Posted on 12/26/2011 12:51:22 PM PST by marktwain
Here's the latest White House spin courtesy of the ever faithful Richard Serrano of the LA Times:
In a confidential deposition with congressional investigators, the then-head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blamed agents, field supervisors and even his top command for never advising him that for more than a year, his agency allowed illegal gun sales along the southwestern U.S. border.The deposition, which was taken in July and was recently obtained by the Washington bureau, shows that Kenneth E. Melson was irate. Even his chief intelligence officer at ATF headquarters was upset with the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious, but did little to shut it down, Melson complained. "He didn't come in and tell me, either," Melson said. "And he's on the same damn floor as I am."
Oh, yes, poor little Ken. Far more interesting though is that my sources tell me that the Democrats leaked this to Serrano, not the GOP side of the committee. What does that tell you. "They're doing battlefield preparation for the hearing," one said. "It is all the fault of the ATF." Serrano's story seems crafted to portray the meme:
But B. Todd Jones, Melson's replacement as acting director of the agency, said in an interview that Melson allowed overzealous field agents and supervisors to go beyond approved tactics.Pointing out that the ATF has had five acting directors in the last six years, Jones said the resulting weak management structure has given some field agents a license to operate independently of Washington.
"There was a vacuum. Fast and Furious went off the rails, and there were plenty of opportunities to pivot so none of this would happen," Jones said. . .
"Anybody, including Mr. Melson, who waits for things to happen or waits for information to come to them, that is something I personally am not a believer in," Jones said. "I'm a believer in management by walking around. If you're not hearing it, you seek it out. And there are a lot of ways to do that other than sitting in your corner office waiting for memos to come in."
Yes, well, since ole B. Todd has been "walking around around, he's had an opportunity to sack those involved with the Gunwalker Scandal and hasn't -- has had an opportunity to sack people in the Chief Counsels' Office of ATF, who continue, behind the scenes to make like for the whistleblowers a living hell. One wonders what kind of "walking around" ole B. Todd has done in a job that is only part-time for him.
But the most revealing paragraphs of the Serrano story are these last ones:
Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence.Hours after Terry was killed south of Tucson, David J. Voth, the ATF group supervisor for Fast and Furious in Phoenix, sent an email to lead Agent Hope A. MacAllister. He titled the email, "no more rose colored glasses."
"If you have not heard a Border Patrol agent was shoot and killed here in Arizona," he told her. "The trace came back to Fast and Furious…Ugh...! Call as soon as you can, things will most likely get ugly."
"Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence."
From the very beginning of the breaking of this scandal with the death of Brian Terry, the DOJ and White House have sought to deny, first, the very existence of gunwalking, then when that was no longer deniable, knowledge of "the tactics" of gunwalking.
Yet, no one has yet asked specific questions -- under oath in hearings -- about FBI and DEA participation; about the March 2009 meeting between "Gunwalker Bill" Newell and the White House; about the 26 October 2009 teleconference at DOJ with Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states, including Phoenix's Dennis Burke where they are reported to have decided on a strategy to identify and eliminate entire arms trafficking networks rather than low–level buyers.
Because of these failures of omission -- of questions or witness lists -- the White and DOJ have been able to get away with the meme: "Why we're shocked, SHOCKED, to find gunwalking going on here!"
This reporter is told that all the chickens will come home to roost at the next hearing, that this has all been "a careful and deliberate stalk to get the big game," in the words of one source. We shall see.
Gunwalker ping.
Shouldn’t Eric Holder indict Issa for hate crimes?
But, given how Boehner caved a few days ago, Eric Holder could walk into his hearing next month, drop trou, moon the committee and walk out without a care.
No matter what the evidence, I doubt Boehner will seek a contempt of Congress resolution and certainly, heaven forbid, never articles of impeachment.
Congress is timid about asking about FBI F&F participation because of the history of AbScam, in which the FBI, in a *retaliatory* move, demonstrated widespread Congressional corruption.
Th latest fom Mike Vanderboegh-—Ping
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Obama SCUM: Obama's servile, complaisant undistinguished media (SCUM).
Seemed to me that Serrano's typings were trying to link Bush to this by two references to the past that would include the Bush years -- the Rats doing the Blame Bush Boogie-woogie
The Department of Justice ’ s Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents
This reporter is told that all the chickens will come home to roost at the next hearing, that this has all been "a careful and deliberate stalk to get the big game," in the words of one source. We shall see.
A lot.
I have been pretty angry that this investigation hasn’t moved faster, but it makes sense to go in a slow, methodical way to make sure they don’t let the criminals at the top go free. We also cannot send articles of impeachment to a Democratic Senate.
Boehner’s been neutered.
Soon we’ll see a photo of him and a young scribe in knickers down with him.
Last week a speech from 2009 from some flunkie in the fubo administration, specifically mentioned fast and furious and the presidents approval. It is all over except for the posturing... the question is, do they impeach fubo, or blackmail him to get what they want? watch what happens over the next several weeks for your answer... if fubo starts jumping to the right, you will know...
Whoever throws the first stone is going to start a real rock fight, and there are a lot of rotten eggs in the basket. One more reason to clean out the Congress every few years...
The State Department was running 'Operation Castaway' at roughly the same time. There is a good chance that Hillary is in this up to her eyeballs.
I think the real goal was to get the US to sign on to the UN Small Arms Treaty by 'demonstrating' that US sold firearms were ending up in criminal hands outside the US. The treaty would have been worse to fight than any mere Federal Law.
Not necessarily an indicator--the Libs all shift right in an election year.
I'm sure that Hussein's electorate absolutely believe that!
*SNRK*
A vague statement is absolutely useless.
Any links? Key words? Something the 'Rats can't deny?
watch and see how far he goes....
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