Thread: Holder 'regrets' Fast and Furious 'mistakes'

Holder 'regrets' Fast and Furious 'mistakes'



By Pete Yost
November 9, 2011 6:40 am

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday acknowledged serious mistakes in an arms-trafficking probe that allowed AK-47s and other weapons to leak into the black market, but he insisted the Justice Department was taking steps to ensure that never happens again.

Under pointed questioning by Republicans, Holder also expressed regret that the Justice Department had denied allegations of "gun-walking" in a letter to Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley sent earlier this year.

"Unfortunately, we will feel its effects for years to come as guns that were lost during this operation continue to show up at crime scenes both here and in Mexico," Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee of the investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious.

Grassley, the panel's top Republican, said the operation represented an "utter failure" by federal law enforcement officials to enforce existing gun laws.

The purchases of more than 2,000 weapons aroused the suspicion of Fast and Furious investigators, but the suspected straw buyers of those guns were allowed to walk out of Phoenix-area gun shops with AK-47s and other weapons, rather than being arrested.

The goal was to track those weapons to gun-trafficking ring leaders, suspected to include Mexican drug lords, who had long eluded prosecution. But agents lost track of about 1,400 of the guns. As of Oct. 20, 276 guns in Fast and Furious have been recovered in Mexico and 389 recovered in the United States.

The letter from the Justice Department to Grassley in February said federal agents make "every effort" to intercept weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico. Holder said the letter to Grassley was based on information the Justice Department received from the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Washington.

"It's unconscionable that a federal agency would let such a misleading letter stand for more than nine months," Grassley said following the hearing.

Pressed by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Holder also expressed regret to the family of a slain federal border agent whose death prompted ATF agents to come forward early this year and provide information to Grassley about Fast and Furious.

The attorney general added, however, that it is not fair to assume that mistakes in Operation Fast and Furious led to Terry's death. Two of the guns whose purchase was identified by Operation Fast and Furious investigators turned up at the scene of a shootout in Arizona that resulted in the death of Terry, a Customs and Border Protection agent.

Holder said he first heard allegations of problems in Fast and Furious early this year, prompting Cornyn to ask whether it was Holder's responsibility to have known earlier.

"I have ultimate responsibility for that which happens in the department, but I cannot be expected to know the details for every operation that is ongoing in the Justice Department on a day-to-day basis," replied Holder.

Holder has been criticized in a congressional investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Republicans have suggested Holder was informed of the problems as early as July 2010 when the operation's name turned up repeatedly in weekly departmental reports - a point raised Tuesday by Cornyn. Those reports provided updates on dozens of investigations, including Fast and Furious, but do not mention the gun-walking tactic.

The Associated Press has reported that the investigation of Fast and Furious has turned up Justice Department documents which indicate the gun-walking tactic was used in two other investigations by ATF offices in Arizona during the Republican administration of George W. Bush and a briefing memo to Bush's Attorney General Michael Mukasey that briefly described use of the tactic. Mukasey has declined to comment on the memo.

In August, Holder replaced three officials who played critical roles in the arms-trafficking probe - the acting director of ATF, the U.S. attorney in Arizona and a prosecutor who worked on the arms trafficking probe. The department's inspector general is still investigating the case, at Holder's request. The ATF's new director has revamped the management structure at the agency's headquarters.

Democrats raised the issue of two Bush-era probes that involved gun-walking. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said that Republicans are selectively focusing on the Obama administration through Fast and Furious and that if the Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee won't look into the earlier probes, "we should."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked the IG whether its probe of Fast and Furious was being expanded to cover the older probes. One investigation begun in 2006, Operation Wide Receiver, involved 350 weapons, many of which fell into the hands of arms traffickers. In the second Bush-era probe, a briefing paper prepared for then-Attorney General Mukasey outlined failed attempts by federal agents to track illicitly purchased guns across the border into Mexico in a 2007 probe.

Cornyn said that unlike Fast and Furious, Operation Wide Receiver involved coordination with Mexican law enforcement officials. But in the 2007 probe, email traffic among ATF officials said the investigation failed because Mexican law enforcement fell down on the job of tracking the weapons after they were told what vehicle was bringing them across the border. That memo urged Mukasey to press his Mexican counterpart to provide corruption-resistant agents for additional operations that would use the gun-walking tactic.

The Justice Department inspector general's office said in a semiannual report that it was reviewing Operation Fast and Furious "and other investigations with similar objectives, methods and strategies." A spokesman for the IG's office, Jay Lerner, declined to comment on whether the 2006 and 2007 probes are part of the investigation.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2011/11/09/h ... bscriber=1

'mistakes' my backside ~ You Went Rogue and "GOT CAUGHT"

you trafficed enough arms to to the most violent Drug Cartels in the World ... Enough to armor up a heavy U.S. Army Brigade in Afghanistan

Thousands of Assault Rifles and .50 Caliber Sniper Rifles that has an entrance wound the size of a soft ball and an exit wound the size of a basket ball

Hundreds if not Thousands of Mexican's have been slaughtered

1 Border Patrol Agent Murdered; possibly a second

You have Broke International law's

You have Broke Mexican law's

You have Broke American law's

You have Commited Manslaughter on a massive degree on line with Slobodan Milošević of Yugoslavia

If Hillary "Broke Ass" Clinton is Involved; after signing the Small Arm's Treaty; she needs to be put on trial

If Barack "Bent in the Head" Obama is Involved wanting to sign the Small Arm's Treaty; he needs to be put on trial

If "Broke Ass" Napolitano is Involved; she needs to be put on trial

These above individuals my as well, walked the guns themselves; loaded bullets; aimed their sights on Mexicans / Americans / Politicians / Border Patrol / Police ... AND PULLED THE TRIGGER

Was this done to create a failed State in Mexico to better absorb Mexico into the North American Union

Did you do this to take away Americans right to bear arms so that you can continue with a coup detat of America

you better come up with some answers cause your backside is in a LOT of CRAP right about now ..."YOU GOT CAUGHT"

Open up the FEMA Camp's for these International "Mass Slaughter" Roge Government Officials that act out side of any known Law's to SUBVERT our Constitution

I SMELL TREASON

Added to the Homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article6758.html

Airborne: Did you do this to take away Americans right to bear arms so that you can continue with a coup detat of America?

Very much a part of it!

The FEMA camps may be too good for the digusting jackels that were a part of this murderous plan.

Who is the Real Slobodan Milošević with Crimes against humanity

Barack Obama = Slobodan Milošević
Eric Holder = Slobodan Milošević
Hillary Clinton = Slobodan Milošević
Janet Napolitano = Slobodan Milošević

Obama knew of Gun Walker ... this is his baby ... didnt matter who was killed as long as it had the intended purpose of eliminating the second amendment ~ Man slaughter (Hundreds of Counts) (Murder of a Federal Agent 1 count) (Gun Running 2000 counts each a Felony) Racketeering

Hillary Clinton ~ if those guns crossed the international border Hillary knew about it ~ Conspiracy to Commit Man slaughter (Hundreds of Counts) (Murder of a Federal Agent 1 count) (Gun Running 2000 counts each a Felony) Racketeering

Janet Napolitano ~ if those guns moved in the United States and crossed the Mexican border Napolitano knew about it ~ Conspiracy to commit Man slaughter (Hundreds of Counts) (Murder of a Federal Agent 1 count) (Gun Running 2000 counts each a Felony) Racketeering

Eric Holder ~ Man slaughter (Hundreds of Counts) (Murder of a Federal Agent 1 count) (Gun Running 2000 counts each a Felony) Racketeering

again... who is the real Real Slobodan Milošević

Slobodan Milošević

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJ

Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević (sometimes transliterated as Miloshevich; Serbian pronunciation: [slÉ”bɔ̌dan milɔ̌Ë

Attorney General Eric "Slobodan Milošević " Holder



then what does that make Obama

Acts kind~a~like a cross between "Bébé Doc" Duvalier President of Haiti; Kim Jong-il "Dear Leader" of North Korea and Mao Tse-tung of Communist China

Nobody can Slaughter Humans like Our Nobel Peace Prixze Winner

Jean-Claude Duvalier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Duvalier

Kim Jong-il http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-il

Mao Zedong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong

Question: Whats the Differance between Mass Graves in Yugoslavia and Mexico

No Differance

What Makes Mexico Unique is they are dissoving human bodys in a 55 gallon barrels filled with Acid and Yugo Slavia just baried humans in mass graves

What Makes Mexico Unique is that the Drug Cartels are hacking off Limbs and decapitating Bodys

What Makes Mexico Unique is that Obama, Clinton, Napolitano and Holder armed these drug cartels with enough Assault Rifles / .50 caliber Sniper Rifles to arm a Heavy U.S. Army Brigade in Afghanistan to make the drug cartels more efficiant in their killing

30,000 Mexicans dead in the drug war and now Americans are being slaughtered as well from Guns that YOU Bought for Holder to hand over to the Drug Cartels free of charge ... Whodathunkit