“Attorney General Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration’s comprehensive plan. Those steps include the following: DOJ’s Drug Enforcement Administration, which already has the largest U.S. drug enforcement presence in Mexico with 11 offices in that country, is placing 16 new DEA positions in southwest border field positions .., uh, field operations, specifically to target Mexican trafficking and associated violence.”

“The DEA is also deploying four new mobile enforcement teams to specifically target Mexican methamphetamine trafficking both along the border and in U.S. cities impacted by the cartels.”

“DOJ’s bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is increasing its efforts by adding 37 new employees and three new offices, using $10 million in Recovery Act funds and redeploying 100 personnel to the southwest border in the next 45 days to fortify its Project Gunrunner, which is aimed at disrupting arms trafficking between the United States and Mexico,”
The words above were spoken, in the White House briefing from, to reporters, by David Ogden, Deputy Attorney General on March 24^th 2009.

Issa: “ When did you first know about the program officially I believe known as Operation Fast and Furious? To the best of your knowledge what date?”

Holder: “I’m not sure of the exact date but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

The exchange above is from the House Judiciary Committee testimony, under oath, in which Eric Holder, the Attorney General was responding to a question posed by Congressman Darrell Issa on May 3^rd, 2011.

How exactly could Holders sworn testimony be factual, that he had first hear of this operation only a few weeks prior to May 3^rd 2011 when in March of 2009, more than 2 years previous to Holder’s testimony, he is directly named by a Deputy Attorney General as being a key player in the implementation of new programs including project gunrunner?

It gets less plausible.

Slightly more than 3 months before Holder’s sworn testimony on May 3^rd, Senator Chuck Grassley personally handed to Holder, on January 31^st 2011, 2 memos containing details of “Fast and Furious” including that straw buyers were, “responsible for the purchase of 1500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”

Now, it has been revealed that Holder was the recipient of 5 memos, weekly memos, starting in July of 2010 which detailed Fast and Furious.

As it stands right now, Holder was, by the account of a Deputy Attorney General, key in implementing a new gunrunner program as far back as March of 2009…Was the recipient of 5 weekly briefing memos starting in July 2010 which detailed Fast and Furious…was personally handed, by Senator Chuck Grassley, 2 memos detailing Fast and Furious on January 31^st 2011 and yet on May 3^rd, 2011, under OATH before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder responds to Congressman Issa’s question regarding when he, Holder, first knew of Fast and Furious with…

“I’m not sure of the exact date but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

Okay, that’s a deep hole from which to extract ones self but…it gets even deeper.

“The notion that somehow or other this reaches into the upper levels of the Justice Department is something that, at this point, I don’t think is supported by the facts. We’ll certainly see, I think, at the end of [the Inspector General’s investigation] exactly who was involved, exactly who made the decisions.”
The words above were spoken by Eric Holder at a news conference, regarding the growing scandal of Fast and Furious on September 7th, 2011.

Here, Holder, who was named on March 24^th 2009 as being at the head of a slew of new programs including a gunrunner program claims, to the press, that “this” (Fast and Furious) reaching into the upper levels of the Justice Department is not supported by the facts.

The hole continues to get deeper.

“Holder misunderstood that question from the committee – he did know about Fast and Furious – just not the details.”

The above was released by the Department of Justice on Oct. 4^th 2011 and indicates that Attorney General Holder simply failed to understand the following question:

“When did you first know about the program officially I believe known as Operation Fast and Furious? To the best of your knowledge what date?”

This is a short, very straight forward question which the Department of Justice, headed by Holder, is asking the American people to believe was simply misunderstood by Holder. In addition to asking the American people to believe Holder misunderstood the question, the Justice Department is also asking the American people to believe Holder, who was key to the implementation of this program, who had received 5 weekly briefings regarding it, that we currently know of, who had been personally handed, by a U.S. Senator, 2 memos detailing it had no idea what the details of Fast and Furious were.

“He’s indicated that he was not aware of what was happening in Fast and Furious, certainly I was not. And I think both he and I would have been very unhappy if somebody had suggested that guns were allowed to pass through that could have been prevented by the United States of America.”

The words regarding Holder and Fast and Furious above were spoken, in a press conference, by Obama on October 6^th 2011.

By making this statement, Obama is now asking the American people to believe that a program which, according to a Deputy Attorney General, David Ogden, was “…part of the administration’s comprehensive plan…” was something of which neither he, the President, nor Holder, the Attorney General was aware.

To believe this statement, we, the American people must also believe that there are some unknown entities within this administration who are making “the administration’s comprehensive plan”  without the President’s knowledge or consent and implementing key parts of that plan through the Department of Justice without the knowledge or consent of the Attorney General and talking about it in an open press conference in March of 2009.

“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.”

“But as today’s conference has emphasized, the problem of arms trafficking will not be stopped at the border alone.  Rather, as our experts emphasized, this is a problem that must be met as part of a comprehensive attack against the cartels – an attack in depth, on both sides of the border, that focuses on the leadership and assets of the cartel…”

The words above were spoken by Eric Holder, at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference in Cuernavaca, Mexico on Thursday, April 2, 2009.

For an additional amount for “State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance” $40,000,000, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the Southern border and in High-intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses” for the ATF Project Gunrunner.

The words above are contained within the 2009 stimulus bill.

So, Fast and Furious was championed, as Project Gunrunner, by Holder while in Mexico and was paid for by the stimulus bill championed by Obama but neither of them knew any details of the operation is what we are being asked to believe.

Certainly there will be those who will claim that such an operation could have been carried out covertly behind Holder and Obama’s backs but, really, how accurate would that be? Could a small handful of people have gone rogue without anyone else’s knowledge?

Highly unlikely if not impossible in this case.

Project Gunrunner, which became Fast and Furious, was paid for by taxpayers through the 2009 stimulus bill which would have created a $10,000,000 money trail impossible to ignore. For such an operation to move forward, many different departments would need to be involved to be sure any jurisdictional toes where not trod upon. As standard policy was NOT to allow weapons to walk, in order to be sure THESE weapons, some 2000 of them, DID walk, ATF, DHS, ICE, DEA and FBI would have needed to be read in on the operation.

It will take those with legal and constitutional acumen to determine if treaties such as NAFTA were broken by Fast and Furious or if the Commerce Clause was violated by it but one thing is clear…Crimes were committed.

The body count as it now stands is nearly 200 killed by the Fast and Furious weapons and with the majority of those weapons as yet unaccounted for, that number, at the hands of the Mexican drug cartels, will rise and we know that Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered in Arizona by 2 Fast and Furious weapons. It should also not be forgotten that ICE Agent Jamie Zapata was killed on duty in Mexico by a drug cartel and likely with a Fast and Furious weapon as well.

Given all that we know at this point is it enough to simply demand firings or impeachment? Should we not be demanding prosecutions as well?

Congressmen Issa and Smith along with Senator Grassley MUST continue these investigations and file the harshest of charges where warranted against any and all who were involved.

The heads of every agency involved should be fired and those who spearheaded and ordered this operation should face charges as accessories to murder.

 

Credits to:

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july092011/holder-atf-death-tk.php

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/06/news/la-pn-obama-holder-atf-20111006