on the plan's tracking list.
Gunwalker was designed to identify gun smugglers and link them to illegal gun purchases in the United States.
However, these specific purchases, which involved somewhere between 1,700 and 2,000 semi-automatic rifles and pistols, were directed by the government with the (apparently forced) cooperation of U.S. firearms dealers, whose licenses to do business are controlled by the BATFE.
USAToday reported last week that Agent John Dodson, testifying to the committee, said that in his entire career, he had "never been involved in or even heard of an operation in which law enforcement officers let guns walk."
He continued: "I cannot begin to think of how the risk of letting guns fall into the hands of known criminals could possibly advance any legitimate law enforcement interest."
The paper quoted Agent Pete Forcelli, a supervisor in the Phoenix BATFE office, as saying, "What we have here is a colossal failure of leadership. We weren't giving guns to people for killing bear, we were giving guns to people to kill other humans. This was a catastrophic disaster."
The paper also quoted Forcelli, Dodson and BATFE agent Olindo Casa as saying they repeatedly raised concerns to their bosses about the risks associated with Fast and Furious, which was named after a movie in which a civilian drag racer cooperates with the FBI in a sting operation. But, they told Issa's committee, their warnings were dismissed.
And once the guns crossed over into Mexico, BATFE had no way of tracking them unless and until they were found at a crime scene.
That is, these weapons were apparently furnished to known gun-runners in violation of U.S. law for the explicit purpose of being used in a crime, so that a follow-up investigation could disclose their paths from the dealer to the crime scene.
That's how the weapon found at the scene of Agent Terry's murder was identified (the specific weapon that killed him has not been recovered, but it certainly could have been a Gunwalker firearm).
The Justice Department says Attorney General Eric Holder was "unaware" of the plan, which if true makes him totally out of touch, and if false is an indictment of his leadership.
Grassley and Issa said the operation was a failure, netting only 20 low-level suspects.
"Who thought it was a good idea?" Grassley said. "Why did this happen? The president said he didn't authorize it and that the attorney general didn't authorize it. They have both admitted that a 'serious mistake' may have been made. There are a lot of questions and a lot of investigating to do. But one thing has become clear already -- this was no mistake."
Indeed, Issa said top BATFE officials in Washington were briefed weekly on the program.
Justice says it is conducting its own investigation, but with the department so compromised, a special investigator with no ties to the government should be appointed.
Finally, the conservative blogosphere sees a deeper agenda that is worth mentioning. For some time now, Holder and the Obama administration, right up to the president himself, have been linking U.S. gun dealers to illegal sales to Mexican cartels.
President Obama has claimed that "90 percent" of cartel guns seized by Mexican authorities are linked to U.S. dealers.
However, those assertions have been countered by firearms rights advocates, who point out that percentage only applies to the small minority of guns captured from the cartels that can be traced.
Fully automatic machine guns and antitank rockets (which are illegal to sell in the United States) used by the cartels likely come from international arms dealers, while other weapons, including some U.S. guns, are from Mexican military deserters who have joined the gangs in large numbers.
According to Bill McMahon, a BATFE deputy assistant director cited in Investor's Business Daily, the quantity of non-military U.S. weapons found in cartel hands is 8 percent, not 90.
Given the obvious distortion, these sources wonder if Gunwalker didn't also have the goal of driving up the number of weapons traced to U.S. sources to help push the administration's anti-gun agenda.
It's hard to believe our law enforcement officials would lie to support a political scheme.
However, it's also almost impossible to believe they would give guns to drug gangs.
But they did.
M.D. Harmon is an editorial writer. He can be contacted at 791-6482 or at:
mharmon@mainetoday.com
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Fast and Furious Fiasco: Time to Abolish the ATF
Voltaire observed "It's a good thing to kill an admiral now and then to encourage the others." This observation inspires me to suggest that when an agency carries out such a bit of idiotic malfeasance as the ATF's operation "Fast and Furious" with the cooperation of agents at all levels of the spectrum, an operation which resulted , among other things in the murder of a U.S. customs agent and prominent relative of a Mexican official, it's time to dissolve the operation and dismiss all of its employees. To encourage the others.
If there are agents in the Bureau unconnected with this operation who have valuable skills and experience we wish to retain, the successor agencies of the Bureau are free to rehire them. As to the others -- those who went along to get along -- it will encourage federal employees working for an out of control agency to take advantage of the federal whistleblowers procedure and turn in the wrongdoers before such egregious harm comes to pass. It simply is not enough to accede to a pattern of what Darrell Issa calls "felony stupid" conduct and keep your place at the federal table.
A Brief History of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms( ATF)
In its most recent form, the Bureau was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice in 2003, a move in accord with the 2002 Homeland Security Act. In one form or another it has existed since 1789, when the Treasury was given responsibility for collecting a tax on imported spirits. It has in time established a laboratory for analyzing alcohol and tobacco products as well as firearms and explosives. It has had a prohibition unit in the 1920's, and since the 1930's has overseen the collection of taxes on firearms.
For decades , until 1972 the alcohol and tobacco tax division was under IRS control. When it was separated from IRS, it took on control over explosives , and shortly afterward the ATF and its lab became involved in arson investigations. If the ATF as it's presently constructed is dissolved, there's no reason why the revenue collection side of the operation shouldn't return to the Department of the Treasury and the firearms and explosives investigations (and laboratory) shouldn't be given to the FBI. As the brief history of the bureau shows, its functions have operated under various organizational models in the past and there is no reason why it cannot be yet again reformulated.
Operation Fast and Furious
Operation Fast and Furious was a bit of nincompoopery worthy of the creative genius of Joseph Heller of "Catch 22" fame; it has all the hallmarks of the ludicrous "Syndicate" of that work. Briefly, the ATF violated the National Firearms Act and the Arms Export Control Act, requiring arms sellers to allow straw purchasers to buy more than 2,000 firearms --including 1,700 AK-47 style rifles and other high powered weapons -- and smuggle them across the border to Mexico. Two of these weapons were found in Arizona at the site of a shootout which took the life of Brian Terry, a Customs and Border Protection agent. Others turned up at the scenes of over 150 murders in Mexico, including a high profile lawyer whose brother was the attorney general of the state of Chihuahua.
The proffered purpose of this operation was to trace the smuggler's trail to the Mexican criminals to track the major Mexican weapons dealers but if that was the purpose it failed to meet its objective. One ATF whistleblower, Vince Cefalu, charges "there is no huge gun-trafficking operation, no Iron Pipeline" of firearms traveling from the U.S. to Mexico -- just lots of buyers who can make a couple thousand dollars selling weapons across the border."
Mr. Cefalu also charges that the Mexican Government and the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico were not apprised of the operation.
Some commentators believe the real purpose of the operation was to provide "evidence" that U.S. arms were behind the gang violence in Mexico to provide a basis for further restrictions on U.S. arms sales, pointing to comments by Hillary Clinton and the New York Times editors on the need for further restrictions to limit the weaponry of the Mexican drug cartels. While the supposition is far from unreasonable, stronger evidence supporting such claims is to date missing.
Who Okayed the Operation?
At the moment, the Department of Justice is trying furiously to protect Attorney General Eric Holder from being implicated in this fiasco. Vince Cefalu says that Holder had to be involved because no one would run an operation this size without approval from the boss, in this case Holder. There are other indications of his involvement. Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa says:
"They had to go to Justice to get money, to get FBI agents [and] all of the other people that helped coordinate this and to get the wiretaps they used," said Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
As for Holder, said Issa, "he should have known. It was his obligation to know." And other committee officials insist "it's quite certain that Kenneth Melson was not the principal architect of this plan."
Much remains to be learned about this fiasco -- and an internal Justice Department whitewash won't get the job done.
The acting Bureau Head Kenneth Melson was expected to resign this week, but as of Friday night he had not and it was bruited about that he wants to testify before Chairman Issa's Committee but Holder is refusing to grant him permission to do so:
ATF Director Kenneth Melson, who was heavily involved in Operation Fast and Furious, doesn't look like he's willing to fall on his sword for Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama just yet. In fact, Melson is ready to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee where Rep. Darrell Issa will ask him who above him ordered the operation within the Justice Department. Eric Holder should be very, very worried. Rumors have been swirling around Washington all week that Melson would resign, yet it is now Friday and no resignation has been made. [Snip]
Between the Obama Justice Department submitting 900 pages of black, redacted material to Rep. Issa and now the DOJ stalling to give Melson permission to testify, there is no question the authorization of Operation Fast and Furious goes much higher up in the department than Holder wants us to know about.
Melson was closely involved in the operation and his testimony would certainly be welcome:
At a House hearing last week, testimony from ATF agents portrayed Melson as closely involved in overseeing the venture. At one point, according to documents released by Congress, he asked for and received log-in information and a link to an Internet feed in order to watch some of the illegal straw purchases.
Aside from the inference of Holder's involvement based on the way such operations are run, there are strong indications of it because of the fast and furious efforts to attack Issa, the stonewalling of the committee by his Department and the false information his aides fed the gullible reporters at the New York Times and the Washington Post in an effort to undercut Issa.
Thus, the Washington Post reported (based entirely on anonymous sources) that Issa had been briefed about the operation in April of last year, an event which is unlikely for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the inconsistency of Department of Justice senior officials claiming they were unaware of the operation at all. How could Issa have been briefed on the operation by people who knew nothing of the very operation?
Issa's spokesman, Frederick Hill, said the Department of Justice is the source of these false claims and potshots and that other publications were told of them, reported that to Hill and refused to run these claims. Matthew Boyle in the Daily Caller:
"There are lots of people in the Justice Department who were involved in the gun walking of Operation Fast and Furious," Hill said. "And, I suspect a lot of people, right now, are looking at their mirrors in the morning and wondering if they're still going to have a career six months from now because of the wrongdoing that occurred there. There are people who are clearly in a desperate position at the Justice Department."
The Washington Post also ignored a major part of Hill's statement when writing their story on the matter. "They left the parts out where we told them that a staff member from Ranking Member Cummings's [office], who has been working on the Fast and Furious investigation, was also in that briefing," Hill told TheDC.
That part of his statement walks through how the Wall Street Journal had already debunked the meme, too. "The April 2010 ATF briefing on weapons smuggling by criminal cartels included a staff member of the Democratic staff of the Oversight Committee who has been working for Ranking Member Cummings on the Fast and Furious investigation," the part of Hill's statement to the Post that its reporters ignored read. "This Democratic staff member has never indicated to Republican staff that he had any prior awareness of the gunwalking that took place in Operation Fast and Furious and the recollections of Republican staff who attended this briefing have already been reported in the Wall Street Journal."
I believe there were a lot of people involved at the Department of Justice and I doubt there'd be so much stonewalling and mudslinging were Holder in the clear.
Besides wanting Melson's testimony and a more forthright response to the Committee's document requests from the Department of Justice, Issa wants those agents who did come forward and speak to the Committee to be granted the federal whistleblowers protections they are entitled to by law. CleanUpATF.org. which asserts it is run by ATF agents, claims abuse of agents and mismanagement in the agency is common.
In the meantime, here's Holder's dilemma in a nutshell: If he doesn't fire Melson, the issue will continue to boil on the front burner. If he does, Melson is free to talk to the Committee, and if my suspicions are correct, Melson's testimony will lead to Holder's long deserved downfall as Attorney General.
Clarice Feldman is a former federal prosecutor.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/f...e_atf.html
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Assault weapons linked to ATF strategy turn up in Valley neighborhoods
Phoenix: The ABC15 Investigators have uncovered new information showing weapons linked to a questionable government strategy are turning up in crimes in Valley neighborhoods.....
embedded video at link
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news...ghborhoods
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June 28, 2011
'Project Gunrunner' Whistleblower Says ATF Sent Him Termination Notice
Agent Vince Cefalu, a 24 year veteran spoke out about the ATF's gunrunner scandal and says he was served with termination papers last week. House Oversight and Reform Chairman Darrell Issa warned the TSA last week not to retaliate against whistleblowers
foxnews
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is being accused of retaliating against an agent who helped publicize the agency's role in allowing thousands of guns to cross the U.S. border and fall into the hands of Mexican drug gangs.
The agent, Vince Cefalu, who has spoken out about the ATF's so-called "Project Gunrunner" scandal, says he was served with termination papers just last week, and he calls the move politically motivated.
Cefalu first told FoxNews.com about the ATF's embattled anti-gun smuggling operation in December, before the first reports on the story appeared in February. "Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border," Cefalu said at the time.
Since then, Cefalu's claims have been vindicated, as a number of agents with first-hand knowledge of the case came forward. The scandal over Project Gunrunner led to congressional hearings, a presidential reprimand Obama called the operation "a serious mistake" and speculation that ATF chief Ken Melson will resign.
Yet last week, Cefalu, who has worked for the agency for 24 years, was forced to turn in his gun and badge. Cefalu's dismissal follows a string of allegations that the ATF retaliates against whistleblowers
http://www.hapblog.com/2011/06/project-g...-says.html
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BREAKING: ALIPAC CALLING FOR IMPEACHMENT OF BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
Posted by helen
June 28, 2011
For National Release
Contact: Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC)
(866) 703-0864 / Press@alipac.us
The Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama for his involvement in the Operation Gunrunner scandal, as well as his recent edict instructing federal employees to establish a form of amnesty for illegal aliens in defiance of the Congress, existing federal laws, and the US Constitution.
http://www.t-room.us/2011/06/breaking-al...ein-obama/
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Dem Lawmaker Decries Illegal Firearms in Rival Panel on ATF's 'Fast and Furious' Operation
The free flow of illegal guns through the U.S. -- which prompted the controversial, now-defunct sting "Operation Fast and Furious" -- undermines the mission of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Thursday.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., held a forum Thursday to rebut what he said is a too narrowly focused investigation and not "real oversight" by the the committee's chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., into the operation, which ended in January after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's corpse was found near two guns purchased under the program.
"As I have stated repeatedly, I believe the allegations regarding Fast and Furious are serious and deserve a thorough, even-handed and full investigation. But we cannot ignore the broader problem and its devastating effects on both sides of the border," he said in a statement. "Real oversight requires us not just to hold hearings, but to convert our findings into action."
Cummings released a report ahead of his forum entitled, "Outgunned: Law Enforcement Agents Warn Congress They Lack Adequate Tools to Counter Illegal Firearms Trafficking." It comes just two weeks after Issa held the latest in a series of hearings on the ATF operation, which was designed to track major weapons traffickers on the Southwest border but resulted in agents being told to let guns "walk" across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Cummings' forum sets up the latest battle between the two top members on the committee, who have fought over a number of issues this year, from federal regulations on businesses to an investigation into the housing crisis to the ground rules over calling witnesses to testify.
Issa questioned Cummings' motive.
"This is a predictable maneuver from a minority that has sought to obstruct the investigation into Justice Department sanctioned gunwalking," Issa spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins said in an email to FoxNews.com. "It will not affect the committee's continued focus on a reckless operation that has been linked to deaths on both sides of the border."
Issa's hearing focused on how the operation spiraled out of control and who at the Justice Department authorized it. Three federal firearms investigators said they were repeatedly ordered to step aside while gun buyers in Arizona walked away with AK-47s and other high-powered weaponry headed for Mexican drug cartels.
Issa berated one witness, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weigh, because the Justice Department of which ATF is a component has not turned over documents that Issa has subpoenaed. When Issa demanded to know who authorized the operation, Weich said that question is the subject of an inquiry by the department's inspector general.
Cummings' forum adopted a less confrontational tone and offered a sympathetic ear to the ATF.
Michael Bouchard, a retired ATF assistant director, said one of the ways his former agency strives to prevent crimes is by "disrupting and dismantling large and small firearms trafficking schemes, which put guns into the hands of violent criminals."
"Unfortunately, criminals bent on acquiring guns can be very clever in the methods that they use to circumvent the law and avoid detection," he said. "ATF and law enforcement must continually adjust to the criminal's changing tactics and develop new strategies and tactics of their own."
Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke blamed America's gun laws on the illegal flow of U.S. guns into Mexico.
"Yet as the six-month anniversary of Tucson approaches, we have still seen no change in our nation's weak or non-existent gun laws," he said. "We still have no federal law criminalizing gun trafficking, banning assault weapons and magazines or closing the loopholes in our Brady Background Check system that help arm dangerous killers and supply gun traffickers.
"I ask Congress what we should all be asking ourselves: What are you going to do about it?"
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/...z1QnobVeFM
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he Gunwalker Scandal Made Simple
There are five key accusations against ATF and DOJ made by ATF whistleblowers and other sources within FedGov:
1. That they instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.
2. That they allowed or even assisted in those guns crossing the U.S. border into Mexico to "boost the numbers" of American civilian market firearms seized in Mexico and thereby provide the justification for more firearm restrictions on American citizens and more power and money for ATF.
3. That they intentionally kept Mexican authorities in the dark about the operation, even over objections of their own agents.
4. That weapons that the ATF let "walk" to Mexico were involved in the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata, as well as at least hundreds of Mexican citizens.
5. That at least since the death of Brian Terry on 14 December, the Obama administration is engaged in a full-press cover-up of the facts behind what has come to be known as the "Gunwalker Scandal."
Sipsey Street Irregulars
Friday, July 1, 2011
More Gunwalker Miscellany
Elijah Cummings gestures with one of his bloody hands. When he ran the Oversight committee he did nothing about ATF abuses.
Politico pimps the Democrats Gunwalker meme: 'Fast and Furious' inquiry broadens
Houston Chronicle: Dems use forum to push tighter gun laws. Lawmakers introduce new legislation and stricter penalties.
Watkins said that though she hadn't seen the discussion at the Democratic forum, the majority believes gun control issues simply aren't relevant to the investigation of Fast and Furious.
"We're really on two different planes here," she said.
From BlueRidgeNow: Did Justice create a false flag operation?
There may be some reason, other than false flag, that high-ranking officials in the Justice Department encouraged the transfer of legally purchased guns to Mexican drug lords, but I can't think of one. If you can, let me know.
John Richardson on Fisking The Obfuscators.
The Obfuscators, otherwise known as the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, issued a report today entitled Outgunned which sought to shift the blame for Operation Fast and Furious from ATF to gun control laws. As I said yesterday, they are merely diversionary tactics to divert attention from the Obama appointees in the Department of Justice (and maybe DHS) who more than likely authorized this project in order to build support for more gun control in America.
It looks like CNN and the LA Times are buying into it which doesn't say much for the intelligence and integrity of much of mainstream journalism. CNN took much of what Rep. Elijah Cummings and the rest of Democrats at the "forum" said as gospel. . .
Just posted on Senator Grassley's website: Focusing on the Facts of the ATF's Flawed Gun Strategy.
Link.
Focusing on the Facts of the ATF's Flawed Gun Strategy
Since January, I've been hounding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Department of Justice for answers about a deeply flawed policy that allowed guns to be sold to known straw purchasers and then transported across the border to Mexican drug cartels.
Until this week, my efforts to conduct my constitutional responsibility of oversight have been stonewalled by the Justice Department. Finally, the administration agreed to provide me the same access to documents and witnesses that are afforded to the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrell Issa, and the Justice Department Inspector General.
In the meantime, in an effort to distract from the investigation Congressman Issa and I are conducting, the ATF released selective statistical data that inaccurately reflects the scope and source of the problem of firearms in Mexico and the drug trafficking organization violence. The implication made by the ATF and various press reports that 70 percent of the firearms found in Mexico come directly from U.S. manufacturers or U.S. Federal Firearms Licensees selling guns to drug trafficking organizations is incomplete and misleading. Not only does this paint a grossly inaccurate picture of the situation, but there's also evidence that the U.S. State Department doesn't believe it either.
I received additional documentation from an ATF database of firearms, and learned that the actual percentage of firearms found in Mexico and traced back to U.S. based federal firearms licensees in 2009 and 2010 was only 24 percent. It turns out the discrepancy lies in the fact that most of the firearms found in Mexico may actually have been sold between governments in direct military to military transactions or were exported directly from manufacturers approved by our government. In either case, U.S. gun dealers are the last people who should be blamed.
And, to make the release of the misleading numbers even more egregious, I obtained an unclassified U.S. State Department cable that dispels myths about the source of weapons trafficked to Mexico. The unclassified cable includes sections such as: "Myth: An Iron Highway of Weapons Flows from the U.S." and "Myth: The DTOs (Drug Trafficking Organizations) are Mostly Responsible."
When the ATF promotes this kind of misleading data, it distracts from the real questions of our investigation: Why was the ATF was involved in a policy to allow guns to fall into the hands of straw purchasers who were then transporting them to Mexican drug cartels and who approved this reckless strategy? Congressman Issa and I are committed to getting to the bottom of this irresponsible decision, regardless of agency attempts to manipulate the truth.
July 1, 2011
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Justice Department Obstructing 'Fast and Furious' Gun Probe, ATF Director Says
The Justice Department is obstructing the congressional investigation of a U.S. law enforcement operation intended to crack down on major weapons traffickers on the Southwest border, according to the embattled leader of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Ken Melson, the acting director of the ATF, lobbed the accusation when he sneaked in for an interview with congressional investigators on July 4, two days ahead of his scheduled interview with the inspector general about the operation known as "Fast and Furious," Fox News has learned.
"If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand," Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder. "That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation."
The Justice Department is reportedly looking to oust Melson, who has been acting ATF director since April 2009, as the agency deals with its biggest scandal in nearly two decades. Andrew Traver, who was tapped in November by President Obama to become the permanent ATF director, could be named as acting director until the Senate acts on his nomination, sources have said.
In a separate development, congressional sources have learned that not only was U.S. taxpayer money being used to buy guns that were later sent to Mexico, but the main target of the investigation was actually a FBI informant and former drug dealer who had been deported years ago.
"Fast and Furious" has been at the center of an investigation by Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. The operation began in the fall of 2009 as an effort to trace and stop the trafficking of illegal guns on the Southwest border, but instead allowed thousands of guns to get into the hands of Mexican cartel members.
The two say they learned about the program after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010. At the crime scene were two guns linked to the "Fast and Furious" operation.
At an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing last month, three federal firearms investigators testified that they wanted to "intervene and interdict" loads of guns, but were repeatedly ordered to step aside to allow suspected smugglers to carry the weapons over the border.
Issa and Grassley have urged Holder to cooperate and turn over subpoenaed records that would reveal the scope of the government coverup.
The alleged coverup involves three law enforcement agencies: the ATF, FBI and the DEA, or Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to sources, unbeknown to the ATF, the target of their operation was a FBI confidential informant, a fact that only became known to them in April of this year after an 18-month investigation that cost millions of dollars of tax dollars.
"They were going after someone they could never have," a source in Washington told Fox News. "The Mr. Big they wanted was using government money to buy guns that went to the cartels. The FBI knew it and didn't tell them."
The confidential informant is a former high-level drug dealer who had been deported by the DEA. The FBI, however, recruited him as a counter-terrorism informant, providing information on potential dirty bombs or Al Qaeda suspects moving through the border region.
The FBI informant was picked up on a DEA wiretap, and forwarded to the ATF.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/...z1RLDVMKNG
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"