The man who led the controversial Fast and Furious anti-gun-trafficking operation will step down as the interim head of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Justice Department announced Tuesday as it named a new acting director for the agency.
Dennis Burke, the United States Attorney for Arizona since 2009, resigned Tuesday morning.
Burke's resignation, effective immediately, is one of several personnel moves made in the wake of a federal gun-trafficking investigation that put hundreds of rifles and handguns from Arizona into the hands of criminals in Mexico. Burke's office provided legal guidance to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on the flawed initiative called Operation Fast and Furious.
The news comes on the same day as a new acting director was named...
This is not good news. $20 says Obama uses this opportunity to push Andrew Traver. He'll argue that Traver is a strong, effective, leader and that's what the ATF needs.
Dennis Burke, the United States Attorney for Arizona since 2009, resigned Tuesday morning.
Burke's resignation, effective immediately, is one of several personnel moves made in the wake of a federal gun-trafficking investigation that put hundreds of rifles and handguns from Arizona into the hands of criminals in Mexico. Burke's office provided legal guidance to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on the flawed initiative called Operation Fast and Furious.
The news comes on the same day as a new acting director was named...
Wasn't Burke the big jerk who has been trying to get the court to reject "victim" status for the family of murdered Border Agent Brian Terry? Being granted victim status would give them the right to speak at the killer's sentencing hearing.....and there is no doubt that they would use the opportunity as a pulpit to name names and point out how it came to be that a known narco-terrorist came to be found with an illegally sold gun in his possession which was known to have walked across the border under the auspices of Fast & Furious...........which Burke oversaw as the local Justice Dept representative.
Unless the judge is a gun-grabbing commie, he would have likely disallowed Burke's weak attempt to cover his rear.
On the flip side, all of these yahoos acted with the direct knowledge of both Holder and Obama. Maybe Holder is canning them all to cover his rear. But my sense is that Senators Issa and Grassley have got ahold of this like a big dog on a bone, and they aren't going to let go of it so easily.
Just so that we are clear that Fast & Furious goes all the way to the top, start paying attention at about the :40 mark in the following video:
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“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
It is outrageous that he is being given another job. He and others are responsible for the death of an American border agent, the smuggling of weapons into a foreign country, and probably the death of many Mexican nationals. He belongs in a jail cell not a government office.
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Contrary to his statement (lie), he, et al, are stepping down to take some of the heat off of ALL of his bosses who approved the operation. That's the way it works in the political circus we know as Washington D.C.
Recall that Melson went against his superiors to testify to congress over the 4 July weekend. (As I recall, apparently this was a carefully chosen time-frame, knowing that anybody who might wonder where Melson is would have already departed the office early for the holiday weekend, and very unlikely for any of them to call him over the weekend for anything.)
f Melson were fired outright for spilling the beans to congress, there would be an obvious case for suing over retaliation against a whistleblower. So instead he is demoted to a pencil-pushing job at HQ and told if he ever wants to see his pension, act like a good boy and smile. With any luck (hopes the ATF), he will get so bored with his do-nothing job he will quit on his own. He will no doubt get negative evaluations at his new "job."
Dave Hardy notes that three of the four whistleblower agents in AZ have already been transferred to the East Coast. He notes this is a common retaliation tactic-- move the agents every year from one end of the country to the other until they and their families get tired of it and quit.
CowboyEngineer wrote:It is outrageous that he is being given another job. He and others are responsible for the death of an American border agent, the smuggling of weapons into a foreign country, and probably the death of many Mexican nationals. He belongs in a jail cell not a government office.
He was given another job with its benefits because he has the "goods" on those above his pay grade who either directed and/or approved of the operation.
This goes all the way to the top...or should. Does the word Nuremberg ring any bells?
