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When Senator Grassley first learned about Operation Fast and Furious, he sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for clarification. Holder’s reply flat-out denied that the ATF was engaged in gunwalking (intentionally allowing illegal buyers to smuggle guns to Mexican drug cartels). Yesterday, Holder failed to apologize for weaponizing the drug thugs who murdered U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. As for the AG’s direct knowledge of the ATF’s criminally negligent (at best) black bag job . . .
Holder told the U.S. Senate that at some point in the seven months after sending the missive he learned the true nature of the ATF’s “Gun for Goons” program. Assuming this is true, did America’s top cop then contact the Senate Judiciary Cmmittee to “update” them on this new information and provide the specific details they requested?
He did not.
I repeat: According to Holder’s sworn testimony, the AG didn’t know that the ATF was channeling some two thousand guns to members of the Sinaloa drug cartel at the time he wrote his reply to Senator Grassley’s letter. The AG said nothing when he knew it was inaccurate.
This is like filling out your tax return in early December (never a good idea), receiving a $500k windfall, and failing to notify the IRS about your gi-normous profit. Only worse, as Eric Holder’s inaction was a deliberate cover-up of a program that contributed to the deaths of two federal law enforcement officials and God knows how many Mexican civilians.
If you file a bogus tax return, get caught and then tell the IRS that you only knew it was egregiously wrong after you filed it they will laugh your sorry ass all the way to U.S. District Court in handcuffs. If only.
This just gets hairier and hairier
Yet I still don’t see this talked about on the news. There’s a huge scandal and cover up going on at the highest levels of government resulting in the deaths of multiple US law enforcement personnel. What could possibly make a better career for a reporter than to make this their pet project and really run with it?
Not being blacklisted.
This does stink to high heaven, and I truly hope that, for once, the people involved, no matter how high (and not just low), will be held accountable.One question though about some of the rhetoric surrounding this issue. Are we to believe that the Mexican drug cartels were not “weaponized” before Fast and Furious started?
Of course the Mexican drug cartel members had weapons before F&F. PLENTY of weapons. (Despite the whole cartel deal being a loose and ever-changing affiliation of bad guys).
The main question remains: why did the ATF launch F&F? Only four reasons I can think of
1. They’re incredibly stupid. Stupid enough to abandon the basic rules of sting op which they’ve been running for DECADES
2. To inflate the Mexican gun confiscation stats to get more money and power (i.e. manufacture a crisis)
3. To arm the Sinaloans against Los Zetas
4. All of the above
Robert:While it was a stupid operation the correct answer has always been #2. It was always a false flag operations to get more gun control. That is why Holder, despite a warning from Sen Grassley, tried to steer the conversation back to gun control. This adminstration has an agenda and despite continued failures they always go back to the agenda. F&F was program to shape public opinion to demand more control and it doesn’t matter that the agenda has been exposed. Holder and company are going to continue to try use F&F as a justification to restrict the citizens right to bear arms.
I appreciate those points, but again, if the Mexican cartels were already armed and had access to other arms (as I would guess any organization with billions of dollars would have), then how did Fast and Furious “weaponize” these people? In the same way, there have been implications that officer Terry would still be alive had it not been for Holder and the people beneath him. I am not sure that there is legitimacy in that particular vein of reasoning.
It can’t get any traction because American news rooms are far to occupied with Lindsay Lohan, MJ’s doc, tearing down Herman Cain, missing babies, or football coach eff ups.
Plus, they have to protect their agenda.
Props to Fox News and CBS for at least giving it a little coverage.
ATF has bigger boobs than Lindsay Lohan.
This is soooo full of win.
NEWS UPDATE! Just saw a CBS Morning News story (11-9-11) with an interview of Brian Terry’s parents. It was actually a sympathetic interview, and pointed directly at AG Holder (not Obama, of course). Brian Terry’s parents have just filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the agencies/people involved in F&F.
The amazing thing was the fact that the CBS female talking head was sympathetic towards the Terrys, and even a bit condemning of the DoJ.
Wonder when Obama will throw Holder under the bus?
It’s interesting to note that Holder’s entire attitude is of someone who has no fear for his job and has the complete backing of his boss. Contrast that with Alberto Gonsalez, who was savaged by Democrats in Congress and hounded out of office while his boss did nothing.
We (the TTAG intelligentsia) have said it many times before and we will say it many times more. A gun is not responsible for any crime committed with it. A gun is just a tool. The person who points the points the gun and pulls the trigger is the one responsible.
In this case, we must admit that AG Holder is not responsible for SA Terry’s death. Agent Terry would have been killed anyway. If a F&F gun was not available to the killer, he would have used any one of the other guns available to him. Some estimates state that the Mexican drug cartels have several Hundred Thousand guns. The 2000+ Fast & Furious guns represent less than 1 percent of their arsenals.
However, AG Holder (and the rest of his gun-grabbing friends) do not really have the right to state that the gun (and therefore the gunwalker) is not responsible for the death of SA Terry, because he has repeatedly implied that guns are what causes gun violence. You can’t have it both ways.
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