Issa Accueses Holder of Lying About Fast & Furious

The House of Representatives investigation into Fast & Furious has perhaps moved into a new phase.  In this letter, published on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform website, and originally published by David Codrea, Chairman Issa accuses Eric Holder of lying in his testimony before Congress.  One damning paragraph among many:

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this intransigence is that the Department of Justice has been lying to Congress ever since the inquiry into Fast and Furious began. On February 4, 2011, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that "ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transport into Mexico." This letter, vetted by both the senior ranks of ATF as well as the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, is a flat-out lie.

This letter lays out Rep. Issa's justification for continued investigation, and throws down the gauntlet to Holder, and by extension, the Obama Administration, to come clean about this scandal. I encourage everyone to read this letter: it summarizes the extent of the corruption involved in the cover-up.

I am beginning to believe that Eric Holder will be forced to resign in order to deflect he damage from the Obama Administration. If he resigns, however, will he resist testifying about any wider extent of the scandal, or will Holder "roll over" on others?

Another question: Why in Hell did the DOJ do this, Fast & Furious, that is, in the first place?

Explosive Gunwalker Development

As reported at the Sipsey Street Irregulars, U.S. government funds were by ATF agents used to purchase firearms which were then "walked" to cartel smugglers.

If this does not open up the scandal, I don't know what would.  This is a clear violation of ITAR regulations, unless the ATF received clearance from the U.S. State Department.  So now the question to as might be "Did the ATF request or receive export authorization from the State Department?"

Media Still Wrong About Fast & Furious

This Newsday story still gets it wrong about Operation Fast & Furious:

Fast and Furious was designed to track guns that "straw buyers" purchased in Phoenix area shops in 2009. The goal was to trace the guns and make cases against traffickers supplying firepower to deadly drug cartels in Mexico. But agents quickly lost track of the weapons and many turned up at crime scenes, including the December shootout in Arizona where border agent Terry died.

 Wrong. Fast & Furious was designed to boost the number of weapons confiscated in Mexico that were traceable to U.S. retail firearms dealers, which would then be used as a pretext to adopt stricter gun control laws, especially the reintroduction of the Federal Assault Weapon Ban.

Fast & Furious was not a "bungled investigation", but rather a covert political operation designed to subvert the 2nd Amendment.

Fast & Furious Coverup

Today, in Human Events, John Hayward wonders why the media is not even asking questions about the Fast & Furious investigation:

As Heritage Foundation communications director  Rory Cooper noted via Twitter this morning: “Media hasn’t asked White House about Fast and Furious since JULY 5. Not in one briefing. I have questions, do you?”  That was 77 days ago.  The L.A. Times and CBS News are virtually alone in providing comprehensive mainstream-media coverage of the “Gun Walker” outrage.  At what point does the remarkable media ignorance of this historic scandal become impossible to regard as anything less than willing co-operation in the cover-up?

It seems obvious to me that in an era when news of a presidential candidate's affair and illegitimate child was broken by the National Enquirer, that at least some of the media is in the tank for liberals.