Free Republic

VIDEO:Obama Orders:Launched Fast and Furious

According to a release from Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled new hearings into the on going Operation Fast and Furious scandal — this time they’ll be talking to ATF agents based in Mexico: “Operation Fast and Furious: The Other Side of the Border” will examine accounts of agents based in Mexico Washington DC– On Tuesday, July 26th, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will convene a hearing as part of the ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious, a tragically flawed effort that is connected to...

The Department of Justice is trying to protect its political appointees from becoming embroiled in the broadening Fast and Furious gun-tracing scandal by refusing to release an internal "smoking gun" report that acknowledges the role of top officials in the program that allowed guns to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Kenneth Melson, the ATF acting director, earlier this month also told congressional investigators examining the role of top officials in the ill-fated program that affidavits in support of wiretaps used in the operation are inconsistent with what...

On July 4th,Acting ATF Director Ken Melson testified for hours before representatives of the Grassley/Issa congressional committees. Personal counsel in tow,Melson made a number of allegations concerning the Department of Justice and two agencies under DOJ control—the FBI and the DEA. According to his testimony,not only did the DOJ refuse his repeated requests that the ATF be permitted to provide information demanded by the congressional committees,the Department also arranged for tax dollars from the FBI and DEA to help finance Fast and Furious straw buyers. And as Fast and Furious supplied weapons were found at the murder scenes of both...

A Washington Times editorial notes that Operation Fast and Furious was “too fast, too furious,” as the gunrunning scandal continues to widen. It was bad enough that more than a half-dozen director-level law enforcement officials and an unknown number of supervisors and managers acquiesced to a plot that armed cartels with more than 2,000 weapons in ATF’s Phoenix Field Operations area. But saying that a combination of groupthink, stupidity, and institutional inertia is to blame for this fiasco is giving dozens of federal law enforcement officers across multiple agencies the benefit of the doubt that they are merely criminally incompetent....

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ botched Operation Fast and Furious was not a “renegade operation” but a coordinated effort “from the top down,” congressional sources and ATF insiders told the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner today. The suggestion surfaced in National Law Enforcement Examiner Jim Kouri’s column, quoting an unnamed New Jersey police commander who referred to the controversial gun trafficking sting as a “renegade operation.” One police commander in New Jersey told Law Enforcement Examiner, "We need to get to the bottom of this renegade operation fast. I am furious that our government actually contributed to the...

At ARFcom, Nolo Contendere, who does heroic work mirroring all the news reports of the growing Gunwalker Scandal writes: To all the agents that are wrestling with what to do, whether to become a whistle-blower or whatnot.... do it. Come forward. WE NEED YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER. If you want, I can get you in touch with the right people, or you can go straight to Grassley/Issa's committees yourself. Do not wait, do it now. You owe it to Brian Terry. Your higher-ups WILL turn on you, and you do NOT want to be carrying the water for these...

Hillary. Conspiring to violate the laws she swore to uphold. What did she know and when did she know it? International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is a set of United States government regulations that control the export and import of defense-related articles and services on the United States Munitions List (USML). These regulations implement the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), and are described in Title 22 (Foreign Relations), Chapter I (Department of State), Subchapter M of the Code of Federal Regulations. The Department of State interprets and enforces ITAR. Its goal is to safeguard U.S. national...

8 Share Print Email “Did Fast & Furious violate the Arms Export Control Act?” attorney and author David T. Hardy asks on his Of Arms and the Law blog. He’s referring to the Arms Export Control Act that “authorizes the President to define defense articles and regulate their export.” There’s no exemption from the State Department permit requirement for “official use” since no one is admitting walked guns are part of approved U.S. foreign policy, so the bottom line seems to be: Any person who willfully violates these provisions "shall upon conviction be fined for each violation not more than...

Several lawmakers are questioning the Obama administration about whether the controversial "Fast and Furious" gunrunning probe may have had a cousin in Florida that resulted in guns being trafficked to Central America. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., penned a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder and ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson inquiring about a program known as "Operation Castaway." Other top lawmakers are also starting to look into it, though ATF claims the program was above board and not similar to Operation Fast and Furious at all.

An internal ATF email seems to support the assertion that Fast and Furious was a PR stunt for gun control.PJM’s Bob Owens has long speculated that the primary reason for Operation Fast and Furious was to perpetuate the lie that 90 percent of illegal firearms in Mexico were from the United States. Owens’ assertion was buoyed on Wednesday by internal ATF emails obtained by Townhall.com. One email reads: Can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same FfL and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple...

Darrell Issa and Charles Grassley demand to know about contact DOJ has had with committee witnesses. Also, a source tells PJM: DOJ has picked a new fall guy to target after they failed to topple ATF Director Ken Melson.   Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-IA), ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have fired off another pair of letters to Attorney General Eric Holder as part of their investigation into the Operation Fast and Furious debacle, which has claimed the lives of at least two American...

Since its modern mutation in 1968 (via the “Gun Control Act of 1968), and with an infusion of power to it in 1972 by Treasury Department Order No. 120-1, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) has amassed a truly sordid record of “gun control.” Although it’s website somewhat outlandishly claims a history going back to 1789, BATFE’s modern roots go to its failed attempts at the enforcement of Prohibition (another stupid idea from the federal government). There’s hardly anything as pathetic as a bloated government agency, in search of a mission. So the “BAT” got their...

Two Republican congressman investigating ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" program said yesterday "senior officials at the Department of Justice" were "unquestionably aware" of the operation. In a letter yesterday to Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) demanded copies of all communications among a dozen top DOJ officials in what they called "this reckless program." Their allegations are among the most serious yet in the unfolding gunwalker scandal, in which ATF allowed thousands of weapons to be smuggled south of the border directly into the hands of the drug cartels.

Manassas, VA --(Ammoland.com)- Most of the larger national media outlets are doing their best to ignore the Gunwalker scandal, but the word is dribbling out despite the best efforts of the Obama Administration and their lackeys in the mainstream press. Those who know about the outrageous project should be demanding answers and accountability. The recent hearings in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA), showed clearly that agents of the ATF and other agencies, working with the approval from the highest levels of the Department of Justice – no more than one desk below...

The daily horror of mass murder in Mexico hit the U.S. Congress last week in the form of scandal. Sadly, the scandal is not about the incredible loss of life in the drug wars. Instead, Republicans in Congress are busy targeting their least favorite member of the Obama cabinet, Attorney General Eric Holder. The right has had it in for Holder ever since he managed the controversial pardon of fugitive Marc Rich in the Clinton Justice Department. As attorney general, Holder has angered it further by pushing to have civilian trials instead of military tribunals for alleged terrorists, including Khalid...

Add lying to Congress about his Justice Department's "Operation Fast and Furious" scandal to the reasons why Eric Holder must be fired as U.S. attorney general. The idiocy of Fast and Furious -- an attempt by Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to link illegally sold guns with Mexican drug cartels -- became gravely clear when two such rifles were found at the scene of a Border Patrol agent's December murder. Mr. Holder mentioned Fast and Furious essentials at an anti-arms-smuggling symposium in Mexico in April 2009. Last September, a Justice document referenced such efforts --

Republican lawmakers are alleging that Operation Fast and Furious may have had a twin in Tampa: Operation Castaway. The new revelations have come to light as Florida Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis fired off a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and acting ATF Director Ken Melson asking them for answers about the newly discovered program. “In recent days, it has come to light that the ATF and DOJ have participated in the act of ‘gun walking’ beyond the acts conducted within the scope of ‘Operation Fast and Furious,’” Bilirakis wrote to Holder and Melson. “Recent reports have suggested that Project...

I know I’ve been doing a lot of posting on the Fast and Furious scandal and some of you might not be as enthralled as I am with it but I think this is heading downhill quickly for the DOJ (and thus Eric Holder) and I can’t wait to see where this will all end up. It’s like a great mystery movie where you watch and watch and wait to see “who done it”. We all know “who done it” here but will they get away with it and will it eventually end up in Obama’s lap? Breaking news out...

This afternoon, Congressman Darrel Issa (R-CA), as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, holds the first Congressional hearing devoted specifically to the growing scandal of "Project Gunwalker." As National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea explains, this hearing is merely the beginning, with a second already scheduled for Wednesday, and more in the works. This sequence of hearings has clearly been carefully thought out, with today's laying the groundwork of establishing the administration's obligation to comply with congressional subpeonas--something it has stubborny refused to do so far. Today's hearing, at 1:00 PM Eastern, is titled "Obstruction of Justice:...