OFF THE WIRE
Jim Ross Lightfoot
canadafreepress.com
Following a widely watched hearing conducted by the US House Government Oversight Committee July 25, 2011, William G. McMahon, (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)‘s deputy director of operations in the West, William D. Newell Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the agency’s Phoenix office and David Voth, field supervisor who oversaw Operation Fast and Furious that allowed over 2,000 rifles to walk into the arms of Mexican Drug Cartels, were whisked away to the safety of ATF Headquarters fortress on New York Avenue in Washington, DC.
Many that viewed the hearing and most ATF agents in the field believe these men should have been arrested, or at the least fired, for their gross incompetence and outright violation of US Law.
Attorney General Eric Holder has fought the Congressional Committee at every turn and evidence has grown to implicate his involvement in Fast and Furious to a degree that the number of Congressmen calling for his resignation increases each day.
Is indictment of Holder, Newell, McMahon, Voth and others in ATF management just around the corner?
There is not space enough in this column to go into great detail, however, here are a few facts you can check for yourself.
Let’s start with the murder of Border Patrol Agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata, not to mention every other cop and civilian harmed by a Fast and Furious gun. Each has been deprived of their Constitutional civil rights at the hands of ATF and DOJ Attorneys under the color of law.
42 U.S.C. § 1983 now reads in part:
Every person who under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, (shorten at this point to save space)
How about the commission of wire and mail fraud? There are huge wire fraud implications resulting from EVERY email, fax, and Teletype that occurred with the intent to mislead the true actions of Fast and Furious.
All prosecutable under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 , carrying penalties that include “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.”
18 U.S.C. 371, CONSPIRACY provides in part, “outlaws conspiracy to commit any other federal crime.”
In the words of an ATF agent intimately familiar with Fast and Furious, “You can commit a conspiracy with an unindicted co-conspirator. It appears this is the one that will kill them (ATF and DOJ Attorneys) in relation to very act the cartel/straw purchasers committed, including murder. In order to avoid this, they have to admit they are acting under color of law for ANY Law Enforcement protections. The problem with that is that acting under color of law requires you are within the scope of your duties and advancing legitimate law enforcement actions.”
It is obvious to even the casual observer that Fast and Furious had no legitimate law enforcement purpose.
For the sake of the good agents within ATF, the Constitution and the future of our country, hopefully, Congressman Issa and Senator Grassley will be joined by many other Members of Congress in pushing for full disclosure and then let the evidence lead where it will.
That very well could conclude with the clanking of jail cell doors on public servants that have subjugated their duties to satisfy personal agendas rather than serve the country they took an oath to protect.
James R. Lightfoot, (Lightfoot Strategies served in Congress six terms, starting in 1985 and retiring in 1997. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal and General Government (TPS) of Appropriations, he had jurisdiction over 40% of Federal Law Enforcement (Customs, Secret Service, ATF, FLETC, and IRS enforcement).
