Gunwalker: It Must Have Been Eric Holder

Pajamas Media ^ | August 5, 2011 | Bob Owens

[Kaslin]

... Or higher. An informed examination of the facts leaves no other answer.

Now that the debt ceiling debate is over and done, let’s turn our attention back to Operation Fast and Furious and its alleged sister operations. The multi-agency operation (or operations) of the U.S. government allowed thousands of guns to be supplied to Mexican drug cartels, while American federal law enforcement effectively provided the straw purchasers and smugglers with the cover to operate with impunity.

Despite the tens of thousands of words of outrage written about the Obama administration’s botched Operation Fast and Furious, most of the focus has been on the horrific impact of the program as measured by the number of firearms smuggled over the border and the number of lives lost. Some attention has been consequently paid to the potential political and criminal impact of the operation and cover-up within the Department of Justice.

Sadly, the media has focused very little attention on the probable origins of the plot, or why Gunwalker was created as an adjunct of the longer-running and more successful Gunrunner campaign.

Of course, that may not be entirely true. The crack investigative reporters of print, network, and cable news organizations may very well have done the research and followed the various clues about the origins of Gunwalker to their logical conclusion, and then simply decided that the most probable story was one they not dare tell.

The story is this: no competent federal law enforcement officer would ever have concocted an operation as obviously doomed to catastrophic failure as Operation Fast and Furious.

Let us count the reasons why:

1. Federal law enforcement agents don’t let guns “walk.” A gun that is allowed to flow into criminal hands is a gun that could end up killing a fellow cop or citizen. As a result, all prior known operations under the long-running and successful Gunrunner program ended when a straw purchaser was allowed to make the purchase, and then arrested on the spot or shortly thereafter. Throughout the process of these stings, the suspects were under constant surveillance whenever they had firearms in their possession, and officers considered it catastrophic failure if surveillance was lost.

2. Federal law enforcement agents knew that this operation would not lead to cartel kingpins. The profiling of criminal activity has become a blend of art and high science in recent decades, and when combined with the intelligence provided by informants and a history of thousands of arrests, the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and IRS agents assigned to the task force knew from the beginning that cartel leaders could not be implicated in Fast and Furious, because they simply aren’t involved. Obtaining weapons for cartel gunmen is a problem for the lower to middle ranks of a cartel’s hierarchy, no different than acquiring vehicles or safehouses. The most commonly used cartel weapons are viewed by the organizations as consumable commodities to be bought, used, and discarded. Do CEOs, company presidents, and vice presidents, or even middle managers go out shopping for paper clips and pens?

3. Federal law enforcement agents knew from the outset that they could never arrest their targets, who were outside of their jurisdiction. Jurisdictional battles between federal, state, and local agencies are legendary, and sensitivity to jurisdictional issues is something every law enforcement agent learns, often with frustration. Knowing for a fact that the individuals running cartel gun acquisition would be based in Mexico, and staying in Mexico, agents would have realized from the mission planning phase — well before operational implementation — that effecting arrests of the operation’s stated targets was nearly impossible.

4. Middle managers in government would never dare to try such a dangerous, high-risk operation without express orders from above. All agencies — public or private — are saddled with bureaucracy, internal politics, and institutional inertia, which forms a powerful and pervasive cultural force that significantly inhibits change. Changes that threaten the equilibrium of agencies are viewed as a threat, and the more radical the proposed change, the more resistance there is to block it from occurring. Resistance to change occurs even when change is thought to be strongly beneficial.From the ground up and at the very beginning, Fast and Furious was a radical and dangerous proposal that would threaten the very existence of the ATF.

There is no way a politically experienced operative like Phoenix Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Bill Newell would have offered up such a plan merely out of the self interest of furthering his own career. Federal law enforcement officers never would have conceived of and did not support the implementation of Operation Fast and Furious. Agents fought tooth and nail with supervisors over the plot, as has been documented extensively in congressional testimony.

Operation Fast and Furious would not have come from agents in the field.

Operation Fast and Furious could not have come from regional SACs.

The one and only way that this multi-agency operation could have been organized and forced into action against the wishes and better judgment of seasoned professionals is through a top-down push from high-level executives within the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, State, and Treasury, which all played a role in the plot. Four executive branch departments, led by cabinet-level political appointees loyal to the Obama administration, worked on an operation together that was explicitly doomed to failure from the outset.

Was the goal of the project ever law enforcement?

The most logical explanation for Fast and Furious and related operations was that it was not a law enforcement operation, but a political operation designed to advance an anti-gun political agenda that Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama have been pursuing since the beginning of this presidency.

This explosive scandal at the heart of Gunwalker isn’t a matter of “what did he know and when did he know it?” It now instead seems to be a matter of who will come forward, and how much evidence will they provide to implicate officials at the highest levels of a lawless government.

[MestaMachine]

And at LEAST two federal agents. Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata.

[hellbender]

While disarming Americans was the main objective, I wonder if another was to encourage the already ongoing collapse of Mexican society, leading to increased waves of illegal immigration and possible Commie takeover of Mexico?

[HenpeckedCon]

Yes, the United States Disciplinary Barracks, not the Club Fed facility.

[ozzymandus]

The buck stops at the top.

[MestaMachine]

Not really so far out there if you consider that the state department is a rogue operation...and it is. And THAT is clintonland. hillary, who is up to her eyeballs in this, AND bill...who directs from on high.
Walked guns have been going to more places than mexico to arm marxist rebels. It has also been the marxists in mexico who have vowed to overthrow the mexican government who have received these weapons... as well as zalaya loyalists in Honduras.
This is a twofer operation. Kill the 2nd Amendment here, and overthrow democracies elsewhere.

[houeto]

Not really so far out there if you consider that the state department is a rogue operation...and it is.

It may, pretty much, be a rogue operation but the person that runs it is at the President's discretion.

[libstripper]

Although the Illegal and Holder no doubt planned on a great ultimate political payoff from smearing legitimate gun owners and destroying the Second Amendment, there’s no logical reason to believe they did not plan on and receive a far larger immediate financial payoff from the Sinola (sp?) cartel in the form of contributions to the Illegal’s campaign and the DemonRat party.

[CPO retired]

I hope Issa and company are taking their time, partly to build a strong case with as much evidence as possible, and to give other ATF people enough time to stew in it. Don’t get this resolved TOO soon, even if it results in Holder getting thrown under the crowded bus.

Resolved too soon, and the media will heave a sigh of relief. Keep it going, starting to get reported in foreign (make that Brit and Canadian) papers, as well as the blogosphere. Eventually, they will be dragged into reporting something, even if spun heavily at first. They must be getting nervous.

[MestaMachine]

How do you know that the -resident is not run at the state department’s discretion? Without bill clinton, bambi is back doing community organizing.

[houeto]

Without bill clinton, bambi is back doing community organizing.

I guess that I don't understand what you're saying. It sounds like, if Obama replaced Hillary at SOS, then Bill would send Obama back to Chicago, but that can't be what you're saying.

[basil]

Yes—that, too. Only I didn’t know of the second agent murder.

[fudimo]

The State Department allowed many of the guns to go Mexico.
Through a military purchase program.
You can read about it here.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-st-louis/u-s-state-department-is-major-arms-supplier-to-mexican-drug-syndicates

Bottom line is the corrupt Mexican military and police are supplying the cartel thugs with US weapons.

Another source is Central American countries which is a cheap source for AK’s

Another note is that the MSM never points out that it was the US gun shops that tipped off the ATF about the straw purchasers and multiple gun sales. Only to be coerced into playing in the ATF sting operation. It's a good thing they documented their work with the ATF otherwise they would be in jail now.

[MestaMachine]

bill stood him up, and bill can knock him down. Do you really think obama has the brains or the capacity to actually BE president? every single, solitary appointment the pos has made is a clintonista, past or present. Every single one. Including the likes of van jones...and obscure appointments like secretary of trade. The bush/clinton alliance has vetted ambassadors, including huntsman, who went to kiss the ring before he declared his candidacy.
billpicked him the day he gave his speech at kerry’s convention. The deal as made.
Do you really think bill could have allowed hillary to actually become president?
This way, he pulls world strings and nobody sees him. They have robbed this country blind and now they are sucking her dry.

[gaijin]

Amazing articles on this from Matt Drudge...!

Oh wait...he's not covering it at all --sorry...

There's probably a hot, big STORM somewhere.

[TigersEye]

With all these U.S. Attorneys and all these agencies being briefed Holder had to know all about it. Hillary too. You don't "let" guns walk into foreign countries and "let" drug cartels move drugs and "let" the CIA arm cartels with rocket launchers, grenades and night vision equip. without the State Department's approval too.

Assistant Attorney General (Criminal Division) Lanny Breuer got a Power Point presentation on Fast and Furious.

July 28, 2011 Senior ATF, Justice officials ignored Mexico-based agents’ complaints, bragged about Fast and Furious successes

Gil and now-acting ATF attaché to Mexico Carlos Canino also told congressional investigators high-ranking ATF and Justice Department officials bragged about what they considered successes of Operation Fast and Furious. Officials they said included Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who oversees the DOJ’s criminal division, and acting ATF director Ken Melson.

“Lanny Breuer says, yeah, there is a good case, there is a good case out of Phoenix,” Canino said of a meeting he and Gil had with Breuer and the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual.

Gil said Breuer was going to present the outcome of Operation Fast and Furious to Mexican authorities as evidence of a positive effort to stop weapons trafficking. Gil said Breuer said the ATF investigation “looks like it’s going to generate some good results and it will be a good positive case that we can present to the Government of Mexico as efforts that the US government is taking to try and interdict weapons going into Mexico.”

The National Scope of the Gunwalker Scandal. Lanny Breuer & four border state ATF SACs implicated in report. "Lions! And tigers! And bears! Oh, my!"

Two months after the January 5, 2010 briefing, ATF headquarters hosted a larger, more detailed briefing. Not part of the normal Tuesday field ops briefings, this special briefing was dedicated to Operation Fast and Furious. David Voth, the Phoenix Group VII Supervisor who oversaw Fast and Furious, traveled from Phoenix to give the presentation. On videoconference were the four southwest border ATF SACs: Bill Newell in Phoenix, Robert Champion in Dallas, J. Dewey Webb in Houston, and John Torres in Los Angeles. (Emphasis supplied, MBV)

In addition to the usual attendees of the Tuesday morning field ops briefings (the Deputy Assistant Directors for Field Operations, including Bill McMahon, and Mark Chait, Assistant Director for Field Operations), Deputy Director William Hoover also attended. Joe Cooley, a trial attorney from the gang unit at Main Justice, also joined. After a suggestion from Acting ATF Director Ken Melson in December 2009, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer personally assigned Cooley as a DOJ representative for Operation Fast and Furious. Kevin Carwile, chief of the Capital Case Unit at Main Justice, may have also been present. According to Steve Martin, the inclusion of Main Justice representatives was unusual.

Gunwalker and Fast & Furious Updates: Holder, DOJ, FBI, Operation Castaway, ATF

Email Confirms ‘Gunwalker’ Known Throughout Justice Department The October 27, 2009 email from ATF Phoenix Field Division Special Agent in Charge (SAC) William Newell regarded a Southwest Border Strategy Group meeting that focused on Fast and Furious. It contained a laundry list of high ranking Justice Department officials that attended the meeting, including:

* Assistant Attorney General (Criminal Division) Lanny Breuer, * Kenneth Melson, Acting Director, ATF * William Hoover, Acting Deputy Director, ATF * Michele Leonhart, Administrator, DEA * Robert Mueller, Director FBI

Four other Justice Department directors or their representatives came from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), Bureau of Prisons (BOP), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA). The chair of the Attorney Generals Advisory Committee (AGAC) also attended the session. Their names were redacted in the released document. U.S. attorneys for all four southwest border states also attended...

[RedMDer]

The Freepathon is still on. Please donate today. Don't let FR fade away! Donate.

[MarkL]

Was the goal of the project ever law enforcement?

Not no, but HELL NO!!!

It was to get traceable guns sold by US gun stores into the hands of the cartels, so they could be confiscated and used as proof that US gun stores were supplying the cartels, allowing the government to place strict controls on the legal ownership of guns.

Do I think that the people who came up with this crazy, manipulative, evil idea wanted those guns to be used to murder people, including Border Patrol agents? I certainly hope not. But I do believe that they didn't give a damn about the possible consequences, since they were "working for the greater good." And as Wayne LaPierre once said of the Clinton administration, the Obama administration was willing to accept a certain level of violence to accomplish their political ends, which is the eventual banning of the private ownership of guns in the US.

Mark

[marktwain]

Don’t forget the complicity of the Washington Post:

The Washington Post has a Partner’s Share in Terry’s Death

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2759000/posts

[Ken H]

It's a good thing they documented their work with the ATF otherwise they would be in jail now.

That's such a cynical view of our heroes in federal law enforcement. I'm sure 99.999999999% of them are as pure as the driven snow.

/s