Al Qaeda defense attorney promoted to No. 3 at Department of Justice

From Judicial Watch. (H/T Creeping Sharia)

Excerpt: (links removed)

In a scary development, a major Obama fundraiser who defended a convicted al Qaeda terrorist will become the third highest ranking official at the Department of Justice (DOJ), which, ironically, is charged with defending the interests of the United States.

Northern California lawyer Tony West has been named Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, making him the No. 3 guy at the agency. In 2009 West, who helped Obama raise tens of millions of dollars as finance co-chairman of his first presidential campaign, was appointed to help run the DOJ’s civil division which represents the government, Congress and presidential cabinet officers and handles cases dealing with significant policy issues.

In a statement announcing the promotion this week, Attorney General Eric Holder says West has served the department with “professionalism, integrity and dedication.” Holder also mentions West’s work before coming to the DOJ a few years ago, including a stint as a Special Assistant Attorney General in California and a lengthier career at a large San Francisco law firm.

Conveniently omitted in the press release is that West represented convicted al Qaeda terrorist John Walker Lindh, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Lindh was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 while fighting against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance as a member of the Taliban army. He actually pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban and carrying explosives while fighting U.S. troops in the region.

Holder also knows a thing or two about defending terrorists. After all, he was a senior partner in a prestigious Washington D.C. law firm (Covington & Burling) that represented more than a dozen Yemeni terrorists held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. While Holder was a senior partner the firm employed a number of radical attorneys to provide the Islamic extremists with thousands of hours of free legal representation, according to a news report.

Another highlight in Holder’s resume is that he orchestrated Bill Clinton’s shameful last-minute pardons, including that of a fugitive financier and a pair of jailed domestic terrorists. In fact, shortly after the pardon scandal, Holder predicted that his public career was over. Under his leadership the DOJ has been embroiled in a number of high-profile scandals, including a gun-running operation (Fast and Furious) in which weapons were sold to Mexican drug cartels. One was later used to murder a federal agent. Judicial Watch has sued the DOJ to obtain records involving the operation.

I feel compelled to contrast that story with this one from Fox News (April 2009).

Excerpt:

The government considers you a terrorist threat if you oppose abortion, own a gun or are a returning war veteran.

That’s what House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Wednesday in response to a Department of Homeland Security report warning of the rise of right-wing extremist groups.

Smith, who said the report on “right-wing extremism” amounts to “political profiling,” said that DHS is “using people’s political views to assess an individual’s susceptibility to terror recruitment.” He joins a growing chorus of protest from irate conservative groups that are protesting the report’s findings.

The report, titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” released last week by DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis, said while there is no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are planning acts of violence, it suggests acts of violence could come from unnamed “rightwing extremists” concerned about illegal immigration, abortion, increasing federal power and restrictions on firearms — and it singles out returning war veterans as susceptible to recruitment.

[...]DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the report Wednesday, saying it is part of an ongoing series of assessments to provide information to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on “violent radicalization” in the United States.

This story goes to show you steeped in moral relativism the Obama administration is – the good people are evil, the evil people are good.

Filed under: News, Barack Obama, Democrat, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, DHS, DOJ, Eric Holder, Fascism, Janet Napolitano, Leftism, Leftist, Liberal, Socialism

Haitian man who could not be deported kills three people in Florida

From the Miami Herald.

Excerpt:

When burglar Kesler Dufrene became a twice-convicted felon in 2006, a Bradenton judge shipped him to prison for five years. And because of his convictions, an immigration judge ordered Dufrene deported to his native Haiti.

That never happened.

Instead, when Dufrene’s state prison term was up, Miami immigration authorities in October 2010 released him from custody. Two months later, North Miami police say, he slaughtered three people, including a 15-year-old girl in a murder case that remains as baffling today as it did the afternoon the bodies were discovered.

DNA on a rifle found inside the house and cellphone tracking technology later linked Dufrene to the Jan. 2, 2011, slayings.

But North Miami detectives never got to interrogate him. Just 18 days after the murders, Dufrene shot and killed himself when he was cornered by Manatee County sheriff’s deputies in Bradenton after an unrelated break-in and shooting there.

The episode is a black eye for U.S. authorities, who by law could not detain Dufrene indefinitely after the Obama administration ordered a temporary halt of deportations to the island nation. 

[...]The failure to deport Dufrene infuriates the victims’ family members. “This guy shouldn’t have been in America,” said Audrey Hansack, 37, who moved back to her native Nicaragua after the murder of her daughter Ashley Chow. “I’m so upset with the whole situation. Because of immigration, my daughter is not alive.”

Just to be clear, the policy of the Obama administration is a backdoor amnesty.

Excerpt:

The Obama administration is taking steps to grant what amounts to amnesty to as many as 300,000 illegal aliens.

In a recent announcement on a sleepy August Friday in Washington, D.C., the Department of Homeland Security directed immigration enforcement officials to start dropping cases against as many deportable alien lawbreakers as possible.

The administration is clearing out removal cases wholesale.  Despite insisting that it will give them case-by-case treatment, an interagency committee is charged with finding all the cases it can to grant relief.

This backdoor amnesty broadens and encourages use of “prosecutorial discretion” on behalf of foreigners who face removal orders.  Not only will potentially thousands of illegals be allowed to remain in the United States, but the administration has also confirmed that those aliens can obtain work permits.

Democrats are soft on crime, and they favor amnesty for illegal immigrants. And this is the result of their views. Three dead people in Florida.

Filed under: News, Amnesty, Backdoor Amnesty, Ban, Barack Obama, Crime, Criminal, Deportation, Eric Holder, Florida, Halt, Hispanic, Homeland Security, Illegal Alien, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Janet Napolitano, Law, Law and Order, Left, Leftism, National Security, Obama, Victims, Vote Buying

Fast and Furious’ goal was to undermine legal firearm ownership

From Investors Business Daily.

Excerpt:

Newly obtained documents show that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives discussed using its covert operation Fast and Furious to argue for new rules about gun sales. We told you so.

[...]As CBS’ Sharyl Attkisson reports, emails show ATF officials discussed using the deliberate transfer of weapons to Mexican drug cartels to justify a new gun regulation known as “Demand Letter 3.”

We say deliberate because congressional testimony by ATF agents demonstrates how the tracking of Fast and Furious weapons stopped at the border and that requests to interdict the weapons transfers and arrest the gun traffickers were denied by higher-ups.

Demand Letter 3 was so named because it was the third ATF attempt to have Southwest gun shops report all long-gun (rifle or shotgun) sales to the ATF — even those to law-abiding American citizens with all the proper registration and other forms.

On July 14, 2010, five months before Terry’s murder, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, the ATF’s Phoenix special agent in charge of Fast and Furious: “Bill, can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time? We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long-gun sales. Thanks.”

On Jan. 24, as the ATF was preparing to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, another email showed Newell saw it as an opportunity “to address multiple sales on long guns issue.”

After the press conference, Chait emailed Newell that in “light of our request for Demand Letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of the case.”

You can read the news article from CBS News right here. The headline is “Documents: ATF used “Fast and Furious” to make the case for gun regulations”.

Related posts

• Obama administration tries to cover up Border Patrol agent’s murder
• Republicans call for AG Eric Holder to resign over newly released e-mails
• Did attorney general Eric Holder lie to Congress about gun sales to drug cartels?
• New Operation Fast and Furious e-mails sent to White House official
• Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder and the plan to sell guns to Mexican drug cartels
• Did attorney general Eric Holder know about Operation Fast and Furious?
• Border patrol agent equipped with BEAN BAGS shot dead by illegal alien
• Obama administration allowed American gun shipments to Mexican cartels
• Slain border agent’s family unimpressed by Janet Napolitano’s indifference
• Homeland Security Secreary Janet Napolitano to counter global warming threat
• Obama administration investigates Wisconsin pro-lifers
• Homeland Security head says that “the system worked”
• Democrats will push amnesty to give 12-20 million illegal aliens citizenship
• Has political correctness made the FBI impotent against real terrorist threats?
• Civil rights commission finds that Obama administration has racist double standard
• Is Obama’s Department of Justice enabling voter registration fraud?
• Department of Justice won’t purge dead or ineligible voters from roll
• Obama’s attorney general has his head in the sand on national security
• Democrats and pro-abortion groups target pro-lifers in FBI and DOJ training

Filed under: News, .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle, 2012, Agent, Arms, Arms Deal, Arms Dealing, Arms Sales, Assault Weapons, ATF, Attorney General, Barack Obama, Barrett, Bill Newell, Border Patrol, Border Patrol Agent, Brady Bill, Brian Terry, CBS News, Corruption, Cover Up, Crime, Criminal, Darrell Issa, Democrat, Democrat Party, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, DOJ, Drug Cartel, Election, Eric Holder, Eric Schultz, Fast & Furious, Fast and Furious, FBI, Firearms, Foreign Policy, Fraud, Global Warming, Government, Gun Control, Gun Sales, Gun Smuggling, Gun Trafficking, Gunrunner, Gunrunning, Guns, Gunwalker, Hate Crimes, Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, Leftism, Leftist, M82, Machine Gun, Marxism, Mexico, Moral Relativism, Murder, National Security, Natural Disaster, November Surprise, Obama, Obama administration, October Surprise, President, Rifle, Scandal, Sharyl Attkisson, Sniper Rifle, Straw Purchaser, Terrorism, Tracy Schmaler, Walk, White House, Wide Receiver, William Newell

Obama administration tries to cover up Border Patrol agent’s murder

From Judicial Watch.

Excerpt:

The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.

This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.

Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of more than 1,000 guns which have been used in numerous crimes. In Terry’s case, five illegal immigrants armed with at least two semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and Terry got hit.

We know this only because Washington D.C.’s conservative newspaper , the Washington Times, got ahold of the court documents before the government suddenly made them off limits. The now-sealed federal grand jury indictment tells the frightening story of how Terry was gunned down by Mexican drug smugglers patrolling the rugged desert with the intent to “intentionally and forcibly assault” Border Patrol agents.

You can see why the administration wants to keep this information from the public and the media, considering the smugglers were essentially armed by the U.S. government. Truth is, no one will know the reason for the confiscation of public court records in this case because the judge’s decision to seal it was also sealed, according to the news story. That means the public or media won’t have access to any new or old evidence, filings, rulings or arguments.

My Dad sent me this article about how the people responsible for the Fast and Furious gun smuggling to Mexican drug cartels are being promoted – while the whistleblowers are being punished.

Excerpt:

Here’s what has happened to the managers of the [gun smuggling] operation:

– Acting ATF Chief Ken Melson, who oversaw the operation, is now an adviser in the Office of Legal Affairs. He remains in ATF’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.

– Acting Deputy Director Billy Hoover, who knew his agency was walking guns and demanded an “exit strategy” just five months into the program, is now the special agent in charge of the D.C. office. He, too, did not have to relocate.

– Deputy Director for Field Operations William McMahon received detailed briefings about the illegal operation and later admitted he shares “responsibility for mistakes that were made.” Yet, he also stays in D.C., ironically as the No. 2 man at the ATF’s Office of Internal Affairs.

– Special Agent in Charge of Phoenix Bill Newell, the man most responsible for directly overseeing Fast and Furious, was promoted to the Office of Management in Washington.

– Phoenix Deputy Chief George Gillette was also promoted to Washington as ATF’s liaison to the U.S. Marshal’s Service.

– Group Supervisor David Voth managed Fast and Furious on a day-to-day basis and repeatedly stopped field agents from interdicting weapons headed to the border, according to congressional testimony. ATF boosted Voth to chief of the ATF Tobacco Division, where he now supervises more employees in Washington than he ever did in Phoenix.

But what about the whistleblowers?

Case in point, he said, is field agent John Dodson. Dodson uprooted his family from Virginia in 2010 to join a new elite anti-gun trafficking group in Phoenix, known as Group 7. Dodson quickly witnessed what was wrong and loudly voiced his objections to Voth and Newell.

Management reassigned Dodson to weekend duty and the wire room, a relatively boring job monitoring telephone traffic and subordinate to junior agents. Soon thereafter, Dodson was temporarily assigned to another group for an additional menial assignment, until ultimately sent to an FBI Task Force, completely away from the ATF, even turning off his ATF building access pass.

Dodson continued to challenge Voth, saying the operation was killing people in Mexico and suggested it was only a matter of time before a “border agent or sheriff’s deputy” would be killed by one of the guns they let go.

“If you’re going to make an omelet, you’ve got to scramble some eggs,” Voth replied, according to a congressional report.

Voth moved Dodson out of Group 7 shortly before Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot by weapons traced to Fast and Furious. Newell, Gillette and Voth began to cover up their tracks. According to an e-mail 24 hours after Terry was shot, Voth wrote:

“We are charging Avila (Jaime Avila bought the alleged murder weapons) with a stand-alone June 2010 firearms purchase. This way we do not divulge our current case (Fast and Furious) or the Border Patrol shooting case.”

“Great job,” Newell replied.

Dodson first complained internally to the ATF Office of Chief Counsel and Ethics Section, OIG, Office of Special Counsel, and Office of Professional Responsibility. They were unresponsive. Dodson was then contacted by congressional investigators, who began their own investigation.

Because of Dodson, the Terry family hopes to hear the truth about what happened to their son and the American public learned that senior Obama administration officials did nothing to stop guns from reaching an insurgency south of the border.

And what did Dodson get for telling the truth? In Phoenix he was isolated, marginalized and referred to as a “nut job,” “wing-nut” and “disgruntled,” according to sources.

In Washington, ATF command ordered that “Contact with Dodson was detrimental to any ATF career.”

Could this be the issue that sinks Obama in the 2012 election? Or will it be his subsidies for alternative energy companies connected to his Democrat fundraisers? Or will it be his job-destroying stimulus and regulation bills?

Related posts

• Republicans call for AG Eric Holder to resign over newly released e-mails
• Did attorney general Eric Holder lie to Congress about gun sales to drug cartels?
• New Operation Fast and Furious e-mails sent to White House official
• Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder and the plan to sell guns to Mexican drug cartels
• Did attorney general Eric Holder know about Operation Fast and Furious?
• Border patrol agent equipped with BEAN BAGS shot dead by illegal alien
• Obama administration allowed American gun shipments to Mexican cartels
• Slain border agent’s family unimpressed by Janet Napolitano’s indifference
• Homeland Security Secreary Janet Napolitano to counter global warming threat
• Obama administration investigates Wisconsin pro-lifers
• Homeland Security head says that “the system worked”
• Democrats will push amnesty to give 12-20 million illegal aliens citizenship
• Has political correctness made the FBI impotent against real terrorist threats?
• Michele Bachmann calls for Napolitano to resign
• Civil rights commission finds that Obama administration has racist double standard
• Is Obama’s Department of Justice enabling voter registration fraud?
• Department of Justice won’t purge dead or ineligible voters from roll
• Is the Department of Justice refusing to defend the voting rights of whites?
• Obama’s attorney general has his head in the sand on national security
• Democrats and pro-abortion groups target pro-lifers in FBI and DOJ training
• Obama administration threatens South Carolina for saving prisoner’s lives

Filed under: News, .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle, 2012, Agent, Arms, Arms Deal, Arms Dealing, Arms Sales, Assault Weapons, ATF, Attorney General, Barack Obama, Barrett, Bill Newell, Border Patrol, Border Patrol Agent, Brady Bill, Brian Terry, CBS News, Corruption, Cover Up, Crime, Criminal, Darrell Issa, Democrat, Democrat Party, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, DOJ, Drug Cartel, Election, Eric Holder, Eric Schultz, Fast & Furious, Fast and Furious, FBI, Firearms, Foreign Policy, Fraud, Global Warming, Government, Gun Control, Gun Sales, Gun Smuggling, Gun Trafficking, Gunrunner, Gunrunning, Guns, Gunwalker, Hate Crimes, Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, Leftism, Leftist, M82, Machine Gun, Marxism, Mexico, Moral Relativism, Murder, National Security, Natural Disaster, November Surprise, Obama, Obama administration, October Surprise, President, Rifle, Scandal, Sharyl Attkisson, Sniper Rifle, Straw Purchaser, Terrorism, Tracy Schmaler, Walk, White House, Wide Receiver, William Newell

Eric Holder testifies on Fast and Furious gun smuggling to Mexican drug cartels

From Human Events.

Excerpt:

In a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans questioned Attorney General Eric Holder about the smuggling of weapons to Mexican gun cartels through Operation Fast and Furious, when he knew about its existence and what he did about it when he learned of it.

Republicans pushed Holder on why it took him nine months to respond to memos sent to the Department of Justice.

“I am eager to hear whether the Attorney General thinks that is acceptable and what he intends to do about it,” said Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R.-Iowa).

While the Fast and Furious gun smuggling scandal was at the top of everyone’s mind, and what conservatives specifically wanted to hear about, only a few Republican senators grilled him on it. Democrats on the committee tried to talk about nearly everything else, including treatment of Muslims by the Department of Justice, bath salt regulations, and anti-bullying measures.

The Republicans that did come out swinging on Fast and Furious got Holder to give stammering and often inconsistent testimony.

[...]Cornyn also had the most intense exchanges with Holder during the entire hearing, asking about the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and whether or not Holder would like to apologize to the family.

“It pains me whenever there is the death of a law enforcement official, especially under the circumstances. It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast and Furious directly led to the death of Agent Terry,” Holder said.

Cornyn also asked whether or not anyone in the Department of Justice has been made accountable for the errors that have been made.

“Can you name me one person who’s been held accountable for this Fast and Furious Operation? Just one in the Department of Justice?” Cornyn said.

Holder responded: “Well we have made a number of changes with regard to personnel both in the Phoenix U.S. Attorney’s Office, also at the ATF Headquarters here. I will certainly await the report that comes out of the Inspector General. And I will assure you and the American people that people will be held accountable for any mistakes that were made in connection with Fast and Furious.”

Wow… I think the Republicans might be a bit angry about how that Border Patrol agent got murdered because of this gun-smuggling operation, which was administered by the Department of Justice. I think Eric Holder knows more than he is admitting to, based on his evasive, politicized answers.

Related posts

• Republicans call for AG Eric Holder to resign over newly released e-mails
• Did attorney general Eric Holder lie to Congress about gun sales to drug cartels?
• New Operation Fast and Furious e-mails sent to White House official
• Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder and the plan to sell guns to Mexican drug cartels
• Did attorney general Eric Holder know about Operation Fast and Furious?
• Border patrol agent equipped with BEAN BAGS shot dead by illegal alien
• Obama administration allowed American gun shipments to Mexican cartels
• Slain border agent’s family unimpressed by Janet Napolitano’s indifference
• Homeland Security Secreary Janet Napolitano to counter global warming threat
• Obama administration investigates Wisconsin pro-lifers
• Homeland Security head says that “the system worked”
• Democrats will push amnesty to give 12-20 million illegal aliens citizenship
• Has political correctness made the FBI impotent against real terrorist threats?
• Michele Bachmann calls for Napolitano to resign
• Civil rights commission finds that Obama administration has racist double standard
• Is Obama’s Department of Justice enabling voter registration fraud?
• Department of Justice won’t purge dead or ineligible voters from roll
• Is the Department of Justice refusing to defend the voting rights of whites?
• Obama’s attorney general has his head in the sand on national security
• Democrats and pro-abortion groups target pro-lifers in FBI and DOJ training
• Obama administration threatens South Carolina for saving prisoner’s lives

Filed under: News, .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle, 2012, Agent, Arms, Arms Deal, Arms Dealing, Arms Sales, Assault Weapons, ATF, Attorney General, Barack Obama, Barrett, Bill Newell, Border Patrol, Border Patrol Agent, Brady Bill, Brian Terry, CBS News, Corruption, Cover Up, Crime, Criminal, Darrell Issa, Democrat, Democrat Party, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, DOJ, Drug Cartel, Election, Eric Holder, Eric Schultz, Fast & Furious, Fast and Furious, FBI, Firearms, Foreign Policy, Fraud, Global Warming, Government, Gun Control, Gun Sales, Gun Smuggling, Gun Trafficking, Gunrunner, Gunrunning, Guns, Gunwalker, Hate Crimes, Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, Leftism, Leftist, M82, Machine Gun, Marxism, Mexico, Moral Relativism, Murder, National Security, Natural Disaster, November Surprise, Obama, Obama administration, October Surprise, President, Rifle, Scandal, Sharyl Attkisson, Sniper Rifle, Straw Purchaser, Terrorism, Tracy Schmaler, Walk, White House, Wide Receiver, William Newell