Here's the latest White House spin courtesy of the ever faithful Richard Serrano of the LA Times:
In a confidential deposition with congressional investigators, the then-head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blamed agents, field supervisors and even his top command for never advising him that for more than a year, his agency allowed illegal gun sales along the southwestern U.S. border.
The deposition, which was taken in July and was recently obtained by the Washington bureau, shows that Kenneth E. Melson was irate. Even his chief intelligence officer at ATF headquarters was upset with the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious, but did little to shut it down, Melson complained. "He didn't come in and tell me, either," Melson said. "And he's on the same damn floor as I am."
Oh, yes, poor little Ken. Far more interesting though is that my sources tell me that the Democrats leaked this to Serrano, not the GOP side of the committee. What does that tell you. "They're doing battlefield preparation for the hearing," one said. "It is all the fault of the ATF." Serrano's story seems crafted to portray the meme:
But B. Todd Jones, Melson's replacement as acting director of the agency, said in an interview that Melson allowed overzealous field agents and supervisors to go beyond approved tactics.
Pointing out that the ATF has had five acting directors in the last six years, Jones said the resulting weak management structure has given some field agents a license to operate independently of Washington.
"There was a vacuum. Fast and Furious went off the rails, and there were plenty of opportunities to pivot so none of this would happen," Jones said. . .
"Anybody, including Mr. Melson, who waits for things to happen or waits for information to come to them, that is something I personally am not a believer in," Jones said. "I'm a believer in management by walking around. If you're not hearing it, you seek it out. And there are a lot of ways to do that other than sitting in your corner office waiting for memos to come in."
Yes, well, since ole B. Todd has been "walking around around, he's had an opportunity to sack those involved with the Gunwalker Scandal and hasn't -- has had an opportunity to sack people in the Chief Counsels' Office of ATF, who continue, behind the scenes to make like for the whistleblowers a living hell. One wonders what kind of "walking around" ole B. Todd has done in a job that is only part-time for him.
But the most revealing paragraphs of the Serrano story are these last ones:
Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence.
Hours after Terry was killed south of Tucson, David J. Voth, the ATF group supervisor for Fast and Furious in Phoenix, sent an email to lead Agent Hope A. MacAllister. He titled the email, "no more rose colored glasses."
"If you have not heard a Border Patrol agent was shoot and killed here in Arizona," he told her. "The trace came back to Fast and Furious…Ugh...! Call as soon as you can, things will most likely get ugly."
"Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence."
From the very beginning of the breaking of this scandal with the death of Brian Terry, the DOJ and White House have sought to deny, first, the very existence of gunwalking, then when that was no longer deniable, knowledge of "the tactics" of gunwalking.
Yet, no one has yet asked specific questions -- under oath in hearings -- about FBI and DEA participation; about the March 2009 meeting between "Gunwalker Bill" Newell and the White House; about the 26 October 2009 teleconference at DOJ with Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states, including Phoenix's Dennis Burke where they are reported to have decided on a strategy to identify and eliminate entire arms trafficking networks rather than low–level buyers.
Because of these failures of omission -- of questions or witness lists -- the White and DOJ have been able to get away with the meme: "Why we're shocked, SHOCKED, to find gunwalking going on here!"
This reporter is told that all the chickens will come home to roost at the next hearing, that this has all been "a careful and deliberate stalk to get the big game," in the words of one source. We shall see.
13 comments:
Many commentators, both Repub and Democrat, have described Obama's behavior in the WH as being "stand offish". The only person he cares about is himself. If this is true, I cannot understand his loyalty to Holder, especially with the elections coming up in 2012. Given Obama's reported personality, it makes no sense unless Holder has privately let it be known that he will not take the fall alone. I sure wish I had Solomon's discernment. After all, the implications here are not limited to the possible ousting of a corrupt administration. The possibility of a military coup exists in a worse case scenario if these events result in total political chaos. It is NOT unthinkable!
"Jones said. 'I'm a believer in management by walking around.'"
B Tard (sic) Jones should fit well into an agency that walks guns, then.
MALTHUS
Sounds like a high tech lynching-- of the white guy.
"I'm a believer in management by walking around. If you're not hearing it, you seek it out. And there are a lot of ways to do that other than sitting in your corner office waiting for memos to come in."
Didn't he just slam AG Holder's self defense arguments in the Fast and Furious hearings?
I'm frankly shocked that Mr. Jones had the nerve to indict the behavior of AG Holder in such clear language, even if indirectly. Worse yet, Holder didn't even bother to read the memo's when they did find their way to his desk.
I see no future for Mr. B. Todd Jones anywhere in the Federal government if he doesn't learn to watch his mouth.
"This reporter is told that all the chickens will come home to roost at the next hearing, that this has all been "a careful and deliberate stalk to get the big game," in the words of one source. We shall see."
Course they will. But somehow something tells me that they won't get a shot at the game because there won't (oops) be any firing pins in their guns, their view will be momentarily obscured, somebody will fall or be pushed out of a tree, they were aiming a "bigger one" but it got away and so did the small one's, or the "hunters" will be arrested for poaching regardless of the fact that they have a valid license and have obeyed all the rules and regulations.
You see folks, there are Marxists involved here and they protect their people and agenda, many times even after being thrown under that bus we keep saying is coming, but never does.
This would have a completely different ending if the media wasn't also Marxist and therefore in it up to their noses.
Anyone who would like to argue "Melson & below" need only read SSI posts of the past 18 months. These guys don't make foreign policy at the District Office level, they follow formal orders from their bosses, who get coordinated plans from their bosses and so on.
Is there really only CBS, and that with irregular and reluctant coverage? When the headline is "Highest levels of government admit to aiding cartels in overthrow of Mexico and invasion of US with GunWalker and GrenadeWalker weapons as part of scheme to sidestep 2nd Amendment rights of Americans", Americans will pay some attention. Got militia?
This is news almost as big as Gulf War I (which made CNN into something, from nothing), with weekly denials from on-high.
All of us "racisss" White people just want the truth, whatever it may be. Then, we can get Special Congressional prosecutors to work.
Cheers.
Hopefully you are correct Mr. Mike.
Give these bums enough rope and their lies and treachery will hang them but good. At least in a world where the rule of law exists that would be a foregone conclusion.
We will see.
I think Patrick Henry was always right.
As I recall, the gun dealers didn't ask to talk to the ATF, who were advising them to sell multiple assault guns for cash on multiple occasions to people on welfare. They asked to talk to AUSA Emory Hurley - who gave them the green light with false assurances. His boss, Dennis Burke, complained that any investigation of Fast and Furious was brought on by the gun lobby. ATF didn't have the authority that DOJ had. DOJ was getting monthly reports and keeping track of the weapons flow to Mexico. DOJ was concerned with Wide Receiver that it would bring Fast and Furious out into the open. But I guess all these facts are not important to Tracy Schmaler and Weich and Weinstein and Grindler and Breuer - all of whom have direct contact with Eric the WithHolder. So Tracy feeds the willing Richard Serrano the "ATF botched sting gone awry" bait and he has written that so often he is in cover up mode too. Wasn't the FBI taking the names on the forms of gun purchasers and giving them a green light even though two felons showed up on frequent occasions? The ATF can't tell the FBI to do that - it has to come from the DOJ.
When the reality of incarceration is realized by a few key individuals then the worm will turn. This stinks all the way to the oval office. I can't believe that lesser ranking supporting operatives would launch an operation of this magnitude without
prior authority from the highest of the chain of command.
Mike,
First I want to thank you for your good work.
Let me pick your brain for a minute.
Assumptions:
1. Holder initiates operation GUNRUNNER.
2. F&F starts in Phoenix.
3. Another (un-named?) operation starts in Dallas (and Houston?).
4. Another operations (un-named?) operation out of Tampa feeds guns to Honduras(?).
5. Another (un-named?) operation in Indiana feeds guns to Chicago.
Questions:
1. Could GUNRUNNER be the overall project with all of these (and others?) are just a part of a larger effort?
2. Do you know the names of the other operations and whether any media is investigating?
Thanks.
Ducatisti
"No I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas! I--I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!" -- Jake Blues
Maybe the administration just needs better script writers.
This is more and more looking like a Mexican standoff.
Thanks to Mike, who keeps lighting firecrackers off to get 'er goin'.
One day, a bigger opportunity will come.
Alan Korwin just wrote that Holder did not take the oath last time he was before Issa's committee-- possibly to avoid a perjury charge. I have not fact checked this but next time, he needs to take the oath, or not, and not be permitted to waffle his way out of an answer.
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