Is Fast and Furious the Next Watergate?
By Alan Caruba
When suspects in a crime are interrogated, they often develop memory loss. When the crime is running guns to drug cartels on both sides of the border, the crime involves the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol officer, Brian Terry, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Jaime Zapata, and countless Mexican citizens.
Katie Pavlich has written an extraordinary expose, “Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover-Up” (Regnery Publishing). A reporter with extensive contacts inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) she has meticulously documented a story that should result in contempt of Congress action against Attorney General Eric Holder and possibly Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano as well.
It is an appalling story of arrogance, stupidity, and the intimidation of ATF agents who dared to question and expose the operation. It is a story of deception at the highest levels of our government. Both Holder and Napolitano exhibited memory lapses before a congressional committee. Both knew about a federal government authorized gun-running operation to Mexico called “Fast and Furious.”
Pavlich reports that “Fast and Furious was closely followed by Department of Justice officials. On multiple occasions, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke met with Phoenix ATF Director Bill Newell to discuss the progress of the Fast and Furious operation. ‘There were DOJ attorneys and prosecutors who were involved in this since the beginning, giving advice,” testified ATF Special Agent Peter Forcelli.
As Pavlich details it, “Operation Fast and Furious wasn’t a ‘botched’ program. It was a calculated and lethal decision to purposely place thousands of guns in the hands of ruthless criminals.”
The operation was designed to attack the Second Amendment right of Americans to purchase and bear arms, a right considered so essential to the nation that it followed directly after the First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of the press, the prohibition of the establishment of a nationally sanctioned religion, and the right of Americans to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
We are in the grip of an administration that would restrain and erase those rights, and which engaged in a reckless and ruthless operation to achieve that goal. It is an administration that is moving toward the confirmation of a United Nations treaty that would override and eliminate the right to own and bear arms.
The facts regarding Holder’s and Napolitano’s testimony are clear:
“Eric Holder was sent five memos, personally addressed to him, in the summer of 2010 that detailed Operation Fast and Furious.” Holder claimed he first knew about the program in February 2011.
“Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has feigned ignorance when questioned about Fast and Furious. She claims she only found out about the program after Brian Terry was murdered.”
“She visited the White House with Eric Holder to visit President Obama just a day before Holder testified on Capitol Hill about Fast and Furious, leaving the reason for her visit blank.”
Pavlich writes, “These are the facts: There are still 1,400 Fast and Furious guns missing and ATF agents are not actively trying to track them down. Ten thousand round of ammunition were sold to cartel-linked straw buyers under the watch of the ATF. Eight hundred of the original 2,500 weapons sold through Fast and Furious have already been linked to criminal activity.”
The program, observers believer, was the deliberate effort to blame the violence in Mexico and in some cases in America on the gun shops, but those shops were intimidated into participating in Fast and Furious out of fear that ATF would take away their licenses.
After questioning ATF and Justice Department witnesses, Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa, R), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a January 31 letter to ATF officials saying, “As you may be aware, obstructing a Congressional investigation is a crime. Additionally, denying or interfering with employee’s rights to furnish information to Congress is also against the law.”
On May 3rd Rep. Darrell Issa, (CA) Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent every member of his committee a 64-page draft contempt order against AG Holder, along with a 17-page memo outlining the history of the scandal. Only one attorney general has been found in contempt, Janet Reno in 1975.
Fast and Furious is redolent with memories of the Watergate coverup.
On March 23, 2011, in a Univison interview, Obama said, “First of all, I did not authorize it” and when further pressed said, “Eric Holder did not authorize it. He’s been very clear that our policy is to catch gunrunners and put them in jail.” The facts strongly suggest otherwise insofar as Fast and Furious literally authorized a gunrunning program under the aegis of ATF.
As Pavlich noted, “Many people in ATF saw what was happening and tried to warn the bureau, but the new corrupt and arrogant culture of management had become too powerful and intimidating. Field agents who spoke up were punished for having an opinion and daring to voice it. Whistleblowers had their reputation, careers, and finances shattered.”
This culture of corruption is endemic to the Obama administration and as more and more examples become known it has been in full panic mode to suppress the truth. No matter what the outcome of the testimony of two of its top appointees, the only way to save America is to vote out President Obama in November and ensure that Mitt Romney has a Republican Congress.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
Comment
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Comment by Donald T Sheldon on June 10, 2012 at 2:25am -
The answer here is to indite these people. Write your favorite Federal Judge and request that they impanel a "Special Grand Jury" Under 18 USC S3332 with instructions to investigate all allegations of wrong doing that the administration has been involved in. Be Specific. For Obama Murder is a good start. It is what took down Nixon. JUST DO IT!
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Comment by Jerold Ross on May 9, 2012 at 1:00am
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R. Hamilton: Obama has been flipping off Congress, the Supreme Court, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The American People and the Senate ever since he took office.......who the hell is going to admonish or charge him?? and When??
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Comment by R Hamilton on May 7, 2012 at 10:18pm -
Not many people can flip off congress and get away with it. Of course when you are the last link in the chain before Barry, peace be upon him, I guess you can get away with it.
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Comment by Doug Nicholson on May 6, 2012 at 11:36pm
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As to Contempt of Congress charges against Holder or Big Sis, either the House or the Senate may bring those charges and the members of the charging body vote whether or not to issue a contempt citation. (From Wikipedia):
"Following a contempt citation, the presiding officer of the chamber is instructed to refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia;[9] according to the law it is the "duty" of the U.S. Attorney to refer the matter to a grand jury for action.
The criminal offense of "contempt of Congress" sets the penalty at not less than one month nor more than twelve months in jail and a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000.[10]
While the law pronounces the duty of the U.S. Attorney is to impanel a grand jury for its action on the matter, some proponents of the unitary executive theory believe that the Congress cannot properly compel the U.S. Attorney to take this action against the Executive Branch, asserting that the U.S. Attorney is a member of the Executive Branch who ultimately reports only to the President and that compelling the Attorney amounts to compelling the President himself."
Please note the irony of which office makes the decision to send the citation to the grand jury or not! Does anyone really think a grand jury would ever get the case?
There is much more to the procedure and I recommend a little research if you want to understand it.
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Comment by Michael Goodfellow on May 6, 2012 at 9:56pm -
Ralph,
Let's hold up for a moment here. According to the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which may also be found in 31 U.S.C. 1105, the President submits a budget to Congress for their advise and consent.
There is nothing in the law which makes it a criminal act if the President does not submit a budget. That being said, it may be considered an act which could be used to impeach and remove from office a sitting President but as we've seen there is not a soul on either side of the aisle seemingly willing to file articles of impeachment.
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Comment by Michael Goodfellow on May 6, 2012 at 9:55pm
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Debrajoe,
After the President submits the budget then the Senate, under Daniel Inouye's (D-HI) leadership as the Senate Pro Tempore. Inouye is the second-highest ranking member of the Senate, higher than Reid. Vice-President Biden is the President of the Senate, a title which came when he was elected Veep, but he is not considered a member of the Senate.
Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, is third-highest ranking member of the Senate.
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Comment by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on May 6, 2012 at 8:10pm
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Harry Reid is the person responsible for the budget.
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Comment by Ralph Roshto on May 6, 2012 at 8:08pm -
Other arrest warrants are also called for. IT IS A LAW that the Congress MUST PASS AND IMPLEMENT a budget EVERY YEAR. None has been passed in three years now. Voting them out is not enough, as giving them a pass on this would empower them to do the same, and indeed more, in the future. How can we prosecute this VIOLATION OF LAW? Who would we indict?
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Comment by SgtGrumpy on May 6, 2012 at 6:31pm -
Why a 64 page draft contempt order, instead of a 1 page arrest warrant? Contempt is a slap on the wrist. If it was a normal citizen selling guns to criminals, we would have been in Levenworth by now.
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Comment by Ranchman on May 6, 2012 at 5:28pm -
The more facts come to light, the worse things seem. This administration is getting more radical as time goes on. Imagine what they'll do if Obama wins again. What we know about Fast and Furious is really radical. To sell guns and ammunition to the Mexican Drug Cartels in order to rid Americans of their right to keep and bear arms is way out there. It's one hell of a conspiracy, to supply evil, murdering drug dealers with weapons to kill people, in order to deny those same weapons to law abiding American Citizens, the same people the conspirators are charged with ensuring their safety! Wow, the audacity of these people. How in the world can they possibly expect us to trust them? We can't and we shouldn't. We have got to get rid of these kinds of people in our government. If they would come up with this kind of scheme, who can say what they'll come up with next? These people are capable of perpetrating every kind of evil against us in order to get their way. They have got to go.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
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