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Politics : Fast and Furious-----Obama/Holder Gun Running Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (128)	11/14/2011 1:58:48 AM
From: joseffy	2 Recommendations Respond to of 749

VIDEO: The father of slain border Agent Brian Terry calls Attorney General Eric Holder a 'liar'. cnsnews.com

To: Wayners who wrote (128)	11/15/2011 3:53:43 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 749

Former Holder Chief of Staff Nomination to Court Imperiled Over 'Fast and Furious' ............................................................................................................... November 15, 2011 foxnews.com The confirmation of a former aide to Attorney General Eric Holder to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces may be in peril over his response to questions posed by Arizona Sen. John McCain about his knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious. Kevin Ohlson, who worked as Holder's chief of staff from January 2009 to January 2011, faces a confirmation hearing on Thursday for the post. The panel with jurisdiction is the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which McCain is the ranking Republican and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is chairman. Related Interactive Holder Aide's Reply to Sen. McCain on 'Fast and Furious' In advance of a confirmation hearing for an appeals court seat, Kevin Ohlson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Holder, responded to a questionnaire from Sen. John McCain asking about his knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious. In his response Monday to a questionnaire sent from McCain last week, both obtained by Fox News, Ohlson said he knew nothing about the operation while he was at the Justice Department. "During my tenure as chief of staff and counselor to the attorney general, I took no actions in regard to, had no knowledge of, provided no advice about, and had no involvement in Operation Fast and Furious," he wrote. Ohlson wrote he did participate in a prep session with Holder on Fast and Furious earlier this month before Holder testified to Congress. In the letter sent by McCain, he wrote that as Holder's chief of staff Ohlson was "in a position to be informed about the Operation, to make decisions regarding the operation, and to know what information about it was and was not provided to the attorney general." But in his response, Ohlson wrote he had "been informed that routine courtesy copies of weekly reports were forwarded to me that referred to the operation by name, but that did not provide any operational details and did not refer to gun walking or anything similar." But Ohlson said nothing on the cover sheets of the reports indicated they contained important or sensitive materials and he didn't review them. The latest response highlights a recurring theme coming from the Department of Justice about Fast and Furious that has raised troubling concerns for Republicans, specifically, that officials there did not get into details or make the effort to look further into the botched gun-walking program. Fast and Furious was run out of the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and aimed to allow straw purchasers illegally buy guns from U.S. shops in order to trace where they went. Hundreds of those guns disappeared into Mexico, and the operation blew up in late 2010 after the murder of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry. Two guns linked to the operation were found at the crime scene. But in response to questions raised about the program, Holder said memos about Fast and Furious addressed to him were never brought to his attention. Holder's then No. 2, Gary Grindler, did receive a briefing on Fast and Furious, but didn't discuss it with others, he says, because the tactics were never mentioned. Head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division Lanny Breuer said he knew of a different gun-walking case but didn't ask if others were occurring. Breuer's deputies also approved wiretaps in Fast and Furious, but only looked at cover sheets, according to Justice Department officials. Lower-level attorneys from the department's Gang Unit briefly worked on Fast and Furious as well as other gun-walking cases, but their work never filtered up. Ohlson left Holder's office in January 2011 to become chief of the Professional Misconduct Review Unit. He said that there was no linkage between his move and Terry's death. House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said the whole case shows that changes are needed at the Justice Department. Holder "wouldn't even admit that, in fact, Fast and Furious led directly to the death of Brian Terry. He seems to want to obfuscate that," Issa, R-Calif., told Fox News on Tuesday, not referring to Ohlson's replies to the questionnaire. "That shows that we really need to get some kind of change at the Department of Justice in the AG's office, or we're not going to get the kind of change Americans can believe in."

To: Wayners who wrote (128)	11/16/2011 1:14:19 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 749

“Attorney General Holder has a repeated pattern of misleading members of Congress under oath, and Fast and Furious appears to be no exception. As a consequence, I believe he has lost all credibility with Congress and the American people, which is why I am calling for his resignation,” Grimm said. humanevents.com

To: Wayners who wrote (128)	11/16/2011 2:03:46 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 749

Rep. Allen West publicly calls for Eric Holder to resign ........................................................................................................... therightscoop.com

To: Wayners who wrote (128)	11/23/2011 3:51:26 PM
From: joseffy	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 749

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Was Killed By... Mexican Nationals "Hunting" Border Patrol Agents? November 23, 2011 ace.mu.nu Wow. Remember a couple of weeks ago when it was reported that the indictment against one of Terry's alleged killers had been sealed? Is this leaked information the reason it's being covered up? Five illegal immigrants armed with at least two AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole known as Mesquite Seep just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and one U.S. agent was killed, records show. The original article doesn't say why they were "hunting" Border Patrol agents, but the area where Terry was murdered is a drug-smuggling corridor, so it might have been a case of turf-protection. And they were armed with AK-47s, courtesy of the US Government. The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, which is prosecuting the case, would confirm only that it was sealed. Also sealed was the judge’s reason for sealing the case. We armed the killers of Brian Terry. Why? They refuse to say.

To: Wayners who wrote (128)	11/23/2011 7:52:47 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 749

Fast and Furious: Brian Terry’s Killers Were "Hunting" Border Patrol Agents .................................................................................................... Maybe this is why the indictment was sealed. by John Hayward 11/23/2011 humanevents.com At the height of public outrage over Attorney General Eric Holder?’s involvement in the “Fast and Furious” gun-walking scandal, the grand jury indictment issued for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was suddenly sealed. Now, thanks to an astonishing story from Jerry Seper from the Washington Times, we have an idea why it was so important to get that indictment out of the public eye. According to Seper’s leaks from the sealed document, Agent Terry’s killers were *actively hunting* Border Patrol agents… and two of their AK-47s came courtesy of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms: Five illegal immigrants armed with at least two AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole known as Mesquite Seep just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and one U.S. agent was killed, records show. A now-sealed federal grand jury indictment in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry says the Mexican nationals were “patrolling” the rugged desert area of Peck Canyon at about 11:15 p.m. on Dec. 14 with *the intent to “intentionally and forcibly assault” Border Patrol agents.* At least two of the Mexicans carried their assault rifles “at the ready position,” one of several details about the attack showing that Mexican smugglers are becoming more aggressive on the U.S. side of the border. According to the indictment, the Mexicans were “patrolling the area in single-file formation” a dozen miles northwest of the border town of Nogales and — in the darkness of the Arizona night — opened fire on four Border Patrol agents after the agents identified themselves in Spanish as police officers. (Emphasis mine.) The indictment goes on to confirm that even though the Border Patrol agents saw the Mexicans were armed with rifles, they initially engaged with “less than lethal” beanbag rounds. The resulting hail of fast and furious bullets killed Marine veteran and Border Patrol agent Terry. As reported by ABC News back in March, the Border Patrol initially tried to deny that non-lethal weapons were used in the encounter: "From the very beginning, at the funeral home when they spoke to us face to face, the Border Patrol said there were no bean bags shot. That's what they told us," Brian's stepmother, Carolyn Terry, said in an interview. "They told us that when we were out in Tucson for his memorial. There were no bean bags shot. And what's the first thing on these reports? The guys shot bean bags." I believe officials are still “declining to discuss” whose idea it was to put beanbag guns in the hands of those Border Patrol agents while border-jumping kill squads hunted them with AK-47s. Shawn Moran of the National Border Patrol Council, who has served as a Border Patrol agent, said “field agents have been ‘strong-armed’ by the agency’s leadership to use nonlethal weapons.” The agents were also packing sidearms, which is still a losing proposition against five assault rifles. Moran also noted that the gun discipline of the Mexican kill team “probably meant they had some level of military training.” This is what the Border Patrol is up against: *More than 250 incursions by Mexican military personnel into the United States* have been documented over the past several years. The Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona that many of the intruders were “trained to escape, evade and counter-ambush” if detected. The agency cautioned agents to keep “a low profile,” to use “cover and concealment” in approaching the Mexican units, to employ “shadows and camouflage” to conceal themselves and to “stay as quiet as possible.” Several of the incursions occurred in the same area where Terry was killed, including a 2005 incident in which two agents were shot and wounded by assailants dressed in *black commando-type clothing* in what law-enforcement authorities said was *a planned ambush*. More than 50 rounds were fired at the agents after they spotted the suspected gunmen. When confronted with these details, “The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, which is prosecuting the case, would confirm only that it was sealed. Also sealed was the judge’s reason for sealing the case.” Everything’s all nice and sealed. Perhaps Congress should ask Eric Holder if he knows that Border Patrol agents are being stalked by death squads with a taste for the kind of guns Fast and Furious pushed across the border. It’s probably all laid out in another memo Holder didn’t read.

To: Wayners who wrote (128)	12/2/2011 9:10:52 PM
From: joseffy	2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 749

Justice Department Explains How It Got Fast and Furious Statements Wrong ................................................................................................................................................ December 02, 2011 Associated Press foxnews.com WASHINGTON – The Justice Department on Friday provided Congress with documents detailing how the department gave inaccurate information to a U.S. senator in the controversy surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, the flawed law enforcement initiative aimed at dismantling major arms trafficking networks on the Southwest border. In a letter last February to Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had not sanctioned the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser and that the agency makes every effort to intercept weapons that have been purchased illegally. In connection with Operation Fast and Furious, both statements have turned out to be incorrect. In a letter to the ATF last January, Grassley said the Senate Judiciary Committee had received allegations that the law enforcement agency had sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers. Grassley also wrote that two of the guns had been used in a shootout that killed customs agent Brian Terry. In a subsequent email to Justice Department colleagues, then-U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke in Phoenix said that "Grassley's assertions regarding the Arizona investigation and the weapons recovered" at the "murder scene are based on categorical falsehoods. I worry that ATF will take 8 months to answer this when they should be refuting its underlying accusations right now." That email marked the start of an internal debate in the Justice Department over how much to say in response to Grassley's allegations. The fact that there was an ongoing criminal investigation into Terry's murder prompted some at the Justice Department to argue for less disclosure. It is unusual for the Justice Department to provide the details of its internal deliberations. The Justice Department provided 1,364 pages of documents to Congress after concluding "that we will make a rare exception to the department's recognized protocols and provide you with information related to how the inaccurate information came to be included in the letter," Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is looking into the Obama administration's handling of Operation Fast and Furious. Read more: foxnews.com