Where we are with Gunwalker and why I'm not going to write about it this weekend. (Unless Field Marshal Holder eats his Luger for the Dear Leader.)

I love this photoshop of Field Marshal Eric Holder. The Gunwalker plot apologists hate it. Those are enough reasons to post it at every opportunity, even if the connection to the precise story is a bit tenuous).

I'm taking a break from the blog this weekend.

There.

I've said it.

I will keep up with the comments, and release them when I can, but expect no posts for a bit.

I don't do it often, but I've got a bunch of other stuff to do this weekend, including family and fund raising. Besides, I just need a break. But before I turn off the office lights for a while, let me give you a heads up about some stories I've been working on and some behind-the-scenes stuff that is happening in the Gunwalker Scandal.

The next hearing, which will be a joint one between the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, is not expected to happen until sometime in November, according to Oversight committee sources, but exactly when is a little unclear. There is a perception -- some say unfair, but there it is -- that Lamar Smith is a heck of a lot more cautious on this investigation than is Darrell Issa, who is himself more cautious than Senator Grassley. But of course it is Issa who has the power because unlike Grassley he has a committee chairmanship and unlike Lamar Smith he has the will to exercise it effectively.

Grassley's office seems to me more particularly interested in the very early March 2009 meeting between Gunwalker Bill Newell and White House personnel (plural, not just O'Reilly) than is Issa but then the latest letters by them both to the Pentagon's Joint Task Force North and Mueller of FBI this past week indicate that they both realize that this is "war to the knife and knife to the hilt" with the Gunwalker plotters of the Obama administration. Don't expect them to back down anytime soon.

There are a few lines that apply here in James Clavell's Shogun, where Blackthorn, the English pilot of a Dutch vessel shipwrecked on the shores of Japan, is being interrogated by Lord Toranaga. (I'm working from memory here, so bear with me if the quote is not exact.)

Toranaga, the traditional Japanese samurai daimyo, is concerned when he learns that the Dutch have rebelled against their "masters" the Spanish. Rebellion to one's liege lord is considered the worst of sins in traditional Japan of the early 1600s. Blackthorn, not really understanding how dangerous is the ground he stands on with this subject (for rebels against ANY lord have no standing and can be instantly killed by any other legitimate lord to protect the general interest of all lords), is asked by Toranaga if there ever is any excuse for rebellion. Blackthorn comes up with the correct answer that saves his skin. "Yes. If you win."

Toranaga is delighted with the answer, for he himself has been contemplating rebellion against the powers-that-be and installing himself as Shogun over all Japan.

Both sides recognize this truth. The only way Issa and Grassley win this game for their own political survival is by putting their entire reputations on the line and pushing it to a successful conclusion. They may not have started out recognizing this completely, but this is now entirely a matter of self-interest for them. They are all in. The Obama Imperialists, once wounded, will not forget nor will they forgive. They must be defeated utterly. That Issa and Grassley certainly now recognize this is a goodness thing.

A documentary by Fleming "Tex" Fuller on Gunwalker has begun filming interviews this week out in Arizona. Fuller is an experienced and serious documentary maker and we have been helping him get in touch with the folks he needs to make the movie. There will be a book to go along with the movie release and, perhaps, a Hollywood adaptation after that. The Coalition of Willing Lilliputians will be doing our best to assist in those projects. This too is a goodness thing.

There are other news stories in the works by the old-line media that cannot be commented upon here. I risk scooping no one who is advancing this story.

For myself, I am still wrestling with sources on the fourth "In at the beginning" Hillary-State Department-CIA installment. There is much disinformation being peddled these days to a whole lot of people and the Obamanoids and their media familiars are poised to leap upon any misstep. Always we must ask ourselves -- all of us who are covering this story -- the old Marine Corps counterintelligence officer's dictum in two parts:

1. Why is this guy telling me this?

2. And why is this guy telling me this NOW?

The story will come out, probably later next week when I'm certain of a few things. Or, I will write it with the uncertainties plainly labeled. But I will write it.

I have also been working on a piece about Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder, et al and their cover-up history going back into the 90s with the OKC bombing and the Kenny Trentadue case. That, too, you will read in the coming week.


Peck Canyon, Pima County, Arizona -- Where the FBI, and, by extension, the Obama Administration and the entire Federal Leviathan, went to commit bureaucratic suicide.

There are other things, of course, that I cannot discuss now but are in the mix. We will get to the truth of what happened in Peck Canyon the night Brian Terry was killed. I'm convinced of that now. One thing I can guarantee you --

When the American people (at least that portion of them who will be watching this as it plays out in hearings, documentaries, books and news coverage over the next months and years) know what we who are working on this story now know about Gunwalker and the murder of Brian Terry that dark night in Peck Canyon they will not be in a forgiving mood. Not at all. This will cross all lines of political affiliation. For the truth is evil. It is dark. And it is unforgivable.

The betrayal of the same law enforcement people who these federal mandarins count on to enforce their will and guard their sorry asses will not sit well with anybody, but especially not with the LEOs. The FBI's name in particular will be in the worst discredit since that unconstitutional agency was begun after the Palmer Raids. The truth may not put a stake in its bureaucratic heart, but J. Edgar Hoover's bones will be twitching 'neath the sod and no one -- and I mean NO ONE -- will ever trust those corrupt federal bully boys again.

The crisis of legitimacy that the Gunwalker scandal represents and the danger that it poses to the entire stated excuse for existence of the Federal Leviathan cannot be over-emphasized. And the players in this sorry, bloody plot will rue the day that Gunwalker Bill Newell had his bright idea and sold it to them.

Not only will Obama be a one-term president (impeachment is just not done anymore on the GOP boneless chicken ranch), but he will be hounded by bad press and civil suits -- national and international -- to the end of his days. People will spit on the sidewalk as he passes.

For now, I still have a $50 bet (which I cannot afford) that Eric Holder will be out of office and talking, on his dime, to quarter-million-dollar-retainer defense attorneys by Christmas.

I don't expect to lose that bet.

So, barring some catastrophe requiring comment -- something huge like dogs and cats living together and mass hysteria, or Field Marshal Holder eating his Luger for the Dear Leader -- I'll try to recap the weekend on Sunday night. Until then, folks, have a great weekend yourselves.

Pravda on the Potomac proves that it is, well, Pravda on the Potomac.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer peruses the Washington Post story on Marco Rubio. "Now that's what I'm talking about. Some good pro-communist reporting that doesn't mention a whisper about Gunwalker. I'll have to send this guy some Cuban cigars."

Miami Herald: WaPost "Hit" on Rubio Manipulates Facts.

Manuel Roig-Franzia is a reporter for the Washington Post who once got punched by his 70 year old editor, Henry Allen, for writing “the second worst story [Allen had] seen in Style in 43 years.” That’s right, Roig-Franzia wrote a horrible piece in the Style section. His 70 year old editor did not like it. Roig-Franzia reportedly called his 70 year old editor and Marine a “c**ksucker”, and the Marine punched him.



Manuel Roig-Franzia has a well documented history of being an apologist for the Cuban communist regime and a hater of the Catholic church. He is also now writing a book on Marco Rubio.

We can get a sense of the book by his stunning hit job on Marco Rubio in the Washington Post.. Roig-Franzia claims Rubio has embellished his “compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida.” Again, keep in mind that Roig-Franzia is an apologist for the Cuban communist regime.

They called him a "nigger." They pulled knives. He showed, but did not pull, his legal pistol. He gets arrested. Of course.

More from the peaceful collectivists of the forces of Occupation. Police arrest man in dispute at protest.

I guess he should have let himself be stabbed and cut. Now THAT would have satisfied the Portland police, I'm sure.

Gunwalker Miscellany

M. Catherine Evans: Fast and Furious Scandal Cannot Be Contained.

The convergence of so many high-level actions at the same time as Fast and Furious cries out for an in-depth investigation by Republicans and Democrats. Sen. Mikulski's call for action on the Senate floor proves this well-planned operation isn't a witch hunt by conservatives, but a necessary investigation of an egregious series of events that led to the horrific deaths of many innocent people.

Rep. David Schweikert: Where is the outrage over Fast and Furious?

It seems that for the magnitude of the Fast and Furious scandal, there isn’t much outrage.

Arizonans don’t need me to tell them that Fast and Furious is a big story. This scandal started in our backyard — in the ATF’s Phoenix office — and was administered by a U.S. attorney appointed by President Obama.

Every step of this operation seems riddled with incompetence and dishonesty.

Dave Workman: Grassley, Issa zero in on FBI over Fast & Furious.

David Hardy: Article on ATF whistleblower Jay Dobyns.

AWR Hawkins: "Obama promised that those responsible for Fast and Furious would be held accountable. We’re waiting for that to happen and we won’t be satisfied until it does."

Roger Aronoff: Will "Fast and Furious" Topple Obama and Holder?

Jerry Seper: Lawmakers blast Justice Department’s ‘Fast and Furious’ probe

The final word on my case. I have to pay $50 and pick up the garbage, but I get my son's pistol back.

Long time readers will recall that in early September 2010, I was arrested for having a pistol in my car without a concealed carry permit subsequent to a road rage incident where I was the victim.

The disposition of the case is as follows: Per my lawyer's best advice, I plead guilty to a misdemeanor that in no way harms my firearm rights, have agreed to a payment schedule by which I will pay a $50 fine and the lesser one of three possible court costs. In all it will be less than $200. I will pay them in installments out of my disability check over the next four months. No jail time (which was very much on the table at one point in the lower court, which has "zero tolerance" and they definitely evinced a zeal to achieve a guilty verdict-- they really wanted me -- and Matt's pistol ground up).

The last judge refused to force the prosecution to tell us the name of the road rager who jumped out of his car and yelled, "He's got a gun!" while pointing at me. We took it as far as we could within the court system (within the limits of money permitting).

As the lawyer (and many of my friends) pointed out, I have bigger fish to fry.

The good news is that I get Matthew's PT745 back, it being within the discretion of the Sheriff to do that and I have agreed to get a pistol permit, which costs all of $15.00. Some, who said I was a hypocrite for not shooting it out with the local cops when the incident happened, will no doubt be writing screeds about my defection from principle. Whatever.

I DO have bigger fish to fry.

One day when I have time, however, I will find out the name of the guy who set me up along with Deputy Cornelius. When I do, you'll read about him first here, metaphorically sliced and diced by a keyboard samurai.

And I have a very sharp keyboard.

"Calling all flacks!" David Codrea: Administration shill Weiner attempts to pull a fast (and furious) one.

White House must have put out the word: "Calling all flacks!"


Bob Weiner, former spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for six years. He was also a senior aide to Congressmen John Conyers (MI), Charles Rangel (NY), Claude Pepper (FL), Ed Koch (NY), and a political aide to Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

What is it with regressives named “Weiner”?

SSI Exclusive: "Prior Knowledge." ATF knew that the cash was in the pipline to the straw buyers in Sept. 2009.

In late September 2009, ATF Phoenix Group VII supervisor Hope MacAllister walked into the Lone Wolf Trading Company. She had a message for the owner Andre Howard, according to sources familiar with the investigation into Fast & Furious in both DC and Arizona, and the message was this: "The amount of weapons you sell is about to dramatically increase." Howard, the sources say, was cautioned that "he might not have enough stock" to supply the straw buyers that MacAllister somehow knew were on the way and that "he should stock up on what they wanted."

MacAllister seemed to know "exactly how many weapons (the straw buyers) wanted, how much cash they had and when they would be coming in," said one of the sources.

Less than a week later, the straw buyers -- all of modest means -- began flocking to Andre Howard's shop. Operation Fast and Furious was off to the races.

According to sources close to the investigation, there are two explanations for this prior knowledge. One innocent, the other not.

"Let's say," said one, "that they had these guys under wiretap. Maybe it was the ATF, maybe it was the DEA . . . so they (ATF) found out the money was coming in and the orders had been placed by the cartel. . . So they just decided to facilitate that to see if they could demonstrate law breaking and then try to roll it upwards to the bigger fish like they claimed."

On the other hand, said the sources, since we now know that much, if not all, of the "buy money" was coming from an FBI paid confidential informant, it could simply be that the ATF was being used as part of a deliberate plot to "let the guns walk" in order, as the early ATF whistleblowers related to us back in early January, "to boost the statistics" of American civilian market firearms found at Mexican crime scenes.

Sources say that the Issa committee is well aware of SA MacAllister's curious prior knowledge of the straw buyers' intentions and bankroll. "Maybe somebody should ask her under oath," said one.

The next hearing, sources say, will be a joint one between the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee and its larger, parent House Judiciary Committee, sometime in November.

"Fighting terrorism" in the Volunteer State? Pardon me while I spit.

This clip was sent to me by my son as well as others, all of whom want to know who the guy in the ACU's is standing in the background at 45 seconds into the story. Are we looking at one more violation of posse comitatus?

"Tennessee Becomes First State To Fight Terrorism Statewide."



"Tuesday's statewide "VIPR" operation isn't in response to any particular threat, according to officials. Armes said intelligence indicates law enforcement should focus on the highways as well as the airports."

Anthony Martin on the missing third gun.

Link.

An interesting idea. "A government of secret laws is inimical to both prosperity and liberty."

A Constitutional Amendment to Enforce the Protections of Mens Rea.

"Conspiracy Theory." It ain't a "theory" if it is true. What's a few more dead Mexicans in the interest of more federal power, right Rep. Schiff?

FBI Director Robert Mueller estimates the amount of his fidelity to his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

In the FOX story on the Grassley/Issa letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller (whose tenure at FBI was recently extended by two years until the end of the Obama administration's first and likely last term), "Ole Bloody Hands" Cummings was joined by the citizen disarmament advocate Rep. Adam Schiff in denouncing the third gun "conspiracy theory."

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, took Issa to task for sending the letter to Mueller.

"Frankly, I am shocked that Chairman Issa would continue to spin this conspiracy theory -- that the FBI is hiding a third weapon -- even after his recent allegations proved false," he said in a statement. "Rather than acknowledging this embarrassing mistake and apologizing for making false accusations about the FBI, Chairman Issa's letter is an unprecedented attack on the integrity and credibility of law enforcement that could seriously jeopardize the ongoing prosecution."

Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff ,D-Calif., has come to the defense of Attorney General Eric Holder, saying the “politically motivated attacks” on him “need to come to an end.”

“They are a meritless distraction from the important work of the Department of Justice, and the many men and women who work every day to make America safer,” he said in a statement.

Schiff argued the evidence shows that Holder has been “forthright throughout” by requesting a full investigation by the inspector general once he learned of the operation’s problems. He added that Issa’s own staff was briefed on the operation in April 2010.

“Mr. Issa said nothing about the operation at the time – one might just as well call for an investigation of his office – but none is required,” he said. “Mr. Issa should understand better than most that being made aware of a program’s existence is not the same as being apprised of the operational details of a plan that has gone terribly wrong.”

"Conspiracy Theory." Yeah, well, it ain't a "theory" if it is true.


Congressman Adam Schiff demonstrates his capacity for independent thought and adherence to moral principle.

Readers will recall this Schiff-head's earlier mention on Sipsey Street, when back in August he used particularly convoluted logic and misdirection about Gunwalker to justify more power for ATF. Schiff comes from a safe district in the People's Democratic Republic of Kalifornia, and I guess he presumes that his Latino constituents are too stupid to notice the functional racism of protecting people whose policies demonstrated, at least, wanton disregard and depraved indifference to the stacks of bodies of Mexican citizens generated by the Gunwalker Scandal.

What's a few more dead Mexicans in the interest of more federal power, right Congressman Schiff?

More from the peace-loving collectivists of OWS.

Source: ABC Reporter’s Life Allegedly Threatened at Occupy Oakland; ‘We Shoot White Bitches Like You Around Here’

CBS -- Congress tells FBI: clarify evidence in Brian Terry murder.

I knew that they weren't going to take the "Third Gun" counteroffensive of DOJ and the FBI lying down. Link.

Today, members of Congress investigating the Fast and Furious "gunwalker" scandal asked the FBI to clear up questions about evidence at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Terry was gunned down in Arizona near the Mexican border Dec. 14, 2010. Two weapons recovered at the scene traced back to the ATF Fast and Furious operation in which agents were told to let thousands of weapons be sold to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. The FBI has been investigating the murder for the past ten months.

In a lengthy letter directed to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) pointed to inconsistencies in reports of how many weapons and suspects were involved, as well as their current whereabouts. The letter refers to evidence indicating there may have been five suspects in the group that shot Brian Terry, and as many as five rifles.

Sen. Grassley's staff raised the possibility of a "missing" third gun in his Feb. 16 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. Last Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation, Rep. Issa stated that colleagues of deceased Agent Terry told his mother there was a third weapon, and that a federal agent had referred to a third weapon in secret recordings about the case.

The FBI has stated that it recovered two, and only two guns. However, neither was a conclusive match to the bullet that murdered Terry.

Three Examiner columns.

David Codrea: Why does Summa Health System censor Internet access to gun info?

Dave Workman: Partisan taint settles on Fast & Furious investigation.

Kurt Hofmann: Reps. Chaffetz and Gowdy ask Obama key 'Gunwalker' question.

Michigan Tactical Supply informs us that they have dropped the price on their "Battleers."

Link.

So, if the needs of the state are so important, why doesn't Louisiana just tattoo everybody with the mark of the beast?

Law Bans Cash for Second Hand Transactions

Freedom stealing anal sphincters. I'm going to go to Louisiana sometime in the near future and break this damn abomination of law. How did it possibly slip through under the radar?

Vladimir and Estragon await the Office of Inspector General Report on the Gunwalker Scandal.

Vladimir: "So, when is it coming?"

Estragon: "I dunno, but Obama says it is."

Vladimir: "But when?"

Estragon: "Maybe we should ask Kevin O'Reilly."

Vladimir: "We can't. They hid him away in Iraq."

Estragon: "When will he come back?"

Vladamir: "After the next election. . . if they don't have some Hadji kill him first."

Estragon: "So we will see the OIG Report before we see O'Reilly?"

Vladimir: "Certainly."

Estragon; (Sighs.) "I guess we'll just have to wait."

Darth Breuer to get an honorable mention from Hollywood at the Oscars?

Copyright czar cozied up to Big Content, e-mails show.

Top-ranking Obama administration officials, including the US copyright czar, played an active role in secret negotiations between Hollywood, the recording industry and ISPs to disrupt internet access for users suspected of violating copyright law, according to internal White House e-mails.

The e-mails, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, (.pdf) show the administration’s cozy relationship with Hollywood and the music industry’s lobbying arms, and its early support for the copyright-violation crackdown system publicly announced in July.

One top official even used her personal e-mail account at least once during the negotiations with executives and lobbyists from companies ranging from AT&T to Universal Music. . .

The e-mails do not entail much detail of the discussions between the administration and industry—as any substantive text in the e-mails (PDF) was blacked out before being released to Soghoian.

But the communications show that a wide range of officials—from Vice President Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff Alan Hoffman, the Justice Department’s criminal chief Lanny Breuer (emphasis supplied, MBV) to copyright czar Victoria Espinel—were in the loop well ahead of the accord’s unveiling.

“These kind of backroom voluntary deals are quite scary, particularly because they are not subject to judicial review. I wanted to find out what role the White House has played in the negotiation, but unfortunately, the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) withheld key documents that would shed further light on it,” Soghoian said when asked why he sought the documents. He is appealing to OMB to disclose more e-mails.

The e-mails, some of which had the subject line “counteroffer,” show off what seems to be a cordial and friendly two-way relationship between industry and the administration.

SSI Exclusive: The 3rd Gun & "K1" -- not the same thing. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a 3rd gun. There was. It just didn't make it to the lab.

As part of the recent White House counteroffensive in the Gunwalker Scandal PR battle, Jordy Yager, AP correspondent and go-to guy for White House leaks wrote:

DOJ also issued a statement on Monday night saying that Issa’s comments were offensive and misunderstood how the FBI catalogues evidence found at crime scenes.

“The FBI has made clear that reports of a third gun recovered from the perpetrators at the scene of Agent Terry’s murder are false,” said the DOJ in a statement.

"Unfortunately, this most recent false accusation not only maligns the dedicated agents investigating the murder of Agent Terry, it mischaracterizes evidence in an ongoing case,” the DOJ said.

Issa contends that since the two weapons found at Terry’s murder scene were catalogued as “K2” and “K3,” there must be a “K1” -- that is, a third gun which has never been revealed to lawmakers or their investigators. The DOJ has said that the “K1” is a sample of Terry’s blood and not another weapon.

Since Monday I have been checking into this controversy. A number of sources in DC, Northern Virginia and Arizona have weighed in. The DOJ, it seems, is likely right. Issa, or rather his staff for I'm sure that's where the error began, made a mistake in thinking that just because K2 and K3 referred to the Kalashnikovs found at the scene, that K1 did too. This email from a source explains:

Mike,

Don't get too far out on a limb, challenging the FBI explanation. All items received at the lab are assigned a "K' number, as received. Different items go to different units, for an examination relating to that unit's specialty. Each unit prepares a report relating to ONLY THE ITEMS THAT IT EXAMINED.

If K-1 is a blood sample, there should be a DNA lab report referencing a K-1 sample.

Note: "All items received at the lab (emphasis supplied, MBV) are assigned a "K' number, as received. (emphasis supplied, MBV.)

Thus, if the lab assigns the numbers, the issue becomes: Did the third gun make it to the lab? For there was a third gun. Other sources as well as the Hope MacAllister - Andre Howard tapes are clear on that. An SKS, traced to Texas, and said to have been linked to the FBI's cartel informant, WAS recovered.

But did it make it to the lab where the numbers are assigned? My sources say no. Thus, Issa's error in assuming that K1 referred to the third gun gave the FBI and DOJ an opening to try to discredit the whole notion of a third gun, but the mistake doesn't disprove that there was, or was not.

Let's revisit the tapes:

Agent: Well there was two.

Dealer: There's three weapons.

Agent: There's three weapons.

Dealer: I know that.

Agent: And yes, there's serial numbers for all three.

Dealer: That's correct.

Agent: Two of them came from this store.

Dealer: I understand that.

Agent: There's an SKS that I don't think came from.... Dallas or Texas or something like that.

Dealer: I know. talking about the AK's

Agent: The two AK's came from this store.

Dealer: I know that.

Agent: Ok.

Dealer: I did the Goddamned trace

Agent: Third weapon is the SKS has nothing to do with it.

Dealer: That didn't come from me.

Agent: No and there is that's my knowledge. and I spoke to someone who would know those are the only ones they have. So this is the agent who's working the case, all I can go by is what she told me.

Now the tapes were recorded some time in mid-March 2011 by the principle Federal Firearms Licensee cooperating with ATF in "Fast and Furious," Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Arizona. The agent he's talking with is the lead Phoenix Group VII case agent Hope MacAllister.

This is not the only evidence of a third gun. As FOX reported on 9 September:

A third gun linked to "Operation Fast and Furious" was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, new documents obtained exclusively by Fox News suggest, contradicting earlier assertions by federal agencies that police found only two weapons tied to the federal government's now infamous gun interdiction scandal.

Sources say emails support their contention that the FBI concealed evidence to protect a confidential informant. Sources close to the Terry case say the FBI informant works inside a major Mexican cartel and provided the money to obtain the weapons used to kill Terry.

Unlike the two AK-style assault weapons found at the scene, the third weapon could more easily be linked to the informant. To prevent that from happening, sources say, the third gun "disappeared."

In addition to the emails obtained by Fox News, an audio recording from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent investigating the Terry case seems to confirm the existence of a third weapon. In that conversation, the agent refers to an "SKS assault rifle out of Texas" found at the Terry murder scene south of Tucson.

The FBI refused to answer a detailed set of questions submitted to officials by Fox News. Instead, agency spokesman Paul Bresson said, "The Brian Terry investigation is still ongoing so I cannot comment." Bresson referred Fox News to court records that only identify the two possible murder weapons.

However, in the hours after Terry was killed on Dec. 14, 2010, several emails written to top ATF officials suggest otherwise.

In one, an intelligence analyst writes that by 7:45 p.m. -- about 21 hours after the shooting -- she had successfully traced two weapons at the scene, and is now "researching the trace status of firearms recovered earlier today by the FBI."

In another email, deputy ATF-Phoenix director George Gillett asks: "Are those two (AK-47s) in addition to the gun already recovered this morning?"

The two AK-type assault rifles were purchased by Jaime Avila from the Lone Wolf Trading Co. outside of Phoenix on Jan. 16, 2010. Avila was recruited by his roommate Uriel Patino. Patino, according to sources, received $70,000 in "seed money" from the FBI informant late in 2009 to buy guns for the cartel.

As part of my own investigation, I sought to discover just exactly when Andre Howard first learned that there was at least one other firearm found at the Terry murder scene and who told him about it. Sources in AZ and DC say that their understanding is that Howard heard about it from an ATF agent (perhaps MacAllister herself, but this is unclear), in the days after the Terry murder.

In the tapes, when MacAllister assures Howard that "the SKS has nothing to do with it," presumably she is referring to the murder of Brian Terry. Yet how she can know this when it was retrieved at the murder scene is unclear.

Now the previous DOJ "refutation" of the third gun allegation was that experienced crime scene investigators didn't know the difference between an SKS and a Kalashnikov and couldn't count the number of firearms in front of them on one hand.

The DOJ is on firmer ground with this K1 business. K1 does not equal third gun. But that there was a third gun is certain, according to my sources. That it belonged to the FBI informant is also said to be certain.

The question then becomes, was the paid FBI informant at the shoot-out? How did the weapon get there without him, if not? What was the FBI's understanding of the events in the desert outside Rio Rico BEFORE the investigation team arrived? The need to remove the informant's weapon from the evidence stream to protect their source -- even from the charge of murder of a federal officer -- would have been -- and my sources say, was -- overwhelming.

One called him, "The Mexican Whitey Bulger," and added, "They still protect their snitches -- always." He said, "They had an 'Oh shit!' moment. The gun was there, and then it wasn't. Do I have to draw you a picture? Hell, no, it didn't go to the lab. They're not THAT stupid."

CBS -- Napolitano on ATF Fast and Furious: "We're waiting for the Inspector General."

Waiting for the Inspector General, or someone like him.

Sign here, please.