The big meeting late yesterday between Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Attorney General Eric Holder failed to bring any resolution to the issue of transparency over Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice gun tracking program. This now sets the stage for a vote today in the House of Representatives to find the head of the Justice Department in contempt of Congress. Issa has requested thousands of documents concerning the gun-walking program run by the Phoenix office of the ATF, which resulted in at least two weapons being used in the murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. At the heart of the matter are some 1,300 documents related to a letter from February 4, 2011 which claims that the Justice Department had no knowledge of the ATF operation which allowed U.S. firearms to be sold to Mexican drug cartels.
Holder met with Issa late Tuesday in an attempt to satisfy the Congressman who has taken the lead on getting to the bottom of the scandal. The ATF program began its operations in late 2009. Brian Terry was killed in December of 2010 when his border patrol intercepted a group of drug smugglers along the Arizona – Mexico border Two of the weapons recovered were identified as part of the Fast and Furious program. In January, 2011, an ATF supervisor in Phoenix, Pete Forcelli, turned whistle-blower and testified before Congress on the gun-walking program. There had even been some initial concerns that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had been shot by a gun that was part of the program.
So, for the last 18 months, Congress has been attempting to get to the truth behind Fast and Furious. Who knew what and when? Eric Holder has testified several times before Darrell Issa, as well as before the Senate Judiciary Committee where Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) has been taking the lead. The Department of Justice has released some 7,000 pages of documents which members of Congress have requested. But after failing to release the latest batch requested, Darrell Issa is threatening to have Eric Holder found in contempt of Congress for withholding the Fast and Furious documents. A vote is expected today and will most certainly pass in the House and will be a crushing blow to the Obama administration.
June 20th, 2012 at 7:07 am
And now our president has declared Executive Privilege.
But wait – I thought he knew nothing about any of this and has never seen any of these documents. So how would executive privilege apply?
Unless of course, Issa is correct.
June 20th, 2012 at 9:34 am
OFF TOPIC (butt, wut ta hay)
VP Joe Biden Is Here In New Orleans Today,
To Address The Convention Of The . . . . .
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS
Curious Minds Want To Know !
June 20th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Won’t be a crushing blow but will just be seen by the sleepy public as partisan, prolly not a win nor a loss unless the good guys go too far.
June 20th, 2012 at 11:04 am
AOK?
Ya think Bidet will scream loud at them too like he did to the union audience?
Now back to WithHolderGate…
June 20th, 2012 at 11:37 am
But wait – I thought he knew nothing about any of this and has never seen any of these documents. So how would executive privilege apply?
But wait! He doesn’t need to personally see anything.
I mean, seriously. What’s wrong with you?
I mean, you want to talk about executive mismanagement– Yesterday 120 newly declassified CIA documents were released showing that the CIA “had bin Laden in its cross hairs a full year before 9/11 — but didn’t get the funding from the Bush administration White House to take him out or even continue monitoring him.”
Compare fast-and-furious, also started by Bush with this kind of incompetence. Not to mention the cover-up from Bush officials after 9/11 that there was no warning to the president due to “stovepiping”.
We now know this was more lies.
“Who cares?”, I hear you ask, Andrew… “Why attack Bush- he’s been out of office for 3 1/2 years…” Exactly because of cases like this Holder bullcrap. And it goes to show what happens when you put Republicans in charge of anything. Total disaster.
June 20th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Here’s the link to the story in its own post. Those interested in the “truth” about 9/11… it wasn’t Republican sabotage, it was Republican incompetence.
June 20th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
So, republicans are disastrous huh ?
How many shots did Clinton have at Obama during his term ?
Even after three attacks on his term ?
911 took 5 years to plan, the first 4 were on Clintons term as he also received the same memos as did Bush. He blew up a pill factory and went to Kosovo
Consequently this renders your assholes with the majority of blame.
Thats not meant to exclude Ft. Hood and people like you wearing TNT laced thongs.
All hell in Iraq is taking place and the Taliban/Al Queda are still in Afghanistan,and inserting themselves in every Arab country.
Pakistan is deteriorating into an enemy spreading themselves across.
4000 of our soldiers died for absolutely nothing due to your partys fcking idealistic, apologetic jism.
Dont even get me started on Egypt or the kissing of Irans ass because it will render you a complete fckin idiot who doesnt spend much time thinking of whats cumming out of his pie hole
June 20th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
“4000 of our soldiers died for absolutely nothing due to your partys fcking idealistic, apologetic jism.
Dont even get me started on Egypt or the kissing of Irans ass because it will render you a complete fckin idiot who doesnt spend much time thinking of whats cumming out of his pie hole”
So what would be your suggestion?
Double down? Oh, wait, we already did that?
What comes after double-down?
Maybe, it is like the line from Animal House.
Iran? Dead.
Egypt? Dead.
Pakistan? Dead.
Niedermeyer? Dead.
June 20th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
“Compare fast-and-furious, also started by Bush”
Oh my! Our friend Me is actually Sheila Jackson Lee!
Well, that explains a lot, doesn’t it?
June 20th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Andy Z & Pat Mc
Please gmail me @ my new addy.
I lost all my stuff when I went to Windows 7 from XP.
Thanks ! Awl
June 20th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Buzz, the suggestion would be a leader who knows how to command. It is rather important to win fights, lesson learned from Vietnam.
June 21st, 2012 at 4:05 am
And how would you define a victory in Afghanistan or even Pakistan?
June 21st, 2012 at 11:26 am
In Afghanistan, the eradication of the Taliban which may require devastating the southern part of the country. The Greeks had it right. Stop what you are doing or we will wipe out your village. Some good lessons to be learned in Herodotus. Pakistan is not a worry. When things get bad enough there, the military overthrows the civilian government, just like in Turkey.
June 21st, 2012 at 11:33 am
We have been there over a decade more than both World Wars combined.
As in any conflict involving a civilian opponent with no uniforms you only have two options.
Either kill everyone or leave.
Otherwise you are playing Whack-A-Mole with american soldiers as chum.
June 21st, 2012 at 11:46 am
Yes, kill them.
June 21st, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Fast and Furious is nothing more than Republican bullshit. Darrell Issa is a criminal who should be in prison, not Congress.
What about JOBS? What about how the GOP said they were going to emphaize JOBS JOBS JOBS when they won the House? All we have seen is the Bible, the Constitution, taking away women’s rights, and going after Obama. Every single initiative to get America back to work, they’ve opposed.
The BEST thing that could happen for America would be if EVERY SINGLE Republican was voted out of office in 2012. All the governors, and all in Congress. The GOP cares nothing about America. All they care about is maintaining the wealth for the rich few.
June 21st, 2012 at 7:17 pm
AE, you’ll see jobs when your brutha, the babbling socialist who is blocking them gets thrown into the street in November. And if you decide to apply (yes, sometimes liberals work!), you might get one, which would get you off the street.
June 22nd, 2012 at 4:30 am
Yes, AE, Operation Fast and Furious is merely just Republican B-S. Try selling that to the families of the two Federal agents killed by weapons obtained through the program. Or to the thousands of Mexicans murdered by guns that Eric Holder and Barack Obama sold to the drug lords.
Nope, no scandal here. Nothing to look at. Nothing to see. I suppose that is why all of those documents must be kept away from the public’s eyes. I suppose that is why Obama is claiming executive privilege to block transparency.