What a day. The continuing saga of the Red Dragon's solitary conspiracy to keep me away from D.C.

This past Friday we had the water pump fixed on the Jimmy, affectionately known by the girls as "The Red Dragon." Sunday we replaced the brakes (shade tree) for Hannah to run back to Hattiesburg in. Before she could take off, there was smoke pouring out of the right rear brake assembly, so we had to swap the Toyota until we could figure out what the deal was. Diagnosis by somebody who knows what they're doing this AM said, stuck caliper -- must replace. Beyond my competence. So, since I'm leaving for DC tomorrow (or is it today already?), I had to fetch the Toyota from Hattiesburg. Enter AmTrak. Made the train at the station in downtown Birmingham with 6 minutes to spare at noon, got to H'Burg at 5:00PM, where Hannah picked me up. Did my posting with my laptop from Hannah's apartment (no WiFi on the Crescent), waited until she got back from soccer practice at about 8, visited a bit and then jumped in the Toyota to come back. Made it here at about 1AM our time. Wonderful day.

I would tell you about my AmTrak experiences but I'm beat.

G'night, folks.

Or, good morning.

Whichever.

Gunwalker Miscellany from Monday: More Bloody Hands; Obama-Contra; ATF targets were FBI informants; AP's Pete Yost plays stupid.

John Richardson: More Bloody Hands. Is your Congresscritter on this list?

Investor's Business Daily Editorial: Obama-Contra.

Bob Owens: Gunwalker: ATF Targets Were Actually FBI Informants.

It would be comical if we weren’t talking about dead federal agents and Mexican nationals.

Understatement (and responsibility deflection) of the day from AP's Pete Yost: Kenneth Melson, ATF Chief, Admits Operation 'Fast And Furious' Mistake. THAT'S all he deduces from the letter which otherwise details proof of a cover-up???? Yost is not that stupid.

"Torpedo, Los!" Melson details the cover-up. "Grassa" letter to Holder blows another big hole in cover-up.

News Release From the House Committee:

July 18, 2011

ATF Director: DOJ Response to Fast and Furious Investigation Intended to Protect Political Appointee.

Chairman Issa and Senator Grassley Press Attorney General Holder with Key Testimony

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley today pressed Attorney General Eric Holder about the Justice Department’s unsatisfactory responses and lack of cooperation with an investigation into the highly controversial Operation Fast and Furious. A letter sent by the two lead investigators highlighted testimony indicating internal disputes within the Justice Department and a statement from the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) that the Justice Department is attempting to protect its political appointees.

“It was very frustrating to all of us, and it appears thoroughly to us that the Department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the Department,” ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson said of his frustration with the Justice Department’s response to the investigation in a transcribed interview.

“The Department should not be withholding what Mr. Melson described as the ‘smoking gun’ report of investigation or Mr. Melson’s emails regarding the wiretap applications,” wrote Issa and Grassley. “Mr. Melson said he reviewed the affidavits in support of the wiretap applications for the first time after the controversy became public and immediately contacted the Deputy Attorney General’s office to raise concerns about information in them that was inconsistent with the Department’s public denials. The Department should also address the serious questions raised by Mr. Melson’s testimony regarding potential informants for other agencies.”

Click here for Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley’s letter to Attorney General Holder.

The LA Times short version: Justice Department trying to shield officials in guns scandal, ATF chief says.

The Department of Justice is trying to protect its political appointees from becoming embroiled in the broadening Fast and Furious gun-tracing scandal by refusing to release an internal "smoking gun" report that acknowledges the role of top officials in the program that allowed guns to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Kenneth Melson, the ATF acting director, earlier this month also told congressional investigators examining the role of top officials in the ill-fated program that affidavits in support of wiretaps used in the operation are inconsistent with what Justice Department officials have said publicly.

Melson told the investigators that when he raised his concerns with the Justice Department about "institutional problems" with the Fast and Furious operation, department officials resisted his desire to share his thoughts with Congress.

Michael Isikoff, one of the early reporters interested in the Gunwalker Scandal without writing a word, finds more important stuff to occupy his time.

Probing Bachmann, Palin, and Gingrich, NBC's Investigative Unit Ignores Obama's ATF Debacle

The NBC News Investigative Unit has devoted considerable resources to uncovering "scandals" ranging from Marcus Bachmann's health clinic to Newt Gingrich's credit line at Tiffany to the Sarah Palin document dump, but continues to ignore a botched Justice Department operation that contributed to the death of a U.S. border agent.

Examining the trove of reports filed by NBC News national investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff over the last few months reveals a fixation on investigations involving Republican politicians and an aversion to probes concerning the Obama administration, even as other media outlets expose the controversial ATF practice of letting guns purchased in America slip across the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes the trail would lead federal agents to drug kingpins.

Just days before Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) investigation into operation "Fast and Furious" went unreported on the NBC "Nightly News," Isikoff flew to Juneau, Alaska to aimlessly scour newly-released emails during Sarah Palin's time as governor. Even MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews described Isikoff as "feverishly pouring over those documents."

As it turned out, the documents produced no scandals, forcing Isikoff to admit his Al Capone's vault moment: "So far, I don't think anybody's found any bombshells here." So uninteresting, the Palin investigation never even made it into the correspondent's online archive, dubbed the "Isikoff Files."

Something else that won't be found in Isikoff's tome of probes is a thorough investigation into the role the ATF's gun-walking practices played in the slaying of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry, who was killed in a firefight with Mexican drug cartel members in December. As CBS reported, two of the guns found at the crime scene were part of thousands the ATF allegedly allowed gunrunners to purchase and smuggle into Mexico.

It's not like Isikoff is unaware of the Gunwalker Scandal. In fact, he was one of the early "authorized journalists" who sought out the whistleblowers through David and me.

On 3 February, responding to my post entitled, "So where are the "authorized journalists" asking sharp questions of the State Dept. about the violation of treaty & protocol in Project Gunwalker?" I received the following email from Isikoff:

-----Original Message-----
From: Isikoff, Michael (NBC Universal) (NBC Universal)
To: georgemason1776
Sent: Thu, Feb 3, 2011 3:41 pm
Subject: RE: So where are the "authorized journalists" asking sharp questions of the State Dept. about the violation of treaty & protocol in Project Gunwalker?

so where are the whistleblowers I can talk to that can verify these claims? I am eager to talk to them, but I cant make accusations without evidence.

To which I replied:

-----Original Message-----
From: georgemason1776
To: Michael.Isikoff
Sent: Thu, Feb 3, 2011 3:55 pm
Subject: Re: So where are the "authorized journalists" asking sharp questions of the State Dept. about the violation of treaty & protocol in Project Gunwalker?

I will pass your request on. I am tempted to say that other reporters are managing to find some of their own, but then, you might take that as an insult, so I won't. If any of mine are willing to talk to you I will let you know soonest.

Mike Vanderboegh

Later that evening, after we spoke on the phone:

From: georgemason1776@aol.com [mailto:georgemason1776@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 6:06 PM
To: Isikoff, Michael (NBC Universal)
Subject: Whistleblowers and getting lucky..

I have been instructed to tell you to call (REDACTED). He represents at least one. Let me know how it comes out either way (on background, of course).

Isikoff fired back:

-----Original Message-----
From: Isikoff, Michael (NBC Universal) (NBC Universal)
To: georgemason1776
Sent: Thu, Feb 3, 2011 6:08 pm
Subject: RE: Whistleblowers and getting lucky..

sure you know where he is?

To which I replied:

No. But the clue is the clue. It is what he gave us. He's actually David Codrea's initial contact. I am copying David on this. We try to cooperate and it has worked real well so far.

Mike Vanderboegh

Ultimately Isikoff contacted at least one of the whistleblowers. Isikoff did not pursue the story and the whistleblower I talked to was, shall I paraphrase, unimpressed with Isikoff.

There were a number of "authorized journalists" who pursued this story early on, but who came to the story with the attitude of, "OK, the big boys are here now. You just give us the name of your whistleblowers and we'll decide if you're lying or not."

Isikoff was one of those.

Of course we could not. All we would promise is that we would forward their contact information to the whistleblowers, some of whom we had no idea exactly who they were, and that the whistleblowers, if they so chose, would get in touch with them.

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS on the other hand was not like that. She was experienced with the security concerns of whistleblowers, worked with them, etc. That is why she got the early scoops and guys like Isikoff did not.

Isikoff did not return to the story after these initial probes, and NBC has yet, to my knowledge, to do even one Gunwalker Scandal story.

Doesn't fit with the meme, don't you know?

NBC has been the most consistent black hole of Gunwalker News. It may get into their agenda-driven processes, but it doesn't get out.

Mike Vanderboegh

When cartoons contain too much truth to be funny.

Grassley/Issa, or as some now refer to them "Grassa" (sort of like "Brangelina"), fire double broadsides at FBI & DEA. and NAME NAMES.

Press Release:

Monday, July 17, 2011

Issa, Grassley Press for Answers from FBI, DEA in Fast and Furious Investigation

WASHINGTON – Representative Darrell Issa and Senator Chuck Grassley are pushing for additional information and documents from the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in relation to the two agencies roles in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) reckless strategy known as Operation Fast and Furious. The strategy employed by the ATF allowed firearms to be purchased by known straw buyers and then transferred to third parties where the guns often crossed the border to Mexican drug cartels.

The letters are a follow-up to a recorded, transcribed interview with Acting ATF Director Ken Melson. The Acting Director was interviewed by congressional investigators on July 4 where he corroborated several details that included other agencies involved in Operation Fast and Furious.

In the letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Grassley and Issa asked about the “veracity of claims” regarding the possible involvement of paid FBI informants in Operation Fast and Furious and “specifically at least one individual who is allegedly an FBI informant” and “might have been in communication with, and was perhaps even conspiring with, at least one suspect whom ATF was monitoring.”

The letter to DEA Administrator Michelle Leonhart requested a briefing by DEA staff as well as “the number of informants or cooperating informants handled by other agencies identified in the course of any investigations related to Operation Fast and Furious.”

In addition, both letters (to Mueller and Leonhart) asked for communications of several members of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force who were working in coordination with the ATF to conduct Operation Fast and Furious.

Read the signed DEA letter. Read the signed FBI letter.

Copy of letter text for both letters below.

July 15, 2011

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

The Honorable Michele M. Leonhart, Administrator
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
700 Army Navy Drive
Arlington, VA 22202

Dear Administrator Leonhart:

On March 15, 2011, Senator Grassley sent you a letter requesting a briefing to gain a better understanding of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) involvement in Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Operation Fast and Furious, was an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case. That letter is attached for your ready reference. Nearly four months later, your agency has yet to respond directly.

On April 12, 2011, the Department of Justice (DOJ) responded on behalf of DEA. In its letter, DOJ stated:

Generally speaking, . . . when another Department component leads an OCDETF investigation, DEA works cooperatively to support drug-related aspects of the investigation. Such cooperation means that DEA may share investigative expertise, report leads, and provide manpower to assist in an investigative or enforcement operation as requested by the lead investigative agency.[1]

This information sharing, or lack thereof, is precisely the reason Senator Grassley made the initial request. Consequently, we request that you make arrangements by no later than July 19, 2011 for DEA supervisors and personnel with specific knowledge of details related to Operation Fast and Furious and the parallel DEA case to brief members of both of our staffs.

In addition to the aforementioned briefing, please provide the following documents:

1) The number of informants or cooperating defendants handled by other agencies identified in the course of any investigations related to Operation Fast and Furious defendants. For each informant or cooperating defendant, please identify the other agency, the date that DEA learned of their informant or cooperating defendant’s status, and a description of how the DEA learned of their informant or cooperating defendant’s status.

2) All information related to indicted Fast and Furious suspect Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta.

3) A list of all personnel designated as DEA liaisons with other federal law enforcement agencies in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Please also include any communications of the following individuals at DEA relating to Operation Fast and Furious or Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta:

1) Elizabeth Kempshall, Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix

2) Doug Coleman, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix

3) Chris Feistle, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix

4) Albert Laurita, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Tucson

5) David Hathaway, Resident Agent in Charge, Nogales

6) Joe Muenchow, Resident Agent in Charge, Yuma

These records should include emails, memoranda, briefing papers, and handwritten notes. You should also produce communications these individuals had with any ATF employee from between October 1, 2009, and June 30, 2011.

Please provide the documents and information requested no later than July 26, 2011. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Ranking Member Grassley’s office at (202) 224-5225 or Chairman Issa’s Committee staff at (202) 225-5074. Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Darrell Issa, Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives

Charles E. Grassley, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate

Enclosure

cc: The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Chairman, U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary

Letter to FBI Director Mueller:

July 11, 2011

The Honorable Robert S. Mueller, III
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004

Dear Director Mueller:

For the past six months, we have been conducting an investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). This program allowed approximately 2,000 heavy-duty assault type firearms to be illegally trafficked, and hundreds of these weapons have already been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Operation Fast and Furious was an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) prosecutor-led strike force case where ATF worked in coordination with other agencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was one of these agencies. To help us better understand the role of the FBI in this multi-agency OCDETF case, we request that you produce communications relating to Operation Fast and Furious by FBI personnel based in Phoenix, Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas, including the below-listed officials:

1) Nathan Gray, Former Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division

2) Annette Bartlett, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division

3) Stephen Cocco, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division

4) Steven Hooper, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division

5) John Iannarelli, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division

6) John Strong, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division

7) David Cuthbertson, Special Agent in Charge, El Paso Field Division

8) The Case Agent from the Tucson office in charge of the Brian Terry murder investigation

Such communications should include e-mails, documents, memoranda, briefing papers, and handwritten notes. You should also produce communications these individuals had with any ATF employee between October 1, 2009, and June 30, 2011.

Paid FBI Informants

In recent weeks, we have learned of the possible involvement of paid FBI informants in Operation Fast and Furious. Specifically, 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. We are interested in determining the veracity of these claims. To that end, please provide a response to the following questions:

1) How many paid FBI informants, prospective informants assigned an informant number, or cooperating defendants (“informants”) were in communication with any of the ATF suspects or their associates under Operation Fast and Furious? What was the nature of, and how frequent were, these contacts?

2) Were any of these informants previously deported by the Drug Enforcement Administration or any other law enforcement agency? If so, when did these deportations take place?

3) What is the process for repatriation for FBI informants? What other agencies are notified? Did that process occur here?

4) Were FBI personnel in Arizona aware of the involvement of these informants during Operation Fast and Furious?

5) Did other law enforcement agencies learn of the involvement of FBI informants related to Operation Fast and Furious? If so, please explain in detail when and how?

Additionally, please provide the following:

6) Any FBI 302s relating to targets, suspects, defendants or their associates in the Fast and Furious investigation, including the 302s provided to ATF Special Agent Hope MacAllister during the calendar year 2011.

7) Any other investigative reports prepared by the Bureau relating targets, suspects or defendants in the Fast and Furious case.

Jaime Zapata

Additionally, we understand that the FBI is the lead investigative agency into the death of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Jaime Zapata, who was murdered in Mexico on February 15, 2011. The family of Jaime Zapata is still seeking answers about the circumstances involving his death. On June 14, 2011, attorneys for the Zapata family wrote a letter to José Angel Moreno, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Cory Nelson, the FBI Special Agent in Charge for San Antonio, and several ICE officials in Texas requesting information about the specific circumstances of Jaime Zapata’s death.[2] Given the FBI’s lead role in this investigation, we respectfully ask the following questions related to the Zapata murder:

1) Was Jaime Zapata armed? If not, why not?

2) Was Jaime Zapata traveling in a bulletproof vehicle? If so, how was he killed inside of the vehicle?

3) Please describe, in detail, the actual circumstances leading up to, and including, the shooting of Jaime Zapata.

4) What investigative steps have been taken by the Bureau since the shooting?

Additionally, please provide the following:

5) Any FBI 302s relating to this investigation.

6) Any other investigative reports prepared by the Bureau regarding the Zapata murder.

7) Any photographs of the crime scene taken by FBI personnel.

Please provide the requested documents and information as soon as possible, but no later than noon on July 25, 2011. If possible, the preference is to receive all documents in electronic format.

If you have any questions regarding these requests, please contact Ranking Member Grassley’s office at (202) 224-5225 or in Chairman Issa’s office at (202) 225-5074. We look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,

Darrell Issa, Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives

Charles E. Grassley, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate

cc: The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Chairman, U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary

The Dog That Hasn't Barked -- Yet. The Texas Connection to the Gunwalker Scandal.

Detective Gregory of the Devonshire Constabulary: "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"

Sherlock Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."

Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."

Holmes: "That was the curious incident." -- "Silver Blaze," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The energetic Richard Serrano of the LA Times, who is rapidly making his name as the premier print reporter of the Gunwalker Scandal, writes "Family of U.S. agent slain in Mexico demands to know gun source."

Yes, as should we all.

Five months after U.S. immigration agent Jaime Zapata was shot to death by a Mexican drug cartel, his family is demanding to know whether the weapons were purchased in the United States and smuggled into Mexico under the now-defunct Fast and Furious operation.

The family complains that U.S. authorities in Washington and Texas have refused to answer crucial questions about the Feb. 15 ambush on a four-lane highway in northern Mexico.

"What happened with Jaime needs to come out," the family's lawyer, Raymond L. Thomas of McAllen, Texas, said in a telephone interview Sunday. "And the likelihood that these were Fast and Furious guns is certainly plausible."

No. It is not.

Once again, "Fast and Furious" was merely the Phoenix branch of a much larger operation -- a NATIONAL POLICY -- mandated by the DOJ at the behest of the White House.

Remember that things done in a bureaucracy, any bureaucracy, are done according to policy and areas of operation and responsibility. Dallas, where the weapons which the Feds say were found at the scene of the Zapata murder, is NOT in the area of the Phoenix Field Division. It IS in the area of the Dallas Field Division.

So I asked some long-time ATF agents this question: "What coordination is required when a case straddles FD's AOs? Is one FD allowed to proceed with investigations in another's AO without coordination or handing it off?"

One answered tersely: "No investigation without notifying the affected other division."

Said another:

Cross division cases are rare. The SACs hate losing the glory and hate poaching. If there is a cross division operation, I guarantee you BOTH SACs are read in and up on the details it would be highly -- I repeat highly -- outside policy to operate in another division without the bosses' approval.

"The bosses' approval" refers to national ATF headquarters.

So, what of the Dallas ATF office?

Back in early March we had this denial: Dallas ATF agents say, "Hey, don't look at us, you want 'Gunwalker Bill' Newell. He's in Phoenix."

Dallas ATF agents said Friday that they don’t intentionally allow guns to be smuggled into Mexico, an alleged investigative technique now under fire in Arizona and the subject of congressional and Justice Department inquiries.

Robert Champion, special agent in charge of the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, acknowledged this week, though, that his agents did delay arresting three Lancaster men for three months after confiscating a load of guns the men intended to smuggle across the border to the Zeta cartel in November.

It was only after a gun used to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico last month was traced back to North Texas that local ATF agents moved quickly to arrest the Lancaster trio.

“I know people will criticize us for not taking these guys down immediately,” Champion said. “But we weren’t sure what they were up to.”

Brothers Otilio Osorio, 22, Ranferi Osorio, 27, and neighbor Kelvin Leon Morrison, 25, were arrested Feb. 28 on federal weapons charges and remain in custody.

During a probable cause hearing Friday in federal court, Otilio Osorio’s attorney Camille Knight tried to question the ATF agent about the controversial Arizona investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious, but the prosecutor objected on relevancy grounds. The magistrate judge sustained the objection, cutting off further questioning about the matter.

Questioning a Dallas ATF agent about Fast & Furious, even if the examination on that topic had been allowed to proceed, would have yielded only denials. Phoenix Field Division does not control Dallas, Dallas does.

Therefore, if the weapon that killed Jaime Zapata was in fact "walked" it would have been under another operation name.

The guy who would know that name is Robert R. Champion.


Dallas ATF SAC Robert R. Champion. His Field Division is responsible for the firearms that walked south found at the murder scene of Jaime Zapata.

Champion actually has a good reputation among the field agents I talk to as a straight shooter. "His conscience might be bothering him," offered one. But not enough, apparently, to fess up about whether or not Dallas was walking firearms according to ATF HQ policy.

Likewise for the case of Carter's Country in Houston. The agents who repeatedly instructed the Carter's Country employees to let the guns walk were under the control of Houston F.D. SAC Dewey Webb.

Houston F.D. SAC Dewey Webb.

I also asked around about Dewey. In the opinion of the street agents I talk to, according to one, "Dewey has been a misfit every place he went." Another said, "He's an ass-kisser and will do anything DC tells him to."

If Carter's Country is to be believed, one of those things was letting guns walk.

And so we are left speculating on the dogs that haven't barked, and why they haven't barked.

On June 14, Thomas, the Zapata family lawyer, asked the FBI, the U.S. attorney's office and Homeland Security agents for FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration documents on the Zetas cartel and the slaying, and for an inspection of the bullet-riddled vehicle.

"Where did the guns come from that were used in his murder?" he wrote. "Who provided the guns?"

Federal officials said they could not discuss it, he said.

Thomas said he asked to speak with the wounded agent, Avila, but was turned down. He also wants to know whether Zapata was armed.

Thomas said Zapata's father was a Vietnam veteran awarded two Purple Hearts, and that several of the slain agent's siblings work in law enforcement.

"They are all patriots who have dedicated themselves to protecting our country," he said. "So it's very hard for them to be pushed into a position that the U.S. government is stonewalling them."

The reason that the Obama administration is stonewalling is because this was a national policy. From Phoenix to Dallas to Houston to Tampa it was a NATIONAL policy.

The Gunwalker Scandal and the Birmingham News. The letter they printed and the letter they didn't.

Carol Robinson, Birmingham Snooze reporter.

My sincere thanks to Jack Hart for writing our local paper, the Birmingham Snooze, this LTE. It was printed in yesterday's paper:

The July 11 column in The Birmingham News by Mary Sanchez of the Kansas City Star ("Cops, robbers and ... politics," Other Views) is just another example of the bias of journalists.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an arm of the U.S. Justice Department, allowed multiple illegal gun transactions from legitimate gun stores in Arizona even though the store owners reported them to ATF. ATF told the owners it would take care of it. In reality, the ATF allowed these purchases and didn't pursue the criminals because it had a program operating that was supposed to track the illegal firearms purchased to Mexico.

Yet, ATF didn't notify the single agent in Mexico or the Mexican government. So it's obvious to me ATF was just waiting for the illegal guns to come back across the border and be used to commit a crime. The crime was committed; a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed.

This program by ATF was obviously illegal and in total disregard to human life. If the bureau had followed the law, these people who made these "straw" purchases would be locked up and facing a minimum of 10-year consecutive sentences in federal prisons, and lives would have been saved.

Jack Hart

Alabaster

That was the letter they printed. Here is a letter they didn't print:

-----Original Message-----
From: georgemason1776
To: epage
Cc: crobinson ; rfine
Sent: Mon, Jul 11, 2011 11:39 am
Subject: Birmingham Snooze coverage of Gunwalker Scandal abysmal -- as usual.

To the Editor
re: "Cops, Robbers and . . . politics." by Mary Sanchezs (BN, 11 July 2011)

It is typical of what the Birmingham News has descended to that you should print an op-ed blaming the motives on the Congressional investigators of what has become known as the "Gunwalker Scandal" on "politics." This has become the pitiful excuse of Obama administration minions in Congress and the press while attempting to defend the indefensible.

The News, to my knowledge, has taken no editorial position of its own on the bloody federal misadventure which has to date claimed the lives of at least two federal law enforcement officers and hundreds of Mexican citizens. Neither has the News done any original reporting of its own on this issue, although there are local and Alabama tie-ins. Your editors and your crime reporter, Carol Robinson, have ignored the story, despite repeated tips.

It is, in all, a pretty pitiful performance of non-reportage, but it represents everything we have come to expect from the Birmingham Snooze.

Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126

It should be noted that Ms. Robinson used to be married to a federal agent and her reportage is in some ways dependent upon friendly relations with the local Feds.

Advice from across the centuries.

From Cato the American.

Tell me again why you think ATF should be abolished and the gun laws enforced by the FBI? LA Times: At least 6 FBI paid informants involved in F&F!

"About this much." Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI, demonstrating how much we the public actually know about the FBI's culpability in the Gunwalker Scandal and the cover-up of the circumstances of the murder of Brian Terry.

Richard Serrano of the LA Times Washington Bureau reports: "Gun-smuggling cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants."

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. . .

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."

The official said at least half a dozen cartel figures were being paid by one U.S. law enforcement agency while they were being targeted by another.

"We are learning more about them, and there are six so far that we know about. It's multiples, for sure," the official said.

The official declined to identify the six, but said the individual cited in the letter to the FBI operated along the Texas border with Mexico.

"This guy could die if it got out who he is," the official said. "He'd be killed."

Yeah, the question is, by who? A cartel or a government assassin?

The FBI and DEA referred queries Saturday to the Department of Justice. Officials there said they cannot talk about paid informants, but are attempting to answer the questions from Issa and Grassley.

They noted that they already have provided thousands of pages of documents to Congress, and have answered questions in sworn depositions and open hearings.

"We have been cooperating, and we will continue to cooperate," said an Obama administration official. "We want to learn as much as we can about Fast and Furious, just as they do."

Oh, yeah. Certainly.

In the letter to Mueller, the senators asked if Zapata was armed when he was killed and "if not, why not?" They also asked if his vehicle was bulletproof, and if so, "how was he killed inside of the vehicle?"

Good questions.

Of course what little we DO know about Brian Terry's murder-- thanks to the moral cowardice of Terry's own team members, fellow BP agents and their union boss Bonner who, unlike John Dodson and other ATF whistleblowers have said nothing and risked nothing in revealing the real circumstances of his death -- is dependent upon the FBI. The same FBI that was operating the Mexican end of this conspiracy. The same FBI that allowed three of the border gang taken into custody that night to go back across to Mexico because, in their unchallenged opinion of course, they had "nothing to do with" the Terry murder.

Tell me again why you think the ATF should be abolished and the gun laws enforced by the FBI?

They also asked how many cartel members were paid, if any of the informants had been deported from the United States, and if FBI personnel in Arizona knew of the informants.

The Republican leaders asked to see all "emails, documents, memoranda, briefing papers, and handwritten notes" from and to FBI and DEA field supervisors and agents in Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales and Yuma in Arizona, and in El Paso, Texas.

They are seeking the same material from the FBI case agent investigating Terry's death.

Yeah, I can see why they might want that.

In the end, I think we will find that in terms of overall knowledge and culpability, the FBI had more responsibility for the Gunwalker Scandal than the ATF. And, don't forget, both agencies were dancing to a White House fiddled tune.

"Orwellian in its absurdity."

Obfuscation: Dems Push Gun Control To Hide ‘Gunwalker’ Scandal

More ‘Gunwalker’ Emails Suggest Gun-Control Conspiracy

Ah, yup.

According to TSA, turn about is not fair play.

Woman Gropes TSA Agent's Breast at Security Checkpoint

Four years later, still good advice for dealing with an out-of-control Attorney General.

He’s Impeachable, You Know.

"Meet Ruben Navarrette!"

I was going to comment on this yesterday but ran out of space and out of gas. I'm glad because Michael Bane has done an excellent job of it.

The tactical jack-off. Democrats attempt to legislatively procreate by public political masturbation. What an old Marine veteran of Okinawa told me.

(NOTE: Hide the children. We're going to be talking Onanism of various kinds here.)

"Masturbation is to sex as philosophy is to reality." -- Attributed to Karl Marx.

From the LA Times: Amid Fast and Furious probe, Democrats push new gun control bill.

The debate surrounding gun control laws has reignited following the Fast and Furious investigation, and the latest volley was launched Friday.

Two House Democrats introduced a bill that would make the trafficking of firearms to known felons or someone intending to commit a felony a federal offense. The bill, put forth by Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), was drafted in response to testimony from law enforcement agents, who have said current law leaves gaps in enforcement against straw purchasers who often supply drug cartels with weapons. . .

Cummings denied that the legislation was an attempt to detract from the ongoing investigation.

"I want to make it clear we are very troubled by Fast and Furious. It is our belief that we are going to have to look at this case very carefully and we must go where the evidence leads," said Cummings, who is the ranking member on the committee investigating the matter. "But conducting oversight is pointless unless we translate what we learn into action."

Uh, huh. Let me share an anecdote from the 90s. It has the advantage of being true.

(Phone rings after midnight. I pick it up.)

Heavy breather: "I'm gonna kill you."

MBV: (Laughs.) "Riiiight."

Heavy breather: "I'm gonna KILL you."

MBV: "Look pal, you don't know the difference between real sex and masturbation. If you were gonna kill me, you'd just do it. You wouldn't be beating your gums and beating your meat calling me up to tell me about it."

Heavy breather: (Silence.)

MBV: "Besides, what kind of moron calls up and makes a death threat on a phone line that's under federal court-ordered wire tap?!?"

Heavy breather: (Click.)

"Cummings denied that the legislation was an attempt to detract from the ongoing investigation."

Uh, huh.

For those of you who take this demonstration of futile public political masturbation seriously, John Richardson has the text of this spurt to nowhere here and the accompanying memo here.

Now Old Bloody Hands Cummings and his gun confiscationist harridans and harpies who co-sponsored this have to know that it is a non-starter, a complete waste of motion. It is masturbation rather than sex -- it certainly won't accomplish legislative procreation nor is it an expression of love, except in the Woody Allen sense.


"Don't knock masturbation, it's sex with someone I love." -- Woody Allen, in Annie Hall.

As these people, savvy politicians all, know, there really is no point to this exercise. None, save one. I can best illustrate it by telling you a story that an old Marine veteran of Okinawa once told me. It is the Tale of the Tactical Jack-off. It supposedly happened a few days into the battle for "Sugar Loaf Hill." I say "supposedly" because I have no way of knowing the truth of the story. I never heard repeated by anyone else and it sure isn't written down anywhere that I know of. The old Marine is gone now, but I have to say that he told a unbelievable tale convincingly. He convinced me anyway.

Okinawa was a meat-grinder and nowhere worse than Sugar Loaf Hill. There was a point, the old Marine told me, when a couple of guys were hit advancing up the slope, one of them a popular sergeant. Both were wounded badly. The Japs, who had perfect line of sight on them, left them alive to sucker guys into the killing zone. It worked. Four men tried, four men died. The Nambus and Arisakas got them all. The CO ordered that no else try. One Marine, a tall lanky blond-headed kid (the old Marine thought he was from Minnesota) volunteered to distract the Japanese while others would effect the rescue. "How're you going to do that?" he was asked. "Leave that to me," he replied. "Just be ready when I get their attention."

The young Marine worked his way back down, crossed under cover and concealment and finally managed to get about a hundred yards or so down to the right, where a little hillock lay which could be seen by just about the entire Japanese position above.

The young Marine then stripped off all his clothes, revealing a large erection. Leaping up on the hillock where he could be seen by everyone, American and Japanese alike, he began what the old Marine called, laughingly, in wonder, "the only tactical jack-off I ever seen."

The hill fell silent as the young Marine demonstrated for the multi-national crowd. Several Marines jumped up and ran to get the two men. One had died, but the sergeant was still alive. All made it back to cover without a shot being fired.

Having accomplished his missions, the young Marine jumped back down behind the hillock, pulled on his dungarees, and returned to his squad. The battle quickly resumed.

As I recall, I expressed a good deal of skepticism about the story. This was long before I had ever heard from Iraq war veterans of the "Combat Jack." (Described in some detail in Generation Kill by Evan Thomas. Some guys, it seems, get a hard-on in the middle of a firefight.) In any case, the old Marine insisted it was true.

And that, poorly told, is the "Tale of the Tactical Jack-off of Okinawa."

The Democrats are attempting something similar here, trying to distract from the Gunwalker Scandal by engaging in otherwise futile public political masturbation. They obviously haven't heard Bill Cosby's warning on the subject.

The latest from Proceso Digital: ATF did not inform Honduran government of "walked" firearms.

Original article.

Translation:

Guns Trafficking: Defense and Security Unknown Operation in Honduras

July 14, 2011

Tegucigalpa – In Honduras, the Ministers of Defense and of Security, Marlon Pascua and Oscar Alvarez, said they had no idea that there was present in this Central American country the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which had organized an operation to infiltrate guns into Honduras using the same tactics of “Operation Fast and Furious” in Mexico.

“We have no idea of the truth of the same, but I can assure you, and we have been insisting for some time, is that the guns that have been appearing here in Honduras and the guns that have been directed to the drug cartels in Mexico and in Colombia, are not guns that have originated from armories of the armed forces nor of the police.”

Reports from the Fox News Network earlier this week indicate that there are reports that the ATF established an operation using the same techniques and tactics as in “Operation Fast and Furious.” The journalistic history by Mike Vanderboegh indicates that his sources in the ATF in Tampa indicate that 1,000 of these guns were sold to gang members in Honduras.

On this subject, Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said that they were not advised of the operation that the ATF would have carried out in Honduras in which, he said, there never was any coordination, either.

“At no time have we been advised, nor have we had any request for any kind of coordination much less have I been in communication with the embassy of the United States here in Tegucigalpa, he emphasized.

Regarding the seizures of arsenals in Honduras, he said that they are going “to analyze the serial numbers and check with technicians in the United States so we can find out where these batches of guns came from,” said Alvarez, in a way that left room for not ruling out the ATF operation in Honduras.

In September of 2010, A. Brian Albritton, an attorney from the United States, held a press conference dealing with those charged in Operation Castaway (four of them Hondurans). At the same time he affirmed that the investigation revealed that guns were trafficked to Honduras so that they could later be distributed to drug trafficking cartels and paramilitary groups.

Albritton affirmed that he did not know if the gun trafficking in question was part of an ATF operation.

[a link in the article goes to the article below]

Department 19

Honduras – United States: Unveil Details of Gun Trafficking

July 12, 2011

Author of the article: Digital Process

Tegucigalpa – According to a Fox News report on Sunday, July 10, there are reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in its Tampa division, organized an operation to infiltrate guns into Honduras using the techniques and tactics of “Operation Fast and Furious.”

In the article, Mike Vanderboegh, the journalist who uncovered the history [link to Sipsey Street’s current page], said that his sources in the Tampa office of the ATF indicate that 1,000 guns were sold to members of Honduran gangs.

(MBV: 1000 is an overall guess by one source. 200 is certain.)

On September 21, 2010, attorney A. Brian Albritton had a news conference dealing with those charged in Operation Castaway (four of them Hondurans). At the same time he revealed that guns were trafficked to Honduras so they could later be distributed to drug trafficking gangs and paramilitary groups.

Albritton affirmed that he did not know that the trafficked guns in question were part of the ATF operation.

Following is a rough translation by Digital Process of the relevant extracts of the press conference:

The United States Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) announce the results of an international investigation into the trafficking of firearms.
…
According to court records, a group of accused connected with Hugh Crumpler III engaged in an important gun trafficking operation. Crumpler has trafficked over five years 1,000 guns to various groups and the accused have exported these guns in Central and South America and Puerto Rico.

Ambassador to Honduras in Billy Hoover's office at ATF HQ now. "If one doesn't respect the Constitution, then we all live under the law of the jungle"

As David reports here, "Real time intel. Why is the ambassador to Honduras in Billy Hoover's office right now if there is NOTHING to talk about. Just sayin."

I reckon they're going to talk about Tampa. I hope the Ambassador knows that Hoover is a co-conspirator in the Gunwalker Scandal.


Jorge Ramón Hernández Alcerro, the Ambassador of Honduras to the United States. He's probably not smiling right about now.

Later Clarification: Some folks, because of the photo I imagine, thought that I meant the Honduran ambassador to the U.S. was in Billy Hoover's office. No, that's the U.S. ambassador to Honduras. I guess they're comparing cover-up notes.


In Billy Hoover's office today: U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens.

My favorite Hugo Llorens quote:

"One can't violate the Constitution in order to create another Constitution, because if one doesn't respect the Constitution, then we all live under the law of the jungle." Hugo Llorens, June 2009, in reference to President Manuel Zelaya's planned referendum on a proposed constitutional assembly.

I guess we'll see if what Llorens thinks is good for the goose is equally good for the gander. Maybe he's there to give Billy Hoover a lesson on our Constitution. He could sure as hell use it.

You can't make this stuff up. Old Bloody Hands & the anti-firearm rights fish cop from the FLEoA circus. The Adventure of the Stuffed Fish Smugglers

Chris Schoppmeyer, anti-firearm rights VP for Agency Affairs at the FLEoA Circus, and federal fish cop. Eliot Ness he ain't.


When we last heard from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association here at Sipsey Street, they were condemning Obama's remarks about ICE agents in Mexico.

FLEOA says they're "the largest nonpartisan, nonprofit professional association exclusively representing 26,000 active and retired federal law enforcement officers from 65 different agencies."

At the time, FLEOA proclaimed:

FLEOA intends to honor the memory of hero Special Agent Jaime Zapata by continuing to advocate for agent’s safety abroad. FLEOA extends its heartfelt prayers and condolences to Special Agent Zapata’s family, and wishes Special Agent Victor Avila a strong and rapid recovery. FLEOA will honor the ultimate sacrifice made by Special Agent Zapata during the annual Candlelight Vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on May 13th.

Now, the FLEoA Circus is going to honor the memory of Jaime Zapata and Brian Terry by giving political cover to the craven politicians who are desperately trying to deflect attention away from the program that killed them.

Chris Schoppmeyer, VP for Agency Affairs at FLEoA, is going to serve as Old Bloody Hands Cummings' straight man at the press conference today pimping the “Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act.”

From his FLEoA bio:

Chris Schoppmeyer has been in federal law enforcement for over 28 years, first as a Wildlife Inspector and Refuge Law Enforcement Officer for the US Fish & Wildlife Service and for the past 21 years as a NOAA Fisheries Service Special Agent stationed in New Castle, NH. Chris has been a FLEOA member since 1990. From 2001 to 2007 he served as the Agency President for the NOAA Fisheries Service, Office for Law Enforcement. In 2003 Chris formed NH Chapter 67 and has served as Chapter President since then.

Chris’s entire career has been dedicated to conservation law enforcement. He holds two degrees from Unity College, Maine in Conservation Law Enforcement and Daniel Webster College in NH for Organizational Management. During his career as a fisheries agent, Chris served a 10 month assignment as a Staff Assistant to a NH congressman, focusing on environmental issues. Chris has received numerous awards including the Chevron Conservation Award in the Citizen Volunteer category. As Vice President of Agency Affairs, Chris will serve as the liaison between the Agency Presidents for over 70 agencies and the National Executive Board.

Adam Goldman, writing for the Associated Press in March 2007, gives us a sense of this hard-charging federal fish cop.

Agents in New York try to staunch tidal wave of illegal seafood

NEW YORK — The armed agents stroll into the frigid market, where the pungent stink of seafood assaults them. The smell pervades their clothes and the scaly, gooey water clings to their boots.

They pass burly men slinging slabs of fish with gleaming hooks and table saws ripping through frozen chunks of swordfish and tuna. Tempers flare as forklifts dart around the cavernous building known as the Fulton Fish Market.

Agents Chris Schoppmeyer and Scott Doyle barely notice any of this. They're only interested in clams today. They want to know which of the wholesalers have unknowingly bought the shellfish from a company involved in a smuggling operation.

They stop at a fish stand. Schoppmeyer recognizes the name. He's got a bite. "They were definitely sold here," Schoppmeyer says.

Such fishing expeditions play out on a regular basis for agents at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's little-known law enforcement office.

"Drop those illegal clams, back away from the crate, and put your hands on top of your head!" Chris Schoppmeyer (on right) in search of savage gangs of illegal seafood buyers.

Ooooh, a fish cop. Just the right sort of "expert" to testify about firearms laws and weapon smuggling south of the border. You know, you can't make this stuff up.

Kinda reminds me, in a low-budget sort of way, of Klaus Nordling's Lt. Drake of the U.S. Naval Intelligence and the Adventure of the Stuffed Fish Smugglers.


Mystery Men #12 (July 1940)"The Stuffed Fish Smugglers"

(Go here to read the whole comic strip.)

Convicted sex offender and environmental arsonist gets relative tap on wrist for threatening Feinstein and Boxer over wolf legislation.

Tras Gustav Karlsson Berg Jailed for Threatening to Shoot Senator Over Wolf Legislation

Readers might recall the angry wolf man who threatened to kill a California senator for not taking enough action to protect the carnivorous beasts from being dropped off the list of endangered species.

Tras Gustav Karlsson Berg, a registered sex offender and active environmentalist, struck a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to assault and threat of a senator in exchange for only four months in jail, which he was sentenced to last week.

Berg, 35, was apparently very upset and concerned that Republicans in Congress wanted to remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act, saying the population has recovered sufficiently.

But Berg disagreed, obviously. So he did what any civic-minded constituent would do: He wrote his senator a letter, but not one to be proud of. He sent the following e-mail:

"I'm going to shoot you with a high-powered rifle and bomb your house with poison gas the way wolf hunters do if you don't do everything you can to oppose legislation that would eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves across the country RIGHT F- NOW!"

More here.