Thread: Congressmen accuse W.H. of Project Gunrunner cover-up

ON CAPITOL HILL

Congressmen accuse White House of cover-up

Lawmakers blast attorney general for lying about weapons program

Posted: May 03, 2011
7:58 pm Eastern
By Drew Zahn
© 2011 WorldNetDaily


Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa – A pair of Republicans in Congress have fired off a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, accusing the administration of lying to cover up a government program that allegedly allowed American firearms to pass into Mexico.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., had sharp words for the Department of Justice after Holder sent a recent letter http://grassley.senate.gov/about/upload ... ations.pdf denying that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobaco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, had knowingly authorized the sale of weapons to gun smugglers as part of what has become known as "Project Gunrunner" and its suboperation, dubbed "Fast and Furious."

In a return letter sent today, the congressmen wrote that the Department's self-exonerating claims were flat-out "false." http://grassley.senate.gov/about/upload ... nial-2.pdf

"We are very concerned that the Department chose to send a letter containing false statements," wrote the congressmen. "The Department sent a letter on February 4, 2011, claiming that … 'ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico.' When questioned in transcribed interviews last week in Phoenix, agents with first-hand knowledge of ATF operations contradicted that claim."

The answers to all your questions about guns, safety and guarding your family are found in "SAFE: How to Protect Yourself, Your Family and Your Home"

"We are extremely disappointed that you do not appear to be taking this issue seriously enough to ensure that the Department's representations are accurate, forthcoming and complete," the legislators wrote. "We will continue to probe and gather the facts independently, as it has become clear that we cannot rely on the Department's self-serving statements to obtain any realistic picture of what happened."

The program run by the ATF reportedly allowed guns purchased in the United States to be smuggled into Mexico for the purpose of tracking them to high-ranking members of Mexico's drug cartels.

As WND has reported, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php? ... eId=274449 officials on both sides of the border are fuming over the operation, which is being blamed http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=272593 not only for the infusion of hundreds of guns into the hands of Mexican drug lords but also provision of the weapon that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=240945

A statement released by Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, explains the process of how whistleblowers within the ATF first alerted him and Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, to the controversy:

"Grassley began looking into allegations brought forward by Agent John Dodson, and more than a dozen other ATF agents after the Justice Department Inspector General failed to investigate their concerns," the statement reads. "The agents indicated that their supervisors kept them from stopping gun traffickers with the normal techniques that had been successfully [used] for years. They instead were ordered to only watch and continue gathering information on traffickers instead of arresting them as soon as they could. In the meantime, the guns were allowed to fall into the hands of the bad guys even as agents told supervisors that it could not end well. Many of the guns have subsequently been found in firefights along the border, including a December 14, 2010, firefight where Customs and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed."

Since launching their investigation, however, as WND reported, Issa has said the ATF has been "stonewalling." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php? ... ew&pageId= 289533

The statement continues, "Grassley and Issa's requests for information from the Justice Department have gone mostly unanswered about what transpired at the ATF and the Department of Justice during the time when Terry was killed and the policies instituted during Project Gunrunner that allowed guns to be sold to known straw purchasers and moved across the border without intervention."

In his most recent letter refuting the bureau's whistleblowers, Holder wrote, "It remains our understanding that ATF's Operation Fast and Furious did not knowingly permit straw buyers to take guns into Mexico."

Grassley and Issa, however, are not buying it.

In their response to Holder sent today, they write, "The documents and information previously provided to you demonstrate that the ATF urged gun dealers to go forward with sales to known straw buyers despite the concerns expressed by at least one dealer that the guns would be transferred to the border and possibly used against Border Patrol agents. ATF and Justice officials assured that dealer that unspecified safeguards were in place to ensure that did not happen. Yet, guns from that case were found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's murder and at crime scenes in Mexico."

Issa's statement concludes by insisting that the operation was, despite Holder's denials, implemented by the ATF.

"As chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform," the statement asserts, "Issa has begun issuing subpoenas to uncover the facts about how this reckless policy was approved."

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=294645

If they knew the true and very insidious intention of this operation they would go balastic...lmao
Lets see if they can get past the bullcrap to the bottom of it. I think the truth may be too dangerous for even them to let out to the public.

PaulRevere9 wrote,

I think the truth may be too dangerous for even them to let out to the public.

It usually is. That is why we have a two party system.

"[T]he more criminal the leadership of a country becomes, the easier it is for the average person to find himself labeled a criminal by that same leadership." - Giordano Bruno, at Zero Hedge.

Added to Homepage--

http://www.alipac.us/article-6281--0-0.html

I have been suspecting this sort of thing. I think that both the president and many of our congressman have deals going on with the cartels. I just can't see any other reason for them to be so hell bent on letting everyone in and keeping them here.

Real is not new I was said before nobama and (D) are corrupt and I can said is negociate with Mexican gov and drug mex cartel for introduce illegals and drug in US,who can believe nobaba and (D)?politician must react now and impeach nobaba.We won clear politician,an down a dictador cmmunist obama.

Originally Posted by thedramaofmylife

I have been suspecting this sort of thing. I think that both the president and many of our congressman have deals going on with the cartels. I just can't see any other reason for them to be so hell bent on letting everyone in and keeping them here.

I've been thinking the very same thing for quite sometime, hence the reasons for the government posting signs in Arizona warning Americans not to go into certain areas of what is suppose to be for our use and not the mexican drug cartels and illegal alien smugglers. just what other country would permit something like this to happen American citizens can't even grow pot on their own property and yet our government allows this bs

"And listen to Holder here he sounds like a blithering idiot!" And Chaffetz is only asking!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7RHE4WyWzs

And then there is all this BS!

This post mentions Grassley and Issa Questioning Holder. Here is grassley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZgRHFqk3Jw

And here is ISSA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NqH88cSBqI

In his testimony to Congress, didn't the U.S. AG deny knowing about Operation Gunrunner, until recently ? Yet, he spoke of it, in a speech, when he visited Mexico in 2009. Is this proof he lied to Congress ?

Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference

CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009

Remarks as prepared for delivery.

First, let me express my thanks to Attorney General Medina Mora and Secretary of Government Gomez Mont for making this conference possible.

This is my first trip to another country as Attorney General. I wanted to come to Mexico to deliver a single message: We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in this fight against the narcotics cartels. The United States shares responsibility for this problem and we will take responsibility by joining our Mexican counterparts in every step of this fight.

And, together, we will win – thanks in large part to the courage of my Mexican colleagues here today, who are on the front lines every day, and with whom I am proud to collaborate.

The topic that has been addressed over the past two days could not be more important – the development of an arms trafficking prosecution and enforcement strategy on both sides of the border.

I would like to thank the Mexican and U.S. experts who have worked so hard on this issue. On our side, Secretary Napolitano and I are committed to putting the resources in place to increase our attack on arms trafficking into Mexico.

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. This is the type of full-bore, prosecution-driven approach that the U.S. Department of Justice took to dismantle La Cosa Nostra – once the most powerful organized crime group operating in the United States.

With partners like those we have here today, I am confident that together, we will defeat these narcotics cartels in exactly the same way. I am proud to stand with you, and to join you in this fight. Thank you again for inviting me here.

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009 ... 90402.html