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A.T.F. Official Defends Role in Criticized Gun Operation
NY Times ^ | July 6, 2011 | SEAN COLLINS WALSH

Posted on 07/07/2011 5:13:54 PM PDT by neverdem

WASHINGTON — Amid speculation that he would soon be removed from office, Kenneth E. Melson, the top official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, met with Congressional staff members this week to defend himself.

Mr. Melson’s account, provided on Monday, was described in a letter written Tuesday by Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Senator Charles E. Grassley, the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The lawmakers have been investigating an A.T.F. program called Operation Fast and Furious in which federal agents knowingly let weapons slip across the Mexican border in the hope of tracing them to drug cartels. Two of the guns later turned up in Arizona, where an American Border Patrol agent was killed in a shootout.

Mr. Melson said he had not been deeply involved in the operation “until after the public controversy,” according to the letter, which was addressed to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The Justice Department houses the firearms bureau and is conducting its own Fast and Furious investigation.

In his account, Mr. Melson was “candid in admitting mistakes that his agency made” and said he had become “sick to his stomach when he obtained those documents and learned the full story,” according to the letter.

Mr. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Mr. Issa, Republican of California, have accused the Justice Department of obstructing their investigation into who authorized the operation, which was begun in fall 2009 by the Phoenix field division of the bureau...

--snip--

Mr. Melson was scheduled to be interviewed by Congressional investigators next Wednesday in the company of Justice Department lawyers. After news reports said he might be ousted, he hired a lawyer, Richard Cullen, and arranged to meet on Monday with staff members of the Oversight and Judiciary Committees.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Mexico; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: atf; banglist; dea; doj; fastandfurious; fbi; gunrunner; gunwalker; holder; melson
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A version of this article appeared in print on July 7, 2011, on page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Firearms Official Defends Role in Criticized Gun Operation.
1 posted on 07/07/2011 5:14:01 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
They just can't admit it.

And they wonder why nobody buys their rag.

2 posted on 07/07/2011 5:17:54 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." - Bertrand de Jouvenel des Ursins)
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To: neverdem

That headline is incredibly deceptive. He was “sick to his stomach” but “defended” the program? Please. But then what do you expect from the mass media...


3 posted on 07/07/2011 5:20:55 PM PDT by mvpel
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To: neverdem

Guns to Honduras to get Zelaya back in: impeachable.


4 posted on 07/07/2011 5:21:17 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
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To: neverdem

Talk about a BS story. He hired a Lawyer so HE’S suspect.

Amazing how lefties think if a person doesn’t want to be the fall guy, there is something wrong with him.

guess we all know how the msm is going to try to protect the Fascist Pig in the WH.


5 posted on 07/07/2011 5:22:34 PM PDT by Marty62 (Marty60)
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To: neverdem
Mr. Melson said he had not been deeply involved in the operation “until after the public controversy,”

Yeah, why bother? Disributing guns to Mexican cartels is no big deal.

6 posted on 07/07/2011 5:23:56 PM PDT by FlyVet
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To: Marty62

Actually, the reason he hired a lawyer was because Issa and Grassley informed him that he could legally talk to them without the Justice Dept present. The NY SLimes conveniently leaves out that devastating fact. Justice Dept told him to not co-operate with Issa and Grassley, and not to testify before their respective committees without a Justice Dept lawyer present. When he found out he was being made the fall guy, he wised up and got a lawyer, and then met privately without telling Justice Dept he was going to sing.

The MSM can help Holder/Obama obfuscate all they want, but the facts are dribbling out, and the trail leads to Holder at least, and probably all the way to the White House. Stay tuned.


7 posted on 07/07/2011 5:32:30 PM PDT by milwguy
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To: neverdem
White House Mum on When Obama Learned of DOJ's Gun-Running Scheme
8 posted on 07/07/2011 5:34:57 PM PDT by TigersEye (Wranglers not Levis. Levi Strauss is anti-2nd Amendment.)
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To: neverdem

“knowingly let weapons slip across the Mexican border in the hope of tracing them to drug cartels.”>

Every time the press mentions this story they include this line. As much as I’ve read about Operation Gunwalker, I’ve never heard any explanation what so ever about how they were going to do to trace them to drug cartels. We all know what the real purpose of this was. It did have to do with tracing but not to drug cartels. It was so they could boost the numbers of American sold guns used in crimes in Mexico. That’s it. That was their plan. And it was despicable that our government officials would do this.


9 posted on 07/07/2011 5:36:33 PM PDT by suthener
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To: milwguy

Thanks for clarifying. Yes I read that yesterday. It is interesting how the Times tried to make it sound nefarious.


10 posted on 07/07/2011 5:38:25 PM PDT by Marty62 (Marty60)
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To: neverdem

No truth in Pravda....


11 posted on 07/07/2011 5:39:27 PM PDT by Interesting Times (WinterSoldier.com. SwiftVets.com. ToSetTheRecordStraight.com.)
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To: TigersEye
WHAT DID OBAMA KNOW. AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT.
12 posted on 07/07/2011 5:40:40 PM PDT by Marty62 (Marty60)
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To: Marty62
WHAT DID OBAMA KNOW.

Everything.

AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT.

From the beginning.

13 posted on 07/07/2011 5:49:25 PM PDT by TigersEye (Wranglers not Levis. Levi Strauss is anti-2nd Amendment.)
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To: neverdem
The lawmakers have been investigating an A.T.F. program called Operation Fast and Furious in which federal agents knowingly let weapons slip across the Mexican border in the hope of tracing them to drug cartels.

They meant to say:

The lawmakers have been investigating an A.T.F. program called Operation Fast and Furious in which federal agents knowingly let weapons slip across the Mexican border with no hope of tracing them to drug cartels.
14 posted on 07/07/2011 5:49:28 PM PDT by publiusF27
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To: Rennes Templar
Were guns going to Honduras and Zelaya prior to him being removed as president and booted out of the country? If so, that would explain why Obama and Clinton were so eager to try and put him back in power as his absence might unravel the gunrunning plan.
15 posted on 07/07/2011 6:08:23 PM PDT by JPG (Elect Sarah Palin in '12. America won't get another chance.)
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To: neverdem

A mystery for you: How can they run out of toilet paper on Coney Island when the New York Times print edition still exists?


16 posted on 07/07/2011 6:19:22 PM PDT by arkady_renko
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To: FlyVet
"Mr. Melson said he had not been deeply involved in the operation “until after the public controversy,”

Melson may be correct about this. Note that the Issa/Grassley letter states that the personnel assigned to "Fast and Furious" were being farmed out temporarily to the Arizona US Attorney's Office, which strongly implies that their actual chain-of-command went straight to DOJ, by-passing Melson.

17 posted on 07/07/2011 6:25:23 PM PDT by cookcounty (Would someone PLEASE give the President a calculator for his birthday???)
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To: milwguy
"and the trail leads to Holder at least,"

And, at a minimum to Napalitano. Minimum.

And any reasonable person knows that it reaches somewhere into the White House.

Multiple felonies have been committed.

Time to scream for a Special Prosecutor.

Where is the GOP on this? All we have is Issa and Grassley. Where are Boner and McConnell?

And damit, why are they not screaming for a Special Prosecutor!?!?!?!?

18 posted on 07/07/2011 6:26:37 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: JPG
"Were guns going to Honduras and Zelaya prior to him being removed as president and booted out of the country?"

Wow, that had not occurred to me! But it's a definite possibility. In the Spring of 2009 the administration was on a definite mission to help Zelaya subvert the Honduran Constitution Article 239, allowing him to consolidate power.

Worth looking into, though it must be kept in mind that we already know that arms are regularly smuggled into Mexico via Central America.

19 posted on 07/07/2011 6:30:49 PM PDT by cookcounty (Would someone PLEASE give the President a calculator for his birthday???)
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To: suthener
As much as I’ve read about Operation Gunwalker, I’ve never heard any explanation what so ever about how they were going to do to trace them to drug cartels.

The BATFE report on Fast & Furious states that they could not make one connection between a straw buyer and any Mexican drug cartel.

Therefore, regardless of strategy, this program was a 100% failure. The liberals cannot even stand behind the concept that they were able to arrest significant players in the illegal firearms trade.

There is less and less for Obama/Holder to hide behind.

20 posted on 07/07/2011 6:39:59 PM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
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