Myths About Afghanistan
Victor Davis Hanson on whether Afghanistan is really the "graveyard of empires ..."
David Codrea is reporting that Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) wrote a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder and Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kenneth Melson, expressing deep concerns over the allegations of release of guns to MS-13 from the Tampa ATF office.
“These reports,” Bilirakis writes, “raise troubling questions about the motives, intentions, and competency of the ATF and DOJ.”
“In recent days,” he notes, “it has come to light that the ATF and DOJ may have participated in the act of ‘gun walking’ beyond the acts conducted within the scope of “Operation Fast and Furious’…and that similar programs included the possible trafficking of arms to dangerous criminal gangs in Honduras with the knowledge of the ATF’s Tampa Field Division.”
The complete list of questions is as follows:
1. Can you confirm whether or not the ATF Tampa Field Division and/or the Department of Justice’s Middle District of Florida participated in a “gun walking” scheme that allowed weapons to be trafficked to Honduras?
2. If so, does the ATF or the DOJ have knowledge of any of these firearms ending up in the possession of the notorious MS-13 gang?
3. How many guns have been allowed to pass into Honduras and how many have since been accounted for?
4. Were trafficked weapons subject to any special monitoring processes once they left the United States?
5. Has “Operation Castaway” been terminated? If not, does the DOJ or ATF plan to terminate this program or urge its termination?
6. Has the DOJ or the ATF established any criteria or guidance pertaining to what is admissible for future operations aimed at preventing firearms from being obtained and used by dangerous foreign criminal organizations in crimes similar to the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry?
David Codrea enters a detailed discussion about whether this facet of the scandal is subdivided into “Operation Castaway.” I think that this is unimportant, and the important thing to follow is David’s reporting on the events and people. Don’t miss what’s happening here. It has been said that “Fast and Furious” was separate from Project Gunrunner (or at least, a subset of it). “Operation Castaway” is supposed to be another subset of Project Gunrunner. These details will all come to light in the coming days if Congress probes deeply enough, but the important thing now is that their own reporting claims that there is coherence and consistency of effort, a common strategy, and approval of the project – taken as a whole – from the very top levels of the administration. The subdivided operation at the field offices under which each illegality falls is not currently important.
The scandal deepens and widens, and the depth and extent of the illegalities is only beginning to emerge. Perhaps Congressman Bilirakis can get to the ATF before they shred all of the pertinent documents.
Prior: Project Gunrunner category
On July 12, 2011 at 7:21 pm, TS Alfabet said:
How do you know that a nation is rotting and falling apart? What are the signs?
One sure indication must be the lowering of the rule of law. When the kind of conduct that caused a President to resign in disgrace 30+ years ago is a school prank in comparison to the what we tolerate today, you can be sure that we are on the path to societal failure.
It is impossible to learn of the details of this Gunrunner/Fast & Furious/Operation Castaway criminality without wondering about the lack of general outrage and unanimous cray for a special prosecutor.
Yes, I know that Nixon was a Republican and Obama is a Democrat and the State Media exists to protect and defend all Democrats at all times, but the conduct coming to light by the Administration is shocking beyond all bounds of partisan interest and devotion. Perhaps this news is being pushed out of sight by the debt limit crisis. We shall see. I would hope that Americans and the Media are able to track more than one thing at a time, however.
Very disturbing times.
On July 13, 2011 at 3:40 pm, Warbucks said:
Well written TS.
Just curious Herschell, what level of conspiracy theory are you willing to tolerate from me on attempting to match facts with theory?
On July 13, 2011 at 3:55 pm, Herschel Smith said:
You can speculate as much as you want, Rich. But for me, the fundamental framework within which I think this whole thing must be viewed and assessed is Obama’s world view. He is at his core a statist. It isn’t in the DNA of his administration to press for liberty and freedoms, or even the exercise of rights, such as the second amendment. Here, his speech about “bitterly clinging to God and guns” isn’t just some slip. It fundamentally describes who he is.
Therefore, viewed this way, the entirety of Project Gunrunner, while existing in skeletal form during the Bush administration to interdict weapons, fundamentally morphed with the entry of the Obama administration. The evolution of Project Gunrunner included hundred’s of new ATF field agents, stimulus money, trial efforts to press weapons into the hands of the cartel(s) (Fast and Furious, Operation Castaway, Operation Wide Receiver, and there will be more), and so on and so forth.
Separating Project Gunrunner and Fast and Furious is an absurd aim. There is almost no similarity between Project Gunrunner during the Bush years and what it morphed into under Obama.
I’ll be writing more on this in the coming days.
On July 13, 2011 at 5:04 pm, Warbucks said:
Then here’s my speculation.
Everything you say above is true. And as with each President that comes into office, the hidden government within the elected government has to find ways to fund its agenda in addition to trying to enable the country not to completely fall apart. Productive disruption and some economic losses are acceptable. But in the broader sense, their economic success for funding their projects requires our economic success as a nation. The correlation is not one-to-one but more like: “When using the Golden Goose, just don’t kill it.”
The workable scenario happens when our hidden government finds some sort of harmonic alliance with each administration as hidden government will invariably achieve usually within months of each new administration.
So in this current administration a risky plan (creating ever increasing violence on the US Boarder) was made to look viable to the administration. The plan was exposed.
Had the plan played out successfully it would have achieved not only an administration goal of helping to pass more legislation directed at disarming Americans (which is still under way of course but now with our activated back-lash) but it would have:
—(a) empowered further the violence of the drug cartels.
—(b) enhanced drug supply lines.
—(c) created a winner through consolidation among current drug lords.
—(d) increased illicit drug prices to the net financial advantage of elements of our own secret government that depends to this day for funding its operations through a slice-of-the-action in the illicit drug markets.
Hence, why I’ve come to believe we need whistle-blower amnesty in many areas concerning government. It should not be a violation of law to be a whistle-blower on government involvement in illegal or extra-Constitutional activities or waste.
On July 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm, Warbucks said:
And there are many other sources of such funding in our government.
On July 13, 2011 at 6:51 pm, Warbucks said:
As a matter of strategy, it occurs that there may perhaps be merit in outlining the wording for a new “Whistle-Blower Amnesty Act of 2013″ as a topic of discussion in the upcoming Presidential election cycle.
Such an act would presumably parlay off the merits of the greater public good served through existing Whistle-Blower law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower
It might be promoted as a matter of faith among religious organizations forums with many examples of how it would apply being well received and find resonance among many faith based groups.
On July 13, 2011 at 6:57 pm, Warbucks said:
Note the current law: on the above link,
A “whistleblower” discloses information he or she
reasonably believes evidences:
• A violation of any law, rule
• An abuse of authority
or regulation
• A substantial and specific danger
• Gross mismanagement to public health
• A gross waste of funds
• A substantial and specific danger
to public safety
I would add to this an essential elements missing:
— it violates what I perceive to be Constitutional Rights
On July 13, 2011 at 7:17 pm, Warbucks said:
The other obvious problem is, who can trust the “Office of the Special Counsel (OSC)” https://www.osc.gov/oscefile/ , who is in charge of Whistle-Blower claims.
Working under the general operating philosophy they are all in cahoots with each other, the first aspect of the Whistle-Blower Act of 2013 may be to can the entire OSC and restructure it to be more consumer committed. I have no idea how one might effectively achieve that end.
On July 15, 2011 at 11:13 pm, Warbucks said:
Here’s a 2nd inner-connected scenario of speculation. The Obama administration quietly signed into being the formation of an Adgenda-21-Compliant committee with far reaching significance over the use of all rural land in the USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptL-tSuK8lU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
As the map of Red vs Blue voting by county illustrates http://tiny.cc/myyv7 nearly the entire US land mass area is Red county. The Obama’s new ag-land committee will have power to quickly override posse comitatus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
…through dent of sheer organizational efficiency of this committee. Every department head that has anything to say to override safeguards against using federal troops against Americans on American soil is now in place on the committee. ….. and probably psychologically tested to be willing to pull the trigger against a flesh and blood white skinned, blue eyed target. Yah, they really do check that deeply.
This committee is in place now at this moment for a very specific reason. It’s not just another coincidence. The civil confinement centers standing empty along our railways to hold well over a million people are not coincidence.
The BATF Gun Runner scandal is a preface (gone astray) to create chaos, violence, and fear. That will scare urban center populations into accepting greater gun controls and intrusions upon our liberties. Urban centers hold the media that supports these far reaching ideas and the popular voting power.
The Majestic-Elete black ops boys take there piece of the action from drug trade mayhem as top dog controllers of the corrupt and master drug market enablers they are, as usual, along with their skim from other government department which by law was made illegal to track and report to congress.
But there are risks. Our warriors tend to enlist from red counties….straight shooters from the Bible Belts. They will be coming home into a work force of 9.65% unemployment (under new definition of unemployment) or 22.5 % unemployment as defined in the 50′s with minority regions with over 50% unemployment. This is an atmosphere ripe for violent civil unrest.
It takes years for peace, love and calm to flow back into the hearts and nervous systems of front line men and women accustomed to planning and taking the initiative in wartime conditions. These are men and women trained in weapons use tactics. They don’t suffer injustice sitting down.
After Vietnam I spoke with countless former infantry sergeants who were prepared to use weapons to do anything if they felt they needed to assert control. It only takes a few thousand. This war has surely produced many thousands.
Had we had the Internet after Vietnam and the power to encrypt communications, several groups from Native American Vietnam vets to any aggrieved GI still healing from war and being turned away by the VA by the thousands would have been reachable to organize.
The risk unravels upon the Vets coming home quickly. First the friends and family farms get regulated, then some are taken away through forced, over-regulation that trips the wire leading to forced sales. People start organizing Fair Farming Leagues for political backlash, to no avail. More regulations flow. Obama wins a 2nd term and the gloves come off both sides.
Churches are caught with major self-consuming scandals as huge congregations like The United Methodist, a mainstream body, splits apart causing much angst, self absorbed along its one issue: Gay Marriage within the church….splitting the congregations along Red and Blue just as before the civil war we were split along slave and non-slave regions. To hell with salvation, chose a side. The Methodists are down for the count. The Catholics are morally out of the business with child abuse growing larger every year. There are no calming voices of standing moral authority to be heard. Politicians speak only for themselves. Mega-churches implode on their inability to compromise, driven by corporatocracy, a misunderstood God-head, and the inevitable circular self-satisfaction that flows with mega-church, mega-coffers, and the secret, very low profile Lear Jet park on the ramp.
In short, every agency seems to be getting prepared to handle you and change your life…and it’s all just coincidence.
On July 16, 2011 at 10:24 am, Warbucks said:
Correction: Only 9.2% unemployment not my 9.62%.