Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated. Special Agent John Dodson ATF Phoenix Field Division.
Damning new evidence from Capitol Hill shows that ATF Directors and Justice Department Officials knew about and encouraged the purposeful trafficking of thousands of weapons across the southern border, despite strong objections from ATF agents. Thousands of innocent lives were taken as the result, including those of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE Agent Jamie Zapata.
New emails released by House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa show that ATF Director Kenneth Melson was briefed weekly about Operation Fast and Furious and watched a live feed of straw purchasers (who serve as middle men, purchasing guns and giving them to cartel members) in Arizona gun shops from his cozy Washington D.C. office. Emails also show that Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations William McMahon was enthusiastic about the operation.
An e-mail from April 12, 2010, indicates that Acting Director Melson was very much in the weeds with Operation Fast and Furious. After a detailed briefing of the program by the ATF Phoenix Field Division, Acting Director Melson had a plethora of follow-up questions that required additional research to answer. As the document indicates, Mr. Melson was interested in the IP Address for hidden cameras located inside cooperating gun shops. With this information, Acting Director Melson was able to sit at his desk in Washington and himself watch a live feed of the straw buyers entering the gun stores to purchase dozens of AK-47 variants, Chairman Issa said in his opening statement.
Senator Charles Grassley, who has been working closely with Rep. Issa, pointed out that officials from the Justice Department have been stonewalling the investigation for months. Attorney General Eric Holder has said he is unaware of who ordered the operation.
On October 26, 2009, emails indicate that there was a meeting of senior law enforcement officials at the Justice Department. It appears to have included the heads every law enforcement component of the Department, including directors of the FBI, the DEA and the ATF. It also included the U.S. Attorneys for all the Southwest border states, the Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the Chair of the Attorney Generals Advisory Committee, Grassley testified.
Emails also show that ATF encouraged gun dealers to sell to straw buyers, in spite of their own hesitance to do so.
"ATF encouraged gun dealers to sell to straw buyers. Emails prove that at least one dealer worried prophetically about the risk. He [a dealer] wrote to ATF about his concern that a border patrol agent might end up facing the wrong end of one of these guns. ATF supervisors told the dealer not to worry. So, the agents said it was a bad idea. And, the gun dealers said it was a bad idea, but ATF supervisors continued anyway", Grassley said.
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was that agent. He was killed by cartel member 18 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border near Rio Rico, Ariz. Agent Terry was a fighter-a former Marine who was willing to put everything he had, including his life, on the line for his country. He was dedicated to his job, his family and the United States.
It was just ten days before Christmas last year, when our family received the devastating news; Brian had been shot and killed while engaged in a firefight with a group of individuals seeking to do harm to Americans citizens and others, said Robert Heyer, the cousin of Terry, testifying on behalf of the entire Terry family. Brian did ultimately come home that Christmas; we buried him not far from the house that he was raised in just prior to Christmas day. The gifts that Brian had picked out with such thought and care began to arrive in the mail that same week. With each delivery, we felt the indescribable pain of Brians death, but at the same time also remembered his amazing love and spirit.
ICE Agent Jamie Zapata was killed in Mexico in February 2011 while on assignment. He was killed by a gun traced back to Operation Fast and Furious, however, Zapatas family will never see justice. Once guns flow back into Mexico, they are no longer within the jurisdiction of the United States, leaving the government without any authority to prosecute anyone for any crime.
Three Special ATF Agents gave additional incriminating testimony. ATF Agent Dodson, one of the first whistleblowers to come out publicly against Operation Fast and Furious, provided details about the failed operation.
I was involved in this operation, we monitored as they purchased hand guns, AK-47 variants, and .50 caliber rifles almost daily. Rather than contradict any enforcement actions, we took notes, we recorded observations, we tracked movements of these individuals for a short time after their purchases, but nothing more. Knowing all the while, just days after these purchases, the guns that we saw these individuals buy would begin turning up at crime scenes in the United States and Mexico, we still did nothing, Dodson said. Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated.
And there still isnt an explanation as to why.
Allowing firearms to be trafficked to criminals is a dangerous and deadly strategy. The thought that the techniques used in the Fast and Furious investigation would result in taking down a cartel given the toothless nature of the straw purchasing law and the lack of a firearms trafficking statute is, in my opinion, delusional, Special Agent Peter Forcelli said. This operation, which in my opinion endangered the American public, was orchestrated in conjunction with Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley. [Emory Hurley is the same Assistant U.S. Attorney who previously prevented agents from using some of the common and accepted law enforcement techniques that are employed elsewhere in the United States to investigate and prosecute gun crimes.] I have read documents that indicate that his boss, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, also agreed with the direction of the case.
There is no way to prosecute drug cartels in Mexico even if firearms trafficking had been successful in locating them. They are not within United States jurisdiction.
I cant think of a single, logical strategy as to why this would have worked, Forcelli said. This was a catastrophic disaster.
According to testimony, it has become common practice for retaliation to occur against ATF Agents who spoke out against their supervisor's corruption, even when operations had no logical backing.
Forcelli also added that while the ATF was ordering gun dealers to sell to straw buyers under surveillance, gun dealers were taking the heat for it, and being held responsible for violence in Mexico. He stressed gun dealers were not the problem. In fact gun dealers were helpful in pursuing cases against cartel members, making it blatantly clear law abiding gun owners are not at fault, but the government is.
Issa said he will continue to investigate in order to find the truth and get to the bottom of the operatation. The government owes the truth to the American people and to the family of Brian Terry and Jamie Zapata, he explained. There has now become a focus on getting the truth out.
So the question is, did the director of the ATF go rogue, or did the entire DOJ and Obama know what was happening? Whoever is responsible should be going to jail for a long time. Or given to the Mexicans for a firing squad. I fear this is the tip of the iceberg for the corruption and sleaze that is this administration.
#1
"On October 26, 2009, emails indicate that there was a meeting of senior law enforcement officials at the Justice Department. It appears to have included the heads every law enforcement component of the Department, including directors of the FBI, the DEA and the ATF. It also included the U.S. Attorneys for all the Southwest border states, the Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the Chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee," Grassley testified.
These same officials were some of the ones blaming the US for Mexican drug violence!!! This really smells, especially since the DoJ KNEW they would lose jurisdiction once across the border. The real enemy is within...
"90% of guns in drugs come from the US" later proven wrong.
"said he was working on gun control efforts "under the radar."
I watched that hearing -- Those officer said a lot -- my mouth kept dropping open..
Forcelli, after establishing his credibility, told it like it is -- as only a former Brooklyn police officer can do!
Also, if you watch nothing of the hearing, and I do recommend that you do watch the whole thing, stopping when the DOJ person appeared (vague, vague, vague) do watch the beginning for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's cousin, Robert Heyer with his remarks for the family -- reading a poem by his cousin and asking for prosecution of all involved for the murder. Several members made their pledge to the family that they would do just that.
Let's hope they do... Been following this, and there is lots and lots to come out.
"Well, I can see a conflict between the Office of the OIG [Office of Department of Justice Inspector General], yes sir, the actual individuals that are working the case, my interaction with them since I've been interviewed by them, is that I think they get it. However those two offices being who they are and how they are aligned, there's inherently a conflict of interest. If in fact someone at DOJ authorized this, knows about it, is as well versed as everyone at ATF that thereby creates the conflict with OIG."
#5
You've got to pass the bill before you can read the bill. You have to break the law to enforce the law? Issa's hearings are jaw-dropping; there is a lot of stonewalling going on in the DOJ and higher. I hope this gets some play in the press. Citizens ought to be outraged. It looks like there is a lot to uncover in the highest echelons of government. When the ATF is facilitating gun trafficking that results in the deaths of agents, something if very wrong. When you read the Dept. of Education has a police force and they are kicking down doors, something is very wrong. Why the hell does the Dept. of Education even need a police force? This seems to be de rigueur for our current administration. Today, nearly every agency has a branch with police powers. Maybe this is the Civilian National Police Force Obama was talking about before he was elected.
#7
This administration is "seeding" every law enforcement and heck, every non law enforcement department of the government with people who are out to destroy this country. After we get them out of office, we need to purge the departments to the lowest levels of the people they have placed in them. The damage from this administration is going to span decades.
According to testimony, it has become common practice for retaliation to occur against ATF Agents who spoke out against their supervisor's corruption, even when operations had no logical backing.
Forcelli also added that while the ATF was ordering gun dealers to sell to straw buyers under surveillance, gun dealers were taking the heat for it, and being held responsible for violence in Mexico. He stressed gun dealers were not the problem. In fact gun dealers were helpful in pursuing cases against cartel members, making it blatantly clear law abiding gun owners are not at fault, but the government is.
This smells like someone was directly benefiting from getting those guns to the cartels. I want to know who was getting the cash.
#12
The thing is that in order to get impeachment you need evidence a crime has been committed. We have illegal exporting of firearms already. So you bring up the department chiefs on those charges and see what develops as a result.
#13
Perhaps calling Jano Incompetano to testify regarding her assertion that 90% of the guns showing up in Mexico came from the US. That would mean she may be asked to explain why she missed all those DOJ meetings and can't actually spell ATF.
#4
ION FREEREPUBLIC POSTER = claims that troubled "Sextexter" US Congress-critter Anthony Weiner's wife Huma may seek formal Islamic annulment of her marriage to same vee Saudi Arabia???
IFF TRUE, FROM WHAT WE KNOW OF ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE SHARIA LAW REGARDING MARRIAGE, WISH HER LUCK BECUZ SHE'S GONNA NEED IT - IIRC, a Muslim man can easily divorce or annul a marriage, but NOT a woman unless she can prove serious "un-Islamic" personal abuse by hubby.
* Also from FREEP = SAME > Artic claims that Hillary Advisor Huma's mom is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood???
A bipartisan group of House members announced on Wednesday that it is filing a lawsuit charging that President Obama made an illegal end-run around Congress when he approved U.S military action against Libya.
With regard to the war in Libya, we believe that the law was violated. We have asked the courts to move to protect the American people from the results of these illegal policies, said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who led the 10-member anti-war coalition with Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).
#2
The Constitutional authority resides in the power of the purse. This is key to one of the principles of the Founding Fathers, never have a military too big to allow the executive the engage in foreign adventures without the consent and funding authorization of Congress. The after effects of WWII has tagged us with the very uncomfortable position of either maintaining a large defense establish and with it such adventures or cut back in a very nasty sort of world. The third choice is to be honest with ourselves and recognize the reality we find ourselves in and alter the Constitution to provide the mechanisms to put controls over the Executive's means to do these things. Instead we'll just trip and stumble from one crisis to another with these political games.
The condo, at the center of the ethics case against Rangel, sold for between $250,000 and $500,000 - a huge profit based on the $89,000 price he paid over than two decades ago.
Far be it for me to cut Charlie any slack, but $89,000 to $250-$500,000 over more than 20+ years seems more like a fair profit than actual graft. My wife and I just sold The House of Sand and Fog and Wind and No Summer for a similar up-tick over a similar period of time.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated. Special Agent John Dodson ATF Phoenix Field Division.
A bipartisan group of House members announced on Wednesday that it is filing a lawsuit charging that President Obama made an illegal end-run around Congress when he approved U.S military action against Libya.
