CBS News: "White House answers Congress in Gunwalker"

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20111626-10391695.html

White House answers Congress in Gunwalker

...On September 9th, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked the White House to make former National Security Advisor Kevin O'Reilly available for an interview before the end of September to help "determine the extent of the involvement of White House staff in Operation Fast and Furious."

Emails already obtained by Congress show O'Reilly communicated about gun trafficking efforts with then-Special Agent in Charge of ATF's Phoenix office William Newell as early as summer of 2010. In the email exchanges O'Reilly asked Newell if it was okay to share the information with other White House staffers. Congressional investigators are seeking all related communications.

The new letter from the President's counsel doesn't say O'Reilly can't be interviewed by Congressional investigators, but neither does it provide an availability date. Instead the letter states that

O'Reilly, who has moved from the White House to the State Department from where he was tasked, is "currently on a previously scheduled assignment to Iraq."...

[Angry Dragon]

1. Transparency ............. you just got to love it

[burf]

2. I hope Mr O'Reilly is very careful in his

new job.

It sure is strange that any posts on Fast and Furious, project gunwalker and the arming of the Mexican drug cartels by the government of the US fall in the post listings like a lead balloon. Does this mean that there is a flipside to the old "Its OK if you're a Republican"?

[oneshooter]

3. I believe that it is more of a " MY government wouldn't do THAT" attitude. n/t

[spin]

4. Unfortunately it sure looks like my government did ...

and attempting to cover this scandal up only means that it will grow. Day by day it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

It's beginning to remind me of a little robbery that occurred during the Nixon administration.

[Iktomiwicasa]

8. From a traditionalist native perspective...

...which is largely from the outside looking in towards mainstream duhmurican society, many, if not most of us are convinced there really aren't two dominant political parties in this country, but rather only one...the Two Headed Snake Party. Each head hisses a different tune, according to its intended audience but in fact each of those heads is attached to the same tail, which is continually trying to slither up the ass of the People.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. I am stealing this.

This is better than my normal 'two headed monster' tirade, for the accompanying visual.

[Iktomiwicasa]

7. No shit...

[one-eyed fat man]

5. More underhanded dealings

Justice Inspector Obstructed Probe Into ‘Fast and Furious’

The inspector general of the Department of Justice undermined and obstructed a congressional investigation by releasing secret tape recordings that corroborate allegations of misconduct in "Operation Fast and Furious," to the actual targets of the investigation, without even listening to them.

The tapes were recorded by Andre Howard, owner of the Lone Wolf Trading Co., after he suspected the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was lying to him about the guns they recruited him to sell to buyers of the Sinaloa Cartel.

"Andre was acting under the direct supervision of the Department of Justice and ATF. And he thought he was making a difference and that these people were being arrested and there were going to be indictments and that there were going to be prosecutions."

Recall that Lone Wolf Trading Company was one of the gun dealers vilified by the Washington Post in a series of articles as responsible for the bulk of guns traced back to the United States. The Washington Post said Lone Wolf took the number one slot for Mexican traces after it found that 185 guns recovered in Mexico were traced back to their store over the past two years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/12/AR2010121204105.html

Was the Post in on the deception from the beginning, or just eager to publish anything that might further the "we gotta get a new assault weapons ban to save Mexico" agenda?

[SteveM]

6. Good find. I don't know what WaPo's role in this is, but I'm sure they...

will dodge the issue, or just not report on it if findings do harm to their gun-control/ban agenda. I find it implausible that it would be in on an ATF "plot" solely for the purposes of substantiating their theory that U.S. gun proliferation is contributing to the war in Mexico, and leverage that into a revitalized gun-control movement. It is more likely it "discovered" ATF's shenanigans, and moved quickly to take political advantage of them. If WaPo was in on this operation, it would stand to lose a lot of credibility well beyond the usual pro-2A suspects.

If the WaPo was an unwitting "ally" after the fact, the question really turns to WHY ATF would undertake such a venture. There may have been two reasons: 1) to advance in a peripheral way ("under the radar") the agenda of domestic gun-control; and 2) trace the guns to gang leaders and somehow weaken them. But in reason 1), the chances an outfit like ATF would be revealed are quite high, and this indeed has turned out to be the case. In reason 2), I can't see HOW doing this would bring about some advantage in the Mexican war; the number of guns is rather small potatoes, even if they were destined for the Sinaloa Cartel all along, in an attempt to weaken or delay efforts on the part of the Zeta Cartel to gain formal power-sharing with the Mexican government. Sure it's plausible that the CIA got in on the operation -- it resonates with past activities -- but I see little corroborated evidence for this.

More speculation: Maybe in the near future someone connected with WaPo will spill the beans as to the paper's role, if any, in this operation. After all, during the Cold War, foreign policy makers had a stable of news organizations willing to pump the right gas. And some reporters didn't go along.

[burf]

11. SteveM, how do you know the number of

guns was rather small? There was one operative, Uriel Patinos who bought more than 700 guns. If there are few more of guys like this, it could add up to a significant arsenal.

Story of Patinos: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-08-08-ATF-guns-Operation-Fast-and-Furious-Congress_n.htm

[SteveM]

16. Well, I don't know the numbers, only a figure of less than 2,000...

I heard bandied around. I could be very wrong about this. If the number is quite high, then I would think the weapons are strategically destined for competing cartel(s) in order slow down the Zetas. That speculation would have more credence than a huge number of arms being disseminated merely for the purpose of propping up some gun-control campaign in the U.S. A "mere" -2,000 would do the job for that.

[jeepnstein]

18. That's what I want to know.

What was the real scope of this operation? We all know it was a bone-headed operation from the beginning. Something tells me it has been going on longer and in a larger scale than what they're admitting now.

[friendly_iconoclast]

17. Err, make that "fixed the link in post #5"

I need a second coffee, obviously

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/21/audio-tapes-reveal-more-details-in-fast-and-furious-gunrunner-scandal/

[spin]

9. I always find it interesting that those who support draconian gun control ...

ignore threads on the ATF scandal.

I can understand why many oppose firearm ownership because of tragic events that occurred in their lives. In irresponsible hands, firearms do injure and kill innocent people. My next door neighbor in Tampa absolutely hated firearms as her brother blew his brains out in his bedroom and she had to clean the walls.

I might have an entirely different view on gun control if one of my family members had committed suicide or had been killed or seriously injured by a criminal who possessed an illegal firearm that he had stolen, bought on the street or purchased from a private individual. However in my situation, handguns possibly saved both the lives of my mother and daughter or at least prevented serious injury or rape from their attackers.

But I can not understand why all citizens are not infuriated at departments of our government allowing the illegal sale and the smuggling of over 2000 very lethal firearms to the drug cartels in Mexico and to dealers on the streets of our nation. These firearms have and will continue to cause innocent people to be injured and killed and will be misused by criminals in the future for many more criminal activities both in Mexico and here in the United States.

With much effort those who favor gun control have managed to pass laws which should work to restrict firearm ownership to honest and responsible citizens. They faced a hard battle and had to overcome opposition from the NRA and the GOA which are powerful lobbies. I don't always agree with the laws that have been passed in many states but some are fair and effective if enforced. I personally believe that the NICS background check was an excellent idea and should be better financed and improved and even extended to private sales of firearms.

Why then are do those who oppose firearm ownership or who would favor a new assault weapons ban not upset when the ATF and other agencies of our government decide to ignore existing law and allow straw purchasers to obtain and smuggle extremely lethal firearms? Why are they not requiring that the investigation get full cooperation from the Justice Department? If this scandal had occurred under the administration of Bush the Younger, would they feel the same?

While it is very unlikely, it is possible that someone who ignores this scandal may end up with a member of his family or an acquaintance who is shot by one of these weapons. Already many people in Mexico have suffered from the weapons that the ATF allowed to "walk". Are these people inferior or less than human and therefore their lives and their health are irrelevant?

It really doesn't matter if you are a gun owner who opposes all restrictions or an individual who would love to ban and confiscate all firearms in civilian hands. All citizens should be opposed to such an ill conceived plan.

[Hoopla Phil]

10. Well said. Thank You.

[burf]

12. Well said, thanks.

[DissedByBush]

13. Talked about biased headline

How about "White House prevents staffer from testifying about Gunwalker"

Or just the reality, "White House continues to impede Gunwalker investigation"

[Iktomiwicasa]

22. +1

[Iktomiwicasa]

15. Yesterday's letter from Grassley and Issa to Holder.

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/h.pdf?tag=contentMain

[friendly_iconoclast]

19. Read it, folks. It definitely raises some new and rather uncomfortable questions.

If I can extract text from the *.pdf file, I will repost it here.

[Atypical Liberal]

20. This operation is almost certainly not a "sting gone wrong".

This program is much bigger than the cover story of a means to track down drug dealers.

This program was almost certainly a way to facilitate selling arms to drug cartels rival to the Los Zetas through the civilian market.

When this blows open, it is going to have massive international and internal consequences.

The least of the concerns will be Mexico's reaction to our manipulating organized crime in Mexico.

But the biggest bang is going to be justifying arming and facilitating trade with multi-national drug cartels while simultaneously putting people in jail for drug-related offenses here in the United States. What the hell kind of contradiction is that?

[Iktomiwicasa]

21. How high does it go?

At least to Eric holder, and very likely all the way to the White House. This has the potential to make Watergate look like a traffic ticket in comparison.