Darrell Issa’s pointless inquisition(uber barf alert)

The probe into the failed federal effort to track U.S.-purchased guns trafficked to Mexican drug cartels has reached a new height of dudgeon. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives (along with a handful of Democrats) have found Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Issa.

The committee’s hearings on Fast and Furious have droned on for more than a year now. Yet, to date, no testimony has been taken to address the problem that lay at the heart of the so-called scandal: lax U.S. gun laws that benefit gun shops and do little to stop criminals from getting access to high-powered weaponry.

Issa saw to that when the inquiry began. He laid down the ground rule that no testimony would be admitted that commented on gun-control laws or legislation. As committee chairman, that’s his prerogative. But it’s a transparent tactic.

Instead, Issa has focused his inquisitorial zeal to achieve one aim: to give the Obama administration a black eye.

Fast and Furious was an ill-fated operation of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The idea was to track multiple sales of weaponry made in the U.S., and then trafficked often through straw buyers to drug cartels. The crux of the inquiry is to find out if agents knowingly allowed guns to reach criminals, when they should have stopped the transfers.

An extensive investigation by Fortune magazine has shredded the case that ATF agents knowingly let weapons “walk” — i.e., fall into criminal hands. And Issa has admitted that he had no evidence that Holder knew that they had walked.

What, then, is the point of Issa’s sideshow? Perhaps to make sure that nobody notices the elephant in the

...lax U.S. gun laws that benefit gun shops and do little to stop criminals from getting access to high-powered weaponry.

The ATF asked the gun shops to sell to unqualified buyers against the better judgment of the gun dealers.

The idea was to track multiple sales of weaponry made in the U.S., and then trafficked often through straw buyers to drug cartels.

There was no effort to track the guns. No tracking devices were used, surveillance of the subjects was deliberately stopped at the border and no Mexican authorities knew anything about it.

An extensive investigation by Fortune magazine has shredded the case that ATF agents knowingly let weapons “walk” — i.e., fall into criminal hands.

Four ATF field agents involved in "walking" these guns testified differently, under oath, in this deposition to the House oversight committee.

The Department of Justice ’ s Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents
Agent Casa recounted a similar situation. He had also never heard of, nor seen, guns being allowed to walk until he got to Phoenix:
. . . . But from the time I started as an ATF special agent . . . up until the time I got to Phoenix, that was my understanding, that we do not let guns walk, absolutely, positively not. And if we –if ever a case [where]we would do that, there better be a really good explanation why we did not grab that gun when we could.
Q. But that changed when you came to Phoenix, I mean the practice at least changed, correct?
A. Yes.
(snip)
As Agent Dodson testified:
Q. Based on our training and experience, what did you think about [walking guns]?
A. It was something I had never done before, sir. And quite frankly, I took great issue with it and concern.I felt like I understand the importance of going after the bigger target, but there is a way to do that. We did it successfully in the dope world all the time. And those skills and practices that we used there, a lot of them transfer over, and more than applicable in gun trafficking investigations, but we weren’t allowed to use any of them.
Q. And did you ever have a recollection of sharing your frustration with Special Agent Casa?
A. Oh, yes, sir.
Q. And any other special agents that you can –
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And maybe you could just tell us what other agents you –
A. Pretty much everyone, sir. It was, I shared my reservations and concerns with Special Agent [L], with Dave Voth, with Special Agent [D]Special Agent [H], Special Agent Alt, Special Agent [P], several of the special agents that came on the GRIT, G-R-I-T. The gunrunner initiative is what it stands for. I shared them with or I voiced my concerns to other agents inside the Phoenix field division that was on other groups.
(snip)
Despite this e-mail, agents continued to experience dismay and frustration as Operation Fast and Furious continued along its perilous path. As Agent Casa testified:
Q. And is it fair to say that. . .the folks on your side of the schism wanted to do everything they could to interdict these weapons so they wouldn’t get any farther down the street than they have to?
A. Yes, sir. We were all sick to death when we realized that –when we realized what was going on or when we saw what was going on by the trends. We were all just, yes, we were all distraught.
The rift widened when the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) authoritatively and unambiguously told Group VII that guns were not being walked, that the special agents were incorrect in their terminology, and that there would be no more discussion or dissension about this topic. Agent Dodson testified:
A. Then we get an e-mail that . . . there is going to be a meeting. [the ASAC] is coming down, [the ASAC] comes into the Group 7 office and tells us essentially we better stand down with our complaints, that we didn’t know what the definition of walking guns was, we weren’t familiar with the Phoenix way of doing things, that all of this was sanctioned and we just needed to essentially shut up and get in line. That’s not a quote, but that’s the feel of the meeting, so . . .

I am sure the author of this tripe knows all this and is simply a liar.

What made Fast and Furious a scandal was the death of a U.S. border agent in December 2010 as he was patrolling near the border in Arizona. He got into a shootout with bandits thought to be preying on undocumented immigrants.

That's not true either.

There is reason to believe that Agent Terry's BORTAC team knew nothing about the rip crew and the rip crew knew nothing in advance about Agent Terry's team.

FBI Criminal Informant Complicit in Brian Terry’s Death (PJM Exclusive)
Previously, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death in Peck Canyon, Arizona was described as a chance meeting that led to a firefight: an illegal alien “rip crew” working for the Sinaloa cartel was hoping to find other illegal aliens and to rob them at gunpoint. Instead, they stumbled across a Border Patrol unit and murdered Agent Terry.
Last week, the Washington Times offered a new version of the encounter: they reported that the rip crew was not hunting illegals, but Border Patrol teams — with the intention of engaging them in combat.
Sources now tell PJ Media that neither version of events is accurate: the rip crew was not waiting for a chance encounter with other illegals, nor did the members intend to engage American law enforcement agents.
The rip crew was in Peck Canyon that evening with the intention of stealing money and drugs from a specific shipment of which they had prior knowledge.
(snip)
The rip crew knew to be in Peck Canyon that December evening because a CI working for the FBI found out about a smuggling run — from the FBI.
(snip)
A source tells PJM that the FBI knew from wiretaps that the CI was using their information to set up an ambush. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) — through its own CIs and communications intercepts — was also aware of the planned assault. Neither the DEA nor FBI warned Border Patrol about the expected criminal activity.
(snip)
Multiple sources tell PJM that this third weapon “disappeared” because it was the weapon carried by the FBI CI who ran the rip crew. When it was recovered near the scene of the murder and subsequently traced by the ATF, it traced back to the FBI CI via the gun shop in Texas where it was purchased.
(snip)
Neither agency bothered to warn Border Patrol to keep their BORTAC teams out of Peck Canyon that evening. As a direct result of this FBI and DEA failure — combined with Homeland Security forcing BORTAC units to carry less-lethal beanbag rounds in some of their primary weapons — Brian Terry’s under-armed four-man unit walked into an ambush against a heavily armed rip crew, at least five of whom were carrying rifles.
Brian Terry’s murder was entirely preventable. The incompetence of the DEA and FBI let his Border Patrol unit walk into an ambush. After the ambush, it appears the FBI tampered with evidence to cover up that one of their informants was involved with the murder of a federal agent.

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