Posted on 09/07/2011 7:00:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday sought to distance himself and other senior Justice Department officials from a botched operation to track guns smuggled to Mexican drug cartels, saying they were not involved.
The Obama administration has been under scrutiny after revelations that as many as 2,000 guns were sold to suspected gun traffickers, not properly tracked and ended up at crime scenes in the United States and Mexico.
The operation, dubbed "Fast and Furious", was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona. Congressional Republicans have questioned who approved it and whether senior Justice Department officials were involved.
"The notion that somehow or other that this thing reaches into the upper levels of the Justice Department is something that, at this point, I don't think is supported by the facts," Holder told reporters.
The botched operation already has claimed the jobs of Ken Melson, acting director of the ATF, .. and the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, who resigned abruptly last week.
ATF officials and federal prosecutors had hoped the operation would help them follow the guns to cartel leaders. But ATF agents did not witness many of the purchases or track many of the guns after the initial purchaser resold them.
Holder questioned whether the congressional probe, ... was politically motivated.
He admitted it was a "flawed enforcement effort," but said, "my hope would be that Congress will conduct an investigation that is factually based and not marred with politics."
...
Two guns from the operation were found at the scene where a U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot dead in a shootout with illegal immigrants last December.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Felons usually want to distance themselves from their crimes.
I saw an interview with Issa where he assured the Fox reporter that he wants no prosecutions. He says he just wants to fix whatever broke down so the same “mistakes” are not repeated. He seemed very proud of himself for being unconcerned about justice and equality before the law.
goin down
let Holder rot in a Mexican prison.
Amen
BTTT
Yeah, really, what is the distance between DC and Leavenworth?
Thanks NormsRevenge.
What happened to Rahm’s middle finger?
The investigation into the nightmare, Fast & Furious, is a exactly that. A nightmare. However, if Issa, Grassley or anyone else that gives a damn, wants to see how far this goes, they only have to do one thing. Start a criminal investigation, put some asses in the chairs at the defense table and start convicting folks. If its the lowliest ATF agent, so be it. They violated their oaths and sworn duty, when they took part in the fiasco and let the guns walk. Once people start doing some time and the convictions start coming in, I’m quite sure that email after email will start being delivered to Issa, et al.
ping
"Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion. DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail."
-Eric Holder-
I found that encouraging--but this story needs some legs, as in those of an elephant angry enough to do some stompin' on a bunch of jack--er, ah--boots!
I hope that is what he’s doing but I have doubts.
BUT if it happened on a Republican's watch, there would be a different story.
Holder can permanently move to Kenya-—that is distance enough for me.
“Attorney General Eric Holder seeks distance from gun sting”
GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!
It would be like cat trying to distance himself from his own tail.
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