Project Gunwalker

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When You’ve Lost…

June 23, 2011 by 1 Comment

Back during the Vietnam War, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite went to South Vietnam to see for himself the state of the war. The report was uniformly negative which caused President Johnson to famously say “when you’ve lost Walter Cronkite, you’ve lost America”.

Fast forward to 2011. There is no one quite the stature of Walter Cronkite anymore but Jon Stewart of The Daily Show will have to do. His report on Project Gunwalker, while comedy, skewers it more thoroughly than even Darrell Issa and Chuck Grassley have been able to do.

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Project Gunwalker Too Big For CNN To Ignore Any Longer

June 20, 2011 by

With the exceptions of CBS’s Sharyl Attkission and Fox’s William LaJeunesse, the mainstream media – especially television news – have done their best to ignore Project Gunwalker or Operation Fast and Furious or whatever you want to call it. So imagine my delight at seeing CNN’s Jeanne Meserve looking properly dour calling the hearings last week before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee “fiery”. She also said that Operation Fast and Furious “has become quite explosive here in Washington.”

It is about time that the major news organizations recognize Project Gunwalker and the damage it has done in an effort to build support for more gun control. I don’t believe any reasonable person can make the claim that the real aim was to take down major Mexican drug cartels.

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If Melson Is On The Way Out At ATF, Does This Mean Traver?

June 18, 2011 by

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Kenneth Melson, Acting Director of BATFE, may be ousted as early as next week over his role in Project Gunwalker. Moreover, they report that Andrew Traver is slated to travel to D.C. for meetings with Eric Holder next week.

Mr. Traver is set to travel to Washington on Tuesday to meet with Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General James Cole, the people said. The administration is weighing whether to name Mr. Traver as acting director or choose another interim chief while awaiting Senate action on his nomination, they said.

Remembering now-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s immortal words of “never letting a crisis go to waste”,  this could be the golden moment for Andrew Traver and his supporters. As a reminder on Mr. Traver’s background and ties to the gun control industry, I point you back to my post “Who Is Andrew Traver”.

Mike Vanderboegh, who was the first to mention Traver, reminds us that as heir apparent for much of the last year, Traver has been constantly briefed on Project Gunwalker.

As the guy who first broke the news of the Traver nomination in early July of last year, I’ll tell you this: The Traver confirmation hearing will cover a whole bunch of skeletons. Remember that Traver has been the heir-apparent for some time. THAT MEANS HE WAS CONSTANTLY BRIEFED ON WHAT BECAME THE GUNWALKER SCANDAL BEGINNING LAST YEAR. The question then becomes what did HE know and WHEN did he know it.

Remember, the hearing will be in front of Charles Grassley. I think you can count on the Resistance to provide him with a whole ream of questions for the virulently anti-firearm freedom Mr. Traver.

Mike also speculates that Melson will roll as it is now obvious that he is being thrown under the bus. He would, of course, be able to say what he told his DOJ superiors about Project Gunwalker and would be able to testify who he told in DOJ. As Darrell Issa made painfully clear to Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, he wants to know who in DOJ authorized Project Gunwalker and saying it was a rogue ATF operation just isn’t going to cut it.

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Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Is Not Pleased With ATF

June 17, 2011 by

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) released a statement yesterday after listening to the Operation Fast and Furious hearings. She is not a happy camper – nor should she be given the impact of Project Gunwalker on her state.

Statement by Governor Jan Brewer

Federal Operation Fast and Furious placed Arizonans at risk

“I am outraged by findings in a new Congressional report that alleges federal agents were instructed to stand aside and do nothing as up to 2,000 weapons were illegally purchased in Arizona and resold. In many cases, the end result appears to have been the arming of violent drug cartels south of the border.

“During Operation Fast and Furious in 2010, according to this report, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms were ordered to simply track these „straw buyer‟ weapons sales but not intervene. Longtime federal agents have now testified before Congress that allowing these weapons to leave the premises, a practice generally known as „gun walking,‟ was a marked departure from accepted law enforcement practices.

“ATF agents lost track of many of these weapons, including assault weapons and .50 caliber sniper rifles. A significant number undoubtedly found their way to Mexican drug cartels. Tragically, two AK-47s traced back to Operation Fast and Furious later turned up at the crime scene near Rio Rico, Arizona, where Arizona Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered by bandits. Authorities are still looking for the murder weapon.

“If the allegations contained in this Congressional report are accurate, then Operation Fast and Furious endangered the lives of innocent people on both sides of the border. The people of Arizona deserve answers from the Department of Justice and ATF as to how this could have been sanctioned, let alone encouraged. We may never know how many weapons illegally sold as part of this operation later turned up at a crime scene. But the connection between this failed federal operation and the death of Border Patrol Agent Terry is clear. The Congressional report puts it best: „The death of Border Agent Brian Terry was likely a preventable tragedy.‟”

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