Mexican Diplomat Says America Pretty Much Invited The Sinaloa Drug Cartel Across The Border

Business Insider
Michael Kelley

Leaked emails from the private U.S. security firm Stratfor cite a Mexican diplomat who says the U.S. government works with Mexican cartels to traffic drugs into the United States and has sided with the Sinaloa cartel in an attempt to limit the violence in Mexico.

Many people have doubted the quality of Stratfor's intelligence, but the information from MX1—a Mexican foreign service officer who doubled as a confidential source for Stratfor—seems to corroborate recent claims about U.S. involvement in the drug war in Mexico.

Most notably, the reports from MX1 line up with assertions by a Sinaloa cartel insider that cartel boss Joaquin Guzman is a U.S. informant, the Sinaloa cartel was "given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago," and Operation Fast and Furious was part of an agreement to finance and arm the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for information used to take down rival cartels.

An email with the subject "Re: From MX1 -- 2" sent Monday, April 19, 2010, to Stratfor vice president of intelligence Fred Burton says:

I think the US sent a signal that could be construed as follows:

"To the [Juárez] and Sinaloa cartels: Thank you for providing our market with drugs over the years. We are now concerned about your perpetration of violence, and would like to see you stop that. In this regard, please know that Sinaloa is bigger and better than [the Juárez cartel]. Also note that [Ciudad Juárez] is very important to us, as is the whole border. In this light, please talk amongst yourselves and lets all get back to business. Again, we recognize that Sinaloa is bigger and better, so either [the Juárez cartel] gets in line or we will mess you up."

In sum, I have a gut feeling that the US agencies tried to send a signal telling the cartels to negotiate themselves. They unilaterally declared a winner, and this is unprecedented, and deserves analysis.

Bill Conroy of Narco News reports that MX1's description matches the publicly available information on Fernando de la Mora Salcedo — a Mexican foreign service officer who studied law at the University of New Mexico and served at the Mexican Consulates in El Paso, Texas, and Phoenix.

In a June 13, 2010, email with the subject "Re: Get follow up from mx1? Thx," MX1 states that U.S. and Mexican law enforcement sent their "signal" by discretely brokering a deal with cartels in Tijuana, just south of San Diego, Calif., which reduced the violence in the area considerably. 

It is not so much a message for the Mexican government as it is for the Sinaloa cartel and [the Juárez cartel] themselves. Basically, the message they want to send out is that Sinaloa is winning and that the violence is unacceptable. They want the CARTELS to negotiate with EACH OTHER. The idea is that if they can do this, violence will drop and the governments will allow controlled drug trades.

The email went on to say that "the major routes and methods for bulk shipping into the US" from Ciudad Juárez, right across the border from El Paso, Texas, "have already been negotiated with US authorities" and that large shipments of drugs from the Sinaloa cartel "are OK with the Americans."

In July a Mexican state government spokesman told Al Jazeera that the CIA and other international security forces "don't fight drug traffickers" as much as "try to manage the drug trade." A mid-level Mexican official told Al Jazeera that based on discussions he's had with U.S. officials working in Ciudad Juárez, the allegations were true.

WikiLeaks has published 2,878 out of what it says is a cache of 5 million internal Stratfor emails (dated between July 2004 and December 2011) obtained by the hacker collective Anonymous around Christmas.

Recent Fast & Furious Developments Since Univision Broadcast

Daily Bail

Take a step back in time with Big Sis.

If it's this easy to find evidence (20-second search on Youtube), why doesn't the MSM publish the truth and expose Holder and Obama?  This is blatant.  They are even bragging about it.  Where is the outrage?  Where is the accountability?  Why isn't this a huge story?

Here's the answer from a Democratic pollster.

The White House wants you to believe that Holder and Obama knew nothing about Fast & Furious even though you are watching video of the Deputy Attorney General holding a press conference to announce the bold, new program that was 'directed by the President.'

And the worst part is - they are getting away with it.

ABC: Report connects Fast & Furious to murders of 16 teenagers

On January 30, 2010, a commando of at least 20 hit men parked themselves outside a birthday party of high school and college students in Ciudad Juarez.  Near midnight, the assassins, later identified as hired guns for the Mexican cartel La Linea, broke into a one-story house and opened fire on a gathering of nearly 60 teenagers.  Outside, lookouts gunned down a screaming neighbor and several students who had managed to escape.  Fourteen young men and women were killed, and 12 more were wounded.

The U.S. government played a role in the massacre by supplying some of the firearms used by the cartel murderers.  One source called Univision’s findings the 'holy grail' that Congressional investigators have been seeking.  The guns didn’t stop in Mexico, either:

Additional guns, previously unreported by congressional investigators, found their way into the hands of drug traffickers across Latin America in countries such as, Honduras and Colombia, as well as the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

CBS News reminds us that the Obama administration is still hiding Kevin O’Reilly, a key figure in Operation Fast and Furious:

O’Reilly, then a White House National Security staffer, had phone and email exchanges about Fast and Furious from July 2010 to Feb. 2011 with the lead ATF official on the case: ATF Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. Just days after Newell testified to Congress on July 26, 2011 that he’d shared information with O’Reilly, whom he described as a long time friend, O’Reilly was transferred to Iraq and not available for questioning. Thereafter, he declined interviews with congressional investigators and the IG.

In a letter sent to O’Reilly’s attorney Thursday, Issa and Grassley state that O’Reilly’s “sudden transfer” to Iraq took him out of pocket in their investigation, and placed him in a position that had already been given to somebody else, raising “serious questions about O’Reilly’s assignment in Baghdad (and) the motivation for his transfer there.” …

“Given that O’Reilly was the link connecting the White House to the scandal, and that the President subsequently asserted executive privilege over the documents pertaining to Fast and Furious, it is imperative that the American people get to the bottom of O’Reilly’s involvement with Fast and Furious,” says the letter to O’Reilly’s attorney.

It goes on to say that if O’Reilly does not agree to an interview within 30 days, congressional Republicans will have no choice but to “use compulsory process” or subpoena power to require his testimony.

Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News

Here's the ABC story that goes with the video.

Univision has aggressively covered Fast and Furious, and its most recent major run-in with the scandal came when network anchor Jorge Ramos grilled Obama in an interview on the scandal, asking him why he hasn’t “fired” Holder. During the interview, Obama made at least one false statement relating to Fast and Furious.

Justice Department launches ad campaign

The Examiner

For the first time in the history of the agency, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an ad campaign featuring a sitting attorney general speaking to Americans about the need to protect endangered children.

This reporter saw the ad for the first time last evening.

The series of ads comes at a curious time in American politics. The U.S. presidential election is less than three months away. The DOJ is under intense fire due to the Fast and Furious scandal. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the DOJ issued his first draft report on Fast and Furious this week, and leaks from DOJ indicate that already the report has created a flurry of activity as officials scurry about attempting damage control.

DOJ officials have one month to pour over the OIG report, providing their feedback, prior to its release to Congress, the media, and the public.

Yet as if to get a head start and gain the upper hand in the court of public opinion, Holder launches a massive ad campaign touting the agency's work and focusing on the need to "protect the children."

No one would argue that vulnerable children do not need to be protected. But why is this suddenly the focus of an ad campaign during an election year? Is there some reason that now is the time to step up such efforts? Are there statistics showing that suddenly, out of the blue, multimillions more children are now in harm's way within, say, the last six months?

In all likelihood, children are in no more danger now than they have been at any other time during the Obama presidency.

The thing that has changed, however, is the president's likelihood of being reelected. National opinion polls are skewed toward Democrats and are thus unreliable. Americans in the heartland and in the small towns and cities that dot the landscape all across the nation know in their hearts that this president has failed to deliver on his promises. He did not, as he promised, lower unemployment below 8 percent. He did not, as he promised, fix the economy. He did not, as he promised, make sure that the elderly will be secured in the national safety net for decades to come. Instead, he robbed the Medicare program of nearly 800 billion dollars in order to fund ObamaCare, placing the Medicare program in a highly vulnerable position going forward.

In addition, the president faces a Republican ticket that headed out of Tampa in a very strong position. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan did what they had to do to define themselves and their positions on the issues. Nothing at the Republican Convention gave the impression that this team is not ready on day one to begin to clean up the mess that Obama has made worse.

Thus, the only explanation for the DOJ ads is that they are part of the Obama reelection campaign without identifying themselves as such. And the taxpayers are footing the bill.

ALERT!

A new entry in my regular series Musings After Midnight is now posted at my blog, The Liberty Sphere. It's titled "With All of THIS Going On, It's Enough to Make a Normal Person Become a Conspiracy Theorist." Don't miss it!

Obama Asserts Executive Privilege Over Fast And Furious Fiasco

ZeroHedge
Tyler Durden

If there was any confusion whether Obama is in fact Bush, or maybe even Nixon, this has now been squashed. From Fox:

President Obama has granted an 11th-hour request by Attorney General Eric Holder to exert executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off a contempt vote against Holder by Republicans in the House. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is expected to forge ahead with its meeting on the contempt resolution anyway.

Holder, whose guilt is implicitly proven by this action, is now likely absolved of everything as the TOTUS has effectively onboarded all of his "balance sheet risk." And why not. The Fed does it for everyone else every day.
As a reminder, from the WSJ:

A showdown Wednesday in the House between Attorney General Eric Holder and Rep. Darrell Issa comes down to this: Who will blink first in a dispute over Justice Department documents Mr. Issa is demanding related to the botched Fast and Furious gun-trafficking probe?

California Republican Mr. Issa is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and he has called a 10 a.m. meeting of his panel to vote on a resolution to sanction Mr. Holder with contempt of Congress. The two men held a meeting Tuesday that lasted only 20 minutes. And from their accounts, it has become a game of chicken, with each side insisting the other act first to resolve the standoff.

Mr. Holder said Mr. Issa rejected his offer to provide documents because the lawmaker wouldn't agree that they would fulfill the subpoena, effectively ending the contempt threat. Mr. Issa said the attorney general didn't come prepared to provide documents and that the contempt threat can't be removed until the documents are produced.

At issue are Justice Department documents that Mr. Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) have sought and that the department resisted turning over in the congressional investigation into Fast and Furious. The department said the documents reflected internal deliberation or were related to continuing criminal investigations and therefore weren't subject to congressional subpoena.

If a majority of the committee votes for contempt Wednesday, the matter then could be taken up by the full House. If the House votes in favor, then a contempt citation could be referred to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, an appointee of President Barack Obama who is in Mr. Holder's chain of command. And then things become legally more uncertain. It isn't clear if Congress can compel an executive-branch official to prosecute the attorney general. In the Bush administration, the House voted to hold White House officials in contempt in a similar documents dispute and the Bush-appointed attorney general ordered the U.S. attorney to disregard it. The matter was eventually settled with the production of documents before a civil-court battle ran its course.

The main issue in Fast and Furious remains the contention by Messrs. Issa and Grassley that the Justice Department is improperly withholding documents. The department has turned over thousands of documents—about 7,000 or 8,000, depending on which side is counting—and says it is being forthcoming. By comparison, the inspector general has had access to about 80,000 documents, including those the department has declined to share with lawmakers.

...

The matter has become a political fight, with little real impact on Mr. Holder, who is expected to serve out his tenure through the end of the current administration in January. Democrats accuse Republicans of using the contempt measure as a political tool against Mr. Holder and the president. Democrats did some of the same against President George W. Bush's attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, who resigned under pressure in a controversy over the firings of U.S. attorneys.

And now back to your regularly scheduled farce of a democratic republic.

Government's answer to "Fast and Furious" records requests: Blank pages

CBS
 Sharyl Attkisson

For more than a year, CBS News has been investigating the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms' "Fast and Furious" operation and related cases that also employed the controversial tactic of "gunwalking." With Justice Department officials refusing all interview requests to date, CBS News requested numerous public documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

So far, all of the requests that have been answered have been denied in part or in full.

This week, we received a partial response to a request made more than a year ago. It asked for communications involving "Project Gunrunner," the umbrella program for Fast and Furious, from 2010 through April 2011. Specifically, it sought any communications to which any of the following top Justice officials were a party: Attorney General Eric Holder; Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division; Kevin Carwile, chief of the Capital Case Unit; and Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals Bruce Schwarz and Kenneth Blanco.

The response includes mostly-blank pages.

See the nearly-blank provided to CBS News (PDF)
 
Federal agencies can legally claim exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act for a number of reasons including attorney-client privilege, law enforcement purposes, and personal privacy. However, they've fallen under sharp criticism from the media and public interest groups in the past decade as a large number of FOIA requests have languished, sometimes for years.

FOIA was originally intended to expedite the release of public materials to the public and media. However, in practice, FOIA requests are often not even marginally effective at obtaining documents for news reporting. To be most effective and helpful, the requests would often need to be filled in a matter of days or at least weeks.

Few requests filed by this reporter are answered within a year. When and if documents are ever produced, they are often heavily redacted and the timeliness of the information relative to the public interest has long since subsided.

Separately the FBI has denied CBS News all information requested regarding the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Two Fast and Furious weapons were found at his murder scene in December 2010. The FBI stated that the information was withheld because the murder investigation is ongoing. That investigation has now entered its second year.

Republicans prepare contempt citation against Eric Holder over Fast and Furious CBS News appealed the FBI's denial, arguing that some records had already been made public by FBI to news agencies, that releasing certain parts of its investigative documents would not jeopardize any investigation, and that the FBI should provide, at a minimum, a log of the withheld materials. The appeal was denied. The ATF likewise denied our FOIA request under the basis of "opening investigation."

Is Eric Holder Mastermind or just Absent-minded?

The Examiner
William Holder

Attorney General (AG) Eric Holder admitted lying to Congress May 2011 when he testified he learned of Fast and Furious (F&F) “…last few weeks”. His defenders say he misunderstood the question.

Last Thursday, the 2ndof February 2012, Eric Holder said he made sure F&F was over “as soon as he learned about its tactics…” (Cockerham, 2012)

Note how one Holder testimony reduces the other testimony to nonsense.

The essential question about gunrunning and Fast and Furious (F&F) is:

What did AG Eric Holder know, and when did he know it?

A) On May 3, 2011, Oversight Committee chair, Rep. Darrell Issa, asked AG Holder, "When did you first know about the program, officially I believe known as Fast and Furious, to the best of your knowledge, what date?"

B) AG Holder testified, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."

Attorney General (AG) Eric Holder admitted lying to Congress May 2011 when he testified he learned of Fast and Furious (F&F) “…last few weeks”. His defenders say he misunderstood the question.

Last Thursday, the 2ndof February 2012, Eric Holder said he made sure F&F was over “as soon as he learned about its tactics…” (Cockerham, 2012)

Note how one Holder testimony reduces the other testimony to nonsense.

The essential question about gunrunning and Fast and Furious (F&F) is:

What did AG Eric Holder know, and when did he know it?

A) On May 3, 2011, Oversight Committee chair, Rep. Darrell Issa, asked AG Holder, "When did you first know about the program, officially I believe known as Fast and Furious, to the best of your knowledge, what date?"

B) AG Holder testified, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."
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C) Holder's May 3, 2011 testimony under oath was perjury.

D) Holder’s testimony last Thursday depends on last May’s testimony.

So, what do we know about what Eric Holder really knew?

On October 3rd, 2011, CBS reporter Cheryl Atkisson obtained five Department of Justice (DOJ) memos to and from Holder subordinates detailing various aspects of the F&F smuggling program showing Holder had received weekly briefings on F&F from as early as July of 2010 -five months before Tucson District Border Agent, Brian Terry was murdered in the Arizona desert with an F&F-smuggled weapon.

Reading the DOJ emails in question makes both the AG’s testimonies under oath ridiculous.

One email in particular is specially damning: on Oct. 17, 2010, Deputy Assistant AG/ Criminal Division, Jason Weinstein, emailed Deputy Chief of the National Gang Unit, James Trusty, questioning the wisdom of having Assistant AG, Lanny Breuer, attend a press conference questioning F&F, "…given the number of guns that have walked." http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/10/holder-should-fire-his-aides-or-get-fired-himself#ixzz1lLctyGnm

The words show knowledge that walking guns is smuggling guns.

Report Unloads on ATF for Mexican ‘Gunwalking’

Wired

Days before Attorney General Eric Holder is once again hauled before Congress to testify for Operation Fast and Furious, a new report sheds light on whether high-ranking officials knew, or have been honest about, one of the biggest failures in Justice Department history: a disastrous plan by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to allow gunrunners to “walk” firearms into the hands of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.

These questions are crucial because Fast and Furious has not only become a huge political issue, it also determines who will take responsibility for allowing thousands of guns to move unimpeded into a war zone south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The gunwalking operation — an attempt to build cases by not stopping but monitoring the flow of U.S. straw-purchased weapons to Mexico’s cartels — eventually saw the ATF lose track of more than 2,000 guns, many in the hands of cartel hitmen.

Hundreds of weapons recovered at crime scenes in Mexico were later traced to Fast and Furious, including AK-47 variant rifles discovered at the scene of a Dec. 14, 2010, shootout between border bandits and a Border Patrol BORTAC tactical unit in Arizona. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in the fight.

But Fast and Furious wasn’t the first operation to run guns. The report, released by House Democrats, describes the plot as “the latest in a series of fatally flawed operations run by ATF agents in Phoenix and the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office,” beginning with the 2006-2007′s Operation Wide Receiver. In the beginning, Phoenix-based ATF agents “went forward with plans to observe or facilitate hundreds of suspected straw firearm purchases,” according to the report. Faced with the risk of losing track of the guns, Wide Receiver was shuttered.
In two cases, named the “The Hernandez Case” and “The Medrano Case,” the ATF watched groups of conspirators cross into Mexico carrying straw-purchased guns. In “Medrano,” smugglers snuck more than 100 firearms into Mexico while under observation by the ATF.

Fast and Furious was much bigger, with greater potential rewards — and risks — for field agents, involving “a sizable network the operation of straw puchasers [the ATF] believed were trafficking military-grade assault weapons to Mexican drug cartels.” But then the operation went badly wrong. Guns disappeared, or appeared after gunfights with the Mexican military or in stash houses. Then agent Terry was shot.

Fast and Furious: Issa Issues Subpoena for AZ U.S. Attorney, Patrick J. Cunningham

Nice Deb

AWR Hawkins, Big Government reports:

I just received an email from Congressman Darrel Issa’s office, containing a copy of a letter that was just sent Patrick J. Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. The letter announces that Cunningham has just been subpoenaed for “repeated refusals to testify voluntarily” before the House Oversight Committee, concerning accusations that he relayed inaccurate and misleading information to the Justice Department in preparation for its initial response to Congress.

Go to Big Government to see the copy of the letter. Cunningham is required to appear before the House Oversight Committee on January 24.
Eric Holder is set to testify on Feb 4:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been scheduled to testify on February 2 about the Department of Justice’s knowledge of, and response to, gunwalking that occurred in Operation Fast and Furious. The Attorney General will be asked to address management deficiencies within the Department that occurred both during and after the conclusion of Operation Fast and Furious. This will include the Department’s steadfast refusal to disclose information following the February 4, 2011 letter to Senator Grassley, which the Department has withdrawn because it contained false information denying allegations made by whistleblowers about Operation Fast and Furious. The committee’s investigation has found documentation that numerous members of the Justice Department knew the letter to Congress contained false information both before it was sent and later withdrawn.

“The Department of Justice’s conduct in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious has been nothing short of shameful,” said Chairman Issa. “From its initial denials that nothing improper occurred, to efforts to silence whistleblowers who wanted to tell Congress what really happened, to its continuing refusal to discuss or share documents related to this cover-up, the Justice Department has fought tooth and nail to hide the full truth about what occurred and what senior officials knew. Attorney General Holder must explain or reverse course on decisions that appear to put the careers of political appointees ahead of the need for accountability and the Department’s integrity.”

UPDATE:
John Hinderaker: Holder’s United Front on Fast and Furious Crumbles:

In an ominous development for the Obama administration, Patrick Cunningham, chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, has told the House Oversight Committee that he will assert his privilege against self-incrimination rather than testify before the committee next week.
**
… it would seem to be a bright line rule that any time a high-ranking official of the Department of Justice pleads the Fifth, a major scandal is under way.

But is some kind of fix in?

Sipsey Street Irregulars: FINALLY. Fifth Amendment Time in the Gunwalker Scandal. FOX breaks the story I knew was coming yesterday: “Federal official in Arizona to plead the fifth and not answer questions on ‘furious’” But, is the fix in? Issa staff reported to have witheld information from Grassley. “The roach motel of press inquiries.”

It is complex because this event comes at what may be a critical juncture in the investigation which some are interpreting as a reluctance on the part of the Issa committee to fully explore the many leads they have already developed because of their political sensitivity.

“I won’t say that the fix is in, but the Committee seems to be buying into the ‘Made-in-Phoenix’ line pushed by the White House,” said one source with inside knowledge of the investigator’s work. This seems to be reflected in the subpoena letter from Issa to Cunningham. From the Politico story linked above:

“Senior Justice Department officials have recently told the Committee that you relayed inaccurate and misleading information to the Department in preparation for its initial response to Congress,” wrote Issa. “These officials told us that even after Congress began investigating Fast and Furious, you continued to insist that no unacceptable tactics were used.”

The White House is happy for Issa to go after Cunningham for this is consistent with their denial that the White House had anything to do with gunwalking. Indeed, from the evidence above it would seem that the White House has determined Cunningham to be one of the designated sacrificial goats to that end.

Bob Owens:

Sure. Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota/Chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee/Acting ATF Director B. Todd Jones, top federal prosecutors in the southwest and White House staffers were all aware of Operation Fast and Furious. So let’s blame it all on the one guy in Arizona.

Stay tuned…

When a Prosecutor takes the Fifth

The Examiner
William Heuisler

That single action turns our Justice system upside down.

 Certain officials - Prosecutors, Judges and Policemen - are held to a higher standard because they have the power to imprison the rest of us. What are we to think when a Federal Prosecutor refuses to aid a Federal Investigation that will prosecute smugglers, liars, and murderers?

 On January 19th, 2012, the chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona refused to testify before Congress about Operation Fast and Furious - a part of Attorney General Eric Holder’s “Project Gunrunner” - the gun-running scheme that smuggled thousands of combat weapons to Mexican drug cartels, and was the proximate cause of the murder of an American Law Enforcement officer.

 Patrick J. Cunningham, Arizona Chief Criminal Investigator for the United States Attorney’s Office in Phoenix is hiding behind the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution that states “...nor shall any person…be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”. US Attorney Cunningham as much as said he will not answer questions about Fast and Furious because his answers might tend to incriminate him. He responded to the Congressional subpoena through his lawyer.

US Attorney Cunningham was ordered on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 to appear before the House Oversight Committee regarding his leadership in Arizona’s Operation Fast and Furious that sent more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa drug smuggling Cartel. His participation in the gunrunning operation was evident through testimony of witnesses like Kenneth Melson (Serrano, 2011) ex-ATF Director, and presence in meetings about Project Gunrunner:


 (http://www.grassley.senate.gov/judiciary/upload/Judiciary-ATF-06-15-11-Documents-Cited-in-Grassley-testimony.pdf) According to Senator Charles Grassley’s June 15, 2011 congressional testimony the “Southwest Border Strategy Group” met on October 27, 2009 to discuss Operation Gunrunner, and smuggling guns into Mexico. Present were, Assistant AG Lanny Breuer, Kenneth Melson, Director, ATF, William Hoover, Deputy Director, ATF, Michele Leonhart, DEA, Robert Mueller, Director FBI, Justice Department Directors of - Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force, Bureau of Prisons, and U.S. Marshals – US Attorneys of four Border States and Todd Jones, Chairman of Eric Holder’s Advisory Committee. (Owens, 2011)

The “Southwest Border Strategy Group” purpose was self-evident: Set goals and methods (strategies) for F&F on the Southwest (Arizona) border.

Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry, was killed with a military-grade assault weapon smuggled to criminals with the aid and approval of the ATF and the Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney in Phoenix, Arizona.

US Attorney Cunningham is either admitting guilt, or protecting the guilty.

Owens, B. (2011). Pajamas Media. Email confirms “Gunwalker” known throughout Justice Department. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/email-confirms-gunwalker-known-throughout-justice-department/?singlepage=true

Serrano, R. (2011). Los Angeles Times. Angry Former ATF Chief blames subordinates for Fast and Furious. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/24/nation/la-na-fast-furious-20111225

Angry former ATF chief blames subordinates for Fast and Furious

Los Angeles Times
Richard A. Serrano

In a deposition with congressional investigators, Kenneth E. Melson faults agents, supervisors and top aides for the gun sale program that has been linked to drug cartel violence.

Kenneth E. Melson

Reporting from Washington — 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."

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.

Ron Paul calls for criminal charges against Eric Holder.

Poor Richard's Blog
Kyle Rogers

, Charleston Conservative Examiner

Just days ago, CBS national news printed new details about Department of Justice operation "Fast & Furious." Internal memos show that agents actually discussed using the operation as a "false flag" to justify taking away the 2nd amendment rights of US citizens.

Congress is currently investigating Fast & Furious. Attorney General Eric Holder has already been caught making at least one false statement under oath.

Gun rights advocates have been asking why Republicans aren't calling for criminal charges against Eric Holder. Many have criticized FOX News for giving the story little coverage. CBS national news has been breaking most of the new details related to Fast & Furious. Recently Eric Holder yelled at a reporter at an event in DC. He blamed the media for public outrage over Fast & Furious, and told a reporter "you guys need to stop it."

Today, Texas Congressman Ron Paul became the first GOP president candidate to call for criminal charges against Eric Holder.

Speaking to syndicated radio talk show host Alex Jones, Paul called for Holder to be "immediately fired." Paul went on to say "I think it was criminal," and called the operation a "false flag." He said that there needs to be an immediate investigation into Holder himself, and said Holder "deserves charges."

Paul went on to discuss a now infamous memo from White House lawyers who claim Obama has the right to assassinate American citizens anywhere in the world. Paul stated that Obama is trying to "legalize Martial law."

Paul also mocked the FBI's claim of uncovering an Iranian assignation plot against the Saudi ambassador. He said the man arrested "may never be tried because they don't want the truth to come out."

Concealing a crime is a crime

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Last Tuesday the White House sealed records on Brian Terry's murder. 

Last Friday Attorney General (AG) Holder’s Justice Department admitted sending Congress false information in a February 4th, 2011 letter that denied criminal acts during the Justice Department’s Operation Fast and Furious (F&F). (Johnson, 2011)

This particular false information is relevant to Brian Terry's murder.

Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry, was murdered with a rifle smuggled to Mexican criminals by a Justice Department sanctioned, ATF-sponsored, “straw buyer” as part of Eric Holder’s Project Gunrunner (called Fast & Furious in Arizona). 

A person who conceals a crime, or helps in the aftermath, can be prosecuted as accessory to that crime.

Elements of intent to conceal a crime are in evidence.

1) When Congressman Darrell Issa subpoenaed the AG’s Justice Department for F&F records communications and e-mails, the Congressional Committee received hundreds of pages of records so thoroughly redacted that whole pages, or parts of pages, were black.

2) The Feb. 4, 2011 letter to Congress from the AG’s Justice Department said, "ATF doesn't let guns walk" and "we always try to interdict weapons purchased illegally." The letter added ATF makes "every effort" to interdict weapons purchased illegally before they cross into Mexico, and that the allegation ATF had "sanctioned or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons" to suspicious people was false.

3) On May 3rd, 2011, AG Holder testified to the House Judiciary Committee, “The notion that somehow or another that this Justice Department is responsible for those deaths, that assertion is offensive,” (referring to Agents, Zapata and Terry). In the same May 3rd testimony, AG Holder said he had, “Probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks”. His testimony contradicted several e-mails referencing F&F sent to Holder, and responded to by Holder, sent nearly a year earlier.

Aside from e-mails, other elements of knowledge are in evidence.                   

1) Aides to the Deputy Attorney General suggested fixes to drafts of the Feb. 4th letter  and prodded subordinates to check the facts. In one e-mail chain, a deputy named Lisa Monaco advised against using adjectives such as "categorically" and asked, "why poke the tiger" when communicating with Congress. (Johnson, 2011)

2) AG Holder announced Project Gunrunner in Cuernavaca Mexico on April 2nd 2009. The stated purpose was Gunrunning in Southwestern states. Could F&F be coincidental in personnel, purpose and timing, and yet somehow be separate from Gunrunner?

3) Southwest Border Strategy Group met on October 27, 2009 to discuss Gunrunner and smuggling guns into Mexico. Present were, Assistant AG Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Melson, Michele Leonhart, DEA, Robert Mueller, Director FBI, Directors of Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force, Bureau of Prisons, US Attorneys of four Border States and Chairman of the AG’s Advisory Committee, Todd Jones. (Grassley, 2011)

The US Constitution empowers Congress to impeach a President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States for trial by the US Senate on Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Congress successfully impeached attorneys General Harry Daugherty in 1922 and Alberto Gonzales in 2007. Both resigned before the Senate could try them.

AG Holder will face Congress again on December 8th. He has already lied about felonies and their connection to murder. He must either continue to deceive or admit guilt. Either way, if President Barack Obama has the slightest chance of saving his Presidency from disgrace he must fire his Attorney General before an Act of Impeachment by Congress.

Johnson, C. (2011). NPR. Justice withdraws inaccurate Fast and Furious letter it sent to Congress. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/02/143067851/justice-withdraws-inaccurate-fast-and-furious-letter-it-sent-to-congress?ft=1&f=1001

Grassley, C. (2011). US Gov. pdf. Statement on Fast and Furious to the US House of Representatives. http://www.nraila.org/pdfs/CGrassley.pdf

Murder cover up, Chicago-style

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Reported this morning: President Obama is now abetting Eric Holder’s cover-up of a murder. No one should be surprised, that’s just the Chicago Way.

Chicago Way? The current Boss of  “The Outfit” in Chicago, Johnny “Bananas” DiFronzo, has escaped numerous murder convictions due to many years of cover-ups and many missing witnesses. (Calder, 2011)

The Obama Administration has now sealed court records containing culpable information and detailed reports on Mexican drug smugglers murdering U.S. Border patrol agent, Brian Terry, with a gun knowingly smuggled to criminals by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, under orders from US Attorneys, in fulfillment of Attorney General Eric Holder’s illegal program, proudly called “Gunrunner”.

The murder of Tucson District U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was the direct result of Project Gunrunner, and its ugly stepchild, Operation Fast and Furious. Project Gunrunner has lived up to its name. Since his triumphal speech introducing "Gunrunner" in Cuernavaca, Mexico on April 2nd, 2009, AG Eric Holder’s Justice Department has directed, and abetted smuggling (Gunrunning) thousands of combat-style weapons to Mexican drug cartels.

Now Eric Holder’s "Capo" is covering for his appointed henchman.

The Obama administration is hiding information about Brian Terry’s murder from his family and the American public by sealing the case. This means evidence in a murder investigation (and accessory to murder investigation) will now be kept from the news media and the public. (Hemingway, 2011)

The rifle used to kill Agent Brian Terry almost a year ago in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of Operation Fast and Furious – Arizona’s part of Project Gunrunner. That murder weapon can be directly traced to orders given by the Attorney General of the United States. (Attkisson, 2011)
Will a Chicago style cover-up succeed?

Attkisson, C. (2011). CBS News. Investigation. New Fast and Furious Docs released by White House.  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20114184-10391695.html

Calder, P. (2011). Organized Crime Reportage. Pal Joey and forgotten “Family Secrets”. http://www.newcriminologist.com/oc/home.asp?nid=2229

Hemingway, M. (2011). The Blog. Obama Administration seals records of murdered Border Patrol Agent. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-admin-seals-records-murdered-border-patrol-agent-implicated-fast-and-furious_610783.html

Fast And Furious: 22 Shocking Facts About The Scandal That Could Bring Down The Obama Administration

End of the American Dream

Could Fast and Furious be the scandal that brings down the Obama administration?  With the full knowledge of the Department of Justice, ATF agents facilitated the sale of thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels and dropped all surveillance of those weapons once they crossed the border.  Weapons sold during Operation Fast and Furious have been used to shoot U.S. border control agents.  Weapons sold during Operation Fast and Furious have been found at dozens of crime scenes in Mexico.  Nobody has been held accountable for this scandal yet.  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been stonewalling all efforts by members of Congress to look into Fast and Furious.  A CBS reporter that has been aggressively investigating this story was recently screamed at and cussed at by a high ranking official that works in the White House.  It has become abundantly clear that the Obama administration desperately wants to hide what went on during Operation Fast and Furious.  So will they succeed or will we eventually find out the truth?

What you are about to read should shock the living daylights out of you.  The U.S. government purposely armed Mexican drug cartels with thousands of guns and then ordered agents not to follow the weapons across the border.

This should be a story that the mainstream media is pounding on every single day.
But they aren't.

In fact, they are mostly ignoring it.

However, if the truth starts getting out and the American people start grasping what really happened this thing could become absolutely huge.

In fact, this could end up being Obama's Watergate.

The following are 22 shocking facts about the scandal that could bring down the Obama administration....

#1 During Operation Fast and Furious, ATF agents purposely allowed thousands of guns to be sold to individuals that they believed would get them into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

#2 ATF agents were specifically ordered not to intercept the guns before they crossed the border.  The following is a brief excerpt from a CBS News report that detailed the fierce objections that many ATF agents expressed when they were ordered to stand down....

On the phone, one Project Gunrunner source (who didn't want to be identified) told us just how many guns flooded the black market under ATF's watchful eye. "The numbers are over 2,500 on that case by the way. That's how many guns were sold - including some 50-calibers they let walk."

50-caliber weapons are fearsome. For months, ATF agents followed 50-caliber Barrett rifles and other guns believed headed for the Mexican border, but were ordered to let them go. One distraught agent was often overheard on ATF radios begging and pleading to be allowed to intercept transports. The answer: "Negative. Stand down."

CBS News has been told at least 11 ATF agents and senior managers voiced fierce opposition to the strategy. "It got ugly..." said one. There was "screaming and yelling" says another. A third warned: "this is crazy, somebody is gonna to get killed."

#3 Operation Fast and Furious remained a secret until the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.  Two guns that were sold during Operation Fast and Furious were found at the scene of the murd

Congress issues subpoena for Holder, others in 'Fast and Furious' probe

CNN

Congressional investigators have issued a subpoena for communications from several top Justice Department officials - including Attorney General Eric Holder - relating to the discredited "Fast and Furious" federal gunrunning operation, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California.

Operation Fast and Furious involved agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowing illegal sales of guns believed to be destined for Mexican drug cartels to "walk" from Phoenix, Arizona, gun stores into Mexico.

The idea was to track the sellers and purchasers of guns to Mexican cartels, but the program became mired in controversy after weapons found at Mexican and American murder scenes were traced back to the program. Mexican officials and critics in the United States called the program a failure, saying it exacerbated the longstanding problem of U.S. weapons getting into the hands of the violent Mexican cartels.

Gunrunner: betrayal and denial

The Examiner
William Heuisler

A third weapon smuggled by Fast and Furious was evidently found at Border Agent, Brian Terry’s murder scene.        

FBI investigators have, until yesterday, been able to conceal the fact that a Simonov Type-56 Russian semi-automatic rifle was also found at the Terry murder scene along with two AK-47s. (LaJeunesse, 2011)

Why was the Simonov SKS rifle concealed for so long by the FBI? Who gave the order?

The Terry murder is a betrayal of Law Enforcement that began with a decision to corrupt the Law for political purposes. Who had the power to make that decision?

On Wednesday, Attorney General (AG) Holder denied knowledge of Fast and Furious, the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Gunrunner-off-shoot that smuggled 2,000 weapons to Mexican criminals. Two (now three) of those ATF-smuggled guns turned up at the murder of Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry.

AG Holder apparently wants us to forget his 2009 speech praising Gunrunner in Cuernavaca, Mexico. (Holder, 2009).

Citing a review by his own Justice Department, Holder said, “We’ll certainly see, I think, at the end of that exactly who was involved, exactly who made the decisions in what was clearly, I think, a flawed enforcement effort.  But the notion that somehow or other that this thing reaches into the upper levels of the Justice Department is something that at  this point I don’t think is supported by the facts. And I think as we examine and as all the facts are in fact revealed, we’ll see that that is not the case.”  (Ryan, 2011)

Involved? We know who had to be involved with an FBI cover-up. Now, what about the White House?
In March, President Obama denied knowledge of Gunrunner on Univision TV, “There may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made. If that’s the case, then we’ll find out and we’ll hold someone accountable.” http://vidayfamilia.univision.com/es-el-momento/obama-y-la-educacion/article/2011-03-29/transcript-of-president-obamas-townhall

But there are solid White House-Gunrunner connections. Outgoing ATF director Melson told Darrell Issa's Congressional Committee on Government Oversight orders for Gunrunner and Fast and Furious came from the White House.

In fact, Friday before Labor Day the Congressional Committee revealed that Dan Restrepo, senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council,had received memos from the Arizona head of the  “Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling scheme. (IBD editorial, 2011)

Memos to update the White House? Who is Restrepo? According to the Investors Business Daily, Restrepo, in his position on the Security Council, has for years blamed U.S. gun dealers for violence in Mexico and has called for a U.S. assault weapon ban. During the meeting between President Calderon and President Obama, Restrepo told Mexican media, “The U.S. will work to inhibit the flow of weapons ... across our border". Restrepo has also worked for closer US ties with Fidel Castro and Cesar Chavez. (IBD editorial, 2011)

Prior to his appointment to the National Security Council by President Obama, Restrepo was director of the Americas Project at the Center for American Progress, a George Soros think tank, whose Chief Executive Officer is John Podesta.

Why would a US Attorney send Dan Restrepo memos on Fast and Furious gun smuggling?

Holder, E. (2009). Justice News. United States Department of Justice. Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/ United States Arms Trafficking Conference. http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090402.html

IBD Editorial (2011). Investors.com. Investors Business Daily. A White House “Gunrunner”? http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/584023/201109071801/A-White-House-Gunrunner-.htm

LaJeunesse, W. (2011). Fox News. Third gun linked to Fast and Furious identifiedat Border Agent’s murder scene. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/09/exclusive-third-gun-linked-to-fast-and-furious-identified-at-border-agents/#ixzz1XTOWpyUG

Ryan, J. (2011). ABCNews. AG Holder distancesrole of top DOJ officials from gun scandal. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/ag-holder-distances-role-of-top-doj-officials-from-gun-scandal/and-denial#ixzz1XVMQchjd

Gun-smuggling cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants

Los Angeles Times
Richard A. Serrano

Probe reveals that the U.S. agency running the 'Fast and Furious' anti-gun-trafficking operation didn't know about the alleged FBI informants. Congressional investigators are looking into the matter.

Reporting from Washington—Congressional investigators probing the controversial "Fast and Furious" anti-gun-trafficking operation on the border with Mexico believe at least six Mexican drug cartel figures involved in gun smuggling also were paid FBI informants, officials said Saturday.

The investigators have asked the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration for details about the alleged informants, as well as why agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the Fast and Furious operation, were not told about them.

Suspected members of the Zeta drug cartel are arrested in Guadalajara.
Weapons also were seized.

 The development raises further doubts about the now-shuttered program, which was created in November 2009 in an effort to track guns across the border and unravel the cartels' gun smuggling networks. The gun tracing largely failed, however, and hundreds of weapons purchased in U.S. shops later were found at crime scenes in Mexico.

The scandal has angered Mexican officials and some members of Congress. Investigators say nearly 2,500 guns were allowed to flow illegally into Mexico under the ATF program, fueling the drug violence ravaging that country and leading to the shooting death of a U.S. border agent.

In a letter to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, the investigators asked why U.S. taxpayers' money apparently was paid to Mexican cartel members who have terrorized the border region for years in their efforts to smuggle drugs into this country, and to ship U.S. firearms into Mexico.

"We have learned of the possible involvement of paid FBI informants in Operation Fast and Furious," wrote Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The two have been the leading congressional critics of the program.

"At least one individual who is allegedly an FBI informant might have been in communication with, and was perhaps even conspiring with, at least one suspect whom ATF was monitoring," they wrote.

The FBI and DEA did not tell the ATF about the alleged informants. The ATF and congressional investigators learned later that those agencies apparently were paying cartel members whom the ATF wanted to arrest.

"Operation Fast and Furious was conceived to get some of the bigger fish down there," said one official close to the congressional investigation, who asked not to be identified because the probe is ongoing. "Then it turned out that some of the ones they were zeroing in on actually, mostly likely were paid informants."

Felony Stupid

William Kensler
Examiner

This is a follow up on Examiner article, “Deadly Incompetence” about ATF “Project Gunrunner” that resulted in the deaths of US Border Agents, including Brian Terry, from Tucson. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) facilitated many sales of weapons from gun shops in Phoenix and Tucson to Mexican cartel members so our Justice Department (DOJ) could track the sales and make arrests. DOJ screwed up. Agents died.

Congress wants answers. Congress subpoenaed records. DOJ has ignored Congress. Congressman Darrell Issa, Chair of the Committee on Government Oversight, called the leadership of (DOJ) “Felony stupid” and threatened contempt of Congress action.

This is a part of a letter sent by Congress last week to Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Acting Director Kenneth E. Melson:

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a subpoena to you on March 31, 2011. The subpoena instructed you to produce documents pertaining to Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious, conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). I wrote to you on April 11, 2011, to reiterate that, “[a]bsent a valid assertion of executive privilege over the materials sought, I expect you to produce the things identified in the March 31, 2011, subpoena’s schedule by the return date.” The April 13, 2011 deadline for compliance has passed without production of any documents …

Let me be clear…we are seeking these documents in furtherance of the proper use of our constitutional authority…we are not conducting a concurrent investigation with the Department of Justice, but rather an independent investigation o/the Department of Justice specifically, of allegations that the reckless and inappropriate decisions of Department officials have created a serious public safety hazard. We are asking for documents that relate to decisions such officials made. Congress is legally entitled to all of these documents.”

Congressman Issa said yesterday on the Roger Hedgecock radio show in San Diego http://www.rogerhedgecock.com/audiogallery.asp?cchk=yes“We’re not investigating the sale of guns across the border. We’re investigating the lack of judgment at the highest levels. This goes all the way to the top. … If you made a decision this felony stupid you shouldn’t be making decisions any longer on behalf of the American people”
Will calling Attorney General Holder, felony stupid get results?

Richardson, P. (2011). Pajamas Media. Issa demands Justice Dept. answer Project Gunrunner subpoenas.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/issa-demands-justice-dept-answer-project-gunrunner-subpoenas/2/