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“Fast and Furious” Blows Sky-High
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/07/fast-and-furious-blows-sky-high.php ^ | 7/6/11 | John Hinderaker

Posted on 07/06/2011 3:29:47 PM PDT by macquire

This morning, there was a stunning development in Congress’s investigation of the Justice Department’s “Fast and Furious” gun-running program: it was revealed that on July 4, Kenneth Melson, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Obama administration’s intended fall guy in the scandal, broke ranks with his superiors. Without their knowledge, he gave an interview to Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, accompanied only by his personal attorney. While a transcript of that interview is not yet public, it is clear that he blew the whistle on senior officials in the Justice Department.

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


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bafte; banglist; batf; corruption; democrats; doj; dojisajoke; fastandfurious; federalcriminals; govtabuse; gunwalker; holder; impeachablecrimes; issa; kennethmelson; mexico; obama
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To: bwc2221

CBS has taken some interest in the last month or two:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20077264-10391695.html?tag=mncol;lst;2


141 posted on 07/06/2011 6:59:26 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: rlmorel; All

Anybody remember this, from just last month???

How American Guns Proliferate in Mexico and Fuel Drug Violence

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2744904/posts


142 posted on 07/06/2011 7:01:39 PM PDT by tcrlaf (You can only lead a lib to the Truth, you can't make it think...)
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To: archy
And, when that point is reached, a Democratic Obama alternative would have to be advanced. And Hillary still has her supporters, particularly among the New York-and Washington based national media where she served as New York's US Senator.

Except that Hillary is in this, too, up to her neck. She was the most visible proponent of the propaganda meme that started it all, put in place during the President of Mexico's visit to the Obama White House, that all that dreadful Mexican gun violence was the fault of American arms dealers, and that most guns owned by the cartels came from the U.S. Which was a flat out lie. But she said it again and again on the major networks, and the media helped spread it everywhere. So if Obama were forced out by this scandal, then Hillary would be vulnerable to replaying those videos.

143 posted on 07/06/2011 7:07:03 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: truthguy; muawiyah; MsLady; clintonh8r

truthguy, normally I just ignore stupid posts, but I’m calling you on this one.

If you had to “struggle to find the story,” you can’t read.

I don’t believe for one minute that you went to any of those links, because they took you directly to the story itself. An idiot could find and read about Fast and Furious at all of those links.

You say that you’ve “not read the text of these sites becasue I haven’t had the time.”

I suggest that you are so clouded by prejudice that you aren’t interested in truth. You accuse others of bias, but you are a perfect example of it yourself.

We have ample and legitimate gripes about the news media. In this case, they’re covering the story, and we need give encouragement when it’s due.

That’s the fair, honest, and conservative approach.


144 posted on 07/06/2011 7:25:09 PM PDT by Jedidah
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To: Osage Orange

Grassley is better than you think. He knows how the game is played. He will be an important piece of the puzzle but the real authority to investigate is Issa. Grassley has his faults, but I would take him over 95 other sitting senators.


145 posted on 07/06/2011 7:25:41 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy (Trust in God, but empty the clip.)
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To: Munz; All
>>Is “Fast and Furious” the new name for the program called “Gunwalker”?<< >They are two separate programs.< No, they are one in the same.

We should remember that Fast and Furious may be only one part of "Gunwalker". Fast and Furious involved the ATF in Phoenix.

We know that at least one gun store in Texas was directed to sell guns to straw buyers that they believed were "walking" guns to Mexico.

We may be seeing just the tip of the iceberg.

146 posted on 07/06/2011 7:26:38 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: MestaMachine
Kosovo was about drugs.

Afghanistan...dead flowers?

147 posted on 07/06/2011 7:27:13 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves Month")
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To: calex59

They are two separate programs.

Wrong, they are the same program, Fast and Furious was the Official name, Gun Walker was coined later by investigators.


Ummmm.....you both may have your points. “Fast and Furious” is the ATF’s program. It is now coming to light that the DEA was giving informants cash (yes, our money) and letting straw men purchase guns for drug dealers. That may have a different name.


148 posted on 07/06/2011 7:31:48 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy (Trust in God, but empty the clip.)
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To: muawiyah
There are politicians in office in Mexico who have staff members who tap into Free Republic every time the word "Mexico" appears...Currently Google.com shows 762,000 hits for combinations of Free Republic and Mexico so there's plenty to read.

Hey MEXICO...Y'all suck!

Signed,

Los Gringos Americanos bastardos

149 posted on 07/06/2011 7:33:00 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves Month")
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To: Red_Devil 232
"F&F is the official code name given to the operation by the ATF/DOJ. Gunwalker is the term used by agents in the field. It is the same operation by either name."

IIRC, the terms are NOT interchangeable. Project Gunwalker preceded Fast and Furious and was started by the Bush administration. Under Gunwalker, the straw buyers were followed and the weapons then seized when they were resold.

Under F&F there was no attempt to seize the weapons, the straw buyers were simply tracked, then the weapons allowed to continue on their way. Someone please correct me if this is not accurate.

150 posted on 07/06/2011 7:35:28 PM PDT by cookcounty (Would someone PLEASE give the President a calculator for his birthday???)
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To: Jedidah

Considering this has been going on since March, that’s not much coverage.


151 posted on 07/06/2011 7:37:22 PM PDT by HollyB
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To: macquire

Interesting.......ATF director voluntarily offered questioning with his personal attorney present,not the departments attorney. Telling.


152 posted on 07/06/2011 7:39:53 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy (Trust in God, but empty the clip.)
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To: library user
"According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility only after the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the u.s. Attorney’s Office and Main Justice."

WHY would the DOJ delay indictments of the straw purchasers who supplied the weapons that killed Agent Terry???????? This is frightening stuff.

153 posted on 07/06/2011 7:42:34 PM PDT by cookcounty (Would someone PLEASE give the President a calculator for his birthday???)
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To: marktwain

>We should remember that Fast and Furious may be only one part of “Gunwalker”. Fast and Furious involved the ATF in Phoenix.

We know that at least one gun store in Texas was directed to sell guns to straw buyers that they believed were “walking” guns to Mexico.

We may be seeing just the tip of the iceberg.<

No, I think this was one operation that was being handled by the one District Court. It all would have gone back to the same office.

The tip of the iceberg is that the FBI was fully involved and it was their informant that was used improperly. In essence they conspired in a criminal act with the Justice department. Who ever controlled that informant .. who ever gave the orders for that informant to be used in the way that he was broke every rule in the book and quite a few federal laws. Since there were more than a few players ,, there is a conspiracy charge there somewhere.

This could get ugly. But I am pretty confident that only one US attorneys office was involved. They would not have wanted such an operation in too many places knowing how bad it could get if it got out .. which it did.

Each operation would have been given it’s own unique name.


154 posted on 07/06/2011 7:43:05 PM PDT by Munz (All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.)
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To: NRG1973
ATF had it's op, DEA and FBI had their ops.

What do you expect from Fed Bureaucrats.

155 posted on 07/06/2011 7:43:37 PM PDT by Marty62 (Marty60)
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To: PiperShade

Obviously, “Melson was stupid and did not smart enough to run an intelligent program” is not going to work for the DOJ.

Somebody higher up (and there are only 3 people above Melson, including Holder and Obama) manipulated this situation.


156 posted on 07/06/2011 7:46:32 PM PDT by cookcounty (Would someone PLEASE give the President a calculator for his birthday???)
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To: filbert
"What did the President know, and when did he know it?"

The leftstream media isn't going to ask that question.

I guess it's time for Sarah Palin to post another tweet. She's the only one who can get everyone looking in the right direction.

157 posted on 07/06/2011 7:50:36 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Cicero
Except that Hillary is in this, too, up to her neck.

Oh, say it ain't so.

Remember, it wasn't too many weeks before the media frenzy of "Gun crisis, 90% of those evil assault rifles come from the U.S" mantra....

That both Hillary and Rahm, smugly and arrogantly, let fly with their "Never let a crisis go to waste" statements.

Well, what do we have here with this little manufactured crisis?

It certainly can't be let go to waste, can it?

158 posted on 07/06/2011 7:55:39 PM PDT by FlyVet
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To: 444Flyer; Saoirise; HollyB

BFLR


159 posted on 07/06/2011 7:58:53 PM PDT by 444Flyer ("...Rather the scorned- the rejected -the men hemmed in with the spears..." from 'A Consecration')
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To: macquire
From current issue of left-leaning Atlantic:....

A Congressional report released June 9 by Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Sheldon Whitehouse concluded that American weapons are fueling drug violence in Mexico, and that U.S. policymakers have not responded adequately. While there are legitimate questions about what percentage of drug cartels' guns came from American federal firearms licensees, over 20,000 firearms found at Mexican crime scenes in 2009 and 2010 were proven to have come from the U.S." Interesting that the Dems have been coordinating to make this an issue, and one has to wonder how much has been inflated by INTENTIONAL SMUGGLING of weapons through F&F....does this not seem, uh, orchestrated?

160 posted on 07/06/2011 8:00:10 PM PDT by cookcounty (Would someone PLEASE give the President a calculator for his birthday???)
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