Fast and Furious: Signs of Progress

It appears the Fast and Furious Scandal may be coming to a head.  Finally.

For those not up on current events, Operation Fast and Furious was a Department of Justice program whereby gun sales to "straw purchasers" were allowed to "walk" into Mexico.  Straw purchasers are otherwise legitimate gun buyers known (or suspected) to buy guns and then sell them illegally to some third party, in this case, Mexican Drug Cartels.  These guns were not tracked, and their walking served no purpose; we already knew who the bad guys were, allowing the guns to walk did not provide any additional evidence, nor did it lead us to anyone we didn't already know about.

Subsequently, those guns were used to murder over 300 Mexican citizens, and at least 2 American Citizens including Boarder Patrol Agent Brian Terry.  When DoJ agents questioned the operation, they were told "you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs."  Eventually several of them came forward as whistle blowers and informed Congress.

Since then Darrell Issa and the House Government Oversight and Government Reform Committee have been investigating.  They've reviewed hundreds of documents, and listened to hundreds of hours of witness testimony.  They have also requested a large number of documents from Eric Holder and the Attorney General's office, as well as the Department of Justice.  These requests have been stone-walled and delayed.  To this date, Holder and the DoJ still have not complied.

This is a big issue to me.  I already am slightly mistrustful of the Federal Government.  I believe its scope and reach have both grown too large.  That's bad enough when I trust the officials in charge; if I cannot trust them, it is far worse.  So I have been following this and, justly, I believe, have been fairly critical of Darrell Issa's apparent foot-dragging.

Now, however, we seem to have progress.  Mr. Issa is circulating a draft Contempt charge for Mr. Holder to build support to hold the AG in Contempt of Congress.  Democrat Representative Joe Donnelly has signed on with Mr. Issa.  And now the House has passed an amendment to a spending bill which will halve salaries in the DoJ until such time as their requests are met.

So, given my previous criticism, I must say "well done," to Mr. Issa, as well as, "keep it up."  If Holder will not provide the documents requested, he must be held accountable.  I, personally, believe he should be frog-marched out of the DoJ in chains.  I doubt that will happen, so perhaps this will be the best we can do for now.