The lies are coming fast and furious

Fast and Furious prompts me to me update my longstanding rule formulated in the Cold War and posted on message boards many times: Never let Democrats come anywhere near the intelligence community.

The Cold War ended in 1991. I began posting messages in 2000; nevertheless, enforcing my prohibition was just as important after the Soviet Union imploded because Democrats immediately set about salvaging and rebuilding Communism’s worldwide infrastructure.

When I initially determined that Democrats could not be trusted to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I was focused on intelligence gathering, and intelligence agencies doing whatever it took to defeat Communist countries and Communism. Then came 9-11-2001 preceded by Gorelick’s Wall in 1995:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/apr/15/20040415-094758-5267r/

Gorelick’s Wall contributed greatly to the events of 9-11-2001 and gave my rule a new urgency because Muslim fundamentalists joined Socialists/Communists as sworn enemies of America and her allies. Today, Fast and Furious requires that my rule be updated: Never let Democrats come anywhere near the intelligence community or federal law enforcement agencies.

I’m including two articles to support my position. The first by former Representative Jim Lightfoot. The second piece is in part two and is about Congresswoman Maloney (D-NY); the very of type of Democrat that verifies the need for enforcing my rule. In light of what is known about Fast and Furious, you tell me which of two is telling the truth?

If they find my body floating face down
Jim Ross Lightfoot Sunday, November 27, 2011

As a brief history, some of you will remember the FBI siege of the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco, Texas, April 19, 1993. After the flames died down, a good and honorable man, Steve Higgins, then Director of ATF, was scapegoated by the press and the Congress. Mr. Higgins stepped down as Director. His staff had lied and misled him regarding the actions on the ground at Waco.

Mr. Higgins took full responsibility for his less-than-honorable commanders. I can attest personally, to Mr. Higgins honor and reputation, as he received a phone call in my presence regarding the situation in Waco prior to the raid that went so wrong. I heard him tell the person on the other end of the phone that the raid was to be cancelled, called off, taken down if there was even the slightest hint that the element of surprise had been lost.

Well, we all now know that his commanders lied to him and went ahead with the raid in defiance to Director Higgins orders.

In the following months John Magaw, Director at the United States Secret Service (USSS) was named as the new Director of ATF. At the time I was Chairman of the Treasury, Postal and General Government Sub-committee on Appropriations (TPS). Senator Dennis DeConcini from Arizona was my counterpart in the U.S. Senate. The three of us rebuilt ATF into a clean, lean and honest law enforcement agency. That tradition was carried forward by Director Buckles upon the retirement of Director Magaw.

However, things have deteriorated to a point where Waco looks like a runny nose compared to the sickness that now envelopes the higher echelon of the agency. ATF has not had a permanent Director for over six years.

Every organization has a few bad apples in the barrel. Without strong, positive, mission oriented leadership the bad apples at ATF have tainted everyone in the organization and are taking it down a path never intended by the Congress or anyone else that has an ounce of “protect and serve” in their veins.

Good agents are leaving the agency to protect themselves and their families from the harassment of some rouge ATF management people interested only in themselves rather than the ATF mission of taking criminals using guns for unlawful purposes off the streets.

Add to this the growing evidence that the Obama Administration, under the hand of Attorney General Eric Holder, are using ATF to forward their anti-gun ownership agenda. To wit; AG Holder made a rousing speech for the need of more and stronger gun laws, siting a so-called “river of iron” flowing into Mexico. That “river of iron” did not exist, so under his Department of Justice (DOJ) the river was created through a program known as Fast and Furious. Some 2000-plus weapons were allowed to “walk” across the US border into the hands of Mexican Drug Cartels with no tracing, follow up investigations or any semblance of legitimate law enforcement procedures.

As a result US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata are dead, murdered by Mexican Cartels using Fast and Furious provided guns. Add to this terrible list, hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens gunned down in the street when caught between warring Cartel factions.

Senator DeConcini, Director Magaw and I did a pretty darn good repair job. Today, however, ATF needs a total rebuild, elimination of the bad apples and full support by the Congress of the good, dedicated law enforcement people in the organization.

You can help make this happen. Congressman Issa and Senator Grassley have been holding a series of hearings regarding Fast and Furious. Please take a moment to email, write or phone your Member of Congress and ask them to be supportive of the Issa/Grassley effort. You can find your Congressman’s contact info here and your Senator’s here.

And now for the reason for the title of this email. Last week I wrote an article entitled “Indict Holder” and circulated it to the press and Congress. Even though it was Thanksgiving, to date I have received responses from over 50 Members of Congress or their staff. Yesterday, I wrote and circulated a follow on piece, “ATF and DOJ Break the Law”.

If you don’t hear from me for awhile, please check the nearest river.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/42760

 

PART TWO:

November 28, 2011
Rep. Maloney Lies about Fast and Furious
By M. Catharine Evans

Shilling for Dems desperate to pass off the hot potato known as Fast and Furious to the nearest Republican, Congresswoman Maloney (D-NY) wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Daily News last week entitled "Fast and Furious 'scandal' is a Republican red herring: What we really need are tougher gun laws."

Maloney followed the DOJ playbook on Fast and Furious. Terms like "gotcha games," "ill-conceived operation," "political fodder," "political sideshow," "witch hunts," and "lax gun laws" are everywhere. But that's not the worst of it. The facts don't fit her agenda, so what does she do? The congresswoman piles lies on top of the propaganda.

If not for the unspeakable grief of the Terry and Zapata families, as well as thousands of Mexican citizens, Maloney's rant wouldn't merit a response. But people died, and their loved ones deserve better.

Lie: The "Fast and Furious Scandal is a Republican Red Herring."

Truth: The guns retrieved at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's murder were real; they were later traced to the gun-walking operation. Senator Grassley and Congressman Issa did not manufacture a crisis, and the only "red" involved is the blood of the victims.

Lie: "Holder is being blamed for a program that is not his creation."

Truth: Fast and Furious was initiated under Holder's watch in the fall of 2009. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms falls under the Department of Justice, therefore he "owns" it.

Lie: "But this initiative, which was identical to one launched under the Bush administration, spiraled out of control, with ATF agents losing track of the guns as soon as they crossed the border."

Truth: The experienced ATF agents deposed by Issa's House subcommittee said they were ordered by higher-ups not to intercept guns "being essentially just bee lined to the drug trafficking organizations" -- a practice one seasoned 21-year veteran agent called "inconceivable ... never, ever in my wildest dreams would I have thought this was a technique ... You don't lose guns ... you don't let guns out of your sight."

Operation Wide Receiver involved approximately 450 guns, not thousands; there was a serious attempt to track the weapons; no one was killed; and Mexican authorities were told about gun-trafficking suspects. By all accounts, the program was shut down in 2007 after some weapons went missing.

By contrast, Operation Fast and Furious kept ATF agents stationed in Mexico as well as Mexican officials out of the loop; guns were allowed to walk without interdiction; and despite agents' vocal protestations of "outrage and disgust" about the deadly program, Fast and Furious continued until Brian Terry's murder. Those in charge at the ATF Phoenix field division "ignored their concerns" and told the agents "to get with the program" because senior ATF officials like Special Agent in Charge William Newell had "sanctioned the program." Hardly "identical."

Lie: "Americans who are outraged at Terry's death rightly want to know whether it has been scrapped and whether Attorney General Eric Holder who oversees ATF, is aggressively investigating Fast and Furious. I can report that the answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes."

Truth: Holder has stonewalled the investigation at every turn, and he perjured himself on May 3 at a House Judiciary hearing. Both he and President Obama have denied any knowledge of or involvement in the operation. When faced with questions from the media, each defers to the ongoing investigation by the DOJ's inspector general, who, coincidentally, worked under Holder as assistant attorney general in D.C. from 1994 to 1997. This faux oversight amounts to Holder investigating himself.

Lie: "But for Republican congressional leaders, one botched operation is not enough to serve their political goals. They need a scandal -- and are desperate to create one."

Truth: The word "botched" might be applicable if the operation out of the Phoenix division of the ATF had been stopped as soon as Agents like John Dodson and Olindo Casa related their fears about the deadly program to superiors. Agent Dodson reported the general feeling among those in charge was that "if you're going to make an omelet, you need to scramble some eggs."

Agents testified they were essentially told to "stand down" when requesting permission to interdict guns -- that "all of this was sanctioned" and was an "acceptable practice." At one point, an agent confirmed for the questioner that Phoenix supervisor David Voth regarded the increasing violence (958 killed in March 2010 according to one e-mail) as proof that they were on the right track. According to a June 14, 2011 staff report prepared for Issa and Grassley, "the agents within Group VII described Voth's reaction to all this gun violence in Mexico as 'giddy'" (36).

The chilling accounts of Phoenix Group VII special agents, who were repeatedly ordered not to intervene when they witnessed suspected straw purchases buying "enormous quantities of assault rifles," made this a full-blown scandal from the beginning.

Lie: "According to recent media reports, another Bush-era AG, Michael Mukasey, received a detailed Fast and Furious briefing in 2007. But only Holder took decisive action in response to these dangerous tactics."

Truth: Here is the memo and supporting documents from 2007. Congresswoman Maloney's deliberate use of "Fast and Furious" in the same sentence as the year 2007 suggests that specific program began before the 2008 election. It did not.

Furthermore, Holder has not taken decisive action. If former AG Mukasey was briefed on ATF's Project Gunrunner two months after taking office, as the memo indicates, Holder's persistent denial that he knew anything about Fast and Furious until April of 2011, more than two years after he took over, can mean only that he's lying or seriously unhinged. To date, no one has been held criminally accountable for giving orders to "stand down" while mass murder took place.

Lie: "Given the ongoing violence on our border and the glaring loopholes in our gun trafficking laws, it's time for Congress to drop its witch hunts and get serious. We cannot continue allowing weapons to end up in the wrong hands."

Truth: I doubt that the Terry or Zapata families would consider Congress' efforts to thoroughly investigate the murders of their loved ones a "witch hunt."

Congress happens to be dead serious. For some unknown reason, those "glaring loopholes" became craters on Holder's watch. The distinct feature of Fast and Furious that sets it apart from previous operations "is that absolutely no effort to track the guns was ever in place."

So far, big media has gone along with the "lax gun laws" and "Bush started it" defense. But Americans are growing tired of the lies -- to say nothing of representatives like Maloney who spew them and an administration who continues to blame a former president while ratcheting up its own so-called failed programs.

Read more M. Catharine Evans at Potter Williams Report.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2011/11/rep_maloney_lies_about_fast_and_furious.html

 

Eric Holder had me scratching my head on this one:

“You guys need to — you need to stop this. It’s not an organic thing that’s just happening. You guys are behind it.”

There are seven definitions of organic. I think Holder meant #6:

6. Law. Denoting or relating to the fundamental or constitutional laws and precepts of a government or an organization.

The next time Holder testifies before a congressional committee, I sure as hell hope somebody asks him to explain which rule covers Fast and Furious and who authorized it?

precept (noun)

1. A rule or principle prescribing a particular course of action or conduct.

2. Law. An authorized direction or order; a writ.

And it seems to me that members of Congress not the Daily Caller are “. . . behind it.”

Holder lashes out at The Daily Caller while refusing to address growing calls for his resignation
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller 4:56 PM 11/29/2011

Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder today demanded The Daily Caller stop publishing articles about the growing calls in Congress for his resignation because of the failed Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program.

As Holder’s aide was escorting the attorney general offstage following his remarks Tuesday afternoon at the White House, a Daily Caller reporter introduced himself and shook Holder’s hand. The reporter asked him for a response to the growing chorus of federal legislators demanding his resignation.

Holder stepped towards the exit, then turned around, stepped back toward the reporter, and sternly said, “You guys need to — you need to stop this. It’s not an organic thing that’s just happening. You guys are behind it.”

Holder then walked offstage without answering TheDC’s request for comment about calls for his resignation.

Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program, overseen by the Justice Department, which facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers. Straw purchasers are people who can legally purchase guns in the United States but do so with the intention of illegally trafficking them into Mexico.

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

Currently 52 members of Congress, three presidential candidates and two sitting Governors have called for Holder’s immediate resignation. Many of those lawmakers and political figures have issued statements exclusively to The Daily Caller in which they have called for Holder to step down. This is chiefly because TheDC is the most prominent mainstream media outlet covering this burgeoning international scandal.

(RELATED: Members of Congress calling for Holder’s immediate resignation)

Holder is the nation’s leading law enforcement official and reports directly to President Barack Obama.

This was not the first time Holder has criticized The Daily Caller’s coverage of Operation Fast and Furious. In his first-ever unsolicited letter to Congress about the gun-walking operation on October 7, Holder criticized Rep. Paul Gosar for comments he made exclusively to TheDC. Gosar had said the Obama administration officials responsible for Fast and Furious were equivalent to “accessories to murder.”

Holder was the primary speaker at a White House event Tuesday intended to publicize a new national campaign stigmatizing the purchase of counterfeit consumer goods including clothing, medicines, software, songs and movies.

One of the ads unveiled during the event asked consumers not to buy such products because the money would help illegal gunrunners.

Follow Matthew and Follow Neil on Twitter

http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/29/h...to-address-growing-calls-for-his-resignation/

 

It too collapsed over Afghanistan.

 

Here’s more action being taken by Jim Ross Lightfoot. Scroll down for a list of potential unlawful acts. I think you’ll be surprised at just how criminal Fast and Furious really was.

Potential unlawful acts by ATF Agents related to Operation Fast and Furious
Personal letter to Congressman McCotter
Jim Ross Lightfoot Monday, December 5, 2011

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/42987