Fast n Furious & Obama Drug Money Laundering Thread

[Soul Crusher]

Here you go 3333...  I love how you post every article that you can find but (intentionally?) missed the one from the guy that you keep saying is too soft on the Obama admin and won't attack  



Ron Paul: Holder should be ‘fired,’ criminally charged for Fast and Furious

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/ron-paul-holder-should-be-fired-criminally-charged-for-fast-and-furious/#ixzz1gku0pzxk

Being dead serious, I did not see that.   I got most of the articles via FR.   glad he called for that.   

[Hugo Chavez]

Being dead serious, I did not see that.   I got most of the articles via FR.   glad he called for that.   

holy shit you actually acknowledge I even posted it   Your typical MO is to ignore when I post stuff like this and go on saying it never happens.  I'm in fucking shock.

[Soul Crusher]

holy shit you actually acknowledge I even posted it   Your typical MO is to ignore when I post stuff like this and go on saying it never happens.  I'm in fucking shock.

Ok - but you know what - since none of the other candidates are really making an issue of this - this is where rp should start forcefully attacking Obama on it daily, not here or there.   Most GOP primary voters are apoplectic over fast and furious. 

[Soul Crusher]

Eric Holder's continued obfuscation on Fast and Furious
 ByMike Hashimoto/ Editorial Writer
mhashimoto@dallasnews.com | Bio


 As we mark one year this week since Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot to death in Arizona -- with guns allowed to drift over the Mexican line found at the scene -- we certainly know much more about Operation Fast and Furious.

 That's the bad-idea-executed-poorly child of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives , sanctioned by your own U.S. Justice Department. In addition to Terry's death, another federal agent may have been killed in Mexico by a walked gun, and the case could well have ties to North Texas.

 What we still don't know -- what Attorney General Eric Holder with great determination will not say -- is who in Washington signed off on this awful idea of letting straw purchasers cart off armloads of high-powered weapons, headed to Mexico. The stated plan was to track them to the cartels, which worked out about as well as one might expect. Hundreds of guns disappeared and now are turning up at crime scenes on both sides of the border.

Holder last week had another bob-and-weave session with a congressional committee, managing to reveal as little as possible. However, he did let us know that while Justice did dump hundreds of emails in response to a subpoena, none were addressed to him or had been sent by him. And that he has a personal email account, along with his government account. And that lying isn't the same as not telling the truth, depending on one's "state of mind."

You've seen people who did it and didn't in your life. Is this how an innocent person behaves? Is it plausible that the attorney general of the United States had no idea what was going on in Arizona within his own shifting time parameters?

 Several dozen Republicans  in Congress have called for his resignation. Others have demanded he hold Justice subordinates accountable. (And, no, shifting a few folks into no-work, no-speak jobs isn't accountability.) Meanwhile, a Border Patrol agent is dead and his family still has no clarity on who is responsible.

 At some point, one might think, Holder becomes more of a liability to the Obama re-election campaign than a 50-50 incumbent can stand. At the very least, I can't imagine congressional Republicans letting this drop, and the longer Holder stonewalls, the longer his name -- and connection to his boss -- stays in the news.

[Soul Crusher]

Fast and Furious: Can Holder, ATF Agents Be Prosecuted?
biggovernment.com ^ | 16 December, 2011 | David Wohl



The family of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry wants answers, and they are growing impatient. Terry is apparently the sole American among countless victims of Mexico’s violent, ongoing drug wars. Drug gangs in that country received a major boost in firepower by way of a disastrously flawed and arguably illegal U.S. program that authorities now say should never have been implemented.

The now infamous “Operation Fast and Furious” was concocted and carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a division under the direct control of Eric Holder’s Department of Justice. The operation’s stated purpose was to allow illegal buyers to purchase firearms with the hope of tracking the weapons to Mexican narco-terrorist drug gangs. Agents say they lost track of hundreds of guns, some of which also surfaced later at horrific crime scenes in Mexico and at the scene of the murder of Brian Terry in Arizona. Recently uncovered e-mails now show a more nefarious motivation behind the operation: The Obama Administration’s desire to further clamp down on Second Amendment rights via a new law requiring strict reporting of the sale of long guns.

The buck stops at Holder’s desk. That’s what more than fifty lawmakers and four Presidential candidates insist as they call for the Attorney General to resign. While some insist that the operation was ”botched”, ATF whistle blowers say it basically went as planned: The only thing that went wrong is that it was exposed. While Holder has testified, under oath, that neither he nor his Justice Department colleagues were aware of the “gun-walking” tactics involved in Fast and Furious, many lawmakers find it hard to believe that the the nation’s top law enforcement official would be out of the loop in such a potentially deadly trans-national operation.

Despite the onslaught of calls for him to resign, Holder indicates he will do no such thing. He has indignantly responded ”I’m the attorney general who put an end to these misguided tactics” But did he only stop those “tactics” after they were exposed? The family of Brian Terry is aggressively demanding action beyond political punishment, stating recently “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.”

For the average American, the punishment for transferring a gun to someone who they know plans to commit murder is severe, if a murder does in fact take place: A lengthy term, perhaps life, in prison. When it comes to the crimes of being an accessory, Federal law is simple: Whoever aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures the commission of an offense, is punishable as a principal. In other words, an average citizen gives a gun to another knowing that it would be used in a crime, that average citizen is equally as guilty as the primary offender. A conviction for “conspiracy to commit a crime” requires an agreement to commit a crime and at least one act in furtherance of that agreement. An agreement among ATF agents, and Holder if he was involved, to facilitate the gun transfer…and actually permitting the transfer would suffice in the case of Fast and Furious. So what about the Fast and Furious players?

At last count federal agents involved in Fast and Furious facilitated the transfer of at least two thousand firearms to violent Mexican drug gangs. All but several hundred of those weapons are whereabouts unknown and presumably in the hands of cartels such as the Zetas, a drug gang made up of many former members of the Mexican Army. The homicidal tendencies of these gangs have been evidenced by the tens of thousands of murders committed in that country over the last decade. So how is it that our government can engage in conduct that is clearly criminal when private citizens go to prison for doing the same thing? Did the apparent goal of creating stricter gun laws serve as a legal defense to what are otherwise serious felony crimes? Clearly the answer is no. Further, while the federal government enjoys immunity from most civil suits, that immunity does not apply to criminal conduct, such as that which arguably cost Brian Terry his life. The government may claim that agents planned on intercepting the weapons sent to Mexico before they could be used in crimes. So far there is no evidence to support such a defense.

Fast and Furious is not just a political mess for Eric Holder, his Department of Justice and the ATF. This entire sordid episode could, and many would argue should result in federal criminal prosecutions. While there is clearly no appetite in the current administration to go after those involved in Fast and Furious, that could well change next November, when many of those fighting for justice for Brian Terry may occupy positions of power and influence.



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[Soul Crusher]

[Soul Crusher]

Fast and Furious Update: Rep. Issa Tells Holder to Expect More Hearings

by AWR Hawkins


Late yesterday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s office sent me an email with a copy of a letter the Congressman had sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on December 15 — a letter to which the A.G. has yet to respond. In it, Issa informs Holder that the Committee would like him to appear for more testimony on January 24, 2012.

In other words, Fast and Furious isn’t going away any time soon.

Issa wrote:

The hearing will examine flaws in the management structure of the Justice Department as demonstrated in the genesis and implementation of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious. Specifically, the hearing will focus on what senior Department officials could and should have done to put a stop to this reckless program, as well as the specific areas where failures in communication and management occurred.

As those of you who watched the hearings on December 8th certainly noticed, Holder isn’t a big fan of the way Issa deals with him.




For example, while other Congressman—specifically Democrats—were fawning all over Holder in December, Issa’s demeanor clearly demonstrated that he was sick and tired of Holder’s obfuscation and, dare I say, out and out lies. That’s why I love the fact that Issa’s recent letter pulls no punches. In black and white for all to see, Issa asserts there were “flaws in the management structure of the Justice Department,” as it pertained to Fast and Furious. Moreover, he makes it clear that the January hearing will focus on how those flaws “could and should” have been averted.

I continue to be an Issa fan because he won’t back down—and he shouldn’t.

Making his point clear, Issa added: “The Department’s February 4, 2011, letter to Congress will be but one example of these failures in management.” In other words, one of the things that will get special attention on January 24th is the fact that the DOJ submitted a letter to Congress on Feb. 4 that was so misleading so full of errors that it had to be withdrawn. (Again, you’ll remember from the December 8th hearings that Issa said to Holder: “It is unheard of for letters or testimony to be taken back.”)

On the 8th Issa also said of Fast and Furious: “Brian Terry is dead today because of this program.” And if for no other reason than that, I hope the Honorable Congressman keeps Holder’s feet to the fire.

[Soul Crusher]

http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/222660/its-time-for-eric-holder-to-resignThe Bullpen

It's time for Eric Holder to resign

President Obama's attorney general still fails to own up to DOJ's botched Fast and Furious operation — a failure that has cost at least 300 lives


Published December 20, 2011, at 11:00 AM
 
Edward Morrissey   Photo: Over the weekend, Attorney General Eric Holder offered an odd view of why his critics have demanded transparency and disclosure from the Department of Justice over Operation Fast and Furious. The ATF sent hundreds, if not thousands, of weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border in 2009 and 2010, ostensibly to track them as they passed from straw buyers in the U.S. to drug cartels in Mexico. However, the ATF didn't actually track the weapons, which have now begun appearing in crime scenes north of the border. The weapons have been used in hundreds of murders in Mexico and at least one in the U.S., in which Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed just over a year ago.

When a botched American law enforcement operation ends up contributing to the murder of more than 300 people, one might think that this would be enough to explain strong criticism of the ATF, its parent agency the Department of Justice, and the leadership in both. But the attorney general rejects this view. Instead, Holder told The New York Times' Charlie Savage that the intense scrutiny of himself and Barack Obama relating to Fast and Furious came from a few "extreme" bloggers and conservative media figures whose criticisms were "both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we're both African-American." The rest of the critics, Holder assured Savage, were motivated by ideological reasons rather than racial bigotry.

So the deaths of hundreds of people with guns supplied by the ATF — including the murder of a Border Patrol agent — would go unnoticed and unremarked if the attorney general and president had been caucasian centrists? Something tells me that Holder's next job won't be as a political analyst.

If all Holder has in defense of his performance and that of his Department of Justice is playing the race card in an attempt to bully his critics into silence, then he truly has no defense at all.

Holder told the Times that he had no idea that the DOJ or the ATF were "walking" guns across the border, an assertion that he has also made to Congress. Savage wrote that "no documents or testimony have shown otherwise," but that's not quite true. In documents demanded by Congress and finally provided after a long battle with Holder and DOJ, Holder's office had been informed on several occasions about Operation Fast and Furious and its gunwalking. One such memo had Holder's name and those of other high-ranking Justice officials on it, as the Daily Caller reported after Holder's interview was published:

This investigation — initiated in September 2009 in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Phoenix Police Department — involves a Phoenix-based firearms trafficking ring headed by Manuel Celis-Acosta. Celis-Acosta and straw purchasers are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug-trafficking cartels. They also have direct ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, which is suspected of providing $1 million for the purchase of firearms in the greater Phoenix area.

Another such email between two officials at Justice shows that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer explicitly knew that guns were being "walked" across the border by the ATF. The email warned that Breuer would have difficulty explaining away the problem "given the number of guns that have walked." Yet Holder's Justice Department initially told Congress in a letter in February of this year that agents had always tried to interdict guns traversing the border, which was a patently false assertion that Justice had to withdraw.

Holder himself has created even more obfuscation. After criticism of Holder and Fast and Furious began making headlines, Democrats began pointing to an earlier, Bush-era effort called Operation Wide Receiver, which also tracked rogue guns across the southern border. Perhaps if the two operations were identical, Holder's criticism would have some potential merit, but Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) forced Holder to admit in Senate testimony that the two operations had two significant differences. First, Wide Receiver actually did track a very limited number of weapons, unlike Fast and Furious, which lost them all. More importantly, the Bush administration conducted Wide Receiver in conjunction with the Mexican government. The DOJ and the ATF never notified Mexico of the gunwalking that took place under Holder. 


How about the purported ideological motive for the criticism of the operation? Holder claims that the attacks are a form of payback for the Democratic probe of George W. Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but there is a clearer ideological connection that has surfaced — only it points to the ideological motive behind Fast and Furious itself. CBS News found an ATF memo that discussed using "anecdotal cases" from Fast and Furious to support efforts to pass new gun-control legislation.

On top of this, the real significant source of cartel weapons turns out not to be straw buyers in U.S. gun shops anyway. CBS' Sharyl Atkisson reported that the Obama administration, through the State Department, has greatly increased direct sales of military-grade long guns from U.S. manufacturers to the Mexican military and police, going from just under 2,500 weapons in 2006 to 18,709 in 2009. The State Department could not account for 26 percent of weapons it tried to track from its direct-sale program with Mexico, which meant in 2009 alone more than 4,900 guns may have disappeared — perhaps carried with deserters from the army and police when they joined the cartels.

To recap, we have an agency under Holder's supervision that ran perhaps thousands of guns across the border without any attempt to keep track of them, to supposedly find straw buyers and their connection to the cartels. The ATF then tried to use the purchases they facilitated as evidence that the ATF needed more restrictive laws to impose on gun dealers. These weapons were used in hundreds of murders. When Congress challenged Holder on the operation, his staff at the Department of Justice offered a false statement that the ATF always attempted to interdict weapons before crossing the border, which they had to withdraw when documents began appearing that clearly contradicted it. Even to this day, Holder has told Congress that he has communications regarding Fast and Furious that he will not release to investigators in the House who have demanded them. 

If all Holder has in defense of his performance and that of his Department of Justice is playing the race card in an attempt to bully his critics into silence, then he truly has no defense at all. With the families of 300 murder victims mourning deaths delivered by the ATF's weaponry, dismissing criticism of Holder's performance as attorney general as bigotry is not just despicable, it should be a disqualification for the office he holds. 

[Soul Crusher]

Could "Fast and Furious" eventually become President Obama's Watergate?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/20/could-fast-and-furious-eventually-become-president-obamas-watergate


"President Obama's Watergate" is how some critics describe the growing controversy over the "Fast and Furious" gun walking program.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa wants Attorney General Eric Holder to appear before his committee early next year. Issa says the hearing will focus on what Justice Department officials should have done to stop the program.

Operation Fast and Furious started in 2009 and allowed illegally purchased guns to "walk" from Arizona gun stores over the border to Mexican drug cartels. The program was meant to monitor the flow of weapons, but it went horribly wrong.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of weapons went missing... and they've been linked to the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans along with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

In light of the botched operation and what some see as the Justice Department's botched response, dozens of leaders are calling for holder to resign. More than 75 House members have signed a resolution expressing "no confidence" in his leadership.

Washington Times columnist Jeffrey Kuhner suggests this scandal is President Obama's Watergate. He writes there's been systematic coverup, and that Holder and his aides are guilty of high crimes including perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. Kuhner believes this is even worse than Watergate, since no one died during the scandal that brought down Pres. Nixon.

For his part, Holder insists he's not going anywhere. In testimony before the Judiciary Committees earlier this month, Holder acknowledged mistakes were made but said he won't resign. He also said he doesn't think any of his top aides should step down.

Holder played the race card in an interview with the New York Times. He said some of his critics are motivated by racism, since both he and President Obama are black.

Here's my question to you: Could "Fast and Furious" eventually become President Obama's Watergate?

Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.

And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.

 

[Soul Crusher]

Flashback: David Ogden Announces New Efforts With Project Gunrunner "As Directed By the President"

Joe Schoffstall

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 - 9:25pm



 On March 24, 2009, David Ogden, who was Deputy Attorney General at the time, announced new efforts with Project Gunrunner "as directed by the president." Ogden says he and Attorney General Eric Holder are taking "several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration's comprehensive plan."

"The president has directed us to take action to fight these cartels and Attorney General Eric Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration's comprehensive plan. The first steps include the following: DOJ's Drug Enforcement Administration which already has the largest US drug enforcement presence in Mexico, with 11 offices in that country, is placing 16 new DEA positions in southwest border field operations- specifically to target Mexican trafficking and associated violence. The DEA is also deploying 4 new mobile enforcement teams to specifically target Mexican methamphetamine trafficking, both along the border and in US cities impacted by the cartels", says Ogden.

He continues, "DOJ's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is increasing it's efforts by adding 37 new employees in 3 new offices using $10 million dollars in Recovery Act funds and redeploying 100 personnel to the southwest border in the next 45 days to fortify it's Project Gunrunner- which is aimed at disrupted arms trafficking between the United States and Mexico. ATF is doubling it's presence in Mexico itself, from 5 to 9 personnel working with the Mexicans specifically to facilitate gun tracing activity which targets the illegal weapons and their sources in the United States."


When he announced "new and aggressive steps" of Project Gunrunner as directed by Obama, was this the implementation of the plan that led to 'Fast and Furious' and ultimately the death of border patrol agent Brian Terry?

Currently, 91 Congressmen have 'no confidence' in Eric Holder or believe he should quit over 'Fast and Furious'.

[Soul Crusher]

Lieberman directs staff to examine Fast and Furious coordination
Daily Caller ^ | December 22, 2011 | Matthew Boyle



Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman has directed the staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which he chairs, to examine miscommunication between law enforcement agencies related to the Justice Department’s Operation Fast and Furious.

A spokesperson told The Daily Caller Wednesday that Lieberman “believe that the lack of interagency coordination along the border merits further examination, and as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he has directed his staff to follow up with the relevant federal agencies on that topic.”

SNIP

With Lieberman’s committee now examining Fast and Furious details, that means two Senate committees are probing the matter — the homeland security committee and the judiciary committee.

On the House side, the oversight and judiciary committees are investigating the DOJ’s role in Fast and Furious and the homeland security committee’s subcommittee on oversight has launched an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s role in Fast and Furious, a spokesperson for subcommittee chairman and Texas Rep. Michael McCaul confirmed for TheDC.


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


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[Soul Crusher]

Obama Targeting Police Nationwide to Divert from Fast and Furious
Townhall.com ^ | December 23, 2011 | Rachel Alexander



Either there has been a huge increase in discrimination by law enforcement during the Obama administration, or Obama is targeting law enforcement for politically motivated reasons. In the current era of heightened sensitivity to racism and police brutality, it makes no sense that abuses by law enforcement are increasing. The U.S. Department of Justice’s sudden flurry of investigations finding massive amounts of discrimination and abuses by police agencies around the country is coincidentally occurring at the same time the U.S. Department of Justice is undergoing a highly publicized Congressional investigation into Fast and Furious.

Law enforcement is a natural target for the left, which often seems to prefer criminals over the police. Alleging vague charges of racism or racial profiling is becoming one of the most prevalent ways the left dishonestly demonizes and discredits its opponents. Made-up charges of racism are difficult to defend against, because almost any difference in treatment between two people of different ethnic backgrounds can be blamed on racism with no way of proving otherwise. You cannot get inside someone’s head to prove that he had no racist thoughts; it is one person’s word against another’s.


This latest round of politically motivated investigations comes on the heels of the Obama administration suing Arizona, Utah, Alabama and South Carolina over their tough new laws against illegal immigration. Those lawsuits are mostly based on unfounded grounds of racial profiling; Arizona’s law specifically includes a provision prohibiting racial profiling. The constant barrage of lawsuits is costing taxpayers exorbitant amounts of money. They’re paying double; once to fund Obama’s lawsuits through their federal taxes and again to defend against the lawsuits and pay any penalties through their local taxes.

The flurry of attacks on law enforcement agencies began last week on December 15, when the DOJ announced vague racial profiling accusations against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The DOJ claims that the agency racially profiles more than any other police agency around the country. However, it refuses to release the “statistical study” on which the findings are supposedly based. It is widely thought that Arpaio was targeted in retaliation for enforcing laws against illegal immigration. Since Arizona has such a high percentage of Latinos, it is easy to make people think there could be discrimination. The DOJ stripped the agency of its ability to screen for illegal immigrants through the 287(g) program and is ordering Arpaio to make numerous changes, such as setting up policies against discrimination. This is redundant considering there are so many policies, rules, and laws prohibiting discrimination at every level of government.


The next day, on December 16, the DOJ released a report claiming there was evidence of “biased policing” by the Seattle Police Department, and that officers routinely and illegally use excessive force during arrests. The DOJ ordered the agency to implement onerous new regulations and procedures.

This week, on December 19, the DOJ issued a scathing report alleging numerous civil rights violations against Latinos by the East Haven Police Department in Connecticut. Six to 15 police officers may be arrested for civil rights violations.


On Tuesday, the DOJ ordered the town of Rome, Wisconsin to pay a police officer $351,891 because the police department allegedly discriminated against her because she was female. The DOJ filed a complaint in federal court alleging the town violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The DOJ is currently investigating the Miami Police Department over allegations of racial discrimination in the shootings of seven black men. The Meridian Police Department and Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Center are under investigation by the DOJ for alleged discriminatory treatment of three black youths.


There are likely more investigations on the way. The DOJ is considering launching a civil rights investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico, which some believe is retaliation over Mayor Richard Berry requiring the police to check the citizenship of everyone arrested. The ACLU and other activist groups are demanding a federal investigation of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department over the shooting of a black army veteran. At least two dozen members of Congress are demanding that the DOJ investigate the New York Police Department over allegedly profiling Muslims.

This is not right. The federal government should not be suing local governments. It is trampling on the rights of states and localities to conduct their own business. The Constitution grants the federal government very limited powers; the Tenth Amendment states that all powers not specifically assigned to the federal government shall be left to the states. The federal government is micromanaging local law enforcement. If there really are problems with law enforcement, Congress or local legislatures should look into them, not the partisan Executive Branch.

The Obama administration knows that investigations and lawsuits will tie up the resources of smaller law enforcement agencies so they will be unable to accomplish much else. Sheriff Joe Arpaio will not have anymore resources left to enforce illegal immigration laws and other laws the left would prefer to see ignored.


The DOJ is in no place to be criticizing other law enforcement agencies. 60 members of Congress are calling for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Fast and Furious, and 75 have signed onto a House resolution vote of no confidence. But by turning the focus towards alleged wrongdoing from large police agencies like the Seattle Police Department and popular Sheriff Joe Arpaio, there will be less media coverage and public scrutiny of Fast and Furious.

Launching dubious investigations for political reasons must be curbed. The U.S. is going bankrupt. Obama is using money we don’t have to attack targets that will earn him favor with his far left supporters. As the first black president, Obama should be moving the country in a direction away from racism. Instead, he is stirring it up. Congress should expand its investigation of Fast and Furious to this transparent attempt by the Obama administration to deflect away from it.

[Soul Crusher]

RNC chairman promises to make Fast and Furious a 2012 election theme
The Daily Caller ^ | 22 December, 2011 | Matthew Boyle




Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reiterated his call for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation on Wednesday, and promised Operation Fast and Furious will be an election issue in 2012.

“Holder may want to point fingers and play the blame game, but as the Attorney General, he bears the responsibility,” Priebus told The Daily Caller. “It’s past time for the attorney general to come clean and take responsibility and if he doesn’t, he has a boss who should.”

“Obama’s leadership deficit in holding the members of his administration accountable demonstrates yet again that the president is taking Washington in the wrong direction and only making things worse,” said Preibus.

“If Obama won’t fire Holder, we will,” Priebus added. “We’ll fire the whole team in just 11 months.”

Priebus considers Obama’s continued support for Holder a sign of a consistent lack of competence in the administration. He said that although Holder is ultimately responsible for Fast and Furious, the president refuses to hold him accountable.

“Whether it’s Attorney General Holder under fire for Fast and Furious or Energy Secretary Chu for wasting taxpayer dollars, President Obama has a competence problem within his inner circle,” Priebus said. “Despite the facts showing otherwise, Eric Holder has repeatedly denied fault in a reckless scandal that ended with the death of a border patrol agent and 1,400 guns lost in Mexico and the United States.”

Priebus also promised to make Fast and Furious a prominent theme during the 2012 election.



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[Soul Crusher]

"Things will most likely get ugly." The selective leaks go on apace, (gunwalker)
Sipsey Street Irregulars ^ | 26 December, 2011 | Mike Vanderboegh



Here's the latest White House spin courtesy of the ever faithful Richard Serrano of the LA Times:


In a confidential deposition with congressional investigators, the then-head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blamed agents, field supervisors and even his top command for never advising him that for more than a year, his agency allowed illegal gun sales along the southwestern U.S. border.
The deposition, which was taken in July and was recently obtained by the Washington bureau, shows that Kenneth E. Melson was irate. Even his chief intelligence officer at ATF headquarters was upset with the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious, but did little to shut it down, Melson complained. "He didn't come in and tell me, either," Melson said. "And he's on the same damn floor as I am."

Oh, yes, poor little Ken. Far more interesting though is that my sources tell me that the Democrats leaked this to Serrano, not the GOP side of the committee. What does that tell you. "They're doing battlefield preparation for the hearing," one said. "It is all the fault of the ATF." Serrano's story seems crafted to portray the meme:


But B. Todd Jones, Melson's replacement as acting director of the agency, said in an interview that Melson allowed overzealous field agents and supervisors to go beyond approved tactics.
Pointing out that the ATF has had five acting directors in the last six years, Jones said the resulting weak management structure has given some field agents a license to operate independently of Washington.

"There was a vacuum. Fast and Furious went off the rails, and there were plenty of opportunities to pivot so none of this would happen," Jones said. . .

"Anybody, including Mr. Melson, who waits for things to happen or waits for information to come to them, that is something I personally am not a believer in," Jones said. "I'm a believer in management by walking around. If you're not hearing it, you seek it out. And there are a lot of ways to do that other than sitting in your corner office waiting for memos to come in."

Yes, well, since ole B. Todd has been "walking around around, he's had an opportunity to sack those involved with the Gunwalker Scandal and hasn't -- has had an opportunity to sack people in the Chief Counsels' Office of ATF, who continue, behind the scenes to make like for the whistleblowers a living hell. One wonders what kind of "walking around" ole B. Todd has done in a job that is only part-time for him.

But the most revealing paragraphs of the Serrano story are these last ones:


Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence.
Hours after Terry was killed south of Tucson, David J. Voth, the ATF group supervisor for Fast and Furious in Phoenix, sent an email to lead Agent Hope A. MacAllister. He titled the email, "no more rose colored glasses."

"If you have not heard a Border Patrol agent was shoot and killed here in Arizona," he told her. "The trace came back to Fast and Furious…Ugh...! Call as soon as you can, things will most likely get ugly."

"Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence."

From the very beginning of the breaking of this scandal with the death of Brian Terry, the DOJ and White House have sought to deny, first, the very existence of gunwalking, then when that was no longer deniable, knowledge of "the tactics" of gunwalking.

Yet, no one has yet asked specific questions -- under oath in hearings -- about FBI and DEA participation; about the March 2009 meeting between "Gunwalker Bill" Newell and the White House; about the 26 October 2009 teleconference at DOJ with Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states, including Phoenix's Dennis Burke where they are reported to have decided on a strategy to identify and eliminate entire arms trafficking networks rather than low–level buyers.

Because of these failures of omission -- of questions or witness lists -- the White and DOJ have been able to get away with the meme: "Why we're shocked, SHOCKED, to find gunwalking going on here!"

This reporter is told that all the chickens will come home to roost at the next hearing, that this has all been "a careful and deliberate stalk to get the big game," in the words of one source. We shall see.



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[240 is Back]

Here you go 3333...  I love how you post every article that you can find but (intentionally?) missed the one from the guy that you keep saying is too soft on the Obama admin and won't attack  



Ron Paul: Holder should be ‘fired,’ criminally charged for Fast and Furious

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/ron-paul-holder-should-be-fired-criminally-charged-for-fast-and-furious/#ixzz1gku0pzxk

Has Mitt Romney said the same about Holder?

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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 ...

[Soul Crusher]

"Things will most likely get ugly." The selective leaks go on apace, (gunwalker)
Sipsey Street Irregulars ^ | 26 December, 2011 | Mike Vanderboegh
Posted on December 26, 2011 3:51:22 PM EST by marktwain

Here's the latest White House spin courtesy of the ever faithful Richard Serrano of the LA Times:

In a confidential deposition with congressional investigators, the then-head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blamed agents, field supervisors and even his top command for never advising him that for more than a year, his agency allowed illegal gun sales along the southwestern U.S. border.
The deposition, which was taken in July and was recently obtained by the Washington bureau, shows that Kenneth E. Melson was irate. Even his chief intelligence officer at ATF headquarters was upset with the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious, but did little to shut it down, Melson complained. "He didn't come in and tell me, either," Melson said. "And he's on the same damn floor as I am."

Oh, yes, poor little Ken. Far more interesting though is that my sources tell me that the Democrats leaked this to Serrano, not the GOP side of the committee. What does that tell you. "They're doing battlefield preparation for the hearing," one said. "It is all the fault of the ATF." Serrano's story seems crafted to portray the meme:

But B. Todd Jones, Melson's replacement as acting director of the agency, said in an interview that Melson allowed overzealous field agents and supervisors to go beyond approved tactics.
Pointing out that the ATF has had five acting directors in the last six years, Jones said the resulting weak management structure has given some field agents a license to operate independently of Washington.

"There was a vacuum. Fast and Furious went off the rails, and there were plenty of opportunities to pivot so none of this would happen," Jones said. . .

"Anybody, including Mr. Melson, who waits for things to happen or waits for information to come to them, that is something I personally am not a believer in," Jones said. "I'm a believer in management by walking around. If you're not hearing it, you seek it out. And there are a lot of ways to do that other than sitting in your corner office waiting for memos to come in."

Yes, well, since ole B. Todd has been "walking around around, he's had an opportunity to sack those involved with the Gunwalker Scandal and hasn't -- has had an opportunity to sack people in the Chief Counsels' Office of ATF, who continue, behind the scenes to make like for the whistleblowers a living hell. One wonders what kind of "walking around" ole B. Todd has done in a job that is only part-time for him.

But the most revealing paragraphs of the Serrano story are these last ones:

Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence.
Hours after Terry was killed south of Tucson, David J. Voth, the ATF group supervisor for Fast and Furious in Phoenix, sent an email to lead Agent Hope A. MacAllister. He titled the email, "no more rose colored glasses."

"If you have not heard a Border Patrol agent was shoot and killed here in Arizona," he told her. "The trace came back to Fast and Furious…Ugh...! Call as soon as you can, things will most likely get ugly."

"Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence."

From the very beginning of the breaking of this scandal with the death of Brian Terry, the DOJ and White House have sought to deny, first, the very existence of gunwalking, then when that was no longer deniable, knowledge of "the tactics" of gunwalking.

Yet, no one has yet asked specific questions -- under oath in hearings -- about FBI and DEA participation; about the March 2009 meeting between "Gunwalker Bill" Newell and the White House; about the 26 October 2009 teleconference at DOJ with Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states, including Phoenix's Dennis Burke where they are reported to have decided on a strategy to identify and eliminate entire arms trafficking networks rather than low–level buyers.

[Soul Crusher]

Holder’s OIG ’Gunwalker’ investigation passes historic milestone today
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 27 December, 2011 | David Codrea
Posted on December 28, 2011 7:20:12 AM EST by marktwain

Exceeds time it took Warren Commission to produce report on JFK murder

“I will certainly await the report that comes out of the inspector general and I will assure you and the American people that people will be held accountable for any mistakes that were made in connection with Fast and Furious,” Attorney General Eric Holder testified in a November 8 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

This leads to the questions of why it’s taking so long, and if the end result will be indicative of the self-serving stonewalling and foot-dragging the Department of Justice has exhibited throughout congressional investigations of “Project Gunwalker.” As things stand, Holder has been able to play the OIG card every time a question he does not wish to answer comes up.

“In February,” Holder wrote in his prepared statement for the December 8 House Committee on the Judiciary hearing, “I asked the Department’s Acting Inspector General to investigate the matter…”

When in February?

HOLDER: One of the things that I did early on was to ask the inspector general to look into this. I was -- I was hearing from inside the Justice Department one set of facts. I was hearing from members of Congress and members of the media something else. And it seemed to me that given this disparate information that I was receiving that an investigation needed to be had, and on February the 28th I asked the inspector general to begin an investigation.

But not, it seems, in writing, that is, in any way that can evidently be traced back to him and exactly what his instructions were, and to whom.

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

[Soul Crusher]

Eric Holder’s Hubris is Stunning
Ammoland ^ | 27 December, 2011 | Alan Korwin



PHOENIX, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- The lamestream media told you:


“WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers told Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to fire some Justice Department subordinates over the flawed arms-trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious,” according to Pete Yost, writing for the Associated Press, about Holder’s testimony to Congress in early December. [Democrats, by implication and omission, see no problem here and have asked for no action.)
“Why haven’t you terminated the people involved?” asked Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is investigating the arms-tracking operation.

“The operation’s goal was to follow the gun supply chain from small-time gun buyers at a number of Phoenix-area gun shops and make cases against major weapons traffickers,” AP writer Yost claims.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that: It is widely recognized that the BATFE claims in Fast and Furious do not match the facts. There was a concerted effort NOT “to follow the gun supply chain” which BATFE helped smuggle out of the country. The conclusion, if facts matter, is that the smuggling operation increased the number of U.S.-supplied firearms to drug cartels, which were then found at crime scenes domestically and abroad. This manufactured increase was then used publicly to advance an imaginary threat, to justify increased government power, controls, and infringing on the Second Amendment.

The congressional committee, after an initial flurry of remarks and verbal jousting, stunningly refused to place Holder under oath, since he more than once said, “I’m here to tell the truth,” instead of taking an oath. That made my mouth hang open. This helps insulate him from a potential charge of felony perjury before Congress. He failed to testify under oath. The “news” media failed to report this tiny insignificant fact.

What the “news” also failed to report was only the most significant parts of the hearings. Holder, who repeatedly claims he is not stonewalling, performed a “document dump” on Congress, delivering more than 5,000 documents, most of them emails, and not a single one came from or was sent by Mr. Holder, the main unindicted conspirator in the smuggling scheme and the main target of the investigation. Actually no one has been indicted, thanks to Holder’s stonewalling.

That became obvious during questioning by Ben Quayle, who happens to be my representative. After noting that many in Congress seek Holder’s resignation, Quayle asked, “Will you resign?” Holder said, “No.” Naming and asking if the underlings just below him would resign, Holder replied “No.” Naming the underlings under them with the same question, Holder said, “No,” the three shortest answers he gave in the whole charade. Time ran out for Mr. Quayle, so the Chair of the committee asked the obvious last question, will anyone be forced out, and Holder continued with his terse replies, saying, “No.” In the AG’s opinion, as delivered to Congress, no one should be held accountable for these gross violations of law and multiple murders.


This is hard news, so was unreported for reasons that remain unclear.
Nearly a year after it began, Holder has refused to identify the person who authorized the operation, a very simple task, though it might implicate him or his boss, the current occupant of the White House.

A democrat at the hearing said that “2,000 automatic rifles” had walked. The AG said, “Yes, that’s correct.” No automatic weapons were involved, since these were retail store purchases. Hey, it’s such a small point, what do you expect. A big thank you to Rep. Ted Poe of Texas for asking some really hard-as-nails questions. The AG though ducked every one.

Daryl Issa threatened the AG with Contempt of Congress for failure to turn over documents. Contempt of Congress! This extremely serious development was also not widely reported, though Mr. Sensenbrenner’s vague allusion to an impeachment of someone (unnamed) did make the “news.” The AG’s omitted communiques in the document dump was perhaps dwarfed by the Justice Department’s flat refusal to release anything after Feb. 2, 2011, probably the most significant material. A Feb. 4 email which was a blatant lie to Congress, now admitted, has been “withdrawn.”

When Holder had previously said his 4-state long-gun registration scheme is a “reasonable requirement,” none of the officials challenged him — on the fact that it’s strictly illegal, he is specifically denied authority to do it by law, and in fact such action has been specifically outlawed by Congress. Maybe they didn’t know. And he didn’t know.

Holder and his department’s preposterous position that there is no statute against gun smuggling is a naked power grab without support. Not one official challenged that statement. Making each purchase is a separate federal felony, that’s 2,000 right there; lying about the nature of the purchase is a federal felony; delivering the guns to the real buyer is a federal felony; smuggling the guns across state lines is a federal felony; delivering the guns to foreign nationals without an export license is a federal felony; using undeclared income to make the purchases is a federal felony; handling illegal obtained cash is a federal felony; conspiring to do any of this with anyone is a federal felony.


Holder has acknowledged that the mess is a fiasco, inexcusable and a prohibited policy, and of course, people have been murdered as a result. In his opinion, no one pays for it. Prediction: That shall not stand.
About GunLaws.com: Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Bloomfield Press, founded in 1988, is the largest publisher and distributor of gun-law books in the country. Our website, gunlaws.com, features a free national directory to gun laws and relevant contacts in all states and federally, along with our unique line of related books and DVDs. “After Your Shoot” for media review is available on request, call 800-707-4020. Our authors are available for interview, call to schedule. Call for cogent positions on gun issues, informed analysis on proposed laws, talk radio that lights up the switchboard, fact sheets and position papers. As we always say, “It doesn’t make sense to own a gun and not know the rules.” Visit: www.gunlaws.com



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.ATF management to treat Gunwalker crimes as personnel policy violations
Add a comment David Codrea, Gun Rights Examiner
December 29, 2011 - Like this? Subscribe to get instant updates.



http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/atf-management-to-treat-gunwalker-crimes-as-personnel-policy-violations



“Here's one sure way to tell if the CYA higher-ups are serious,” Gun Rights Examiner wrote yesterday, citing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives management blaming lower-level employees for the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal:

Will they dare help prosecute their allegedly wayward underlings, and risk them telling what they know?  Or will they just point fingers down the ladder, all the while insisting no crimes have been committed, and counting on that to keep those being blamed (but not prosecuted) from lawyering up and spilling their guts?

“I would place my money on the latter,” an insider source informed this correspondent.

Acting Director B. Todd Jones echoed that expectation in the December 24 Los Angeles Times puff-piece:

Advertisement
 
Jones expects the inspector general's report early next year. He said he will immediately refer it to the ATF's Office of Professional Responsibility for recommendations on job terminations or suspensions. "We sure will" be making some quick personnel decisions, he said.

This, in turn, follows and bolsters the narrative established by Barack Obama, that “People who have screwed up will be held accountable.”

Purposely not addressed in all this:

•International Traffic in Arms Violations, specifically on the part of “principals” who “induce” or “willfully cause” offenses, and who have not obtained a State Department law  enforcement exemption permit.
•Kingpin Act violations.
•Culpability in the deaths of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and unknown numbers of Mexican (and U.S.?) nationals.
•Whistleblower Protection Act violations.
•Violations of Mexican law.
•Etc.
Does anyone seriously believe the long-awaited Office of Inspector General report will do anything to advance criminal charges that demand prosecution of the perpetrators and prison sentences for the convicted, as opposed to supporting the administration meme that these were mere procedural and judgment lapses, best handled by internal personnel policies and outside of public scrutiny?

[Soul Crusher]

    


In this Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 picture, an American flag on a resident's home waves in the breeze near a U.S. Border Patrol truck blocking the road leading to a search area near where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed northwest of Nogales, Ariz.  (AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, Greg Bryan)

(CNSNews.com) – A Mexican drug trafficker awaiting trial in a Chicago federal court claims that the notorious Sinaloa cartel received weapons from “Operation Fast and Furious” under an alleged immunity agreement that the U.S. government made with cartel leaders, in exchange for information on rival gangs.
The defendant in a trafficking case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Vicente Jesus Zambada-Niebla, also claims the immunity deal allowed the criminal cartel to “continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs” into the United States.

He wants the U.S. government to provide documents relating to the botched gun running sting operation along the southwest border, arguing that it would benefit his defense.

Operation Fast and Furious, which began in September 2009, saw the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives supervise the sale of guns to straw purchasers with the intent of tracing the guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations and prosecuting their members. The ATF allowed about 2,000 guns to be sold in this manner.

The operation came under congressional scrutiny after it was linked to the December 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry at the hands of Mexican bandits.

An investigative report, spearheaded by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), found that most of the weapons provided to Mexican criminals under the operation were going to the Sinaloa cartel, arguably one of the world’s largest drug trafficking organizations.

In a court pleading filed last July, Zambada-Niebla made the claims about an immunity deal.

“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation that he requests will confirm that the weapons received by Sinaloa Cartel members and its leaders in Operation ‘Fast & Furious’ were provided under the agreement entered into between the United States government and [a Mexican lawyer] on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel that is the subject of his defense …,” it said.

“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation will also provide evidence showing that the United States government has a policy and pattern of providing benefits, including immunity, to cartel leaders, including the Sinaloa Cartel and their members, who are willing to provide information against rival drug cartels.”

The defendant argued that he is protected from federal prosecution for trafficking drugs into the U.S. between 2004 and 2009 under an alleged immunity deal struck between the U.S. government and Sinaloa leaders.

According to court documents, Zambada-Niebla claims that the immunity deal provided the cartel’s leadership with “carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States” in exchange for information on rival drug cartels.

U.S. prosecutors deny the existence of such an immunity deal between the U.S. government and the cartel.

Nevertheless, the U.S. government last September filed a motion to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act, which is aimed at assuring that national security information stemming from criminal cases – such as details associated with CIA operations – are not leaked to the public during court proceedings.

In a court pleading filed in September, U.S. prosecutors claimed that Zambada-Niebla’s allegations about Fast and Furious have no merit.

“Defendant requests all information in the possession of the U.S. government related to an ATF investigation referred to as ‘Fast and Furious’…” it said. “Defendants request related to Fast and Furious … and other unrelated matters are gratuitous and wholly unrelated to any legitimate discovery issues in this case.”

Zambada-Niebla, who was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and extradited to the U.S. eleven months later, is accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and heroin into the U.S.

He claims he was working on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, court documents show.

The defendant’s pleading highlighted a July 2011 letter sent by Issa and Grassley to Attorney General Eric Holder, “suggesting that multiple United States agencies were employing as informants members of Mexican drug organizations.”

“The evidence seems to indicate that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons, but that tax payers’ dollars in the form of informant payments, may have financed those engaging in such activities,” the pleading added.

    
 

[Shockwave]

    


In this Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 picture, an American flag on a resident's home waves in the breeze near a U.S. Border Patrol truck blocking the road leading to a search area near where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed northwest of Nogales, Ariz.  (AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, Greg Bryan)

(CNSNews.com) – A Mexican drug trafficker awaiting trial in a Chicago federal court claims that the notorious Sinaloa cartel received weapons from “Operation Fast and Furious” under an alleged immunity agreement that the U.S. government made with cartel leaders, in exchange for information on rival gangs.
The defendant in a trafficking case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Vicente Jesus Zambada-Niebla, also claims the immunity deal allowed the criminal cartel to “continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs” into the United States.

He wants the U.S. government to provide documents relating to the botched gun running sting operation along the southwest border, arguing that it would benefit his defense.

Operation Fast and Furious, which began in September 2009, saw the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives supervise the sale of guns to straw purchasers with the intent of tracing the guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations and prosecuting their members. The ATF allowed about 2,000 guns to be sold in this manner.

The operation came under congressional scrutiny after it was linked to the December 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry at the hands of Mexican bandits.

An investigative report, spearheaded by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), found that most of the weapons provided to Mexican criminals under the operation were going to the Sinaloa cartel, arguably one of the world’s largest drug trafficking organizations.

In a court pleading filed last July, Zambada-Niebla made the claims about an immunity deal.

“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation that he requests will confirm that the weapons received by Sinaloa Cartel members and its leaders in Operation ‘Fast & Furious’ were provided under the agreement entered into between the United States government and [a Mexican lawyer] on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel that is the subject of his defense …,” it said.

“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation will also provide evidence showing that the United States government has a policy and pattern of providing benefits, including immunity, to cartel leaders, including the Sinaloa Cartel and their members, who are willing to provide information against rival drug cartels.”

The defendant argued that he is protected from federal prosecution for trafficking drugs into the U.S. between 2004 and 2009 under an alleged immunity deal struck between the U.S. government and Sinaloa leaders.

According to court documents, Zambada-Niebla claims that the immunity deal provided the cartel’s leadership with “carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States” in exchange for information on rival drug cartels.

U.S. prosecutors deny the existence of such an immunity deal between the U.S. government and the cartel.

Nevertheless, the U.S. government last September filed a motion to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act, which is aimed at assuring that national security information stemming from criminal cases – such as details associated with CIA operations – are not leaked to the public during court proceedings.

In a court pleading filed in September, U.S. prosecutors claimed that Zambada-Niebla’s allegations about Fast and Furious have no merit.

“Defendant requests all information in the possession of the U.S. government related to an ATF investigation referred to as ‘Fast and Furious’…” it said. “Defendants request related to Fast and Furious … and other unrelated matters are gratuitous and wholly unrelated to any legitimate discovery issues in this case.”

Zambada-Niebla, who was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and extradited to the U.S. eleven months later, is accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and heroin into the U.S.

He claims he was working on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, court documents show.

The defendant’s pleading highlighted a July 2011 letter sent by Issa and Grassley to Attorney General Eric Holder, “suggesting that multiple United States agencies were employing as informants members of Mexican drug organizations.”

“The evidence seems to indicate that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons, but that tax payers’ dollars in the form of informant payments, may have financed those engaging in such activities,” the pleading added.

    
 

Lol. That poor bastard is fucked - theyre never going to allow the documents showing he was working for the US gov into the courtroom...

He better watch out too, he pushes to much, he may wind up losing his life before the end of his trial, lol. Im sure the gov would rather off this guy than allow the public to find out that they pay drug cartels and arm them in order to get information.

This poor fool is dead, one way or the other.