Posted on 07/07/2011 11:59:19 PM PDT by XHogPilot
One of the original whistleblowers on Operation Fast and Furious — which allowed thousands of guns to cross the border into Mexico — said Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Ken Melson’s testimony before congressional investigators on July 4 was nothing but “smoke and mirrors.” ATF Special Agent Vince Cefalu continued:
At this point he’s doing what anyone would do, he’s saving his own ass.
Cefalu is one of the founders of CleanUpATF.org, a message board dedicated to addressing abuses within the ATF. He is one of the most vocal critics of the heads of the organization.
Cefalu was served with a notice of termination just one day after Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the ATF warning them against retaliation towards agents who come forward to testify about the operation.
According to a release from Issa’s office, Melson secretly talked to House and Senate investigators with his personal attorney present — former United States Attorney Richard Cullen — and did so without the knowledge of the ATF or the Department of Justice.
Per the letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder by both Issa and Grassley:
[Melson’s] interview had originally been scheduled through the Justice Department to occur on July 13 in the presence of DOJ and ATF counsel. As you know, however, under our agreement Department witnesses who choose to attend a voluntary interview with their own lawyer are free to exercise that right rather than participate with counsel representing the Department’s interests.
Cefalu questioned the presence of Melson’s lawyer:
Why would he need an attorney, why would you need all this protection if it doesn’t happen (that ATF retaliates against whistleblowers)?
According to Cefalu this is an attempt by Melson to avoid responsibility for the operation which led to the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, and more than 150 Mexican nationals. New reports now say that guns from Fast and Furious are being found in Arizona, having come full circle from the operation which was based in Phoenix. Said Cefalu:
He’s horribly irresponsible. He’s not taking responsibility for what he’s done. At the end of the day he made decisions on behalf of ATF and people died for it.
Cefalu said the operation was never about actually arresting cartel members for arms trafficking, it was about headlines for the ATF and its upper echelons, more budget, more gun control, and more media attention for ATF:
There’s no Mister Big in Mexico, there’s no … Iron Pipeline. It doesn’t exist.
When everybody is screaming terrorism and counterterrorism no one wants to talk to anyone but the FBI. If there’s gunrunning on the border and thousands of guns flowing into Mexico it’s more headlines for ATF.
It’s fame and glory and grabbing headlines.
Cefalu said the operation was akin to the DEA deciding to track the flow of drugs in a major city by putting tons of high-quality heroin on the streets, then waiting for a rash of overdoses to see which part of the city had the most drug activity.
Meanwhile, emails have revealed that high-level officials within DOJ were aware of the operation, which Attorney General Eric Holder has repeatedly said he only found out about when the story broke.
According to the emails, Assistant Attorney General (Criminal Division) Lanny Breuer, Melson, Acting Deputy Director of the ATF William Hoover, DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, and Director of the FBI Robert Mueller were all aware of the operation.
It defies belief that Holder was unaware of the operation, and it is highly unlikely that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano were unaware of an operation that had both national security and international relations implications. It seems increasingly likely there will be multiple resignations as a result of this investigation and possibly criminal prosecutions.
Update: Someone in Congress funded Gunwalker via the stimulus bill.
If Holder didn’t know about Project Gunrunner, why did he give a speech about it 2 years ago? link
ATF Gunrunner Project Funded by Stimulus Bill link
White House Gun Czar, Steve Croley: “‘I just want you to know that we are working on it,’ Brady recalled the president telling them. ‘We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.’link
Gun-Running Timeline: How DOJ’s ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ Unfolded— link
Does anyone have a Gunwalker ping list? If not, there should be one. This ain’t going away. I’ll do it if no one else wants to. FR mail me if you want this.
No mincing words there. Don't let up, Vince.
Go for it, and add me first!
This is great. Melson trying to cover his ass will implicate more people ...
For reference.
ATF looking to create headlines to justify more gun control, seems familiar.
At Waco last time.
ATF invited the media to watch the big bust, used stock trailers to bring in the agents, did not actually bring the warrant, started shooting up the church, lied to justify what they were doing, later used tank recovery vehicles to knock the building of it’s foundation, then burned American citizens alive, including children.
No one in Gov. Org. was ever prosecuted, most got promotions.
Prove to me that this will end any differently!
Jim Robinson just added a permanent banner tag for GUNRUNNER to the top of the forums page. (http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index)
Or you can find any article with a gunrunner tag at http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/gunrunner
That said, I’d be happy to be added to any gunrunner/gunwalker/fastandfurious ping lists.
I’d like to be on your list. Thanks
Gotcha.
Mrs. Prince of Space
Who put the funding into the stimulus bill?
Schumer, Maloney, etc, etc, etc
The list of suspects is encompasses every Democrat in the House and Senate in 2009.
Me to please!
Curious that Cefalu would put emphasis on Melson having a lawyer as being of suspicion. Would seem to me if I was a target by the highest echelon of Government in a situation such as this I’d be an idiot to NOT have a lawyer, and all that entails on my side.
Quite curious.
Okey Dokey.
count me in...
Lemme see if I’ve got this whole fiasco straight:
The regime made it easier for criminals to get guns with the result that more people got killed, so that they could argue that we should make it harder for law-abiding citizens to get guns so fewer people would get killed.
It that pretty much it?
Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference
CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009
Remarks as prepared for delivery.
First, let me express my thanks to Attorney General Medina Mora and Secretary of Government Gomez Mont for making this conference possible.
This is my first trip to another country as Attorney General. I wanted to come to Mexico to deliver a single message: We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in this fight against the narcotics cartels. The United States shares responsibility for this problem and we will take responsibility by joining our Mexican counterparts in every step of this fight.
And, together, we will win – thanks in large part to the courage of my Mexican colleagues here today, who are on the front lines every day, and with whom I am proud to collaborate.
The topic that has been addressed over the past two days could not be more important – the development of an arms trafficking prosecution and enforcement strategy on both sides of the border.
I would like to thank the Mexican and U.S. experts who have worked so hard on this issue. On our side, Secretary Napolitano and I are committed to putting the resources in place to increase our attack on arms trafficking into Mexico.
Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion. DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail.
But as today’s conference has emphasized, the problem of arms trafficking will not be stopped at the border alone. Rather, as our experts emphasized, this is a problem that must be met as part of a comprehensive attack against the cartels – an attack in depth, on both sides of the border, that focuses on the leadership and assets of the cartel. This is the type of full-bore, prosecution-driven approach that the U.S. Department of Justice took to dismantle La Cosa Nostra – once the most powerful organized crime group operating in the United States.
With partners like those we have here today, I am confident that together, we will defeat these narcotics cartels in exactly the same way. I am proud to stand with you, and to join you in this fight. Thank you again for inviting me here.
Quiero que el pueblo Mexicano sepa que mi nación está con ustedes en la lucha contra los narcotraficantes.
México y los Estados Unidos comparten mas que una frontera—compartimos cultura, sangre e intereses comunes. Somos hermanos unidos contra una batalla que ganaremos.
Tenemos que aprender de uno a otro, trabajar juntos y luchar juntos. Si hacemos estas cosas, si nos dedicamos juntos a esta lucha, no tengo duda que tendremos éxito.
He’s not ‘horribly irresponsible’. He’s a criminal.
me, too
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