ATF whistleblower site members not buying Holder’s ‘Fast and Furious’ testimony

June 10, 2012
David Codrea
Gun Rights Examiner


Eric Holder and Sheila Jackson-Lee confer with each other before his testimony and her interrogation time.
Photo credit:
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Weekend reactions from CleanUp ATF forum comment posters to Attorney General Eric Holder’s Thursday testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” criminal operation show disbelief, anger and contempt.

The website, established by so-called “dissident” ATF agents and whistleblowers to expose and rectify agency waste, abuse, corruption and fraud, was the initial source for information about walked guns found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, and much further information has been obtained from its members throughout the courses of Congressional and media investigations.

“Watching the latest soap starring Eric Holder...who apparently thinks the rest of us are just too damned stupid to figure out that the use of 'fast and furious' DOES actually indicate OPERATION 'fast and furious' is being referenced,” member Excalibur-2112 observed in a thread titled “Looks like the dope finally stepped in it…Eric Holder.”

“This man needs to be impeached, prosecuted here in the states then handed over to the sovereign nation of Mexico for terrorist crimes against the Mexican people who died because of his failed attempt to push more gun control,” he concluded.

“It's amazing how much AG Holder knows about all the other subjects he was questioned about - but for Fast and Furious, he knows nothing, doesn't remember anything, his people didn't know anything, and he doesn't want to find out anything.... and Bush did it first!” forum member Ike replied, echoing a common reaction to the testimony.

“After that embarrassing foolishness aka testimony by the Attorney General, ISSA Decides enough is enough,” CleanUpATF staff moderator Iceman weighed in. “This is going to be a great 4th of July. Why is this important? Because as long as Mr. Holder get away with lies and incompetence, SO WILL ATF SENIOR managers. Accountability works.”

That’s an important date, because House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa has established it as a deadline for a contempt citation against AG Holder.

CleanUpATF was first brought to the attention of Gun Rights Examiner readers in early September, 2009, when this correspondent published an open and directed plea to the then-Democrat-controlled Oversight Committee to investigate corruption charges raised there. As has been posited since, had the committee done its job at that time, gunwalking could have been discovered, dealt with, and discouraged, and the resultant loss of human life could have been averted. Instead, prominent members who controlled the committee, and thus that decision, showed deliberate indifference to the extremely serious allegations leveled by veteran agents. Prominent among these was Rep. Elijah Cummings, who as ranking member on the committee is now a leading critic of the current investigation.

As for the credibility of the comment posters on the current CleanUpATF discussion, admittedly there is no way to determine who they are and what their level of insider Bureau knowledge is. What is relevant to keep in mind is that the discussion has not only been permitted to continue, but has been responded to by Special Agent Vince Cefalu, a frequent subject of Gun Rights Examiner columns who has been the target of a longtime management retaliation campaign. Also of relevance, longtime readers of this column will recall that another CleanUpATF member posting under the screen name 1DesertRat was the subject of documented exchanges between then-Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson and his chief counsel, Stephen R. Rubenstein, who were trying to determine his agency status and if retaliatory actions could be taken against him under “Orders and Standards of Conduct” rules.

“This is in response to your request regarding information posted on ‘Clean Up ATF.’ “ Rubenstien replied to a Melson inquiry. “Specifically, on December 22, 2010, "1desrtrat" stated that ‘word is’ that Phoenix FD ASAC George Gillet ‘[a]llegedly approved more than 500 AR-15 type rifles from Phoenix and Tucson cases to be “walked” into Mexico.’ The post further states that "[o]ne of those rifles is rumored to have been linked to the recent killing of a Border Patrol Officer in Nogales, AZ."

Clearly, there would quite possibly be no public Fast and Furious revelations at all were it not for discussions originating on CleanUpATF in the wake of the Terry murder. No serious investigator should be ignoring current developments there.
This development, along with other recent Gun Rights Examiner columns, will be discussed in more detail tonight at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time with host Mark Walters on the nationally-syndicated "Armed American Radio" program. Interested listeners will be able to hear the show either by finding a station in the AAR website listing or via live streaming.

ATF whistleblower site members not buying Holder