ATF: The White House Knew
Posted 07/28/2011 07:02 PM ET
Scandal: A former ATF special agent tells Congress a National Security Council staffer was informed about Operation Fast and Furious before guns allowed into Mexico wound up at the murder scene of a U.S. agent.
The latest evidence that both the White House and attorney general knew and approved of Project Gunrunner and its deadly offshoot, Operation Fast and Furious, came this week in the testimony of William Newell, ATF special agent in charge of the Phoenix office, before Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
That the "stench of cover-up," as Fox News analyst Brit Hume described the administration's handling of the matter, may reach even into the Oval Office itself was evidenced by Newell's testimony that he communicated with Kevin O'Reilly, a staffer on President Obama's National Security Council, about Operation Fast and Furious in September 2010.
O'Reilly was national security director for North America tasked with monitoring the activities of Mexican drug cartels. We are asked to believe he inquired about a program that was providing the cartels with guns but kept what he found out to himself.
That date, by the way, is three months before weapons permitted to "walk" into Mexico were found at the scene in Arizona were U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. Newell said O'Reilly had inquired about the status of Project Gunrunner to brief administration officials before a trip to Mexico.
Newell sent O'Reilly the requested information with the caveat, "You didn't get this from me."
Why was a National Security Council staffer asking about an operation that no one in the upper echelons of the administration was supposed to be aware of? We find it hard to believe it was for O'Reilly's personal amusement. Why would Newell request that he not be acknowledged as the source?
Certainly the whole area of drug cartels, cross-border violence and gun trafficking are matters of national security. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made a cause celebre of blaming the easy access to U.S. weapons for Mexican violence.
Are we to believe neither the White House nor the Department of Justice knew about a program that made that access even easier?
Administration officials have taken the Sgt. Schultz "we knew nothing" approach to any inquiries, only to be tripped up by their own words and actions.
Newell's email to O'Reilly is evidence that at least one person in the White House did.
Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee in May that he learned about the operation in the "last few weeks." In fact, as we've noted, Holder himself gave a speech to Mexican authorities in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on April 2, 2009, taking credit for Gunrunner as well as Fast and Furious for himself and the Obama administration.
Holder told the audience: "Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner."
At a June 29 press conference, President Obama told reporters, "As you know, my attorney general has made clear he certainly would not have ordered gun-running to pass through into Mexico."
Yet a video shows former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden telling reporters at a Department of Justice briefing of steps to expand Gunrunner "as part of the administration's comprehensive plan" and as the "president has directed us."
ATF agents have testified that they were ordered not to interdict guns before they passed into Mexico under this operation and evidence has surfaced that the FBI averted its eyes when an instant background check should have alerted them to two convicted felons transferring more than 300 guns.
The "stench of cover-up" grows stronger even as the mainstream media put a clothespin on their collective nostrils.
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OBAMA’S HISPANICAZATION OF AMERICA FOR THE LA RAZA VOTE:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/obamas-hispanicazation-of-america-push.html
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WIKI LEAKS EXPOSES OBAMA’S OPEN BORDERS AGENDA – BUILDING A BORDERLESS TERRITORY WITH NARCOMEX:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-exposed-obamas-la-raza-open.html
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OBAMA’S LA RAZA PARTY INFESTED ADMINISTRATION:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obamas-administration-infested-with.html
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OBAMA’S PHANTOM IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/fairusorg-obamas-phantom-immigration.html
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LA RAZA CRIME TIDAL WAVE:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/la-raza-mexican-supremacy-crime-tidal.html
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POLITICIANS HISPANDERING FOR LA RAZA VOTE:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-accurately-detect-disingenuous.html
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OBAMA’S LA RAZA ICE RELEASED 8,000 MEX CRIMINALS BACK ONTO US:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/ice-has-released-more-than-8000.html
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OBAMA AND THE FASCIST MEXICAN SUPREMACY MOVEMENT OF LA RAZA “THE RACE”
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obama-mexican-supremacist-party-of-la.html
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OBAMA PROMISES NON-ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS THAT HINDER LA RAZA OCCUPATION:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/la-raza-occupation-law-enforcement-free.html
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FEDS ALLOW ILLEGALS OVER OUR BORDERS:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/feds-allow-illegal-aliens-to-cross.html
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8 OUT OF 10 ILLEGALS CAUGHT, NEVER PROSECUTED:
8 Out of 10 Illegals Apprehended in 2010 Never Prosecuted
http://www.alipac.us/article-6162-thread-1-0.html
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OBAMA HANDS TAX DOLLARS TO MEXICAN SUPREMACIST:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/obama-first-hispandering-la-raza.html
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ON THE GROWIN POWER OF “LA RAZA” FASCISM FOR MEX SUPREMACY
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-of-mexican-fascist-party-of-la.html
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OBAMA’S CATCH AND RELEASE PROGRAM WRITTEN BY MEXICO:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/obamas-promise-to-illegals-catch.html
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OBAMA SABOTAGES OUR BORERS FOR ILLEGALS:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/alipac-obama-sabotages-us-immigraiton.html
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OBAMA QUIETLY ERASING BORDERS BY DEMAND OF MEXICO, LA RAZA, AND THE U.S. CHAMBER of COMMERCE:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=240045
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OBAMA TELLS LA RAZA ALL ILLEGALS ARE LEGAL:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-obama-all-illegals-are-legal-la.html
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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Monday, September 28, 2009
And T.J. BONNER, president of the National Border Patrol Council, will weigh in on the federal government’s decision to pull nearly 400 agents from the U.S.-Mexican border. As always, Lou will take your calls to discuss the issues that matter most-and to get your thoughts on where America is headed.
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TERRORIST IN OUR UNDEFENDED NATION, WHILE BILLIONS SQUANDERED OVER IN MUSLIM LAND:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/three-convicted-in-terror-related-cases.html
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OBAMA ARMS MEXICAN ILLEGAL REBELS:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obama-arming-mex-drug-cartels-and.html
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OBAMA KEEPS NARCOMEX ROUTES OPEN TO EASE MORE LA RAZA OVER OUR BORDERS AND INTO THE VOTING BOOTHS:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/04/obama-keeps-narcomex-drug-routes.html
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OBAMA CELEBRATES LA RAZA INVASION:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/at-southern-border-obama-calls.html
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http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/obamas-hispanicazation-of-america-push.html
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OBAMA TELLS PENTAGON NO TROOPS ON OUR OPEN BORDERS:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/mexi-f10.shtml
Pentagon official: US could send troops to fight Mexican “insurgency”
FAIRUS.org
The Administration's Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department.
By Ira Mehlman
Published on 12/07/2009
Townhall.com
The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a “Mission Accomplished” banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States.
Arguing the Obama administration’s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the “three-legged stool” for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include “a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”
Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government’s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest.
“For starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,” stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. “We’ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites…Furthermore, we’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.”
If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano’s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn’t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security’s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano’s claims.
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have “effective control” over just 894 miles of border. That’s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS’s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles.
The administration’s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions.
While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration’s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages.
In Janet Napolitano’s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under “effective control” and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration’s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they’re printed on.
As Americans scrutinize the administration’s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the “three-legged stool” being offered that they like or trust. The first leg – enforcement – the administration has all but sawed off. The second – increased admissions of extended family members and workers – makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third – amnesty for millions of illegal aliens – is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play.
As Americans well know, declaring “Mission Accomplished” and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is “Mission Aborted.”
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