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Mission Implausible

By from the February 2012 issue

Still waiting for answers on Operation Fast and Furious, the Obama administration’s festering scandal.

(Page 2 of 2)

By the end of 2011, more than 90 members of Congress either expressed “no confidence” in Holder or believed the attorney general should resign over Fast and Furious. Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, claimed to be unaware of a department letter denying that the ATF had been letting guns walk even though Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans acquired email evidence that Breuer had seen a draft. Holder stands by Breuer.

AT TIMES, Holder has taken refuge in blaming the vast right-wing conspiracy. “You guys need to—you need to stop this. It’s not an organic thing that’s just happening,” the attorney general instructed a reporter from the Daily Caller, a news website that has frequently covered Fast and Furious and its fallout, in November. “You guys are behind it.” In an interview with the New York Times, Holder suggested that some of his critics were racially motivated.

But Holder’s admission that the ATF let guns walk into Mexico was in fact a major reversal for the administration. In July, the official who implemented Fast and Furious denied gun-walking. “We did not let guns walk,” William Newell said flatly, contradicting a January 2010 memo from his own office saying, “currently our strategy is to allow the transfer of firearms to continue to take place…in order to further the investigation and allow for the identification of additional co-conspirators who would continue to operate and illegally traffic firearms to Mexican [cartels].”

The Justice Department has been inconsistent about who knew the details of Fast and Furious, as well as what the consequences have been. Holder’s congressional testimony suggested that the U.S. attorney for Arizona was removed because of the operation, something that had been denied previously. Democrats have also compared Fast and Furious to a Bush administration program called Wide Receiver, even though the latter happened with the knowledge of the Mexican government and did not lose any guns—and despite the fact congressional investigators have been pressing for information about both initiatives.

The department also moved to punish whistleblowers rather than reward them, even leaking sensitive information about one whistleblower. “This leaked document was also accompanied by a set of talking points designed to undermine Agent Dodson’s credibility as a whistleblower,” wrote Grassley and Issa in a letter to Holder. “This egregious violation of the Privacy Act, and attempted retaliation for protected disclosures to Congress, is unacceptable.”

By contrast, many of those involved in Fast and Furious were either reshuffled like Melson or even kicked upstairs. Newell and fellow Phoenix ATF field supervisor David Voth were both promoted to new management positions in Washington. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley in Phoenix was moved from the criminal to the civil division. William McMahon, who was deputy director of ATF operations in the West, also went to headquarters in the nation’s capital. “Keep your friends close and your henchmen on the verge of spilling the beans closer,” quipped syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin.

BRIAN TERRY’S FAMILY marked the one-year anniversary of his death by calling on officials who knew about Fast and Furious to be prosecuted if it can be shown that they broke the law. “We find it incomprehensible that members of ATF and DOJ would embark on such an egregious operation and then try to conceal the link between this failed investigation and Brian’s murder,” the family said in a statement released by their attorney. “Much to our dismay, no one in ATF or DOJ has come forward to accept responsibility for Operation Fast and Furious.”

While testifying before Congress, Holder declined to directly apologize to Terry’s family for what happened. He later released a formal apology to the media—before the family received it. Terry’s father was outraged. “That shows what kind of a person he is,” he said of Holder in an interview with Fox News. “To me, he is not much of a person.” In a separate interview, Terry’s mother said of Holder’s testimony, “I sat in a chair and cried. It was so inhumane. An apology to anybody means at least they are trying to fix it. He didn’t.”

“Somebody needs to take responsibility. I don’t know if that’s Holder,” the family attorney told the McClatchy-Tribune News Service. “But there were individuals somewhere in DOJ and ATF that were making daily decisions and knew the risks associated with such a reckless plan. Those decision-makers are the folks that need to be held accountable immediately.” More than a year after the border patrol agent’s murder, the Terry family is still waiting—just like everyone else.

Page:   12

About the Author

W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (116) |

Jack in Wi.| 2.17.12 @ 6:50AM

The Obama adnimistration is full of corruption and waste. What do you expect from the Chicago Machine? The Chicago Machine has run Chicago with an iron fist since the early 30's. The tiny Republican party is nothing but a co-conspiritor in Chicago. It is a bunch of business people who are about nothing but getting something out of the government. It is where the National Republicans are headed. We need a real opposition reform party in this country, not more war and welfare for the uppercrust elites. We are run increasingly like a bannana Republic. So this scandel in Mexico is something that will soon be common.

Alan Brooks| 2.17.12 @ 6:32PM

It is nothing next to Iran Contra.

Alan Brooks| 2.17.12 @ 7:00PM

"Remember Iran-Contra?"

Bill, do you mean to write we ought to fear drug lords more than the organized nuke-seeking govt. of Iran?
Your priorities are disproportionate. Your dislike of Obama is severely clouding your emotions on this matter.

1654american| 2.19.12 @ 9:07AM

Alan, your references to Obama and Iran-Contra clearly show that your partisan belief in political parties, is clouding your emotions. When the government breaks the law, those involved must be prosecuted. You're missing the point if you are defending either party.

robadude32| 2.19.12 @ 7:16PM

@Alan. Hey Alan if that was god forbid your son that died as a result of this Obama and Holder corruption you wouldn't say it's "nothing."

Controse| 2.20.12 @ 1:33PM

There is no defense quite as adolescent as changing the subject. Iran Contra was nothing next to asking your 19 year old intern to give a blow job in public to your assistant but what does that have to do with Iran Contra. Nothing of course but it effectively changes the subject.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 2.17.12 @ 6:51AM

Remember Iran-Contra? The press wouldn't let it go. With the exception of the Daily Caller the Drive-By Media couldn't care less about Fast and Furious.

As far as Eric Holder I wonder what will happen if a new administration if voted in this fall. Will they shred documents to erase the truth?

Eric Holder is one of the most corrupt AG's ever, and the press sits on their hands, seemingly oblivious.

And it's actually Obama who owes Brian Terry's family an apology and an independent no holds barred investigation.

But Obama isn't an ideal President and we don't exist in an ideal world.

Pecos Pete| 2.17.12 @ 7:09AM

Bill:

Paper shredders are already in wide use in King O's various alphabet agencies, including at the White House. Doesn't matter if King O is reelected or not.

If not already existent, a computer virus will delete all government computers of all emails regardless of content.

Dick Nome | 2.17.12 @ 9:59AM

Are they the same ones the Clintons used or are they more sophisticated. The Clintons had to have some pretty hefty ones.

Al Adab| 2.17.12 @ 11:24AM

Guys,
Don't forget about the Czars and whatever they (no oversight whatsoever) might be up to in their agencies.

Russel| 2.18.12 @ 11:43AM

He has ' councils ' as well . The ' Rural Council ' is attacking farmers and rural folk for everything from field dust , who can drive a tractor ( they must have a CDL ) to ALL water rights . The EPA is simply getting some scant media attention . Food control is in their sights just like energy production .

1654american| 2.19.12 @ 9:34AM

Russel, exactly right. This all stems from the communist ideology that is pervasive in the federal government, at the moment. Marxism must destroy two major forces in order to 'progress': capitalism and private property. EPA mission is to crush land owners. The government owns over 90% of all mortgages thru Freddie & Fannie. When folks open their eyes, they will see how deep, expansive, and rapidly the federal government is imposing and controlling things that are well beyond their Constitutional authority. But then, Communist don't follow the Contitution, they follow the Communist Manifesto. After you read that, all of their actions and plans become clear. Read it here:
http://www.marxists.org/archiv.....manifesto/

trundle| 2.19.12 @ 8:56AM

Al Adab, thank you for helping to keep the presence and illegality of the czars still in our thinking.

Does anyone have an up to date list of the czars and what their job titles are?

It would be interesting to see a detailed matrix of data like: Czar's name (office occupant), date czar position illegally established, number of staff working full and part-time for the czar, mission scope for this illegal/improper/wasteful czar, annual operating budget for the czar and staff, actual office location(s) for these czars and czarettes.

Might anyone know if this information is well cataloged and available? A web link?

It would be much appreciated. Thank you. We really are dumb electorate to put up with this.

Balthazar| 2.21.12 @ 1:14AM

Like the czars of Nixon and Reagan, who used unconstitutional agencies to imprison those that publicly oppose them with the 1st Amendment?

Mark MacInnis| 2.20.12 @ 11:58AM

Paper shredders are so 1973....so easy to just collect the hard drives and run them over with a steam-roller....

Alan Brooks| 2.17.12 @ 8:32PM

"I wonder what will happen if a new administration if voted in this fall."

Of course!, shredders are used in grammar skools today. What a dumb question. Point is, another Rove administration will be the outcome if a new administration is voted in this fall. That vastly eclipses the use of shredders by anyone. You guys are penny wise, pound foolish.

Alan Brooks| 2.17.12 @ 8:33PM

politically, you are cent-wise;
dollar dumb

Carol| 2.17.12 @ 6:55AM

Mr. Antle:

Haven't you heard? Boehner made a deal with Obama and Holder. Obama has bought and paid for Boehner to do anything he wants.

http://www.westernjournalism.c.....ite-house/

Indy| 2.17.12 @ 7:49AM

I hope readers here join me to keep calling his office, we must not be silent.

http://biggovernment.com/awrha.....countable/

Carol| 2.18.12 @ 9:11AM

Won't do any good.

I just sent a nasty email to the GOP telling them how Boehner and McConnell suck for giving into Obama.

They will not listen to us. They listen to themselves.

Screw the GOP! Gutless cowards.

c. j. acworth| 2.17.12 @ 7:14AM

The operation was clearly set up to give support to the meme that 98% or some such number of guns used in Mexican drug crimes were purchased in the US, and therefore US citizens should be denied their rights under the 2nd Amendment. If agent Terry had not been killed, Obama and Holder might've gotten away with it. Agent Terry truely gave his life for his country.

Crawler| 2.17.12 @ 12:57PM

Agreed.

Operation Fast & Furious was nothing more than corrupt government ideologues in high political offices and appointments implementing a planned, organized and calculated effort to add more gun control laws, specifically for affecting every American’s inherent constitutional right to keep and bear arms, by laying the blame of the deaths of hundreds of people on legal, taxpaying and honest American gun sales entrepreneurs, period.

Other than arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning the conspirators of this disgusting travesty, the above paragraph is all that needs to be said.

Godspeed to Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley…

1654american| 2.19.12 @ 9:55AM

Crawler is on the money. Simple attempt to disarm citizens and further erode our Constitution. Throughout history, all tyrannical had to do this before taking power. It is a step they must accomplish here before they seize power. They will continue to try. Remember when Izza asked Holder if he thought F&F was a failed operation? Holder responded "That depends on your perspective". Real Americans dismiss them as incompetent. However, we must view their actions from the perspective of a Communist Ideologs, not from a Constitutional republic, capitalist economy, perspective. They are the enemy, I believe.

youfamissim | 2.17.12 @ 7:56AM

Horse Pucky! Democrats, including Hillary Clinton wanted to advance a new narrative to expand gun control laws. That is the reason behind F&F. Obama, Clinton, and many many others were on the stump railing on US Guns going to Mexico. I noticed in an early report the weapons on display weren't available in US gun shops - RPGs, grenades, class 3 firearms... no, you must have special licensing to SELL these class 3 products and the RPG and grenades are off limits. Pssst! most were Russian made. SO the entire ruse created by Democrats to create a public reaction was a false premise. Don't buy the hype. Democrats did this for gun control purposes nothing else. The real question here is how many other times have Democrats done the same thing - creating a false premise to get unConstitutional laws passed?

Von Mises Jr.| 2.17.12 @ 8:25AM

Exactly, this was social engineering gone wild. This illustrates perfectly the liberal elitist worldview. As Thomas Sowell would call it: "The Vision of the Anointed."
Barry from Harvard, Holder from Columbia and Hillary from Yale are Nietzsche "supermen." They are Woodrow Wilson's "Intelligent Few."They are our Platoian "Philosopher Kings."
We are the "Noble Savage" in the "Bewildered Herd" that cannot possibly keep up with our "Dear Leaders." Why if they get caught, they call us STUPID, RACIST; and we are to cower in fear and shame that we do not understand the brilliance and benevolence of our "Dear Leaders."

Why they were only doing it for our own collective good. So a poor "little" Border Agent had to die, and his family distraught; but when they take our guns away, think of all the people they will save. Brian Terry was the sacrifical lamb on the alter of liberalism.
I think it is really that simple?

Gretchen| 2.18.12 @ 5:18PM

Bravo, bravissimo von Mises Jr!!!

rnd| 2.19.12 @ 9:10AM

Great post, Von Mises! Encore!

Wasn't the Jared L. (what's his name??? the demented 22 or 23 year old in Arizona) shooting also TOTALLY TO THE MAX OVERBLOWN by these same elites (yes, our Philosopher Kings and Queens in Drag), wasn't this Arizona Saturday morning Safeway parking lot shooting overblown as another attempted nail in the coffin of the 2nd Amendment?

That ballyhooo in Tuscon, that was disgusting from start to finish.

Those who link what the DOJ/Holder/ATF did to removal of our 2d Amendment, those who do this linkage and support it with the facts (the facts that we all know are truly there -- behind the scenes) those people are doing the work of aiding liberty and saving our nation.

It's long past time that we jettison all in our high offices that come from pedigreed Ivy League backgrounds.

They are not our betters; they are the enemy.

dwstick| 2.20.12 @ 5:43PM

I remember some in the lamestream news media tried to blame the Tucson shooting on the 'harsh rhetoric' coming from conservative talk radio and conservative web sites. Barely mentioned was an article in the Daily Kos (hardly a conservative publication) with a photo of Rep Giffords image in the cross-hairs of a scope and a line in the article where the author said that "she (Giffords) was dead to me".

Pat| 2.17.12 @ 3:47PM

Youfamissim: Your comments indicate a pretty shrewd analysis of what actually motivated this illegal government operation. And it’s merely the latest in a long string of ATF “oops” where oops refers to Americans being murdered but only with the purest of motives, at least according to the explanation leaked by our anonymous government employees. And “coverup” is probably the right descriptor when you examine the symptoms – this author’s repeated use of the word “officials” for example – we presume those government employees who were acting under our authority possess actual names – unless their birth certificates list their given names as “Official”. So, we’re not even allowed to learn which anonymous ATF employees worked these illegal operations. Attorney General Holder didn’t give a sworn statement about his knowledge of this operation because he adroitly refused Congress’s request to be “sworn in” – no perjury charges can come back to haunt him and his taxpayer paid legal counsel anytime in the future.

We also naively believe the Obama administration dung beetles are running for cover but given the fact a concerned citizen, like this author, can’t learn simple details like the names of the ATF operatives, it seems very unlikely anyone within our Justice Department will ever be brought to justice. Finding reasons to be proud of our country becomes ever more difficult given our current crop of unindicted Washington felons – but then Obama never promised us we would proud of his administration and he’s been true to that promise.

BackToBasics| 2.17.12 @ 10:44PM

Agree and it shows that the attitude by Democrats is that guns are okay for Mexican thugs, but not okay for honest American citizens who are shown as such by the background checks they must go through.

youfamissim | 2.17.12 @ 7:58AM

Also... Democrats wanted deaths. No deaths = no crisis. Terry's death, initially, was likely heralded as a God send. But it all blew up in the faces.

Timothy L. Pennell| 2.17.12 @ 7:59AM

Can we PLEEEEEEEEEASE stop pretending, when talking about this Administration? This wasn't "A failed gun-tracking initiative". Not a single Gun was "Tracked".
Not one.
None.

Are you telling me that, in the 21st Century, the United States of America can't find ONE GUN, out of 2,000, in a Country right next to ours?

We FOUND Bin Laden, in the middle of nowhere, in a Sh*t Hole Country, on the other side of the World! But, we can't "Find" a single High Powered Weapon, out of 2,000 High Powered Weapons that WE GAVE to the Bad Guys?

This was not "A botched Sting on Gun Runners". We know who the Gun Runners were. They were US. They were people who have since RETIRED, or have been RE-ASSIGNED, or are INCOMMUNICADO in the Middle East.

We know that this was NEVER on the up and up. We know that this President, had his Attorney General use his ATF, to Straw Purchase High Powered Weapons from Gun Dealers in the South West, with the intention of (Pay Attention) Putting them in the hands of the DRUG CARTELS.

Let me say this another way: They Purchased these High Powered Weapons, with the intention of Putting them in the hands of the people who could DO THE MOST DAMAGE with them.

Why else would they do this WITHOUT Mexico's knowledge? Why else would they do this WITHOUT Mexico's permission? This was, for all intensive purposes: An Act of War.

In 2009 (I believe it was 2009. It may have been 2010. I can't find my notes) While at a Press Conference in Mexico, with the Mexican President, the Muslim said this, when he was asked a question about the Violence on the Border: "Ya gotta realize something. A lot of the Guns that are being used in all of these killings, are being BOUGHT in the United States, and then find their way to Mexico".

Spoken like the Cold Stoned Motherfcker that he is.

These guns WERE being purchased in the United States. BY HIM!

These Guns DID find their way to Mexico. HE PUT THEM THERE!

CBS News has reported that the Administration was involved in an effort to push New Gun Control Laws on Long Guns, and they were using the Violence on the Mexican Border, as an EXAMPLE of why more Gun Restrictions were needed. Every DEAD Mexican, was one more reason for Gun Control. A DEAD Mexican Woman? Even better. A DEAD KID? Jackpot.

There's no other explanation. Occam's Razor is in full effect, here. CBS has reported the EMAILS of some of those involved in the Chain of Command. According to them, what was going on in Mexico, was better than SEX. Every dead Wetback, was another Vote for Gun Control. Every dead Brown Kid, was another opportunity to get Legislation pushed through, to put an end to an Armed Citizenry. Which, of course, is the LEFTS' Holy Grail.

This should be the Crime of the Century. This is the Story, to end all Stories. The deaths of over 1,000 People, is on the President of the United States' hands. (That's where the BUCK STOPS) You'd have to be a Dumbfck POS, like Purp, to believe that the little Effeminate CROOK, at Justice, would break International Law all by his lonesome. You'd have to Love the MUSLIM more than Clint Hates the Jews, to think that any this could happen without the Knowledge of THE ONE.

This is why they have The Pulitzer. (Or, at least, it used to be.)

This is Watergate to the Nth Power. There will never be a Bigger Story in our lifetimes. TOM CLANCY couldn't make this up.

It's time to stop Fcking Around. It's time for Mr. Issa to stop Screwing Around. The Media is in the Dictators' pocket, and will go to the Gallows, before they will turn against him. He is the ONE they've been waiting for.

Darryl Issa needs to SUBPEONA Everybody. He needs to stop pulling his dck, and hold this Lying MFer - HOLDER, in Contempt of Congress. And he needs to do it, NOW. I Guarangoddamntee ya, if this was a Republican Attorney General, REFUSING to turn over Subpoenaed Documents, and Stonewalling an Investigation of this magnitude, run by a Chairman WAXMAN, that A.G. would not only already have been found in Contempt, but his Boss, would be looking down the barrel of an IMPEACHMENT Proceeding.

As my Grandmother would have said" SH*T or get off the pot."

Stop kissing Holders' Ass. This is the MOTHER LOAD. This can bring this America Hating, Muslim, Marxist piece of GARBAGE, to his knees.

All we need, now, is someone with a set of BALLS.

Teaghan| 2.17.12 @ 8:40AM

I don't believe Tim, that there is anyone of our side that has a set large enough to do what needs to be done. They will NOT go after the first "african american" see mulatto, president. Nope, they don't want to be called you know what.

Aghast| 2.19.12 @ 9:17AM

I'd gladly go after him.

His skin color? What? That allows him to be excused?

Heck no. (only a spineless coward would use this excuse)

So he get's it both ways. We know he got an extra 15-18% of the vote because he's black (half black), so he was lifted to a win he did not achieve or deserve. (Even Hillary would agree with that.) But he gets to be defended also because he is half black?

Heck no.

Never.

A failure is a failure.

The fact that he is an anti-American heathen incompetent 92 weekends golfer should mean countless men are lining up ready to be the ONE to knock him on his ass.

Are we really a nation now of cowards?

No one will speak or DO the truth?

cavan1| 2.17.12 @ 10:47AM

Mexican officials were not included or informed about "Fast and Furious". By excluding the authorities in Mexico of what this operation was about is as close to an act of war as you can get. ATF was arming Mexican criminals .
Does anyone know how Mexico is reacting to this scandal, this lawless act against their country?

Timothy L. Pennell| 2.18.12 @ 7:40AM

Correction: OBAMA was Arming Mexican Criminals.

We have to stay FOCUSED on the real Target.

TW in SC| 2.18.12 @ 8:41PM

This has been religiously followed for a year over at PJMedia. Succinct and continuous analysis.

The author of this article states that F&F was an "offshoot of project gunrunner" but there are some distinct differences. Gunrunner was done with the full knowledge and blessing of the Mexican government. F&F was not. Gunrunner, as soon as it was figured out that it was a (very) bad idea, was canceled and terminated.

The left in general and Holder specifically keep pointing out that "Bush did it too" but ignores that F&F was done illegally, and that several (most, all) of the people in the national socialist administration, all the way up to Obama knew ("We're working on gun control, but under the radar." http://www.wnd.com/2011/04/292025/) The Bush administration stopped it cold when things merely began to look bad and no one was killed.

This is not anything like Iran-Contra. This is not anything like Watergate. This is gun-control writ large with criminals carrying the water for the other criminals in office. They knew people would get killed and that's all by design and hope that it would set off a firestorm of American anxiety and demonstrations. But, like all great national socialist plans, it blew up in their faces and they have been trying to avoid answering any questions about it. Holder has repeatedly lied in front of congress, changed his story, delayed, delayed, delayed and flat out ignored directives from Issa to provide evidence.

We have a scummy government.

rnd| 2.19.12 @ 9:37AM

TW in SC. Best post of this entire page. Better than the article itself. With just a little sprucing up here or there, your post beats the soft pablum Antle dished us.

Thank you.

My only disagreement is with your final line. I'd bring back hanging as a means for fulfilling capital punishment.

I know you were just using understatement, but so many in our government are deviants and devious to the core. They are criminals. Those involved in Fast & Furious -- those at the very top who schemed to do this havoc -- they need to be swinging in the breeze.

For all the nation to see.

People act like Issa is just a nobody getting to be an irritant and playing politics by jabbing at the DOJ and Holder. NO! NO! He is doing what Separation of Powers REQUIRES. He must hold elements of the Executive Branch accountable.

Does anyone talk of the dead on the Mexican side of the border from these weapons? Why the silence as if those people do not matter? Where is the all-out Special Ops-stype whole-scale effort to get these guns back, get them out of the hands of the evildoer criminals, thugs, druglord lackeys, and cartels?

buckeyeman| 2.17.12 @ 11:26AM

Tim, Your analysis jumps right out and screams at us. Thank you for posting what Mr. Antle is apparently completely incapable of understanding. We will never get to the bottom of this if we keep looking at it as a "botched" but otherwise well intentioned plan.

Al Adab| 2.17.12 @ 11:30AM

The State of Arizona is being invaded by armed gangs of bandits (Pancho Villa anyone?) yet the federal government sues the State to stop them from enforcing federal laws.

One of the enumerated powers is to protect the States from invasion. Instead of doing so, this administration is not only refusing to exercise their power, they are attempting to prevent the States from acting on their own behalf.

Wilson sent the army into Mexico after Pancho Villa. This President sues his States. What have we become?

Gretchen| 2.18.12 @ 5:25PM

WOW!!! That's tellin' 'em!!!!!

Louis Jenkins| 2.20.12 @ 11:25AM

Unfortunately I was out of town Friday. However, Holder will stonewall this mess til the cows come home, or atleast until Obama is re-elected. Save the boss at all costs is the password. Holder knew about operation Fast and Furious, and of course Obama knew about it. All as an effort to attack the second Amendment.

Fortunately for Obama, there's just too much red tape, too many procedures, to go thru to get the information that Issa needs, and Holder is holding the line.

I do not see a crack in the dike. Our last dear right to own arms will come under attach next year. So get ready dear friends, whether it's thru domestic intervention or UN law, and yes there's the UN motion against gun transactions yet to be dealth with and confirmed by the US congress, we will be left without the lawful right to bear arms. The mere infraction of possessing a firearm will get you 20 years of hard labor, if you are lucky. Are you prepared?

Louis Jenkins| 2.20.12 @ 11:28AM

Oh yeah, don't forget, the ammunition manufactors are being bought up tooth and nail by one business concern, of which G. Soros is the major owner. Think about that people, and we know whose court he's in.

albert constantine jr.| 2.17.12 @ 8:35AM

What is bizarre about this story is when one considers the question of what exactly was the DOJ trying to investigate. The Mexican drug cartels make money selling and transporting illegal drugs, primarily to the US. They murder people to protect themselves from detection and eliminate competition. Among the tools they use to do this are firearms, however they are also well know for hacking apart their victims as well (though I am not certain if the USDA and Commerce Department had a concurrent operation investigation to determine the source of the machetes and chainsaws used to accomplish this dismemberment).

Though many of the firearms in the hands of the cartel are of the selective fire military type obtained from deserters or turncoats in the Mexican military or international arms traffickers, this operation sought to open a separate source of semi automatic but powerful weapons that are legal in the US, and lowered the barriers that inhibit straw purchasers to enhance this option for the cartels.

And what was this investigation going to prove? Was it to show there are Mexican drug cartels to operate in violation of US drug and racketeering laws? Even Inspector Renaud would not have been shocked, shocked to discover that. Was it to show that they used murder, violence and intimidation to do this and avoid accountability? Most of those acts are also unlawful here (and maybe even in Mexico). Was it to show that they make massive sums of money from this illegal trade, and violate our treasury laws laundering or smuggling this out of the US? We seem to be pretty effective at enforcing these laws, too.
That the cartels would use a tiny fraction of their profits to come back to the US to purchase legally available firearms in the border states made more available through the intercession of the USDOJ would finally give us the proof necessary to prosecute these criminal organization is absurd. All logical inferences show that this case had nothing to do with the prosecution of those violating US, or even Mexican law, but was instead undertaken to show that the US is a source country for illegal arms, as a step to “reform” our gun laws.

Holder and every official should have to run a gauntlet consisting of the families of the victims of their misguided and dishonest abomination, with the Terry family at the front, before they are turned over to the Mexican government for prosecution. Any survivors should then returned to the US for same through a gauntlet of American gun owners.

Timothy L. Pennell| 2.17.12 @ 9:08AM

Exactly.

W| 2.17.12 @ 9:26AM

Albert
Well written.
If it wasn't so serious it would be funny.
Rockford had a couple shows where the CIA and FBI were running some convoluted ops with Jim getting caught in the middle. The idea was usually as goofy as this one and just as effective.

albert constantine jr.| 2.17.12 @ 9:48AM

You are correct again, W. Season 5 Episode 100 (The Battle Ax and the Exploding Cigar) had the CIA selling defective guns to Central American guerillas in order to undermine their confidence in the weapons traffickers. In the climactic shootout, Jim asks with disbelief who could have thought the idea up.

Episode 71 from the previous season (The Dog & Pony Show) also dealt with the bungled response and the intersection of covert government operations and organized crime. In the conclusion, Angel is boasting in group therapy about his days running guns in Central America, not aware that he is being tapped by a government agency.

Somehow, under all of the redaction, I wouldn't be surprised to find a character like Angel Martin in the middle of all of this Fast & Furious mess (Note to David Chase and Stephen J. Cannell, your plot for the movie to bring Rockford out of retirement awaits).

W| 2.17.12 @ 9:54AM

Albert,
What is the name of the author/book about Rockford, can't find it in bookstores, may have to go online for used books.
The battleax show had that beautiful young secretary who spent the weekend with a young CIA agent who was working "undercover."
Unfortunately it appears that Eric Holder and his crew watched Rockford, but viewed it as reality instead of satire.

albert constantine jr.| 2.17.12 @ 3:16PM

"This is Jim Rockford" by Ed Robertson. It was originally published as a trade paperback in 1995 by Pomegranate Press.

POST American| 2.17.12 @ 8:37AM

---Holder should be dismissed and imprisoned.

Likewise, the entire 'on board' congress
who passed NDAA 1021 which officially
authorizes the secret arrests, exile,
torture, strippng of citizenship and
EXECUTION of American citizens
------ANYWHERE.

"---Did you just hear me?
---------------THS IS TREASON."
-ALEX JONES

AND IT IS

NOW ------WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO
ABOUT IT?

Still feeling ambivalent, take a quality
look at the scope of the CFR's RED China
TREASON OP --its implications ---and
the even now underway capstone
age-enda for ----TOTAL EUGENICS-----.

Let it --sink-- in.

EXPERIENCE the quickening.

Alan Brooks| 2.17.12 @ 10:21PM

PostAmerican,
you are reason enough to vote for Obama. If you had been Ford's campaign manager in '76, I would have voted for Carter!

Alan Brooks| 2.17.12 @ 10:23PM

PA,
if you had been Hindenburg's campaign manager, it would have been a plus for Hitler's campaign.

Ward Bond| 2.17.12 @ 8:37AM

Does anyone here not believe that obama, given a second term, won't proclaim gun ownership illegal? First he'll have to go after Rush and Levin and company nipping at his heels and then guns.Oh, he might by his grace let us keep a pump shotgun or two but an armed citizenry cannot be allowed. A SECOND TERM WOULD GET UGLY!

Teaghan| 2.17.12 @ 8:42AM

A second term WILL get ugly.

Ward Bond| 2.17.12 @ 9:18AM

Teaghan, I certainly share your concern about the election, but I'm not giving up all hope just yet. Obama's uncontrolable arrogance may well do him in yet.

SUBVET| 2.17.12 @ 10:02AM

GEROGE SOROS......."We think either obama or romney's fine but Gingrich, he would change things".

Alan Brooks| 2.18.12 @ 1:02AM

"A second term WILL get ugly."

Not as ugly as Bush 43s entire interregnum. Fallujah, Abu Graib... a decade as empty as Karl Rove's soul.

Boar Hunter| 2.17.12 @ 10:59AM

A SECOND TERM WOULD GET UGLY?

LOL, The first one ain't goin so well as far as I can see. But what has anyone done about it? Absent anyone who is willing to act on the information what difference does it make? By the time Issa gets done with his investigation the results will be published as a meaningless twisted distortion of the facts in the LA times for the gallant, black, warrior of virtue Holder's great, great, grand children to read.

Does the phrase "Fox in the hen house" hold any meaning to anyone? We have criminals deciding which laws they will enforce against each other, whether they will investigate themselves or not and what the penalty will be if they are discovered.

The rule of law is irrelevant to these people. "We the people" better figure our a way to take back control and enforce the law or these muslim loving, anti-American, pro-communists...Oh hell, there I go again wasting my breath again

boogalie| 2.17.12 @ 8:55AM

I am in disbelief that a Department of the US Govt. can stonewall on the production of documents as this Dept. is. Further, the IG that is supposedly conducting an 'internal' investigation of this, is a close friend of Holder's...can't wait for that credible investigative result. I can point to no one in the DOJ who has been held accountable, those that were 'close' to the decision making have been either promoted, or laterally transferred. This is absolutely inexcusable, I applaud Congressman Issa's dogged pursuit of answers on this.

Boar Hunter| 2.17.12 @ 1:12PM

Issa is a gutless political hack and a coward. He is doing the minimum required to protect himself from accusations he did not fulfill his oath of office by the conservative side of San Diego who will reelect him.

Issa has weighed the attacks and accusations of racism by Obama's media whores against the alternative and is acting so slowly that he remains unscathed by the fray. Mark my words, Holder will live out his term in office and retire to a leisurely life of defending America's terrorist enemies from prosecution before Issa does one thing to harm him or Obama.

Holder, the evil, openly racist, weasel faced liar, has repeatedly stone walled Issa's ineffectual investigation. There is video tape of Holder bragging about what they were doing in Mexico long before he testified that the Mexican drug cartel's discovery of modern weaponry had just recently come to his attention.

The chief law enforcement officer for the United States of America is a liar and a criminal who believes he is above the law and apparently his belief is based on reality. Holder has repeatedly committed perjury and defiantly impeded Issa's investigation into his actions and the actions of subordinates acting under his direction without consequence.

It would seem that Issa mistakenly believed that by holding his feet to the fire, Holder would resign in shame or Obama would remove him. What a joke. How many times must Obama show his disdain for the law before he and his lawless regime is held accountable? A small indicator I know, but maybe next time we will remember that the use of illegal drugs speaks to the character of the individual who ignored the law to use them. Obama did not try and characterize his drug use as a youthful mistake in judgement, he bragged of it and boasted of inhaling frequently, but I digress...

In addition to everything else he has done to shame the office, Holder has further violated "Federal Law" by retaliating against the whistle blowers and if it were any other country we would allege he muzzled the press who is not surprisingly silent on the issue of crime in the White House. Does the press not still support holding people to account for retaliation against whistle blowers? It would seem they are only concerned with "Dog Whistles" no one can hear and do not care for those who have ruined their careers by reporting criminal misconduct by the federal government.

Based on their own claims; if the gun running scam had even worked, what was the mechanism of enforcement against it's recipients who are residents of a foreign country? Oh let me guess! You want to stop all gun sales in the US to keep them out of the hands of the Mexican drug cartels? You don't say! I'm so shocked! Look at my surprised face!

Alan Brooks| 2.18.12 @ 1:09AM

I'm opposed to gun control:
how am I going to shoot Stormfront's people someday? how can David Duke's brains be blown out without guns?

jaytrain| 2.17.12 @ 9:05AM

As a Great American observed many years ago : " A fish rots from the head " . As to that head , just another sad example of The Al Campanis Rule .

SUBVET| 2.17.12 @ 10:05AM

America need not fear so much the enemy at the gates, but high vigilance must be paid to the enemy's from with in.

Packard| 2.17.12 @ 9:09AM

Eric Holder accepting full responsibility for F&F must be a new version of the "Janet Reno Gambit." Having been caught responsible for the Waco Disaster in 1983, Reno manfully stepped up to take the political bullet for her boss, Billy C.

What was quickly forgotten, however, was that no one, to include Janet Reno ever lost their job for the Waco screw up. It seems that is where Eric Holder now wishes to take F& F.

LeoInTheWoods| 2.19.12 @ 7:28AM

Compare this to Scooter Libby.

Righty makes a blunder under oath and go to jail. Lefty gives drug cartels weapons to kill 1000+ foreign nationals and one heroic LEO and get promoted.

Anthony| 2.17.12 @ 9:31AM

So Holder has essentially told Congress that his actions, and those of Obozo's directly led to the death of a border patrol agent.
In addition, Holder has told Congress that this reckless policy will continue to lead to the deaths of individuals in the future.
What is so damn hard to comprehend that Holder and Obozo need to be arrested as accessories to murdcr?
Have we become that jaded and corrupt of a culture and society, that we are unable to enforce simple laws simply because of the individuals involved?
We have long past slouching towards Gomorah, as suggested by Judge Bork, and we are well down the road to the Road to Serfdom, as predicted by Hayak, if we as Americans don't stand up to the corrupt swamp known as Washington D.C.

BackToBasics| 2.17.12 @ 11:37PM

From your post = "Have we become that jaded and corrupt of a culture and society...."

Agree with your sentiments. Nobody will be brought to justice over this. I'll bet that 75% of Americans don't even know about the gun running. Until that percentage changes greatly for the better, nobody on the Republican side will have the guts to see it through.

rnd| 2.19.12 @ 9:53AM

Yes, B2B, that 75% that are too lazy and stupid to pay attention to hard news, to read, to reflect, possess a core of 35-40% who are now "mourning the loss of Whitney 'White Nose' Houston."

They are the 35-45% who probably think that all 50 States and all 7 U.S. Territories should have the flag at half staff for the druggie bitch.

For them, theyre already miserably lost in the Fast & Furious storyline when it comes to understanding what ATF means. Don't expect them to take the 4 seconds required to actually read the 2nd Amendment.

Bill| 2.17.12 @ 10:31AM

When I read in this article that AG Holder said he has "ultimate responsibility" for the Fast and Furious debacle, it reminded me of the last time I worked for the government, how we would laugh as the head bureaucrats talked about responsibility: he took all the the responsibility but none of the blame...

JimH| 2.17.12 @ 10:55AM

I’m paraphrasing something I saw and I can’t remember to whom to attribute it. We will not be a free society until Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms becomes the name of a store rather than a government agency.

Bill| 2.17.12 @ 11:35AM

FIRE ERIC HOLDER AND TRY HIM FOR PERJURY AND TREASON.

Bill| 2.17.12 @ 11:35AM

FIRE ERIC HOLDER AND TRY HIM FOR PERJURY AND TREASON.

Nick| 2.17.12 @ 12:43PM

"That nigger lover President Clinton had the pen and vetoed so many good bills passed by the Gingrich-led Congress."
- Written by Bill, yesterday, in the Time for Newt to Do the Honorable Thing thread:

http://spectator.org/archives/.....ent_749403

You're a moron and a racist, Bill.
GO AWAY!

Boar Hunter| 2.17.12 @ 1:32PM

Obama attends Reverend Wright's church for 20 years and enjoyed Black Panther rallies. He parties with racist rap artists and displays racially charged "art" in the White House.

Go away Bill? Why? Did it bother you that someone had the nerve to call a spade a spade Nick?

I'm just curious Nick, in the wonderland of miracles you live in is it only white people that are ever racists?

Obama and Holder are both barking racist scum and you attack Bill. At least Bill show's you the courtesy of telling you what he thinks in plain english, it must be hard for you constantly trying to hear those dog whistles all the time.

Nick| 2.17.12 @ 2:16PM

I cannot and will not abide racists. No matter what color they happen to be.

If Jeremiah Wright posts a comment here, I will tell him the same thing: GO AWAY!

I am not attacking Bill. He is attacking everyone here who is decent and who believes "that all men are created equal" no matter what color they are. O'Bama is wrong because of his ideology, not his skin color.

You can defend Bill's racist and bigoted remarks if you want, Boar Hunter. I will not abide you, either.

Boar Hunter| 2.18.12 @ 12:28PM

I wasn't defending Bill I was pointing out that you are a clown.

Nick| 2.18.12 @ 2:11PM

You were defending him.
And, you failed miserably. As did your "point."

Mike| 2.17.12 @ 12:01PM

Send Holder to Mexico to recover the weapons he and his henchmen sent to Mexico. The cartels will take care of Holder the way they take care of other Americans by "air conditioning" them or sending them to swim with the fishes.

Also remember that Holder was Billy Bubba Clinton's assistant AG who wrote the pardon for Mark Rich. Holder has been a corrupt political lawyer and government operative for over 20 years.

Crawler| 2.17.12 @ 1:05PM

Ideally, Holder and company should be tried here first and then extradited to Mexico to stand trial for the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans.

Yeah, I could go for that...knowing every day that Holder would be living out the rest of his despicable life in a Mexican prison.

OllieK| 2.17.12 @ 12:07PM

Call me cynical, but I believe F&F was nothing but a pretext to grab Americans' guns. Bush had tried a similar plan, however, he actually tracked the guns that went to Mexico. Hoder's F&F had no way to track the guns, and so the Administration's claim of legitimacy is beyond implausible. If Obama gets reelected, he won't tread so lightly on the 2nd Amendment. He needs to disarm law abiding Americans.

Timothy L. Pennell| 2.18.12 @ 7:45AM

Bush also was doing it WITH the full Co-operation of the Mexican Government.

KML| 2.17.12 @ 12:15PM

I have asked many of my Liberal colleagues if they have heard of Operation Fast and Furious, and none of them know what I am talking about. They have no idea what I am talking about. All of them heard about the attorneys being fired during the Bush admin and what a big "scandal" that was. All of them have heard about Scooter Libby, but Fast and Furious, a true scandal, an operation that broke who knows how many of our laws - they have no clue. So I ask the question, if a Liberal administration breaks the law, but ABC, CBS, NBC, Politico, CNN, MSNBC, etc do not report it, was a crime truly committed? Make no mistake, the purpose of this operation was to justify an assault upon the second amendment. Imagine this: the federal government lets all types of bad people buy guns and walk them into Mexico. Guns used in crime in Mexico are then traced back to gun dealers in the USA. Voila, there is outrage and unhappiness, the media carries the water for the Dems - "Our Gun Laws Are Too Lax - We Need New Laws". Before you know it, we can't have semi-automatic weapons, and that's just for starters. In the meantime, Holder, Obama, Boxer, Pelosi, all smile to themselves and think about the next crisis they can create and blame it on some other Constitutional right or capitalism.

trundle| 2.19.12 @ 10:05AM

Correct. They are salivating at the prospect of some insane fool like that kid at Virginia Tech or another Arizona Jared Loughner. They probably dream of another Columbine High School spree.

Yes, the purpose of F&F was the further destruction of the 2nd Amendment but also the further telling of the ongoing narrative of lies of just how evil America and Americans are (evil American companies making evil American guns).

ABNCP| 2.17.12 @ 1:28PM

With the most important election, perhaps in the history of our country coming this year we should look at reasons why the Obama Administratioin has to be defeated. One critical reason would be our Attorney General, Eric Holder, so lets take a look at who and what this man is and why he has to be gone.

One of the lates horrible decision is Holders DOJ launching an all-out war on voter I.D. laws and other measures designed to safeguard the electoral process. Although he lies about why the DOJ is doing this, purportedly to prevent minorities from being disenfranchised, the reality is that he is trying to capture minority block votes thru fraud in order to insure his boss gets reelected. Holder as we will see has a long record of manipulating facts to suit his requirements to advance a progressive agenda and to cover his ass.

However, this is only one of the latest acts of malfeasance this venal corrupt man has committed.
So lets take a look at his history. When Holder served as Deputy Attorney General for the Clinton administration, it was he who engineered President Clinton's controversial grant of clemency that freed members of the FLAN, a Puerto Rican terrorist group. He took that action over the strong objections of many career officals in the DOJ (not the first time or the last time Holder has ignored career officals in the Justice Department for his own ideological reasons). The sixteen members of the FLAN and Los Macheteros were serving time for bank robbery, possesion of explosives and participating in a seditious conspircy. The FBI had linked the two groups to bombings, armed robbery, six slayings and hundreds of injuries. Of course Hillary benefitted by getting the majority of the Puerto Rican and Hispanic vote in New York City on her Senate campaign and common sense makes it clear that is what the clemency was all about.

Then there was the infamous Marc Rich pardon. Marc Rich was an international fugitive who had duped our government out of loads of cash. President Clintdon had pardoned the fugitive financier on the recommendation of Holder who was then Deputy Attorney General and for Clintons own corrupt reasons. At the time Rich was on the FBI's ten most wanted list, accused of racketeering, defrauding the Treasury out of tens of millions of dollars and trading with our nations enemies. including Iran. Rich had supplied Iran with desperately needed funds while Khomeini's embargoed regime kept Americans prisoners and held them as hostages.

When an outraged Congress summoned Holder to explain his actions, Holder's testimony ws rambling and often incredible saying he didn't really know much about the Marc Rich case. He was consistent on the subject of his own ignorance about Marc Rich. Holders protestaions of ignorance do not stand scrutiny. Holder knew Rich well. To be clear, years before the pardon scandal convinced Holder it was in his best interests to make like he barely knew Rich's name, Holder had bragged to the media about how his office was cracking down on Rich. So the question is why did Holder recommend the Presidential pardon? So far nothing has come out. My inclination would be to follow the money. Oh by the way, Holders claim not to be aware about the Rich pardon sounds a lot like his claim that he wasn't aware of anything to do with Fast and Furious until months after Brian Terry was murdered. I mean I know people who don't know much, but this clown tries to convince us doesn't even suspect anything.

However, President Obama says he has "complete confidence" in Attorney General Holder. That should be good news for the Republicans. Pick almost any unnecessary, losing battle in Obama's first term and his dumb ass AG is at the center of it.

Almost immediately after Obama took office, Holder convinced the President to announce the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, without even examining the feasibility of doing so. Not only did the President suffer the indignity of missing the deadline he and Holder had demanded, but the Democrat controlled Senate voted 90 to 6 to block funds for the Guantanamo closure. Oh by the way, Guantanamo is still open and Obama has given up any hope of closing it. Really dumb advice Holder, but that's ok Obama trusts you implicity.

The next incredibly stupid action Holder recomended was Holdersdecision to release classified Justice Department memos on the CIA terrorist interrogation program and reopen a crminal investigation into the conduct of CIA investigators. It didn't matter to Holder that five CIA directors, including Leon Panetta Obama's choice as CIA director, all objected to Holders action. According to the Washington Post, Holder did not read detailed memos that previous career prosecutors drafted and placed in files to explain their decision to decline prosecutions. We see time after time Holder is not aware of information he should be aware of. After two years of wasted money, resources and needless controversy, Holder came up empty. What a guy.

Then came Holder's order to read Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab a Miranda warning after just 50 minutes of questioning. Holder did not consult any high level intelligence or national security officals prior to the Miranda warning. There is no doubt with that action Holder cost our country valuable anti-terrorist intelligence. Of course given his overall record, Holder probably does not really care about that.

Then we get Holder's catastrophic attempt to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terrorists
in federal courts in New York City. This where the plot thickens. Why would Holder and Obama want to try KSM and the others in a civilian court in New York City in front of what would have been a world wide audience? To answer that question we have to go into some very murky ideologically motivated details. There is an outfit called the Center for Constitutional Rights run by a man named Michel Ratner. To give an idea who Ratner is check this out. Ratner wrote a book called "The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld"which attempts to set up a trial for Rumsfeld for war crimes. He also published books declaring Che a heroic guerilla. That tells anyone everything they need to know about Ratner. (CCR) has received over 2.5 million dollars in funding from George Soros and his affiliates. The law firms listed by CCR as partners in their radical efforts to subvert our country include Covington and Burling which was Eric Holder's firm for eight years before he becam Obams's Attorney General. Covington and Burling proudly list among its achievements their help in winning Constitutional habeas corpus rights for terrorists held in Guantanamo, allowing them to sue in U.S. courts for their release. Holders' law firm did this job with the full blessing and support of Eric Holder. Oh by the way, they did this work pro bono. I imagine the Americans who lost loved ones in our battle against these terrorists must feel really warm and fuzzy about that.

Holder is not the only Covington/Burling lawyer serving in the DOJ. He brought many more with him and also many more from other radical law firms in this country. Ok, now think about it. Obama and Holder wanted to try KSM and other 9/11 terrorists in New York City. We know who the defending attorneys would have been, the most radical lawyers to be found in this country. But who would have been the prosecuting attorneys? The attorneys who would have been responsible for prosecuting KSM? Why of course the same type of radical attorneys from firms like Covington/Burling and CCR now esconced in Holders's DOJ. Can you see and agenda here?

Think about them as mob attorneys who defend Mafia killers for money. But instead of money, the currency for Holders troops is ideology. These radicals despise traditional American values and spend much of their careers trying to destory the American system of government from within. What a circus the trial in New York would have been. The United States would have wound up being made a mockery to the world. Just what Obama and Holder wanted to have done, that was the entire reason for that outrageous attempt. However, we Americans are not as dumb as some think we are. In the face of overwhelming national backlash, the Obama administration was forced to back down and it soon announced the resumption of military commission trials in Guantanamo. Really Holder did you actually think you could get away with it?

Holder then withdrew a law suit agains the New Black Panther Party for violations of the voting rights act. He did so over the objections of six career lawyers at the DOJ. Again Holder takes the low road and overrides experienced career officers in order to advance his own ideological agenda. His direction that violations by black perpetrators be treated differently than those by whites is on its face racism. And this boob is our Attorney General selected and supported by President Obama. Why am I not suprised?

How about Holder's suing the State of Arizona on Arizona's immigratonl law 1070. It's bad enough that Obama and his gang refuse to protectour southern border from illegal immigration, the poison of the drug cartels and the fact that our southern border is being penetrated by sleeper cells from countries that want to see us destroyed. But for Holder to admit to Congress he actually had not read the law, but was relying on T.V. and media coverage to make his decision in incredible. I mean you can't make this stuff up. Since then several States have passed similar laws and Holder is suing them as well. That is going to be bad news for Obama's reelection hopes because the majority of Americans do not want 10 to 20 million illegal's roaming around this country, undocumented and unaccounted for who's primary loyalty is not to the United States of America.

And we have Fast and Furious. As facts continue to emerge about that progam Holder continues to give Americans reason to doubt his ability to lead the DOJ. We no have the national embarrassment of a U.S. Attorney from Holder's DOJ taking the 5th amendment so he does not have to testiry to Congress about what he knows of the Fast and Furious program. Are you kidding me? The 5th protects Americans from testimony that may be against their best interests and might implicate them in a criminal act among other things. But a U.S. Attorney from Holder's DOJ taking it so as not to have to answer questions to Congress about that program, come on man what the hell is going on. Well, I guess are starting to understand that the hell is going on with this man.

Over a year after a U.S. Border Patrol Agent was gunned down by a weapon linked to this botched program, Holder and his DOJ have spent more time trying to cover their asses than providing
any accountability for this catastrophe. We have for sure two Americans dead. How many Mexican nationals have been killed? The numbers go into the hundreds because of this operation which was approved by Holder and his DOJ among other federal agencies he controls. I mean he is the Attorney General, God help us. Over 2,000 guns purchased under Holder's program have disappared and no one has any idea where they are, but there is a high probability most if not all are in the hands of drug cartel killers in Mexico and with criminals in this country. The only way this program makes any sense is that it was a covert attempt at an attack on 2nd amendment gun rights. But talk about the gang that couldn't shoot straight these fools turned it into one giant cluster flop.

Of course claims he had no knowledge of Fast and Furious because he didn't read the numerous memos that came across his desk. Do we see a pattern here with this man? You bet. Holder testifiedto Congress on May 3rd 2011 he had misspoke about when he first heard of the program.
He changed his testimony from a few weeks to maybe a couple of months. That means he told Congress he hadn't known about the program before the first part of March 2011. But a document dump from the DOJ presented to Congress on Friday, January 27 2012 showed he had received an e-mail from U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke informing him that Brian Terry had been shot and killed by a suspected drug cartel with a weapon that was part of the Fast and Furious gun running program. Holder received that information from Burke on 15 December 2010. That was the same day AGENT TERRY DIED and months before he perjured himself on the subject in front of Congress. By the way, why do these morons think that if they schedule a document dump that contains information like the above late on a Friday in order to miss the Friday night news, everyone will have forgotten all about it by Monday?

Last Tuersday, February 14, Representive Issa sent Holder another in a series of stern letters demanding the Justice Department comply with committee subpoenas that Justice has been pretty much ignoring stating in part, "we cannot wait any longer for DOJ cooperation". The letter was sent becauses of Holder's failure to meet the Feb. 9th deadline to make witnesses available and to turn over milti-thousands of pages of internal documents that Congress requires for this investigation. For months now Holder has been dodging, obfuscating, witholding evidence and outright lying in his pathetic attempt to evade responsibility for the deadly program that has cost the lives of two federal agents and countless Mexican nationals. Contempt of Congress? Contempt of the American people is what it is. However Holder will still try and stonewall Congress till the bitter end because he knows if all the information finally comes out he and Obama will be toast.

Hey did you hear the latest? Now that he and Obama are on the ropes for Fast and Furious, he has the audacity to claim both he and the President are being attacked because they are African-Americans.

Let's recap this mans record as Attorney General. He failed to conduct even a cursory review before pushning Obama to announce the closure of Guantanamo, he failed to consult the intelligence community before giving the Christmas bomber a Miranda warning, he failed to read the memos in which career prosecutors explained why CIA prosecutions were a legal dead end, he failed to consult New York City officals about trying KSM in their city, he failed to read the Arizona immigration law before publicly opposing it, he failed his duty as A.G. to supervise the Fast and Furious program and shut it down. This could be a record for gross incompetence by an Attorney General. Or is it evidence of the ideology Holder is engaged in to fundmentally change America?

Holder is a very dangerous man in a position of great power. As long as he is the Attorney General of the United States he will continue to use his position to do harm to the traditional values of this country. Obama and Holder have to be removed from power so we can start the rebuild of America into the Fortress of Freedom it was created to be.

"If the time should ever come, when vain and aspiring men shall posses the highest seats in our government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin"

Samuel Adams, October 1780

TomRath| 2.17.12 @ 5:43PM

Did you ever learn how to use an apostrophe?

trundle| 2.19.12 @ 10:16AM

Tom R., what kind of comment is that at 5:43 P.M.?

Most of us don't use the Queen's High English here, Webster's, or something annointed by the McGuffey Reader.

Just chill.

The man gave us a detailed rundown of things to consider as we reflect on this gun running situation and an accountable appointee in high office in our land.

I appreciate that ABNCP took the time.

We can deal with punctuation issues, grammar, style, etc. in some other venue, eh?

I appreciate what ABNCP offers us in his commentary. Keep the focus on that.

TomRath| 2.19.12 @ 8:28PM

It's called sarcasm. It was an appropriate response to a poorly organized recitation of facts most of the rest of us are familiar with. I'm guessing ABNCP wonders why nobody listens to him. He might take a long look at his presentation skills.

Ben Arnold| 2.17.12 @ 4:07PM

I absolutly demand an apology from the goverment of the United States, with written and officiated with the creditions of appropiate metals as well. All I ever done was to change sides, yes it was at a inconvient time but, when is it ever a good time. Not once did it ever occur to me to pull such lying, cheating, brow beating denials bald faced outright trying to destroy this nation. Sure I was wrong, I admit it. But these bastards have more guts than a gut wagon. They tell people up is down and get down right indigant when anyone questions them about it. It is quite clear the administration is radically racist, with the black panthers guarding the polling places with crossed arms holding a baton. With dead people voting, early and often. With Indiana electing obomba w/o him having enough signatures to run in Indiana. That was in the first election, what will happen this year? Think about if obomba wins 2012 what about 2016? Will there ever be another election? Probably not. As you can see what I did wasn't too bad afterall. Please write your Congressman and ask that my good name be returned to me, that Benedict Arnold may rest in peace and honor.

Thom| 2.17.12 @ 4:08PM

"An enduring weakness of Democracy is its lack of accountability .... "

If Federal agents had performed a similar operation involving explosives and arms going to Islamic terrorist cells in this country and scores of American citizens died as a result said Federal Agents would be hanging from various lamp post all over the country by now .....

For a long time now Federal authorities have gotten away with murder under the color of law and been shielded by the legalistic niceties of "technicalities". What does it say when the Federal government kills citizens in what some call "botched" operations and then pays out wrongful death settlements to the survivors and relatives of those they had a hand in killing?

Who was served by operation F&F? Injustices like this and others in the past undermine legitimate law enforcement functions and creditability at the very least. The white wash that follows just adds insult to the concept of a Rule of Law Republic. Some Federal agents get this. They know that operations like this and many other abuses of police power ultimately come back to bite them by making them part of the problem.... in no small measure to the general population they are supposed to serve. The BATF has never had a respectable reputation as a law enforcement agency. It has become the problem and a willing sycophant to an Administration that can't get through a week without defecating on the Constitution a little more.

Democracies die because they inherently scoff off responsibilities and accountability onto nonexistent entities (like unborn generations) or minority stake holders that have no power to prevent said abuses like this. Under MOB rule, the MOB is never held to account for its transgressions of enumerated laws. The MOB serves the MOB in the end.

No one will be held accountable for this farce and once King Obama leaves office and it can't be stonewalled any longer it will become a routine administrative white wash like past injustices like this. One thing is beyond certain given the micro management style of this current Administration, nothing like this kind of risky operation could take place without high level blessings all the way up the chain of command.

rnd| 2.19.12 @ 10:48AM

As to the DOJ/ATF/Administration chain of command in this F&F case and what it knew/did/authorized:

Do not forget the ever-present heavy handed government and governmental leader/boss over-tendency to be a micromanager.

Micromanagement is legion within government at all levels -- local, state, national. If Olympic medals were awarded for it, there would be a lot of gold, silver, and bronze honorees in all our top government agencies. Many would be multiple-medal winners.

I mention this to say factor it into your calculations. How can the fast-riser government mid to top echelon boss (those top career bureaucrats who have excelled in micromanagement to manage their careers to date) now claim to have no knowledge of what subordinates were considering, emailing, discussing, etc?

No knowledge? No message traffic? No discussions? No briefings? It is fully implausible.

Thom| 2.19.12 @ 11:21AM

Correct. To borrow a phrase from a movie, “xxxx can’t take a dump without a plan”. XXXX being any bureaucratic government function. I wouldn’t expect there to ever have been a detailed “paper trail” however, real paper or electronic. Such things are handled by courier and word of mouth normally. What trail there is will likely end somewhere between the low level flunkies and the mid-level bosses that simply approve everything from the top. Ultimately someone had to approve the details of the operation but as we’ve seen already the mid-level people are either blaming the lower level people for incompetence or trying to destroy the whistle blower’s credibility. This is SOP. Criminal acts have taken place here and there is apparently no controlling legal authority in the Federal Government not bought out in regard to this matter. The Mexican government doesn’t even care and they were on board with both King Obama and the Hillary Beast in drumming up false info on gun running from the US in 2009. High Crimes and Misdemeanors have occurred her but no one really cares to call it that.

Federal law enforcement is out of control....

Marc Jeric| 2.17.12 @ 4:14PM

What did you expect from a rabid racist-communist like Eric Holder? When he worked for that impeached disbarred felon Clinton, he worked our pardons for the Puerto Rico communist terrorists and several other felons in exchange for money contributions to the Clinton Library.

Ben Arnold| 2.17.12 @ 4:15PM

I absolutly demand an apology from the goverment of the United States, with written and officiated with the creditions of appropiate metals as well. All I ever done was to change sides, yes it was at a inconvient time but, when is it ever a good time. Not once did it ever occur to me to pull such lying, cheating, brow beating denials bald faced outright trying to destroy this nation. Sure I was wrong, I admit it. But these bastards have more guts than a gut wagon. They tell people up is down and get down right indigant when anyone questions them about it. It is quite clear the administration is radically racist, with the black panthers guarding the polling places with crossed arms holding a baton. With dead people voting, early and often. With Indiana electing obomba w/o him having enough signatures to run in Indiana. That was in the first election, what will happen this year? Think about if obomba wins 2012 what about 2016? Will there ever be another election? Probably not. As you can see what I did wasn't too bad afterall. Please write your Congressman and ask that my good name be returned to me, that Benedict Arnold may rest in peace and honor.

POST American| 2.17.12 @ 11:49PM

----------------------FINAL WORD----------------------

--AS reports have TSA NOW rolling out
in cities nationwide---

TROJAN HORSE TREASON continues
unfolding without missing a beat.

The government is not only is supplying
weapons to undermine the 2nd Amendment
-----BUT is clearly --the-- ILLEGAL drug
kingpin.

"Understand, destruction, and most esp.
SELF destruction can be elevated into an
aesthetic experience of the very highest
order."
-Theo Adorno
Tavistock 'Innie'
Cultural EUGENIST
Globalist
---PSYCHOPATH---

-TROJAN HORSE TREASON unfolding
within and over an engineered 'culture' of
sex and dope demoralization, and SOFT
KILL EUGENICS 'values'.

------'BEE---YOU--tiful' to 'BEE---HOLD'.

BUT TAKE HEART!

--74% of ALLLL donations from the
serving US military are going to
--------------RON PAUL---------------.

TAKE HEART

George Washington ---SAW--- the
ILLUMINATI for what it is and died
a BAPTISED Calvinist.

--HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE WASHINGTON--

CflyJuice| 2.18.12 @ 7:31AM

Remember how the media and then an independent (yea, right) investigator went ape$hit over the outting of Plame? And is wasn't even a crime!

They even ran Alberto Gonzales out of town for firing 9 ADAs when Clinton had fired 90!

I guess Terry's life as well as hundreds of Mexicans dead isn't really important for Obama: the dead don't vote (except in Chicago).

Timothy L. Pennell| 2.18.12 @ 7:53AM

Congratulations.

You get it.

Carol| 2.18.12 @ 10:09AM

Actually the dead vote all over the nation. How else do you think Commiecrats win elections?

Remember, SEIU's main job is to rig elections.

martin j smith| 2.18.12 @ 9:55AM

Until there is Leadership and not leadershit in the Republican Party there will be a lot of waiting for answers to many questions. What is necessary are Leaders who will speak above the MSM and go directly to the people. Remember them. They are also called voters.

obadiah| 2.19.12 @ 1:37PM

The "Fast and Furious Scandal" is like a fallen souffle. Too much air and froth, too hot an oven, not enough substantial ingredients. It's not good enough to serve up in a national political campaign but maybe bully Newt can rub it in the face of the "left wing media" and pander to the schoolyard crowd.

Ronald Ackenberry| 2.19.12 @ 5:55PM

This article contains many words and accusations, but not so many facts.

Like: When did this all start, and who signed off on it?

My understanding is the sting started around Sept 2009. I would deduce from that Obama certainly knew nothing of it, and likely if Holder was told about it, it was lost in the white noise of the new guy trying to figure out his job.

It's nice to make this a partisan thing, but it appears to me this was a case of the ATF bureaucracy over extending itself and is their nature.

I would like to think head would roll at that level, and those who saw it's, now, obvious shortcomings would be rewarded.

Bottom line:

This isn't about Obama or Holder and that's why there is so little outrage to register.

I think most people see it that way, too.

DWHarper| 2.19.12 @ 6:31PM

This investigation will go nowhere because the Republicans don't want to know where this program ultimately got its start, in the Bush Administration.

Rick Roberts | 2.19.12 @ 7:41PM

I have never commented here, but I am about to now.

You know what? Nobody gives a fuck about fast & furious. You all are just throwing echoes in an empty chamber! Christ almighty.

trw| 2.20.12 @ 2:44AM

R.R., as you just used a grotesque expletive and the Lord's name in vain (and you probably think that just a trifling) in writing for all the world to see, you've obviated anything you'd ever have to say here.

Come back perhaps when you are grown, much more mature. Don't know about your 'flyingdingo' but you're just further advertising grand scale immaturity.

Simply put, R.R: If you do not know who God is and have great reverence for Him, you've nothing to offer.

Oh? "Nobody?" Agent Brian Terry's friends, co-workers, neighbors, and family would count as somebodies, right? The lists of those left behind in the families of the dead Mexicans at the hands of these weapons? They are also "nobodies?"

valwayne@aol.com| 2.19.12 @ 8:02PM

Over 200 bodies in Mexico, and 1 in the U.S. and more crimes and bodies to come for years with these guns, and after a year we still don't even know who authorized this program. We have the most corrupt and racially motivated Justice Department in our history. All the top officials starting with Eric Holder should be fired. Not allowed to resign, but fired, and then there should be an investigation to determine if Obstruction of Justice has occured. With so many bodies if everyone were trying to get to the bottom of this how could we not know who even authorized it and knew about it after all this time. Not unless there is a massive cover up?

RA0725| 2.19.12 @ 8:43PM

All of the people that can implicate Obama in this crime have a "get out of jail free" card, a pardon (if necessary) on January 19th, 2013, the day before Obama is kicked out of our White House.

Rum| 2.19.12 @ 9:24PM

There is a perfect analogy for what Holder was up to: Imagine a local fire-department sending out teams to start fires in peoples home at night that led to their deaths. And then use that to argue for more powers for the Fire-Department.
It is a perfect fit.

Rum| 2.19.12 @ 9:29PM

There is a perfect analogy for what Holder was up to: Imagine a local fire-department sending out teams to start fires in peoples home at night that led to their deaths. And then use that to argue for more powers for the Fire-Department.
It is a perfect fit.

POST American| 2.20.12 @ 12:11AM

----AS we learn Santorum has been caught
fronting for Goldman Sacks --a la everyone
else ----AND was an 'on board' supporter
of the criminally ILLEGAL NDAA 1021
which authorizes the secret arrests, exile,
torture and execution of American citizens
-------------------ANYWHERE------------------.

-------------HUIAC/ NUREMBERG 2012-------------

Steve In Tulsa| 2.20.12 @ 10:33AM

You have forgetten to mention the three hundred plus Mexicans who have been murdered with weapons provided to the human trafficking cartels by Holder. Holder is complicit in over three hundred murders because his agency provided the murder weapons.

CHummel| 2.20.12 @ 11:36AM

Captain Hazelwood: Found guilty of 'abrogation of duties'. Sentence: lose license, lose job and pick up trash along highway. Why? No one died. Holder must be charged, at minimum, with same.

James P. Lucier| 2.21.12 @ 5:06PM

With all due respect to Mr. Antle, the plural of "small fry" is also "small fry." Small fries would be matchstick potatoes.

POST American| 2.22.12 @ 12:20AM

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
-------This is ----TREASON."
-ALEX JONES

Full spectrum police state surveillance
and invasive searches and siezures.

And NOW --NDAA 1021.

And even more recently Nancy Pelosi
calling for TOTAL surveillance and data
tracking while visiting the genocide capital
of the world -----RED China.

"A totalitarian society DEMANDS
that every single member be utterly
surveilled --utterly predictable every
minute of their day."

-----------------'PRE---DICK'D-----Abel'---------------

TAKE HEED

More Articles by W. James Antle, III

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April 12, 2013 | Matt Purple

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April 12, 2013 | Maurice Cranston

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