Quick Takes: <i>News You May Have Missed</i>

Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

By: Aaron Klein

Published: July 13th, 2011

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Project Gunrunner Won’t Go Away

Project Gunrunner, the controversial government program that runs guns into Mexico under the Obama administration, has contributed to fraudulent statistics seemingly targeting U.S. gun owners.

The misleading data raise questions about the intentions of Project Gunrunner, which some believe could be a defining scandal for the White House.

In February 2008, William Hoover, assistant director for field operations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified before Congress that over 90 percent of the firearms that have been recovered in or intercepted in transport to Mexico originated from various sources within the U.S.

Hoover’s statistics officially were released by the ATF and subsequently were cited in a flurry of news media pieces claiming the vast majority of illicit firearms in Mexico originate in the U.S.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office also used the ATF’s 90 percent statistic in an official report to Congress about American firearms. The Justice Department even incorporated the data in several of its programs.

After a series of independent reports contradicted the ATF claims, however, the bureau then admitted in November 2010 that its 90 percent figure cited to Congress “could be misleading” because it applied only to the small portion of guns verified through its program.

Project Gunrunner is purportedly meant to stop the sale and export of U.S. guns to Mexico by denying Mexican drug cartels firearms. However, the project allegedly has resulted in allowing thousands of guns to cross into Mexico, where many of the weapons currently are untraceable and in the hands of Mexican criminals.

The same guns run into Mexico under the Project Gunrunner scheme reportedly have been recovered from crime scenes in Arizona and throughout Mexico.

One gun, reportedly recovered at the scene, is allegedly the weapon used to murder Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry on Dec. 14, 2010.

Libyan Rebels, Egyptian Radicals

And The Obama White House

The foreign affairs adviser for a top U.S. lobby firm hired to represent the rebels of Libya served a few months ago as President Obama’s special representative to Egypt, where he reportedly held a clandestine meeting with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In addition, a public relations firm working on behalf of the rebels recently arranged a meeting for Libya’s opposition with a progressive group funded by billionaire George Soros that is known for its close relationship with the White House.

This column previously reportedthat the International Crisis Group, or ICG, led in part by Soros, has long petitioned for the Egyptian government to normalize ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The ICG includes on its board Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei and other personalities who champion dialogue with Hamas, a violent offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

This column also reportedon the numerous ties of Soros initiatives – including his own Open Society Institute – to the revolutions sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.

Earlier this week, The Hill reported that Patton Boggs, the top-earning K Street firm, is lobbying for the rebels to be accepted in the international community as the “legitimate government of the sovereign nation of Libya,” according to documents filed this week.

Patton Boggs’s foreign affairs adviser is career diplomat Frank Wisner.

Wisner previously served as vice chairman of American International Group, leaving it for Patton Boggs in 2009, just as AIG – one of the world’s biggest insurers – was seized by the Obama administration in an $85 billion bailout deal.

In February, during the revolution that led to the ouster of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, a staunch U.S. ally, Wisner was dispatched by the White House to Cairo to serve as Obama’s temporary representative there.

This reporter revealed at the timethat Wisner allegedly held a secret meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo with Essam El-Erian, a senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the nation’s major Islamist opposition group.

Another group reportedly now representing the rebels since April is the Harbour Group, which handles public relations for the opposition movement.

At the beginning of April, Reuters reported that Harbour arranged a well-attended talk by the rebel government’s Washington representative at the Center for American Progress, or CAP.

CAP is heavily financed by Soros. It is reportedly highly influential in helping to craft White House policy. CAP is led by John Podesta, who served as co-chair of Obama’s presidential transition team.

Former Obama “green jobs” czar Van Jones is a CAP fellow. Jones resigned in 2009 after reports surfaced that he founded a communist revolutionary group.

Jihadist Leader:

Al Qaeda Nowhere Near Defeat

A representative of Al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip scoffed at a statement by Leon Panetta in which the newly appointed defense secretary claimed the U.S. “is within reach of strategically defeating” the global jihadist group.

“What Panetta said is nonsense and is for internal U.S. consumption only,” Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadiya Salafiya in the Gaza Strip, told this reporter. “It’s not supported by facts on the ground.”

Jihadiya Salafiya represents Al Qaeda in the Gaza Strip.

Saqer said Panetta doesn’t understand the methodology of Al Qaeda nor its operations.

“Al Qaeda as a structure is not one centralized organization, but it’s an umbrella for many smaller organizations. Sometimes these groups act with no direct link between other groups, and at other times there is coordination and working together,” he said.

The jihadist leader vowed revenge for bin Laden’s assassination:

“All intelligence data in the world says Al Qaeda sympathizers are only growing around world, and very soon the world will start seeing Al Qaeda reactions to the assassination of Sheik Osama bin Laden.”

Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York’s 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m.

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About the Author: Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York's 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m (CHANGE TO 7-9 p.m.). His website is KleinOnline.com

Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

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