Author Topic: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread  (Read 30428 times)

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Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« on: December 13, 2011, 10:10:20 AM »
‘Fast and Furious’ Gets New Scrutiny
Issa to Interview Gun Sting Principal Again
By Jonathan Strong
Roll Call Staff
Dec. 13, 2011, Midnight
 
Josh Biggs/Associated Press/Arizona Daily Sun



Dennis Burke, former U.S. attorney for Arizona, will be interviewed today by Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa about alleged gunwalking in a sting.  Print



•Pressure Builds on Lanny Breuer in Fast and Furious Fallout

Congressional investigators will get another crack at one of the Justice Department principals for Operation Fast and Furious, a weapons sting that has set up an oversight battle between Republicans and the Obama administration.

Dennis Burke, the former U.S. attorney for Arizona, will be interviewed by the office of Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for the first time since an interview over the summer was cut short.

When Senate Judiciary ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) first asked the Justice Department about allegations that a gun-smuggling investigation on the Southwestern border allowed hundreds of assault weapons to escape into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, Burke denounced Grassley for even asking the question.

“What is so offensive about this whole project is that Grassley’s staff, acting as willing stooges for the gun lobby, have attempted to distract from the incredible success in dismantling [Southwest border] gun trafficking operations,” Burke told Justice Department lawyers who were preparing a response.

Pushing lawyers to “categorical[ly]” deny the allegations, Burke bristled when other officials raised the “risks” of an aggressive denial. “What risk?” Burke wrote to colleagues.

Grassley had questioned whether two AK-47s that had been found at the site of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry’s murder had been tracked by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ investigation.

In fact, they had been. But Burke, in a Feb. 4 email, blasted Grassley’s office for “lobbing this reckless despicable accusation that ATF is complicit in the murder of a fellow federal law enforcement officer.”

The same day the email was sent, the Justice Department would send a letter to Grassley broadly denying that ATF investigations had allowed guns to “walk,” which means ending surveillance on guns suspected to be in transit to criminal networks.

Attorney General Eric Holder has since conceded the letter contained false information, and the letter was formally withdrawn by the Justice Department on Dec. 2.

“Any instance of so-called gunwalking was unacceptable. This tactic was unfortunately used as part of Fast and Furious,” Holder told Senators at a Nov. 8 Judiciary Committee hearing. “This should never have happened.”

Burke received frequent oral and written briefings from the operation’s lead prosecutor and from ATF officials heading it. Congressional investigators have asked whether Burke knew gunwalking tactics were being used at the time he told Justice Department lawyers to deny to Congress they were, and if not, how he could have been ignorant about them.

In an Aug. 18 transcribed interview, Burke opened by saying he was taking responsibility for Fast and Furious. “I’m not going to say mistakes were made. I’m going to say we made mistakes,” Burke said, according to a source close to the investigation.

He hinted at his role urging Justice Department lawyers to deny Fast and Furious allowed guns to walk, saying, “I regret that I was strident” when Grassley first contacted the Justice Department.

Burke said he didn’t have “full knowledge” of the investigation at the time the letter was sent and talked about how his “attitude” about the case had “evolved.”

Pressed repeatedly about what exactly he had learned since he urged the Justice Department to broadly deny guns were walked, Burke cited matters such as how long the case took and that there should have been more questions about “anecdote” from Fast and Furious that “occurred in Mexico.”

Unlike other officials, such as Kenneth Melson, the former head of ATF, Burke did not describe a process of learning that the investigation was allowing hundreds of assault weapons to escape to Mexican drug cartels.

Burke eventually asked to “come back to you on that” so he could “give it more thought.”

Today’s interview represents the continuation.

“These aren’t the answers you would anticipate from someone who was in the dark and had only recently come to learn about the outrages in Fast and Furious,” the source close to the investigation said.

A Dec. 7 “frequently asked questions” memo from Democrats on the House Oversight panel sent to Democratic staff and obtained by Roll Call asks whether Burke “approve[d]” of gunwalking in Fast and Furious.

“No, according to then-U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke,” the memo said, citing other portions of Burke’s Aug. 18 interview in which he denied approving the tactic’s use and said he did not “recall” knowledge of its use.

“Did you ever discuss with [ATF Special Agent-in-Charge William Newell] a deliberate tactic of non-interdiction to see where the weapons ended up? To see if they ended up with the [cartel] in Mexico?” Congressional investigators asked Burke.

“I do not recall that at all,” Burke said.

However, in January 2010, Burke was prompted by lawyers in his office to decide on two tactical approaches in Fast and Furious, according to documents released by the Justice Department on Oct. 31.

Emory Hurley, the lead prosecutor on Fast and Furious, discussed the approaches in a Jan. 5, 2010, memo about the main target of the case, Manuel Celis Acosta, who was suspected of trafficking more than 600 firearms to Mexico.

“In the past, ATF agents have investigated cases similar to this by confronting the straw purchasers and hoping for an admission that might lead to charges,” Hurley wrote. “Straw purchasers” are individuals who buy guns on behalf of gun traffickers.

Rather than use that approach, “Local ATF favors pursuing a wire[tap] and surveillance to build a case against the leader of the organization,” Hurley wrote.

Mike Morrisey, also from the Arizona U.S. attorney’s office, forwarded the memo to Burke via email and said, “local ATF is on board with our strategy but ATF headquarters may want to do a smaller straw purchaser case.”

Burke replied, “Hold out for bigger. Let me know whenever and w/ whomever I need to weigh-in.”

In an Oct. 21 memo prior to that correspondence, Hurley had written that “[a]gents have not purposefully let guns ‘walk.’”

Issa’s office has not yet interviewed Hurley.

JonathanStrong@cqrollcall.com | @j_strong

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Re: Fast n Furious - Offical Thread
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2011, 10:18:50 AM »
what has newt said about F&F?

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Re: Fast n Furious - Offical Thread
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2011, 10:20:30 AM »
what has newt said about F&F?



Good question.   The silence on this scandal at these debates is insane.  Obama/Holder/Hillary should do life sentences for this.   

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Re: Fast n Furious - Offical Thread
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2011, 10:21:16 AM »


Good question.   The silence on this scandal at these debates is insane.  Obama/Holder/Hillary should do life sentences for this.   

candidates are bringing up moon mining and other nonsense.

they have plenty of mic time to bring up F&F. 

weird, huh?

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Re: Fast n Furious - Offical Thread
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2011, 10:23:46 AM »
candidates are bringing up moon mining and other nonsense.

they have plenty of mic time to bring up F&F. 

weird, huh?

Fast n Furious should be top line news daily until we get a full accounting of this scandal.   The more I hear about this, and the fact that obama/holeder refuse to come clean, makes it even worse. 

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Re: Fast n Furious - Offical Thread
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2011, 11:28:27 AM »

Fast and Furious Scandal Cries Out for Answers
By John Lott



Published December 09, 2011 | FoxNews.com

 
advertisement

The "Fast & Furious" scandal is getting messier and messier. New e-mails finally released late this past Friday reveal that the Department of Justice personal viewed the then-secret operation as a way to push for more gun control laws. Despite administration promises to the contrary, whistleblowers have endured "isolation, retaliation and transfer."

Meanwhile the operation's managers have done pretty well, some have even received promotions.

Thursday Attorney General Eric Holder admitted that the operation was "wholly unacceptable," but he still offers absolutely no explanation to explain why the program was instituted.

What's going on here? Let's see...

- You have a government agency ordering gun dealers to make sales to suspected criminals that the dealers didn't want to sell to.

- You have government agents testifying that the being purchased were not being traced. No attempt was made to even alert the Mexican government that the United States of America was given guns to drug gangs in their country.

Up until now the only justification from the Obama administration for this "program" is that the Bush administration supposedly did the same thing with operation "Wide Receiver."

In fact, it is a defense that the Justice Department and Congressional Democrats have raise multiple times. Congressman Elijah Cummings' office just made this defense on Wednesday.

But the "Fast & Furious" and "Wide Receiver" programs are not remotely similar on the most important fact: The Bush administration tried to trace the guns and informed the Mexican authorities when the guns went across the border, but the Obama administration did not.

And it is well-known how ineffective tracing programs have been anyway.

The problem is that if "Wide Receiver" failed in tracing the guns and was subsequently shutdown, why is the solution to not even bother to try tracing the firearms? Holder's conclusion in testimony before Congress was simply: "Guns lost during this operation will continue to show up at crime scenes on both sides of the border."

Would Holder have been as forgiving if a gun dealer had been caught intentionally doing the same thing that the Obama administration has been caught doing?

The new e-mails documenting Justice Department discussions on the political benefits from the "Fast & Furious" program are disturbing and they are only going to give more ammunition to conspiracy theorists for why the Obama administration instituted the program to begin with.

People who haven't trusted the Obama administration on this issue have already pointed out that "Fast & Furious" started pushing guns into Mexico at the same time that the Obama administration was making its inaccurate claims about the United States being a major source of Mexican crime guns.

The new internal messages reveal that in early January this year, a month before there was any publicity about "Fast & Furious," Department of Justice personnel were pointing out: "this case ["Fast & Furious] could be a strong supporting factor [for new regulations] if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case."

More evidence has also surfaced showing how uncomfortable gun dealers were in selling these guns that they didn't want to sell. One dealer wrote BATF officials in April 2010: "[W]e were hoping to put together something like a letter of understanding to alleviate concerns of some type of recourse against us down the road for selling these items. We just want to make sure we are cooperating with ATF and that we are not viewed as selling to the bad guys."

Unfortunately, Holders' testimony Thursday didn't make things any clearer. His definition of "lying" depending on one's state of mind sounded positively Clintonian.

But ultimately the Obama administration still faces a bigger problem. Can they ever come up with any remotely plausible explanation for why anyone would have started a program to push untraceable guns into Mexico? The longer it takes to provide an explanation, the more plausible the conspiracy theorists sound that this was all done for politics.

 

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Re: Fast n Furious - Offical Thread
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2011, 11:37:08 AM »
Mexican Government Unaware of DOJ Money Laundering Operation Involving Drug Cartels

Dec-13-2011



Keywords: dea, mexican government, mexico did not know about money laundering, money laundering




 Mexico's government was left in the dark about a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration drug money laundering scheme that allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars to Mexican drug cartels.

The program was similar to Operation Fast and Furious in that the U.S. Department of Justice, under Attorney General Eric Holder, was allegedly furnishing narcotics traffickers with laundered drug proceeds in an attempt to discern how those funds would move, and to whom.

Calderon spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said the Mexican government was not aware of, or involved with, any DEA money laundering scheme.

According to a New York Times report, "in operations supervised by the Justice Department and orchestrated to get around sovereignty restrictions" drug enforcement agents "laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington's expanding role in Mexico's fight against drug cartels."

Almost immediately after the Times published the story, and House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa's subsequent announcement that he will expand his investigation of Operation Fast and Furious to examine reports of DEA-facilitated money laundering, the Department of Justice released a public statement disclaiming the practice as perfectly ordinary.

But what may turn out to not be so ordinary is that the DOJ didn't inform Mexican officials of the program. A situation that could very well ramp-up the growing number of congressional members looking for Holder's head as he seeks to keep Congress in the dark about his knowledge and handling of Operation Fast and Furious.

Full Story: Calderon spokesman: Mexico unaware DOJ was passing laundered cash to cartels


http://www.loudobbs.com/b/Mexican-Government-Unaware-of-DOJ-Money-Laundering-Operation-Involving-Drug-Cartels/-92533351191258822.html;jsessionid=C374AA035EB96092DA4699368B589F99



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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2011, 11:43:44 AM »

Calderon spokesman: Mexico unaware DOJ was passing laundered cash to cartels
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller   11:38 PM 12/12/2011





According to a spokesperson for Mexican president Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s government was left in the dark about a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration drug money laundering scheme that allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars to Mexican drug cartels.

The program was similar to Operation Fast and Furious in that the U.S. Department of Justice, under Attorney General Eric Holder, was allegedly furnishing narcotics traffickers with laundered drug proceeds in an attempt to discern how those funds would move, and to whom.

On this week’s Al Punto, a Sunday news program on the Spanish-language television network Univision, Calderon spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said the Mexican government was not aware of, or involved with, any DEA money laundering scheme.

According to a New York Times report, “in operations supervised by the Justice Department and orchestrated to get around sovereignty restrictions” drug enforcement agents “laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington’s expanding role in Mexico’s fight against drug cartels.”

Almost immediately after the Times published the story, and House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa’s subsequent announcement that he will expand his investigation of Operation Fast and Furious to examine reports of DEA-facilitated money laundering, the Department of Justice released a public statement disclaiming the practice as perfectly ordinary.

In that statement, the Obama administration claimed it was “working collaboratively with the Mexican government” on the efforts to fight more widespread money laundering.

“As our partners in Mexico have stated, the joint investigations to detect and dismantle money laundering networks have led to important advances and detentions in each country,” the DEA and DOJ jointly said. “The cooperation between the United States and Mexico is based on principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust and respect for the jurisdiction of each country.”

This weekend’s interview with Calderon’s spokesperson contradicts those Obama administration claims.

Al Punto host Jorge Ramos asked Sota about the allegations. “The New York Times has just filed a report days ago in which it assures that there was an operation or various operations of money-laundering by American DEA agents along with Mexican agents to try to identify drug traffickers,” Ramos said, according to a translated transcription. “I saw an interview with President Felipe Calderon. It was suggested there that Mexico did not know about this operation. And that’s my question. Did the Mexican Government know about this DEA operation to launder drug traffickers’ money in Mexico?”

Sota responded that the Mexican government was unaware.

“No,” she said. “The Mexican Government did not know, and it’s important to stress that we have begun an investigation by the [Mexican] attorney general to establish responsibilities, and in any case to investigate if there was any involvement. But in no way did the government have any knowledge of an operation of this nature.”

“But if the government didn’t know,” came Ramos’ follow-up, “then how is it possible that, according to the New York Times report, Mexican agents participated in this operation along with DEA agents?”

“Well, it’s definitely something that has to be investigated,” Sota responded. ”But from the get-go, we deny that there was any knowledge on the part of Mexican authorities about an operation of this nature.”

Leaving Mexico in the dark about operations that cross national boundaries is not a new theme for Eric Holder’s Justice Department. On Dec. 8, Holder testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he still has not briefed Mexican officials, including Attorney General Marisela Morales, about Operation Fast and Furious.

Morales has publicly voiced her concerns about the Obama administration’s failure to provide her with information about the scandal-plagued program’s details.

Operation Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program overseen by the DOJ. It facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers, people who legally purchase guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else. In Fast and Furious, the straw purchasers were known to be trafficking the weapons into Mexico, effectively arming Mexican drug cartels.

At least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Follow Matthew on Twitter

Article printed from The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com

URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/12/calderon-spox-mexico-unaware-doj-was-passing-laundered-cash-to-cartels/
Copyright © 2009 Daily Caller. All rights reserved.



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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2011, 12:32:36 PM »
Eric Holder: Largest Money-Launderer in the Drug Business
Townhall.com ^ | December 10, 2011 | John Ransom





As if Congress didn’t have enough evidence that the Department of Justice has completely lost its mind, the New York Times is reporting that the Drug Enforcement Agency has helped launder “millions of dollars in drug proceeds” on behalf of Mexican drug cartels, a figure much higher than previously estimated.

The Department of Justice has been under investigation by Congress for facilitating gun smuggling during Operation Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious was a gun running scheme on the US-Mexican border that’s resulted in violence and death on both sides of the border including the deaths of federal agents in the line of duty. The operation used illegal weapons purchases with reluctant gun dealers who cooperated with the ATF on the so-called stings.


The problem however is that there has never been a sting, an arrest or results that would justify breaking the law- there were just illegal arms pouring over the border and escalating violence all facilitated by the Department of Justice in an effort, in part to make a case for stricter gun control laws. 

One source who was quoted anonymously in the money-laundering story in the Times was concerned about similar negative results saying that the “D.E.A. could wind up being the largest money launderer in the business, and that money results in violence and deaths.”

Consequently, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, chair of the oversight committee already investigating Fast and Furious has done some fast and furious of his own. Issa has opened a probe into the money-laundering program according to the Houston Chronicle.

He sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder informing him of the probe, drawing “a parallel between the reported money-laundering operation’s tactics and those in Fast and Furious,” according to the Chronicle.

“The existence of such a program again calls your leadership into question,” Issa wrote in a letter to Holder, says the Texas newspaper. “The managerial structure you have implemented lacks appropriate operational safeguards to prevent the implementation of such dangerous schemes. The consequences have been disastrous.”


The DEA denies the charge saying that they have been running money-laundering stings since 1984. “The Drug Enforcement Administration has been working collaboratively with the Mexican government to fight money laundering for years. As a result of this cooperation, DEA has seized illicit transnational criminal organization money all around the world.”

Obviously whoever wrote the press release for the DEA flunked the “irony” portion of their English exam.

The DEA has become the leading money-laundering crime fighter by becoming one of the leading money-launders?

Man, this has become a government that can justify anything it does by whatever tortured logic it chooses.

And that’s what you get when you’re governed by people who think that, as our own Guy Benson pointed out, lying is a complicated concept that revolves around a state of mind as does Mr. Attorney General Holder.

Issa is having none of it, though, since he’s been given the run around on Fast and Furious from the beginning.


He knows what he has to deal with at Justice. 

From FoxNews:

Issa indicated he's skeptical, particularly after the Justice Department on Friday gave Congress hundreds of pages of documents showing how Justice officials initially provided inaccurate information about Fast and Furious.

"The first answer you get from this Justice Department doesn't have a high credibility," Issa said.

And no answer ever will have credibility in the Department of Justice as long as Holder remains at the helm.


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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2011, 01:02:39 PM »
Congressman files “no confidence” resolution against Eric Holder
Hotair ^ | 12/13/2011 | Tina Korbe




Republicans in Congress appear to be increasingly committed to the idea that Attorney General Eric Holder should resign because of the part he played — or didn’t play — in Fast and Furious. Late yesterday afternoon, Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona — who, you’ll recall, said Holder and other top Justice officials could conceivably be cast as “accessories to murder” — filed a resolution in the House of Representatives to call for a vote of “no confidence” in the AG. The Daily Caller reports:

The resolution, introduced Monday afternoon, is a formal way to exhibit congressional disdain for Holder as the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious proceeds. It would also be an initial step toward some House Republicans’ plan to formally remove him from office if he won’t resign.

The resolution, officially numbered H. Res. 490, states that “it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress has lost confidence in the Attorney General of the United States.”

In a statement, Gosar denounced Holder’s continued refusal to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas and other official congressional requests for information.

Fifty-five House members, two senators, four presidential candidates, two sitting governors and leading members of the Second-Amendment-rights-advocacy community have called for Holder’s resignation. But notably, several Republican representatives who have not called for Holder’s resignation nevertheless still signed Gosar’s resolution — including North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers, Arizona Rep. David Schweikert, Illinois Rep. Bobby Schilling and Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson.

TheDC’s Matthew Boyle notes that the support for Holder’s resignation today far outweighs the support for the resignation of George W. Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez in 2007. Gonzalez eventually resigned. Yet, today, the president and Holder continue to dismiss the movement for the AG’s resignation as manufactured and unimportant.

That might be why some Republicans in Congress have expressed that they would be prepared to begin the impeachment process. Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner suggested as much during a Dec. 8 House Judiciary Committee hearing, for example, and, in a recent TV appearance, South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said, one way or another, voluntarily or through impeachment proceedings, Holder must resign.

Meanwhile, some MSM outlets continue to ignore Fast and Furious, even though the operation ultimately resulted in the deaths of more than 200 Mexicans and at least 11 violent crimes in the United States. What’s more, because so many of the guns sold to straw purchasers through the program have yet to be recovered, the death toll associated with the scandal is likely to still climb, as Holder himself admitted in congressional testimony last week.



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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #10 on: December 13, 2011, 01:39:24 PM »
lol reminds me of that albert gonzalez.... that justice guy under bush who forgot what he had for breakfast that day lol... coudln't remember anything hahahaha.


he was crooked as shit, and he got away with it.  they all do.  they always will.  accept it champ.

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2011, 01:41:46 PM »
lol reminds me of that albert gonzalez.... that justice guy under bush who forgot what he had for breakfast that day lol... coudln't remember anything hahahaha.


he was crooked as shit, and he got away with it.  they all do.  they always will.  accept it champ.

Holder is going down in order to shift blame away from obama.   Sorry 240 - there is way more evidence against obama and holder on this than your 911 CT's. 

Obama and Holder broke many laws in this and now even Mexico opened an inquiry as they were never told about Obama gun running and money laundering. 


BTW - stop kneepadding this bullshit and making equivalencies.   

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2011, 03:47:16 AM »
There was a time when opposing generals met before a battle. They’d exchange terms and gentlemanly propriety before trying to kill one another.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) might have fit into that age. He purposefully strode across a crowded House Judiciary Committee hearing room Thursday morning and held his hand out to Attorney General Eric Holder. The attorney general flinched when he noticed Issa suddenly so close before looking submissively down at the room’s blue carpet as he quickly took then let go of Issa’s hand.

Representative Issa walked back to the second row of two benches where committee members were taking their seats. Hours would pass before Issa would get his five minutes with Holder, but it was worth the wait.

Behind the seated congressmen and along the walls of the room congressional staffers — some of whom had nicknamed Holder “Withholder General” — were waiting to play their parts in the coming battle.

Issa, who also chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been leading the congressional charge to find out who authorized Operation Fast and Furious, a secret ATF program in which the Obama administration allowed guns to “walk” into Mexico and into the arsenals of Mexican drug cartels. He has complained of being lied to by the Obama administration. He and Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) have had to warn Obama administration officials not to retaliate against whistleblowers. And Issa has pointed out that many of the documents he’s received from the U.S. Department of Justice are so blacked out with redactions that personnel must have had to refill printer ink cartridges constantly to erase all the evidence.

Issa has a right to be incensed. Incredibly, just last week, the Obama administration even had to formally withdraw a letter it sent to Congress last February that falsely claimed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) didn’t watch guns “walk” into Mexico.

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.) brought up this withdrawn document.

Holder said, “First let me make something very clear, in response to an assertion you made, or hinted at: Nobody in the Justice Department has lied.”

Sensenbrenner demanded, “Then why was the letter withdrawn?”

Holder answered, “The letter was withdrawn because there was information in there that was inaccurate.”

So Sensenbrenner asked, “Tell me what the difference is between lying and misleading Congress in this context.”

Holder replied, “If you want to have this legal conversation, it all has to do with your state of mind, and whether or not you had the requisite intent to come up with something that can be considered perjury or a lie.”

Despite the legal basis for his statement, the idea that the truth depends on your “state of mind” sounded so much like Pres. Bill Clinton’s semantics with the word “is” that the spectators — who sat quietly under the watchful eyes of United States Capitol Police — laughed.

As Issa sat waiting his turn, Rep. Dan Lungren (R., Calif.) wanted to know who authorized Operation Fast and Furious.

Holder said, “People in the criminal division of the Justice Department were aware of Fast and Furious. Who did it and who knows about it is being investigated by the inspector general.”

Lungren pressed further by saying, “You’re responsible for what these folks did. After all this time we still don’t know who . . . made the decisions.” Lungren then brought up a recent CBS report that covered an e-mail sent on July 14, 2010. After the operation, former ATF field operations assistant director Mark Chait e-mailed Bill Newell, then ATF’s Phoenix special agent in charge of Fast and Furious, to suggest a possible way to use Fast and Furious:

Bill — can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.

This “demand letter” refers to the push for a policy that would require U.S. gun shops in southwestern states to report the sale of several rifles or shotguns to a single buyer. According to CBS, “Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.”

Lungren pointed out that the Obama administration was attempting to use “this program as an excuse to broaden their control.”

Holder replied, “You’re taking that out of context.”

Lungren said, “No, we are not.”

Later in the exchange, Lungren asked, “The Justice Department creates the situation where thousands of weapons go south and use that as an excuse to have more gun-control regulations? You ought not to use your screw-up as a basis to expand your authority. Don’t use it as an excuse to expand your legislative agenda.”

All that was the preliminary bombardment before Issa’s planned assault. After hours of waiting, Issa leaned forward to speak into his microphone and began in part by asking, “Do I need to serve a subpoena on you . . . or will you come before my committee?”

After several exchanges, Holder said, “I will consider it.”

Meanwhile Issa’s staff had stacked boxes of papers on either side of the congressman. Issa later used them as a prop for a question: “Does it surprise you that five boxes are what one gun dealer gave us voluntarily while this is all you gave us?” Issa held up and shook a few files before continuing, “Do you have documents . . . that have not yet been granted?”

Holder didn’t answer the question; meanwhile, Issa focused his attack with the tone of voice a prosecutor might use with a hostile witness. “Don’t you think it is a little conspicuous that there is not one e-mail from or to you on Fast and Furious? . . . Isn’t it true that executive privilege does not include you?”

Holder answered, “We have not withheld any documents that are responsive. We have withheld information about ongoing investigations.”

Issa said, “That’s how John Mitchell responded.”

John Mitchell was attorney general under President Richard Nixon, and was found guilty of charges related to the Watergate break-in. He was sentenced to 19 months in prison.

Holder turned to Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith and said, “The reference to John Mitchell, let’s think about that. At some point, you know, as they said at the McCarthy hearings,” then he looked back at Issa he finished, “Have you no shame?”

Issa lashed back, “Have you no shame?”

During their verbal battle Issa accused Holder of being in “contempt” for refusing to turn over documents.

Holder replied, “We will respond in a way that is consistent with the way in which the Justice Department has always responded to those kinds of requests.”

Issa’s explosive five minutes were interrupted several times by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D., Texas). She wanted Issa to give Holder more time to answer, but Issa said, “I only get five minutes,” and he’s “filibustering.” Finally Chairman Smith, had to tell Jackson-Lee she had not been recognized.

Though Issa’s time quickly ended, Holder’s e-mails were still the focus of the Republican member’s attention.

Later, Holder was asked if he authorized the IG investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. He said, “I was in fact the person who asked the IG to investigate, but I didn’t put anything in writing. I have a good relationship with the IG. I don’t think there’s any writing from me, but I can check.”

That was too cute.

Rep. Trent Franks (R., Ariz.) focused on the e-mails: “Mr. Issa mentioned some internal e-mails that I think are pretty important.”

Holder acknowledged during the hearing that he has an official e-mail address and a private one, but he wouldn’t say how often he uses these accounts. He also said he had not seen e-mails that were printed in a CBS report that argued new gun-control regulations might have been the reason for Operation Fast and Furious.

Moments later Franks said he understood that Holder doesn’t read all the memos his staff sends to his desk, and Holder seemed to agree with this. Then Franks asked, “Do you read letters from Grassley and Issa?”

After a pause, Holder said, “I think it’s fair to say over the last few months I’ve read all of Issa’s and Grassley’s letters.”

This also drew a laugh from the spectators, but it was really a set-up.

Representative Franks next said, “Mr. Holder, these e-mails were attached to one of those letters.”

Holder tossed his head and replied that he “doesn’t always read attachments.”

The next congressman to continue the push for Holder’s e-mails was Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah): “Have you spoken with [Secretary of Homeland Security Janet] Napolitano, [Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton, [President Barack] Obama, the president of Mexico . . . about Operation Fast and Furious?”

Holder indicated he hadn’t.

Chaffetz said, “We have 50 members of Congress calling for your resignation . . . you took five days to go to the Caribbean, and you didn’t take five minutes to talk to Hillary or Napolitano?”

Holder responded that his staff has been in touch with them.

Chaffetz then asked about a joint task force Holder has with Napolitano and added, “Yet you never talked about Fast and Furious?”

Holder responded in part by saying, “Let me tell you how Washington works, okay . . . ” This drew another laugh.

In the end this seven-hour hearing — interrupted twice for congressmen to run to the floor for votes — didn’t have any smashing developments. A government-created gunrunning operation that has already gotten at least one U.S. Border Patrol agent killed and that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans was exposed nearly a year ago.

The investigation into who authorized it has been going since at least late last spring, yet no one has been fired or jailed. Now the attorney general gives the unmistakable impression of obfuscating and hiding his own involvement (his e-mails) behind the cloak of an inspector general’s investigation. Somehow it doesn’t now seem hyperbolic to compare Holder’s withheld e-mails to the tapes President Nixon famously kept.

— Frank Miniter is the author of The Ultimate Man’s Survival Guide, and, more recently, Saving the Bill of Rights.

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2011, 04:30:48 AM »
Exclusive: Texas Rep. Poe: ‘F&F a ruse to go after U.S. gun sales’(gunwalker)
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 12 December, 2011 | Dave Workman
Posted on December 14, 2011 7:25:11 AM EST by marktwain

Texas Congressman Ted Poe is convinced there is more to Operation Fast and Furious than just a monumental screw-up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and he said so in an exclusive Monday afternoon interview with this column.

“To me this whole operation is just a ruse to go after gun sales in the United States; don’t punish the people involved in the killings, punish the guns.”—U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)
The fourth-term Congressman had just gotten off an airplane when he chatted briefly via telephone. He is still astonished that Attorney General Eric Holder, after several months of Fast and Furious headline news and alleged investigation, cannot pin down who was ultimately responsible for allowing the facilitation of weapons smuggling into Mexico, where the body count keeps rising.

Poe – a former prosecutor and judge who appears to have the instincts of a Texas Ranger –asked a simple question about that the other day during the House Judiciary Committee hearing and he did not get a simple answer from Holder:

Poe: So, we don’t know the person that signed off…I mean, and I know how the federal government works, everybody’s got to sign off on something, especially something like this. But, we don’t know who that person is yet, is that what you’re telling me?
Holder: With all due respect, I’d be surprised if we’re going to see a document that somebody signed off on that said ‘you can let guns walk.’

This exchange came immediately after the embattled attorney general told Poe during his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee that the operation actually kicked off at the Phoenix office of the ATF, and about a month later, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix got involved.

(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #14 on: December 14, 2011, 07:17:29 AM »
BTW - stop kneepadding this bullshit and making equivalencies.   


why?  when history repeats itself, and allows you to predict what will happen, that's pretty darn cool.

we all know holder gets away with it, just like Gonzalez and Reno before him.  And President Newt's AG will do all sorts of crooked shit, develop amnesia, and get away with it too. 

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #15 on: December 14, 2011, 08:56:58 AM »
Was walked gun recovered in Mesa shooting?
Examiner.Com ^ | December 14, 2011 | David Codrea




“Authorities say a man who was fatally shot by a deputy after pointing a weapon at the deputy in a threatening manner in Mesa was an undocumented immigrant,” Erisa Nakano of ABC15.com reported last January.


As a deputy approached the driver’s side door, Castellanos rolled down the window and pulled out an AK47 assault rifle and pointed it at the deputy in a threatening manner…

In a December 9 post, blogger The AnarchAngel identifies the deputy as the brother of Noah Antwiler, creator of the popular video game and movie review site “The Spoony Experiment.”  The post links to one of Antwiler’s “Tweets” (a text message on the Twitter social networking website), stating:




(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2011, 09:00:20 AM »
The man my brother shot in the line of duty was carrying guns provided by Operation Fast and Furious. Bravo, ATF, for handing him an AK-47.

Offering partial corroboration is a follow-up report of the shooting from The Arizona Republic, identifying the deputy involved as "Miles Antwiler."

Gun Rights Examiner attempted to confirm that the rifle taken from the shot suspect was one of the walked “Fast and Furious” guns.  An email was sent to Noah Antwiler, and a colleague with access to Mesa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sought comment from him.  That was two days ago and there have been no replies. Without feedback, this correspondent can take the story no further.

There’s enough circumstantial evidence to warrant uncovering the truth of the matter, and it’s an important enough puzzle piece to see if it truly fits in the overall picture. Recalling that today is the anniversary of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder, reports about other uniformed officers (and indeed, anyone else) being threatened with Fast and Furious weapons need to be looked into. To that end, this information is being forwarded to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigators for follow-up.

[Thanks to correspondent Michael G for the tip.]


------------

A sad anniversary

As mentioned above, today marks one year since Brian Terry was killed.  Here are some thoughts from:

•Mike Vanderboegh
•Rick Oltman
Additional resources:

•Remember Brian Terry
•Justice for Brian Terry: A True American Hero Facebook page
------------

Vanderboegh and Mother Jones

“Reporter” Stephanie Mencimer wrote a piece on him.  Since her idea of objective journalism is to use terms like “Tea party activists, gun-rights fanatics, and others on the right,” I’m just going to link to Mike Vanderboegh’s Sipsey Street Irregulars comments on her new article—you can go read the Mother Jones piece from the link Mike provides after you’ve had the chance to place it in proper context.

Click here to read Mike’s assessment.

------------

A Fast and Furious Response

From Oregon Firearms Federation: Win a rifle.

------------

Also see:


•A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker' for a complete list with links of independent investigative reporting and commentary done to date by Sipsey Street Irregulars and Gun Rights Examiner.  Note to newcomers to this story: “Project Gunrunner” is the name ATF assigned to its Southwest Border Initiative to interdict gun smuggling to Mexico. “Project Gunwalker” is the name I assigned to the scandal after allegations by agents that monitored guns were allowed to fall into criminal hands on both sides of the border through a surveillance process termed “walking” surfaced.
------------

Spead the word


Regular readers: If you agree that mainstream press coverage of the gun rights issue demands a counter-balance, please help me spread the word by sharing Gun Rights Examiner links with your friends via emails, and in online discussion boards, blogs, social media sites, etc.  Then get more commentary at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance.
.

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #17 on: December 14, 2011, 09:46:19 AM »
Contempt of Congress or impeachment Mr. Holder, take your pick
Coach is Right ^ | 12/14/2011 | Doug Book




During Eric Holder’s December 8th testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Darrell Issa told the Attorney General that he faced contempt of congress charges for his continued stonewalling of document demands of House committee subpoenas and Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner added that impeachment proceedings could be forthcoming.

But with near complete liberal ownership of the American media and the increasingly supple spine of House Speaker Jim Boehner to fall back on, Holder continued to lie, distort and virtually make light of the Obama Regime initiated death toll of Operation Fast and Furious.

Lying is a “state of mind” Holder told Sensenbrenner when asked how written “misstatements” made to congress in February by Assistant Attorney General Jim Weich concerning the deliberate walking of thousands of weapons across the Mexican border could possibly be construed as anything but outright lies.

Speaking on behalf of the DOJ in response to inquiries made by Senator Charles Grassley, Weich had denied the ATF had allowed weapons to fall into the hands of drug cartel members.

Yet it was a lie. It was a deliberate, outright lie as mounds of testimony and released documents make clear.

But according to the hyper-arrogant, criminal head of the Department of Justice, lying is, after all, just a state of mind.

“Lying to congress is a federal felony,” Sensenbrenner reminded the petulant Holder. And though the congressman didn’t directly accuse Holder himself of lying, he made it clear that continued evasion of the demands placed on the Attorney General for properly submitted documentation leading to an end to the DOJ cover-up would certainly be grounds for impeachment proceedings.

“Have you no shame,” Holder demanded of Darrell Issa when the congressman rightly compared him to Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell.

Mitchell too claimed “privilege”...


(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...


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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #18 on: December 14, 2011, 11:19:55 AM »
One Year Ago, Holder's Operation Fast and Furious Came Undone
Human Events ^ | 12/13/2011 | Neil W. McCabe




Terry's death stopped the star-crossed gun walking program.

Brian A. Terry

One year ago today, The Washington Post published its “Hidden Life of Guns” article exposing how under-regulated gun sales along the Mexican border were sending firearms into that country feeding its crime and instability.

The paper’s four-reporter team operated as full-partners of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives PR department receiving internal statistics, documents and even an interrogation video.

One of the two gun stores were correctly singled out by the Post: Lone Wolf in Arizona and Carter Country in Texas. But, one year later, we know it was for the wrong reasons.

It was on a Dec. 13 Houston's KRIV-TV news broadcast that the lawyer for Carter Country, responding to that morning's report in the Post, made the outrageous charge that agents from the BATFE actively encouraged reluctant Carter Country employees to sell weapons to suspected “straw purchasers.”

The charges were ignored by The Washington Post and everyone else, and would have stayed ignored, if not for the events of the following night.

During the overnight of December 14 into 15, an AK-47 sold to a straw purchaser with the blessing of the ATF at the Lone Wolf gun store was used in the firefight that cut down Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry.

Within a few hours, four men who fired upon Terry were wrapped up, while a fifth was tracked down the next day in a manhunt that included federal agents on horseback and in helicopters.

Within 24 hours of Terry’s death, federal officials had traced the AK-47 to Fast and Furious.

Behind the scenes, ATF and other federal agents aware of the gun walking program called Operation Fast and Furious, staged a mutiny and the operation was shut down.

In the next week, two cabinet officers visited Arizona, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., for the funeral and Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano, to meet with members of Terry’s special tactics unit, known as BorTac. Holder’s Justice Department oversees the BATFE and Napolitano’s department includes the Border Patrol.

By Napolitano’s December 18 visit, both she and Holder, who both were aware of Fast and Furious, knew that Terry was killed with a Fast and Furious AK-47. They were both fully briefed on Fast and Furious, and though the operation was still a secret, they had both touted in public speeches the overall program it was a part of called Operation Gun Runner.

Conceivably, Napolitano was even better informed than Holder because her former gubernatorial chief of staff Dennis K. Burke was the U.S. Attorney for the Arizona Department. It is fair to guess, that Burke briefed his former boss, who sponsored his appointment.

Burke was a useful part of the Fast and Furious cover-up and damage control. After waiting more than two weeks to charge the men who killed Terry, he charged them with unrelated gun violations. This move allowed him to deny Terry’s parents' request for victims-of-crime rights. Under federal law, victims of crimes are afforded special briefings about the progress of investigations and prosecutions.

Burke also saw to it that the Terry case was sealed and all press relations were handled through the local FBI office that he controlled rather than through Border Patrol public information officers.

One year later, the Post has published the obligatory articles about Fast and Furious, and the various hearings and shuffling of personnel. But, it may not get the Pulitzer it was gunning for when it launched its blowout expose on the wrong side of the story.

The poor Carter County clerk, whose indictment for facilitating illegal guns sales the paper celebrated as validation of its crusade, had all charges dismissed—lest he explain in court what really happened.

Holder and Napolitano have weathered the storm and still enjoy the confidence and support of the President. But, Burke has resigned and awaits what other shoes may drop.

One year ago today, we had no idea that the Obama administration was funneling guns to Mexico at the same time it blamed under-regulated gun sales for destabilizing our neighbor to the south. We have learned many of the details in the last year, but there is still so much that does not make sense or add up.

Most troubling of all, if Terry knew the full extent of what his government was doing, the 6-foot, 4-inch former Marine and Iraq veteran might have had a better chance.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil W. McCabe is the editor of Guns & Patriots. McCabe, was a reporter and photographer at The Pilot, Boston's Catholic newspaper for several years. An Army reservist, he served 14 months in Iraq as a combat historian. Follow him on Twitter







________________________ _______________________

Holder and obama deserve a life sentence for this.   

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #19 on: December 14, 2011, 02:12:57 PM »

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #20 on: December 14, 2011, 03:31:37 PM »

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/an-open-letter-to-eric-holder-from-an-atf-agent-in-mexico


An Open Letter To Eric Holder From An ATF Agent in Mexico
December, 12, 2011 — nicedeb


These words from ATF Attache in Mexico,  Darren Gil to Sharyl Attkisson, in that explosive interview, last March have always stayed with me:

“At some point these guns are going to end up killing either a government of Mexico official, a police officer, or military folks, and then what are we going to do? There was complete silence on the other end of the phone…”

He (Gil) would ask (his superiors) repeatedly:

“When is this case going to shut down? The Mexicans are going to have a fit when they find out about it. You’re (speaking of himself, here) in Mexico… have limited diplomatic immunity…and the government is looking at you as potentially bringing weapons into their country (which in many cases is an act of war!), and  they’re already very worried about their sovereignty down there, and the ATF agents let this happen. There are agents all across Mexico, and their safety should be the number one priority, and these folks are in that much more danger, now.”

One of those agents in Mexico watched Eric Holder’s testimony before Congress, last Thursday, and weighed in with this acerbic response at the whistle-blower forum Clean-up ATF :

Posted 09 December 2011 – 11:47 AM

An Open Letter to Attorney General Holder

Dear AG Holder:

From deep inside Mexico, thanks to streaming video, I was able to watch and listen to the entire House Judiciary Committee hearing. I’m a registered
Independent – not Republican and not Democrat, so this is a non-partisan commentary. As I write this, my life, and the lives of my family members are more
at risk becase of the reckless actions of you and your ATF buddies allowing, facilitating and even paying for firearms to be smuggled into Mexico for
criminals.

Wow! You really made points with us when you refused to acknowledge you were under oath.

How many times did you answer “I don’t know”? You must be the most “know nothing” Attorney General in history.
Funny, you had the answers for all the other issues brought up during the hearing…..

You said those who created “Fast & Furious” will be held accountable, but you still don’t know who did it and no one will be fired? You have to consider
their overall service to the department???? Do you consider their overall service for any other crime?

It’s been nearly a year since you assigned the investigation of Fast & Furious to the DOJ IG, although not in writing. Interesting. So, the DOJ is
investigating itself? How long does it take for the IG to investigate? Is this the same IG that cooked up the false $16 muffin story? Is this the same IG
that took (as gospel) ATF’s word that 90% of the guns recovered in Mexico and traced came from the U.S. – statistics later discredited – by ATF themselves?

We watched and listened as you and your Democrat sycophants on the Committee parroted the same tired scripted mantra praising you for advancing gun control
and begging for more gun regulations and more ATF funding. The same old figures were quoted about how many guns were traced from Mexico. Did your figures
include all the duplicate traces from Mexico? All the.22 rabbit rifles and farmer’s shotguns that Mexico traced? Did they include 100 year old guns used by Pancho Villa? Did you explain that the average age of those guns traced from Mexico is over 14 years? ATF calls that “time to crime”, but may have nothing to do with a crime.

Did you explain that as far back as 1992, and as recently as 2009, the Congressional Research Service warned against the use of statistics from ATF’s
tracing system? Did you also not read their warning, “The ATF tracing system is an operational system designed to help law enforcement agencies identify the
ownership path of individual firearms. It was not designed to collect statistics.”? Or did you simply ignore it?

Did you explain that the new multiple rifle regulation which you are so strongly supporting would not have stopped a single Fast & Furious gun from being
smuggled to Mexico? And won’t stop any future smuggling? And the multiple rifle purchase report requirement is so overly-broad that it includes 50 to 100 year
old rifles of interest only to collectors – which will now be reported as ‘crime guns’? What’s with that? Oh, yeah….. Those sales are now permanently ‘registered’
in ATF registration databases. Was this supposed to be “under the radar”, too?

Did you explain why your buddies at ATF are reporting personal information (name, address, height, weight, date of birth, drivers license number, etc.) of
totally innocent American gun owners to corrupt Mexican cops – through eTrace? Enough information for ID theft? These gun owners may have disposed of the guns
many years ago – but ATF still reports the original owner as a ‘suspect’ to Mexican cops. Thanks a lot. That makes me feel really good while I’m here in Mexico…..
Have you forgotten that in Mexico, you’re guilty until proven innocent?

So this is the “Most Transparent Administration” in history? Well, on that issue, that’s right. With your performance in front of the Committee, and your
obstruction of justice and obfuscation of the issues, you were completely transparent. Everyone could see right through you. And you’re refusing to release
any more documents? What could be more transparent than that? Wow!

Watching you in front of the Committee, for the first time in my life, you make me ashamed to be an American. Hell, Watergate was easier to understand….., and people didn’t die. How many people are going to be killed as a consequence of Fast & Furious?

How do I explain to my Mexican friends and associates why ATF has illegally armed Mexican criminal gangs? And no one has gone to jail, or been fired, or
suspended, or even identified…..? Isn’t that great for international relations…..

Mr. Attorney General, you will be held accountable – by the American People.

Sincerely,
(Name Withheld – still in Mexico)



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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2011, 03:34:05 PM »
Wednesday, December 14, 2011

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/12/sipsey-street-exclusive-file-this-under.html



Sipsey Street Exclusive. File this under "Things Eric Holder Doesn't Want You To Know." The Discovery Protective Order in the case of United States v. Avila et al. An update regarding wiretaps (Ooooooh. . . )


Sipsey Street has just learned that the Issa Committee has this morning received a copy of an email in the Fast & Furious straw buyers' case sent by the US Attorney for the Southern District of California Mark Conover yesterday afternoon. Here is the transcript:
From: "Conover, Mark (USACAS)"


To: "shoemaker@azbar.org" ; "joey.hamby@azbar.org" ; "lrangel@joeyhambypc.com" ; "berardonilaw@yahoo.com" ; "david.eisenberg@azbar.org" ; "alan@alansimpson.net" ; "laura@alansimpson.net" ; "philnoland@qwestoffice.net" ; "mpaige@paigelawfirm.com" ; "screenwriter2@earthlink.net" ; "simplex17@earthlink.net" ; "court@dlockhartlaw.com" ; "tom@crowescott.com" ; "cindy@crowescott.com" ; "lisa@crowescott.com" ; "shannon@alcocklaw.com" ; "filings@alcocklaw.com" ; "zariniguez@aol.com" ; "tmitchell@tyronemitchellpc.com" ; "ltate@btlawyers.com" ; "Conover, Mark (USACAS)" ; "eugene.marquez@azbar.org" ; "eugenemarquezlaw@yahoo.com" ; "anne@amwilliamslaw.net" ; "Sportclips1212@yahoo.com" ; "laura.gonzalez1019@yahoo.com" ; "susanhrwd@yahoo.com" ; "kevin.burns2@gmail.com" ; "burnsnickersontaylor@bntazlaw.com" ; "bellandflorence@yahoo.com" ; "sun@parklaw.us" ; "lucy@parklaw.us" ; "sunparklaw@msn.com"
Cc: "Gonzalez, Jacob (USACAS)" ; "Braskett, Myra (USAAZ)" ; "Neyra, Ghian (USACAS)" ; "Knight, Sheila (USACAS)" ; "Coughlin, Timothy (USACAS)" ; "Harrigan, Shane (USACAS)" ; "Ciaffa, Robert (USACAS)" ; "Chaney, Tracie (USACAS)"
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 2:28 PM
Subject: United States v. Avila et al. :Discovery Protective Order
Counsel,

After further consideration and review of Judge Teilborg’s April 1, 2011 protective order, we have decided to forgo seeking an additional protective order at this time and rely upon the current protective order. Judge Teilborg’s April 1, 2011 protective order continues to cover all discovery in this case. This includes additional wire tap related discovery recently made available by our office and all future discovery. I have attached the existing protective order below. Discovery is available to be picked up at your convenience. Paralegal Myra Braskett or her associate will be providing the discovery to you. If you have any questions please email me or call me.
Thank you.
W. Mark Conover Assistant United States Attorney Southern District of California 880 Front Street, Room 6293 San Diego, California 92101-8893 Tel: (619)557-5200 Fax: (619)557-3445

Here is the pdf of the original protective order attached to the email.
And here is a screen shot of the email:

OOOOOH . . . More wiretap information. How cool is that? Now there's something that the committee will end up seeing one of these days, don't you think? You know, Congressman Issa was just saying on the Hannity TV show the other night that he has more second-tier whistleblowers in DOJ coming forward every day and providing printouts of emails. I wonder if this is what he was talking about?

Posted by Dutchman6 at 10:37 AM   




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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #22 on: December 14, 2011, 05:46:09 PM »
Skip to comments.

Documents Show Justice's Breuer Misled On 'Furious'
IBD Editorials ^ | December 14, 2011 | Editor
Posted on December 14, 2011 8:30:42 PM EST by Kaslin

Ethics In Government: Attorney General Eric Holder insists "nobody at the Justice Department has lied" about the gun-running scandal Fast and Furious. That in itself is a lie, as his deputy's emails prove.

Documents obtained by congressional investigators show Lanny Breuer, Justice's criminal division chief, misled the public — under oath — about what he knew about the disastrous and ultimately deadly program. And what he did to cover it up.

• Lie No. 1: Breuer knew as far back as April 2010 that ATF officials had let assault weapons "walk" — which meant ending surveillance on guns suspected en route to Mexican warlords, and turning a blind eye to criminals illegally buying weapons for trafficking on the border.

Guns found at the scene of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry were traced to Fast and Furious.

That April, Breuer and an aide conspired with ATF leaders to cover up "the bad stuff that would come out."

When Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, got wind of the scandal, he demanded answers. Breuer consulted in the drafting of a Feb. 4 letter to Grassley falsely denying that ATF had ever walked guns.

Newly obtained emails show Breuer received drafts of the letter four times via email. He even forwarded drafts to his personal Google email account.

• Lie No. 2: When Grassley recently asked Breuer point blank if he reviewed the letter, Breuer suggested he had not looked at it. "At the time," he testified, "I was in Mexico dealing with the very real issues that we are all so committed to."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #23 on: December 15, 2011, 07:53:50 AM »
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com



The optics of cover-up. Holder thinks that if he prevents the mothers of Gunwalker from appearing on camera along with his face he can ward off the ghosts of his guilt.


“I know they’re lying . . I know they’re just nothing but liars.” -- Kent Terry, Brian Terry's dad, reacting in the Daily Caller to claims made by Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer that they didn’t know about Fast and Furious.

Holder and his "general lackeys," later in the hearing, 8 December.


Today, it’s a privilege to be joined by several of our key public safety partners. These five police executives – Chief [Fred] Bealefeld of Baltimore, Commissioner [Ed] Davis of Boston, Chief [Rodney] Monroe of Charlotte, Chief [Ralph] Godbee of Detroit, and Commissioner [Charles] Ramsey of Philadelphia – have been leaders in developing and implementing innovative and effective crime prevention strategies. They have also worked closely with the Department in advancing critical efforts to reverse the alarming rise in law enforcement fatalities in recent years. The work we do along the Southwest border is influenced by the efforts they have undertaken in their own cities. -- Eric Holder, Hearing, 8 December 2011.

When Eric Holder began his opening statement on 8 December, five liberal Democrat police chiefs sat behind him like a phalanx of lackey myrmidons. The optics of this moment, and the machinations of securing the seats directly behind the witness table, were carefully crafted by the DOJ in order to avoid what they most feared -- Eric Holder having to testify with ordinary citizens, or worse, Mr. and Mrs. Terry and Mr. and Mrs. Zapata, sitting right behind him within the camera's steady gaze whenever he lied, obfuscated, dodged and weaved.

As it happens, the Terry's and the Zapata's were not there, although some folks expected them to show. But the fact that "Holder's generals" were speaks volumes.

(Side snark: The use of general's stars on the shoulders of police chiefs is, to this citizen, ludicrous. The display of four stars (and at least one was a five-star) in duplication of military rank is past egotistical silliness for a mere politically selected police bureaucrat.)

For what Eric Holder and his fellow Gunwalker conspirators fear is the rise of a group, no matter how small, similar to the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo -- The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo -- an association of Argentine mothers whose children "disappeared" during the Dirty War of the Argentine military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

The shawl of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo.

The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, is a unique organization of Argentine women who have become human rights activists in order to achieve a common goal. For over three decades, the Mothers have fought for the right to re-unite with their abducted children.

In protests, they wear white head scarves with their children's names embroidered, to symbolize the blankets of the lost children. The name of the organization comes from the Plaza de Mayo in central Buenos Aires, where the bereaved mothers and grandmothers first gathered. They have continued to convene there every Thursday afternoon for a decade.

The Mothers' association was formed by women who had met each other in the course of trying to find their missing sons and daughters, who were abducted by agents of the Argentine government during the years known as the Dirty War (1976–1983), many of whom were then tortured and killed. The 14 founders of the association, Azucena Villaflor de De Vincenti, Berta Braverman, Haydée García Buelas, María Adela Gard de Antokoletz, Julia Gard, María Mercedes Gard and Cándida Gard (4 sisters), Delicia González, Pepa Noia, Mirta Baravalle, Kety Neuhaus, Raquel Arcushin, Sra. De Caimi, started the demonstrations on the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace, on 30 April 1977. Villaflor had been searching for one of her sons and her daughter-in-law for six months. She was taken to the ESMA concentration camp on 8 December 1978.

The military has admitted that over 9,000 of those kidnapped are still unaccounted for, but the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo say that the number is closer to 30,000 - a predicted 500 among this figure are the children born in concentration camps to pregnant 'disappeared' women and given to military related families, whilst the remaining number are presumed dead. The numbers are hard to determine due to the secrecy surrounding the abductions. Three of the founders of the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo have also "disappeared". After the fall of the military regime, a civilian government commission put the number of disappeared at close to 11,000. In January 2005, the body of French nun Léonie Duquet, a supporter of the organization, was exhumed, without an established identity. Duquet's disappearance had caused international outrage towards the Argentine military government. DNA tests concluded, on August 30 of that year, that the body exhumed in January was that of Duquet.

Azucena Villaflor's remains, together with those of two other pioneer Mothers, Esther Careaga and María Eugenia Bianco, were also identified by a forensics team in mid-2005. Villaflor's ashes were buried at the foot of the May Pyramid in the Plaza on 8 December 2005. -- Wikipedia.

Note that the Argentine junta did not at first treat the Mothers seriously. When more mothers and Argentine citizens joined them, they did what they were used to: the set the secret police on them. Yet despite the fact that some of their own were "disappeared" to intimidate the others to go home, they did not. In time, they formed the principal moral indictment of the military regime. The "disappearances" became a major international cause celeb and contributed to the downfall of the generals.

Of course the "general" in the present case, Eric Holder, doesn't have the option of "disappearing" Mrs. Terry or Mrs. Zapata. In Mrs. Terry's case, though, Eric got statistically lucky -- the fact that Brian's cousin is a current serving Secret Service agent and early on jumped in as the "family spokesman." Sources say, however, that, according to one, "he acts more like a DOJ handler than a family spokesman," keeping media people as far from the family as possible. To what extent the Secret Service man had in the decision by the Terry's not to attend the hearing is unknown. This reporter has never contacted them, nor the Zapatas, nor intruded on their grief.

But Eric Holder fears their grief. You may depend upon it. The contrived image of the "lackey generals" sitting behind him at the opening of the 8 December hearing tells us as much. And he is right to fear it. If the American and Mexican mothers of the victims of the Gunwalker Scandal ever get together and begin to dog his trail in an Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo, he could not stand the indictment of public opinion. He could not stand the ghosts of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and all the Mexican victims of his Gunwalker conspiracy, standing behind their mothers, pointing their bloody fingers at one man responsible for both their deaths and the cover-up thereof.

That is why those fake generals were there, to ward off the ghosts.

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Re: Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread
« Reply #24 on: December 15, 2011, 07:56:20 AM »
Terry family marks one year anniversary of death of their son, Brian Terry, murdered border patrol agent
By Sharyl Attkisson Topics Law and Order .5 Comments


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-57343240-10391695/terry-family-marks-one-year-anniversary-of-death-of-their-son-brian-terry-murdered-border-patrol-agent




WASHINGTON - One year ago today, Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was gunned down in Arizona near the Mexican border by illegal immigrants armed with weapons from the now-infamous ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking operation.


In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico.


PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline Read the family's statement

Terry's killing has touched off a firestorm that crossed international borders and trigger investigations, Congressional hearings, denials and admissions to the upper levels of the Justice Department.


A statement issued today by Terry's family raises the notion that responsible government officials should be prosecuted. "We now believe that if it can be shown that laws were broken, then all those responsible for Fast and Furious should be held criminally liable," reads the statement.


Continued Secrecy


365 days after Terry was shot dead, his family still has few answers. The U.S. government continues to keep many details secret and - several weeks ago - moved to seal the case against Terry's alleged attackers, shielding all details from the public and Terry's bereaved family.


Read the affadavit in the Brian Terry killing


Because Terry's murder continues to be wrapped up in the controversy over Fast and Furious, it makes answers doubly difficult to come by. The U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona would normally prosecute the alleged killers there, in the state where the murder occurred. But Arizona's U.S. Attorney at the time Dennis Burke, is linked to the gunwalking operation that allowed the weapons into the hands of Terry's attackers. So the prosecution has been moved from Arizona to a less controversial venue: California.


Several illegal immigrants who were arrested right after Terry's attack near the murder scene, were summarily released and sent back to Mexico. U.S. officials refused to release their names, normally considered part of the public record. CBS News' Freedom of Information requests about the most basic facts in the case have been processed slowly and, ultimately, produced no meaningful information or were denied in total.


More Fast and Furious coverage:
Memos contradict Holder on Fast and Furious
Agent: I was ordered to let guns "walk" into Mexico
Gunwalking scandal uncovered at ATF

Brian Terry's family members say it's hard for them to understand how a year after their loved one's murder, there's still such a cloak of secrecy. They say Brian was part of an elite unit patrolling the border, on the lookout for illegal bandits preying on other illegal immigrants in a known dangerous crossing area.


Terry Family: Condolences and Gratefulness


Today's statement from Terry's family focuses largely on the missing links in the ATF operation that allowed thousands of guns to be trafficked to Mexican drug cartels: who thought it up, and who thought it was a good idea. "Much to our dismay, no one in ATF or DOJ has come forward to accept responsibility for Fast and Furious," says the statement.


Terry's family members also extend condolences to the families of those in Mexico "affected by the violence... caused by the guns of Operation Fast and Furious." And they thank whistleblowers such as ATF Special Agent John Dodson who stepped forward to tell what they knew after Terry was shot.