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Panama19 Champion Author Louisville Posts:25,730 Points:2,571,010 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Jul 2, 2012 7:47:02 PM Ignore Panama19 Report Abuse Obama Contributor, Who Helped Enact Assault-Weapons Ban, Ran ‘Fast and Furious’ "Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and a contributor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama's transition team focusing on border-enforcement issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious. When Obama nominated Burke to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Burke told the Arizona Capitol Times he believed he understood what the president and his attorney general wanted him to do. 'There’s clearly been direction provided already by President Obama and Attorney General Holder as to what they want to be doing, and this is an office that is at the center of the issues of border enforcement,' said Burke. Attorney General Holder ... said he had had conversations about the issue with the Mexican attorney general and that the Obama administration believed that re-instating the assault-weapons ban in the United States--the one Dennis Burke had initially helped push through as Senate aide in 1990s--would help the situation in Mexico. 'Well, as President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,' Holder said. 'I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.' The same month that Burke joined Holder’s advisory committee with a specific responsibility to report to Deputy Attorney General David Ogden on border and immigration enforcement, Ogden’s office made a significant change in the federal government’s strategy for dealing with gun-trafficking on the Mexican border. This new strategy directed federal law enforcement to shift its focus away from seizing firearms from criminals as soon as possible, and to focus instead on identifying members of trafficking networks. Remarkably, under Operation Fast and Furious, the ATF deliberately allowed guns to move south across the U.S.-Mexico border and into the hands of the drug cartels. Weapons were allowed to be sold to straw purchasers with the intent of tracing the guns to the cartels. During Fast and Furious, ATF agents used an investigative technique known as ‘gunwalking’--that is, allowing illegally purchased weapons to be transferred to third parties without attempting to disrupt or deter the illegal activity... ATF agents abandoned surveillance on known straw purchasers after they illegally purchased weapons that ATF agents knew were destined for Mexican drug cartels. Burke’s U.S. attorney’s office made it more difficult for ATF agents to interdict guns. 'Many ATF agents working on Operation Fast and Furious came to believe that some of the most basic law enforcement techniques used to interdict weapons required the explicit approval of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and specifically from Hurley,' Issa wrote. 'On numerous occasions, Hurley and other federal prosecutors withheld this approval, to the mounting frustration of ATF agents.' 'The U.S. Attorney’s Office advised ATF that agents needed to meet unnecessarily strict evidentiary standards in order to speak with suspects, temporarily detain them, or interdict weapons,' Issa said. 'ATF’s reliance on this advice from the U.S. Attorney’s Office during Fast and Furious resulted in many lost opportunities to interdict weapons'." So it would seem that if guns traceable to U.S. gun shops were found at crime scenes in Mexico Obama might get his wish to reinstate gun control laws that the country would not otherwise accept. Chicago politics backfired and got one of our Border Control agents killed. Is there any wonder that Holder would accept being found in contempt of congress rather than let those emails detailing his and Obama's involvement become public?

Panama19

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Louisville

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Message Posted: Jul 2, 2012 7:47:02 PM

Ignore Panama19 Report Abuse

Obama Contributor, Who Helped Enact Assault-Weapons Ban, Ran ‘Fast and Furious’

"Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and a contributor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama's transition team focusing on border-enforcement issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious.

When Obama nominated Burke to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Burke told the Arizona Capitol Times he believed he understood what the president and his attorney general wanted him to do.

'There’s clearly been direction provided already by President Obama and Attorney General Holder as to what they want to be doing, and this is an office that is at the center of the issues of border enforcement,' said Burke.

Attorney General Holder ... said he had had conversations about the issue with the Mexican attorney general and that the Obama administration believed that re-instating the assault-weapons ban in the United States--the one Dennis Burke had initially helped push through as Senate aide in 1990s--would help the situation in Mexico.

'Well, as President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,' Holder said. 'I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.'

The same month that Burke joined Holder’s advisory committee with a specific responsibility to report to Deputy Attorney General David Ogden on border and immigration enforcement, Ogden’s office made a significant change in the federal government’s strategy for dealing with gun-trafficking on the Mexican border.

This new strategy directed federal law enforcement to shift its focus away from seizing firearms from criminals as soon as possible, and to focus instead on identifying members of trafficking networks.

Remarkably, under Operation Fast and Furious, the ATF deliberately allowed guns to move south across the U.S.-Mexico border and into the hands of the drug cartels. Weapons were allowed to be sold to straw purchasers with the intent of tracing the guns to the cartels.

During Fast and Furious, ATF agents used an investigative technique known as ‘gunwalking’--that is, allowing illegally purchased weapons to be transferred to third parties without attempting to disrupt or deter the illegal activity... ATF agents abandoned surveillance on known straw purchasers after they illegally purchased weapons that ATF agents knew were destined for Mexican drug cartels.

Burke’s U.S. attorney’s office made it more difficult for ATF agents to interdict guns.

'Many ATF agents working on Operation Fast and Furious came to believe that some of the most basic law enforcement techniques used to interdict weapons required the explicit approval of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and specifically from Hurley,' Issa wrote. 'On numerous occasions, Hurley and other federal prosecutors withheld this approval, to the mounting frustration of ATF agents.'

'The U.S. Attorney’s Office advised ATF that agents needed to meet unnecessarily strict evidentiary standards in order to speak with suspects, temporarily detain them, or interdict weapons,' Issa said. 'ATF’s reliance on this advice from the U.S. Attorney’s Office during Fast and Furious resulted in many lost opportunities to interdict weapons'."

So it would seem that if guns traceable to U.S. gun shops were found at crime scenes in Mexico Obama might get his wish to reinstate gun control laws that the country would not otherwise accept. Chicago politics backfired and got one of our Border Control agents killed.

Is there any wonder that Holder would accept being found in contempt of congress rather than let those emails detailing his and Obama's involvement become public?

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johnnyg1200 Champion Author St. Louis Posts:4,430 Points:672,220 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Jul 3, 2012 5:37:06 PM Ignore johnnyg1200 Report Abuse Water Gate being mentioned reminded me of an interview I once heard with one of Nixon’s aids. He said that Nixon hopped future presidents leaned from his mistake. It wasn’t the crime that brought him down it was the cover-up and subsequent scandal. Clinton didn’t learn and it appears neither did Obama.
Lucchese Champion Author Oakland Posts:3,147 Points:129,215 Joined:Mar 2007	Message Posted: Jul 3, 2012 2:01:15 PM Ignore Lucchese Report Abuse >> ".. the gatekeepers ... but the information is being dismissed and devalued as fast as it arrives." Wow Mini, you've come a long way from self-admitted NPR disciple. Yes, the so-called 'press' are a complete disgrace ... from 'Fourth-Estate' to 'Fifth Column' ... from 'Watchdog' to Lapdog
ministorage Champion Author Louisville Posts:9,220 Points:818,995 Joined:Oct 2008	Message Posted: Jul 3, 2012 1:27:23 PM Ignore ministorage Report Abuse "This will become Watergate on steroids. Nobody was killed in the Watergate break-in." One would think. But, Woodward and Bernstein were part of the Washington MSM. They were part of the cabal of gatekeepers--and the gatekeepers were not friendly to the Nixon administration. They pushed the story well before Sam Rayburn ever held hearings. Today, the gatekeepers are friendly to this Administration. Congress know what their constituents see on television and read in the newspapers and on their computer screens. If it ain't on the 'news' and if they think it would hurt their chances for re-election, Congress is loathe to pursue it. Obama's early life is a perfect example. The term "birther" has been demagogued and is a form of censorship, which does shut down debate (even on these insignificant threads). In the Nixon era, you were on the outside if you weren't questioning the President. In the 70s and 80s, rear bumpers of Chevy Vegas, Datsuns and Peugeots sported the sticker "Question Authority." Nowadays? Not a chance. Those days are gone. But, questioning authority will be quickly back in style again if a Republican is back in office. Today, the bumper sticker is the Internet. A perfect example of the two-faced hypocrisy I'm talking about--from 2003 to 2009, anti-war demonstrations were held weekly (and some daily) on street corners in cities all across the U.S. But, after Obama was elected, the phenomenon ended abruptly. Yet, we were still at war. Last summer Obama supported the NATO invasion and destruction of the Qaddafi government and the murder and overthrow of Qaddafi in Libya. The Move-on.org anti-war demonstrators were nowhere to be seen, but they were prolific everywhere during the Bush years. The political steering and gatekeeping is poignant, and the hypocrisy is palpable. So, don't hold your breath on Fast and Furious being bigger than Watergate. It IS bigger in reality, but the information is being dismissed and devalued as fast as it arrives. IMHO [Edited by: ministorage at 7/3/2012 4:37:23 PM EST]
Lucchese Champion Author Oakland Posts:3,147 Points:129,215 Joined:Mar 2007	Message Posted: Jul 3, 2012 12:52:08 PM Ignore Lucchese Report Abuse >> "This will become Watergate on steroids." But who will prosecute? Certainly not DOJ. We are living in post-Constitutional America - more than a decade now. Most Americans are still refusing to fathom the depths of corruption/cynicism in the DC-Empire. The bloated dysfunctional bureaucracies are completely overrun with anti-American traitors. They want you dead. They want to replace you with immigrants/illegals who will keep voting bigger gov't. If they could snap their fingers, a majority of DC-bureaucrats would vaporize conservative-Americans and replace you with illegals. The DC-Empire is the ENEMY of the American People. They serve themselves, ... OF the gov't ... BY the gov't ... and FOR the gov't also known as FASCISM
Panama19 Champion Author Louisville Posts:25,730 Points:2,571,010 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Jul 3, 2012 9:15:36 AM Ignore Panama19 Report Abuse mudtoe, the evidence so far indicates that Obama wanted to institute gun control measures that the country didn't agree with and would never accept. We also know that the Obama administration intentionally let guns walk, and that they had started the campaign to blame gun shops in the U.S. for allowing their guns get into the wrong hands. In April 2009 Barack Obama traveled to Mexico and blamed US gun sellers for “This war being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States.” "Barack Obama, April 16, 2009: 'This war is being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States… more than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that lay in our shared border. So we have responsibilities as well'." The Obama man in charge of "Fast and Furious" was also the man who pushed the 1994 assault-weapons ban through congress, - that Obama wanted to reinstate. Obama's Chicago-style politics got one of our border agents killed along with hundreds of Mexicans in the drug cartel violence, armed intentionally by this Administration in an attempt to push through their ideological agenda. This will become Watergate on steroids. Nobody was killed in the Watergate break-in. [Edited by: Panama19 at 7/3/2012 12:17:14 PM EST]
mudtoe Champion Author Cincinnati Posts:9,722 Points:1,316,065 Joined:May 2008	Message Posted: Jul 3, 2012 8:58:53 AM Ignore mudtoe Report Abuse There has to be a whole lot of dirt in those documents for Holder to deliberately cause himself to be found in contempt, even if the charge doesn't have any teeth in it, at least until after the election. Holder also has to know that as soon as the election is over, if Obama wins, he's going to have Obama bus tire treads on his face. mudtoe [Edited by: mudtoe at 7/3/2012 11:59:44 AM EST]