Project Gunwalker

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One Year And Counting

December 14, 2011 by
1970-2010

 Today marks the first anniversary of the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. He was killed in a gun fight with armed bandits near Rio Rico, Arizona. Four suspects were arrested at the time and a fifth escaped.

A lot has happened since Agent Terry was murdered.

It was quickly discovered that two (and maybe a third) weapons found at the scene of his murder were directly linked to an ATF operation called Fast and Furious. Congressional hearings into the program and into Agent Terry’s murder have been held and more are to come.

The acting head of the ATF Kenneth Melson was reassigned and the U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke resigned under pressure. A number of ATF managers have been given either lateral transfers or promotions despite their involvement in this operation while the courageous ATF whistle-blowers who exposed much of what we know about Fast and Furious have been hung out to dry.

There is a bill before Congress to rename the Border Patrol office in Bisbee, AZ after Agent Terry. The House of Representatives held debate on HR 2668 – the Brian A. Terry Memorial Act – on Monday but a vote was postponed on a point of order by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Recently released e-mails seem to indicate that one of the major purposes for Operation Fast and Furious was not to stop the so-called Iron River of Guns to Mexico but to promote more gun control.

And the list could go on and on and on. However, none of that will bring Brian Terry back to his family nor ICE Agent Jaime Zapata back to his. In the end, it is about the people who have died in both the U.S. and Mexico as the result of this ill-conceived, ill-advised, and, more than likely, illegal program whose real purpose was to provide the Obama Administration the rationale for more gun control measures. That they died for this is immoral.

UPDATE: The Terry family released a statement today on the first anniversary of Brian’s death. The statement expresses their dismay that no one at ATF or the Department of Justice has taken responsibility for their son’s death. Moreover, they express their sincere condolences to those in Mexico who have been impacted by the gun walked in Operation Fast and Furious.

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Rep. Issa On Hannity Discussing Holder’s Testimony

December 9, 2011 by 2 Comments

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was on Hannity last night to discuss Attorney General Eric Holder’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. One of the things he said was this is not going away until they get the truth from Eric Holder. You know, I believe Issa when he says that. No matter how much Holder and the Obama Administration stonewalls, this isn’t going away and it isn’t going to get any better for them.

Tom Gresham on last Sunday’s GunTalk Radio show reiterated his prediction that Holder will be gone by the summer so as not to be an issue in the fall Presidential campaign. He well could be right.

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Fox Legal Analyst On Holder’s Testimony

December 9, 2011 by

Fox News Legal Analyst Peter Johnson finds it a bit incredulous that on one hand Attorney General Eric Holder is “a hands-on” leader aware of what is going on in his department but yet has never discussed Operation Fast and Furious with the President. Johnson also discusses lying, perjury, and misstatements to Congress.

I tend to agree. I think it strains belief that Holder and Obama have not discussed this operation especially since two U.S. law enforcement officers have been killed with weapons from it.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

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Bloomberg Willing To Give Holder A Pass

December 9, 2011 by

While he usually has no problem whatsoever in criticizing anything related to firearms, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is refusing to criticize Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious. Unlike even ardent gun prohibitionist Jackie Hilly of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence who says the Administration needs to take responsibility, Bloomberg won’t even go that far.

According to CBS New York:

Bloomberg seems clearly willing to give Holder a pass.

“I’ve never been into looking at the past and trying to blame people for the past,” the mayor said.

What a damn wimp not to mention a hypocrite. Bloomberg has no problem blaming gun shows in Arizona and other states for crime in New York City. However, in one of the few cases with a clear trail of evidence of illegal purchases by straw buyers, he won’t say anything negative about the operation or those who ran it. He is just plain, flat out, pathetic.

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“Blood Is On The Hands Of Those At The Justice Dept Who Tried To Cover Up”

December 8, 2011 by

ATF Agent Jay Dobyns was interviewed on Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine yesterday about Operation Fast and Furious. When asked if Brian Terry’s blood was on the hands of the DEA, FBI, and ATF, he responded, “Yes”. He then went on to say it was also on the hands of those in the Justice Department who have tried to cover up Operation Fast and Furious. Dobyns then said it was on the hands of those in the White House who made the decision to seal the records of the investigation into Terry’s death.

Dobyns has never been one to mince words and he doesn’t in this interview. It takes cojones to infiltrate the Hell’s Angels and it takes cojones to stand up to the full weight of the Obama Administration and the Justice Department.

Watch the latest video at <a href=”http://video.foxnews.com”>video.foxnews.com</a>

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No Retaliation Against Whistleblowers? Sure There Wasn’t

November 30, 2011 by

William LaJeunesse of FoxNews reports today on the lives of those brave ATF agents who stood up and told the truth. He compares it with what happened to managers like Newell, Voth, McMahon, and Melson. It isn’t pretty.

The managers either got promotions or supposedly lateral transfers with paid moving expenses plus the cost of living bonus that comes with being assigned to Washington, DC and headquarters. The agents?

  • Agent Larry Alt took a transfer to Florida and has unresolved retaliation claims against the ATF.
  • Agent Pete Forcelli was demoted to a desk job. Forcelli is a respected investigator, with years as a detective with the New York City Police Department. He has requested an internal investigation to address the retaliation against him.
  • Agent James Casa also took a transfer to Florida.
  • Agent Carlos Canino, once the deputy attache in Mexico City, was moved to Tucson.
  • Agent Jose Wall, formerly assigned to Tijuana, was moved to Phoenix.
  • Agent Darren Gil, formerly the attache to Mexico, retired.

Perhaps the most courageous of all the whistleblowers is Senior Agent John Dodson. He was the first to come out publicly, the first to agree to have his name mentioned, and the first to go on-air with Sharyl Attkisson of CBS without a hidden identity. As might be expected given the management culture of ATF, Dodson’s life since then has been hell.

Dodson was told he was toxic and could no longer work in Phoenix. With sole custody of two teenagers and under water on his house mortgage, Dodson found himself with no place to be and nowhere to go.

A supervisor suggested he’d be treated fairly at an office in South Carolina. Wanting to keep his job, protect his pension and pay the mortgage, Dodson had no other choice. He and his family now live in a small apartment, facing financial troubles, still labeled persona non grata by the very agency he carries a badge for, and regularly assaulted by leaks from “ATF sources at headquarters.”

This was after he moved his family from Virginia to take the Phoenix position. Before his transfer to South Carolina, managers openly retaliated against Dodson by giving him the worst duty and even going so far as to turn off his building badge.

If there was a fund to help Agent Dodson get through this period, I’d donate in a heartbeat. If there isn’t a fund, there should be one. Moreover, in an entirely just world, Bill Newell and David Voth would be Federal inmates and their assets sold so as to compensate the victims of Project Gunwalker.

Watch the latest video at <a href=”http://video.foxnews.com”>video.foxnews.com</a>

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Operation Fast And Furious Has Kept The Numbers Game Alive

November 30, 2011 by

Ginny Simone of NRA News interviewed Ed Head yesterday about the varying estimates of firearms that have been traced from the United States to Mexico. Head, who is currently the rangemaster and an instructor at Gunsite Academy, was a Field Operations Supervisor with the Border Patrol prior to his retirement in 2001.

Head made the point that just because a firearm is “sourced” to the United States does not mean it entered Mexico illegally. He pointed out that the United States sells weapons to the Mexican Army along with those of a number of other Central American nations. Head pointed out that many American-made weapons in the hands of the cartels are being stolen or diverted from the Mexican Army. Moreover, other weapons in the cartel’s hands were legally sent to the militaries of such Central American countries as Guatemala. To blame border state gun dealers for this is wrong, Head said.

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“You Guys Are Behind It” – Attorney General Eric Holder

November 30, 2011 by

In a scene reminiscent of the Nixon Administration during the Watergate Scandal, Attorney General Eric Holder lashed out at a reporter for The Daily Caller. The reporter asked Holder for his response to the growing calls in Congress for his resignation over his role in Operation Fast and Furious. Holder’s response?

Holder was at the White House to help launch the Intellectual Property Theft Campaign when he made his demand that The Daily Caller stop running articles about members of Congress asking for Holder’s resignation.

Methinks the pressure is starting to get to the “cool guys” in the Obama Administration.

UPDATE: The Joyce Foundation funded hacks at Media Matters are applauding Holder’s response to the reporter from The Daily Caller.

Either way, Holder is right: This isn’t a grassroots movement of conservatives calling for Holder to step down, it’s a concerted effort by a supposed media organization to push him out.

This reminds me of Baghdad Bob – Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf – who would insist that Saddam’s army was winning as American tanks were rolling into the city. There are plenty of us in the grassroots who would like to see Holder gone. The reason the hacks at Media Matters don’t recognize it is they don’t know what real grass looks like. All they know is Astro-Turf.

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Sen. Chuck Grassley: Facts Are Stubborn Things

November 30, 2011 by

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is taking exception to statements made by Attorney General Eric Holder and his apologists who are saying mistakes made during Operation Fast and Furious did not directly lead to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. In a release sent out today by his office, he says:

Setting the Record Straight on the Department of Justice Oversight Hearing

“Facts are STUBBORN Things”
“…and whatever our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” – John Adams, December 1770

Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight Hearing with Attorney General Eric Holder, Nov. 8, 2011

Connection Between Fast and Furious and Agent Terry’s Death

Attorney General Holder to Senator Cornyn: “It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast and Furious led directly to the death of Agent Terry.”

FACT
According to the FBI, two weapons were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The bullet removed from Agent Terry matched the caliber of those two weapons, not the caliber of the weapons in possession of the Border Patrol agents, so it appears he did not die from friendly fire. Congressional investigators have asked the FBI to explain its theory of the case, since if there was no third gun at the scene and the bullet didn’t come from the Border Patrol, there must still be an unknown third gun which law enforcement has not yet recovered. It is possible that that third gun is not related to Fast and Furious. However, since two guns walked in Fast and Furious were present, it is possible that a third may have been as well. The two found at the scene were both part of a lot of three weapons purchased by known straw buyer Jaime Avila on the same day in January 2010.

Prior to the purchase of the weapons found at the Terry murder scene, Avila had already been identified by the ATF as a likely straw purchaser at least two-and-a-half months earlier. In November 2009 Uriel Patino, the largest purchasing target in Operation Fast and Furious, brought Avila into a cooperating gun dealer to buy five weapons. ATF received real-time notice from the gun dealer and knew the purchases were significant enough that agents rushed to the store to follow them. However, they arrived too late. Yet rather than going to Avila’s address to question him, ATF opted to sit back. Avila continued to purchase through December 2009 and into January 2010.

When the weapons found at the Terry murder scene were bought by Avila on January 16, 2010, the cooperating gun dealer gave the ATF same-day notice via fax. One business day later, the ATF entered the purchases in their Suspect Gun Database. Nevertheless, the ATF still failed to question Avila the day of the purchase, the day the purchase was entered into the Suspect Gun Database—or at all, until Avila was arrested 11 months later in direct response to Agent Terry’s death. The falsification of forms charge for which Avila was arrested on December 15 could have been made months earlier.

Regardless, by using the word ‘directly,’ Holder seems to be echoing the statement of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer: “The tragic truth is that if those criminals who killed Agent Terry had not gotten the guns from this one source, they would have gotten the gun from another source.” That is hardly an excuse for federal law enforcement to watch criminals collect more than a thousand firearms without acting to stop them.

 The link to all the supporting documents can be found here.

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Quote Of The Day

November 15, 2011 by

The Daily Caller reports today that Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department tried to manipulate the press coverage of Operation Fast and Furious prior to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on November 1st.

The Justice Department selectively leaked documents about earlier gunwalking that were delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 31st. The goal was to make Sen. Chuck Grassley’s questions appear partisan when he asked about Operation Fast and Furious.

Ed Morrissey writing in HotAir.com has this to say about the attempt at manipulating the press:

Well, it’s no big deal, right? It’s not as if this is a life-and-death issue. Oh, wait …

Scandal-free, my foot. If this administration had nothing to hide, it wouldn’t be so desperate to manipulate the media and dodge Congressional oversight. It’s long past time for Eric Holder to resign. It might be time for the Senate to block all Obama nominees until he fires Holder.