Ever since he was confirmed as attorney general, Eric Holder has had his own agenda, supported by the Obama administration.  As chief law enforcement officer, many of his decisions have not been in the best interest of this country. 

American Thinker interviewed congressmen who see the fiasco of "Fast and Furious" as the last straw and cite this as the final reason Eric Holder needs to resign.  In a 2009 operation ATF requested that gun shop owners sell guns, including AK47s, to straw buyers from the Mexican drug cartels.  There were approximately 2,500 weapons involved, and to date, only 600 have been recovered.  ATF field agents complained that allowing these guns into the hands of criminals set a bad precedent.

Border Congressmen Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Ted Poe (R-TX) are all in agreement that either Eric Holder is an incompetent attorney general because he did not know what was happening, or he knew and is trying to stonewall Congress and cover up the investigation.  It appears that it is the latter, since those in charge of the botched operation have been reassigned or promoted with their pensions intact while the ATF whistle-blowers face isolation, retaliation, and transfer.  Bilbray angrily stated, "Retaliation against the whistle-blowers is illegal.  This is just another case where Holder believes in employee rights unless it is an employee that is blowing the whistle on something this administration has done.  This is suspicious conduct which has the effect of silencing people who give information and promoting those who he knows was involved."

The congressmen want Americans to observe how Holder answers their questions.  He never has the attitude that "the buck stops here," never takes responsibility, and is definitely not transparent.  According to Gosar, when responding to the Senate and House Committees during his testimony, Holder carefully worded his answer: '"I think we've been pretty accurate and truthful.'  I don't want we.  I want Mr. Holder to take accountability.  Holder impugned the sovereignty of another country, impugned the safety of both countries' citizens, and impugned the rule of law."

Congressman Poe concurs and wants the committees to receive all the information, including texts and e-mails, about what the DOJ knew regarding "Fast and Furious."  For example, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Brewer testified and sent a letter to the committees that he did not know about the operation.  American Thinker was told of evidence that he transferred from his government BlackBerry to his personal BlackBerry -- documents showing that he was involved.  As of yet, Holder has not fired Brewer or put him on administrative leave.

Since the attorney general "does not have the ability to enforce the laws of this country equitably, fairly, and judiciously," Gosar has a resolution declaring a vote of no confidence in Eric Holder.  Bilbray expects that the next time Holder comes before Congress, he will be declared a hostile witness since his approach is "adversarial rather than cooperative.  Holder has made a concerted effort to try to imply the border is under control by hiding as much information as the DOJ thinks they can get away with." 

Holder is also taking away states' sovereignty through various lawsuits.  The AG took legal action against Arizona, arguing that federal law trumps states' rights.  The DOJ has filed a brief opposing the state's proof-of-citizenship requirement to vote, suing over the legality of SB 1070, pursuing attrition, and questioning the E-Verify provision, which the Supreme Court ruled was legal.  Other states being sued over their illegal immigration laws include Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia.  An interesting point made in Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's book, Scorpions for Breakfast, is that Congressman Poe had Holder and Homeland Security's Janet Napolitano admit, under oath, that they had not read the bill.  Brewer quotes the congressman as saying, "It's ten pages. It's a lot shorter than the health-care bill, which was 2,000 pages long[.]"  The governor directly commented to American Thinker in an earlier interview that "[e]ven though they have not read the bill they are criticizing it.  Isn't it outrageous?  And for them to admit it!  Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano, with the support of the president of the U.S., acted like they knew all about it.  They took everything out of context."  Congressman Poe also directly commented on this incident, stating, "Last year as he was suing the people of Arizona over their immigration law, I asked him about it.  He was making comments about the law before he had read it -- this coming from America's chief law enforcement officer."

There are also the lawsuits that are attempting to block states from implementing voter ID laws.  The DOJ refused to give states such as South Carolina and Texas, which are covered under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, clearance for their voter ID laws.  All states that want to or have enacted these laws are doing it to preserve the integrity of its electoral process, yet, as Congressman Poe believes, "Holder's interpretation of the law undermines the Constitution, and the attorney general is motivated by politics, not by equal justice under the law.  He is fulfilling a political agenda."  Because voter fraud is such an important issue, especially with the 2012 election coming up, it will be further examined in a future article.

This vendetta against the states shows that Holder is lawsuit-happy.  He is trying to use the power of the federal government to squash the Tenth Amendment, turning the Justice Department into a political machine.  His decisions appear to be based on politics rather than on non-partisan objectivity. 

There is also the vendetta against the CIA, causing a risk-averse reaction by the agency.  Many in the CIA believe that because of Holder, it is not legal opinions that determine policy, but elections.  In 2009, Holder decided to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate supposed abuses by CIA operatives in which some cases are still pending.  As a former CIA official commented, "[h]ow can Holder be disgusted by what we did?  Even non-physical interrogation is not a pretty thing to watch.  We have been very successful in preventing future attacks.  This re-opening smacks of double jeopardy.  These cases were already examined by the DOJ and have been the subject [to] congressional oversight.  Besides, there was the release in 2009 of the CIA interrogation memos despite objections from CIA officials[,] and [those were] described in the Wall Street Journal as 'a victory for Attorney General Eric Holder[.]'"

Holder's agenda includes closing Guantánamo Bay, allowing terrorists to be Mirandized, and trying the terrorists in a federal court.  By Mirandizing them, actionable intelligence is lost, since the terrorist has the option of remaining silent.  The administration will not have to close Gitmo if it follows a policy of releasing terrorists.  Take for example the idea to hand over some of these terrorists to the Taliban in exchange for the Taliban coming to the negotiating table.  Congressman Rooney (R-FLA) believes that "there is a reason why they are still at Gitmo.  These guys have targeted and killed U.S. personnel, prevented girls from attending school in Afghanistan, and stoned women for adultery.  To release these really bad guys is absurd."  What is more absurd is that Holder did not attempt to try them in a military commission for the atrocities they committed against the U.S. military.

There was also Holder's attempt to try major al-Qaeda leaders such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal court.  Michael Hayden, the former CIA director, correctly commented, "You have major figures like Attorney General Holder wanting to do it in this venue to showcase our justice system.  Yet, they talk about guilt being evident.  This is at the beginning of a process in which KSM is presumed innocent.  Oh, by the way, if he is declared innocent, what are we going to do with him?  We have already made it clear we are never going to release him."

What Holder has done well is his due diligence in investigating what happened to CIA officials in 2010.  Journalists were provided information about CIA officers who then gave that information to the Guantánamo terrorist defense team. After taking pictures of the CIA operatives, the defense team showed the photos to the terrorists at Gitmo, putting the CIA officers at increased risk.  Many former CIA officials agree with the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Peter King (R-NY), that the DOJ and Eric Holder should name the journalists who received the leaks as well as identify the lawyers who showed the pictures to the terrorists since this incident involves more than "criminal legal liability.  There is the big question of moral culpability for these journalists and lawyers[.] ... The Department of Justice will not have fully discharged its duties until it publicly identifies the journalists and criminal defense lawyers involved."

As the most important law enforcement officer in the land, Attorney General Eric Holder makes partisan decisions.  He has exclusively chosen the laws he wants to uphold and has quietly looked the other way when other laws needed to be enforced.  It appears that Eric Holder as attorney general has used his office as a political tool for the Democratic base, and the only way to stop him is to make sure President Obama is not re-elected in 2012.