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Eric Holder Guilty? Angry words fly - Fast and Furious, over botched gun-sting program
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
December 11th, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
December 11th, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
GOP critics threatened impeachment for Attorney General Eric Holder,
accusing him of withholding information from Congress about Operation
Fast and Furious. Began in 2009, the program allowed illegally purchased
firearms to be taken from gun stores in Arizona across the Mexican
border to drug cartels in order to monitor the flow of weapons to their
destination. The operation backfired when hundreds of weapons went lost
or became unaccounted for. Two of the missing weapons were found at a
site where Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in December of
last year.
In turn, Holder compared Issa to Sen. Joe McCarthy, the infamous Wisconsin Republican censured by the Senate in 1954 for leading a notorious Communist witch hunt.
"As they said in the McCarthy hearings, have you no shame?" Holder asked, referencing a famous retort to McCarthy.
"Why haven't you terminated the people involved?" asked Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is investigating the arms-tracking operation. Issa pressed Holder to appear before the congressman's committee, and the attorney general said he would consider the request.
Holder acknowledged mistakes were made, but said he would not step down over the controversy. Holder accused the GOP of playing political games, saying he also didn't think any of his top aides should step down.
Wisconsin GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner told Holder that "heads should roll" over the matter.
"There is really no responsibility within the Justice Department," Sensenbrenner said. "The thing is, if we don't get to the bottom of this -- and that requires your assistance on that -- there is only one alternative that Congress has and it is called impeachment."
Holder told committee members the operation relied on "unacceptable tactics" and was "inexcusable." But Holder insisted that Justice Department officials have cooperated with congressional investigators, saying that any previous misleading information provided on the matter was not part of an intentional deception.
"It all has to do with your state of mind and whether or not you had the requisite intent to come up with something that can be considered perjury or (a) lie," Holder said.
Holder accused his GOP critics of engaging in "inflammatory and inappropriate rhetoric ... in an effort to score political points."
It's time to end "politically motivated 'gotcha' games," Holder said.
A number of Republicans have called for Holder to step down. Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar last month said the attorney general's "refusal to take responsibility for the actions of his department is inexcusable."
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