Posted on 07/09/2012 1:19:32 PM PDT by maggiesnotebook
What does Kevin O'Reilly know about Fast and Furious, when did he know it, and why was he spirited off to a job in Iraq that he was not in line for? Why did his Iraq office change the phone number the day after Pajamas Media called and asked to speak with O'Reilly? Virginia Ramadan was expected to ascend to the directorship of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau for Iraq (INL-Iraq). She didn't. O'Reilly did.
O'Reilly was serving as a White House National Security advisor during the time of Fast and Furious. One of the star participants, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) director Bill Newell, has said O'Reilly is his close friend, with whom he emailed and chatted via phone about Fast and Furious. Border Agent Brian Terry is dead due to a government "issued" Fast and Furious firearm, and the White House continues to obstruct O'Reilly's testimony.
When Congressman Darrell Issa and Senator Chuck Grassley fired up their investigation, O'Reilly ended up in Iraq. Issa and Grassley want to talk to O'Reilly, and a phone interview will do. O'Reilly's attorney says his client is willing, if...the White House will allow it. So far, there has been no interview.
Bill Newell was quickly moved from Phoenix to Washington, D.C. and is sequestered inside the Justice complex. Newell got Issa's attention when an email from Newell to O'Reilly began with "You didn't get these from me...
Sipsey Street Irregulars - October 27, 2011:
On October 21, PJ Media reporter Patrick Richardson called the number for Office of the Director, INL-Iraq:Read more at PJ Media.1-240-553-0581, ext. 3275
Richardson reached a voicemail message confirming that it was indeed the correct number. He left a message that was not returned...
The committee’s interest in Kevin O’Reilly stems from documents the White House released last month on September 30 – a late afternoon “Friday document dump.” From Sharyl Attkisson’s reporting on the documents:
The documents show extensive communications between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell — who led Fast and Furious — and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O’Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the phone. Such detailed, direct communications between a local ATF manager in Phoenix and a White House national security staffer has raised interest among Congressional investigators looking into Fast and Furious. Newell has said he and O’Reilly are long time friends.On Monday Richardson called again, and an assistant answered. Richardson asked to speak with Kevin O’Reilly, and the assistant asked who was calling. Richardson gave his name and stated he was with PJ Media.The email exchanges span a little over a month last summer. They discuss ATF’s gun trafficking efforts along the border including the controversial Fast and Furious case, though not by name. The emails to and from O’Reilly indicate more than just a passing interest in the Phoenix office’s gun trafficking cases. They do not mention specific tactics such as “letting guns walk.”
A lawyer for the White House wrote Congressional investigators: “none of the communications between ATF and the White House revealed the investigative law enforcement tactics at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to ‘walk.’”
Among the documents produced: an email in which ATF’s Newell sent the White House’s O’Reilly an “arrow chart reflecting the ultimate destination of firearms we intercepted and/or where the guns ended up.” The chart shows arrows leading from Arizona to destinations all over Mexico.
In response, O’Reilly wrote on Sept. 3, 2010 “The arrow chart is really interesting — and — no surprise — implies at least that different (Drug Trafficking Organizations) in Mexico have very different and geographically distinct networks in the US for acquiring guns. Did last year’s TX effort develop a similar graphic?”
The White House counsel who produced the documents stated that some records were not included because of “significant confidentiality interests.”
The assistant said O’Reilly was currently on a conference call, and asked if Richardson wanted to leave a message. Richardson gave his phone number. His call was not returned.
This morning, Richardson called again. He received a prerecorded message saying “this number is not in service.”
PJ Media is aware that the number was in service as the line to the director’s office for several years prior to Richardson’s calls.
Sipsey Street Irregular's Mike Vanderboegh went to Washington, D.C. and irritated a myriad of D.C.-types. Here are a few snippets of Vanderboegh's email dated July 23, 2011, to Brian Downey and Henry Kerner regarding Fast and Furious emails between Newell and O'Reilly. Brian Downey is a key aid to Senator Grassley. Kerner is Issa's key staffer for the House Government Oversight Committee.
In the opinion of my sources, the highly irregular direct communication between a senior advisor on the National Security Council and a lowly ATF Special Agent in Charge reeks of executive branch misconduct. It would be, if as true as my sources say it is, "felony stupid."The same evening the email was sent, Vanderboerg received an invitation to meet with Issa's "staff," which he did. The meeting was "Off the Record," so there is no report, however Vanderboergh tried to gather information at Dr. Kevin O'Reilly elsewhere:
Mr. O'Reilly's name had come to our attention last week. We immediately began gathering anecdotal information, although we could find precious little. One source called him "a ghost," and another said he had been "sheep-dipped." A third said he was a doctrinaire liberal, while a fourth denied that but described him variously as a "snake in a suit," a "sociopath" and said O'Reilly's nickname was "The Scorpion," as in the story of The Frog and the Scorpion.Vanderboergh, who resides in Alabama, and is not an attorney, continues to irritate. In an unrelated case to Fast and Furious he wrote another email to Downey and Kerner regarding an investigation involving the ATF, Doug Friesen and Oklahoma attorney and, well...inconvenient details. According to Vanderboergh, Friesen was a machine gun collector and target for prosecution by the ATF. Here's the flavor in Mike V's words:(I would like to take this opportunity to ask any of our readers to contribute any other information they might have on Mr. O'Reilly. I rather suspect that today's hearing will not be the last that his name will come up at.)
Anyway, just as the first O'Reilly question was being asked of "Gunwalker Bill" about O'Reilly, I fell afoul of a Justice Department harridan with a law degree, who apparently complained that I was harrassing her. (I had asked her to pass down O'Reilly's bio to Newell's DOJ lawyer to ask the boy for an interview and she took exception to it.)
I would like to draw your attention to Mr. Erb's expert witness list. (Linked in my story and found here:http://www.scribd.com/doc/84019250/Pl-Expert-Designation) You will note that it is made up entirely of current and former ATF and DOJ employees, all participating on the taxpayer dime, presumably.Read it here to understand that while this is unrelated to Fast and Furious, suspicious tactics by the rotten-to-the-core DOJ were used in both cases.You will further note that it includes the name of Ed Kumiega, Assistant United States Attorney in Oklahoma City. I mention this because Mr. Kumiega is one of that protected species that Attorney General Eric Holder has been holding forth at great length about what DOJ line attorneys can, and cannot, do when it comes to your investigation of Fast and Furious. I am not an attorney, but attorneys have told me that this designated expert witness list made up ENTIRELY of government employees IN A CIVIL SUIT IN WHICH NEITHER THEY NOR THE GOVERNMENT IS NAMED, not only is unprecedented in their experience, but that it must have been approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department.
While Kevin O'Reilly was a White House National Security staffer, he apparently reports to Hillary Clinton, who seems to have been "deep into" Fast and Furious. No one has been fired in the Fast and Furious scandal. Several have been moved from the Phoenix area to Washington, D.C. Ken Melson, the acting-Director of the ATF for the U.S. suffered that fate. He was move to DOJ Washingtion D.C. and hasn't been heard from since. Someone (a Freeper) suggested we check Ft. Marcy Park.
Virginia Ramadan, who lost a promotion in Iraq to Kevin O'Reilly, is now in the "Visa Chief" at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. After 15 years in foreign service, she went from one war zone to another. Kevin O'Reilly no longer works for the White House. I suggest Issa and Grassley hop a flight to Baghdad and converse awhile with O'Reilly who should no longer need White House approval to "talk."
Take a look at the INL-Iraq website - no mention of O'Reilly, but there is a list of the Embassy holidays - 6 of which are Islamic. The "prophet's birthday is a holiday, but not Easter (Resurrection Day). On the State Department website, O'Reilly, the director, is not mentioned. For a full compendium of Fast and Furious, find sources here and here.
Background and Related:
The Bones of Fast and Furious: Hillary Clinton Deep In It?
Brian Terry – Jaime Zapata: The Strange Truth of a Government CoverUp
Ken Melson, Key Figure in Fast and Furious: Where is Ken Melson
Fast and Furious vs Wide Receiver: Holder Denies F&F Connection to Wide Receiver
And once in Iraq, you’re just a five minute drive away from an unfortunate encounter with an IED. How convenient!
The Ubama/Holder criminal conspiracy is running scared.
I am amazed that Holder hasn't gone the way of Ron Brown yet, but he will.
Gunwalker / Murdergate ping.
Very informative post for those who haven’t been involved in it from the gitgo...and some refreshers for those who have.
Kudos, maggiesnotebook!
Very elegant - it's also OK to be secretly thrilled you were one of the very first ...
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