Why did the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives stand by and watch as guns were transported across our southern border to Mexico, to be used by violent drug cartels?
The phenomenon of “gunwalking” appears to be a standard sting-operation tactic that in this case has gone wildly awry. The idea was that federal authorities would approve firearms purchases that seemed suspicious, and then monitor the buyers to see where the guns ended up. But the scale of the purchases was massive, and the agents on the ground kept anxiously waiting for the order to stop monitoring and intervene, according to stunning accounts from ATF agents and documentation uncovered by CBS News and other sources. As early as March 2010, ATF agents were finding the “monitored” firearms in the hands of suspected criminals in Mexico. One ATF e-mail reported,“Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone,” including “numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles.”
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According to the dozen ATF agents who have come forward as whistleblowers, the concept was not the half-baked idea of a rogue manager. Reported CBS:
ATF Agent John Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.
ATF named the case “Fast and Furious.”
Last Wednesday, President Obama said that neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder approved the operation. But who within the Justice Department did authorize the dangerous operation? And who decided to ignore the judgment of the agents in the field? An e-mail from a group supervisor told ATF agents who were upset about the operation’s risks, “Whether you care or not, people of rank and authority at HQ are paying attention to this case and they also believe we are doing what they envisioned the Southwest Border Groups doing.”
Even the gun shops themselves were wary of selling the firearms; the purchasers were paying with cash out of paper bags. But the sellers were assured by the ATF that they should go forward with the transactions. One of the purchases was for 575 semiautomatic rifles for “personal use.” One agent estimates the total number of guns purchased by suspicious buyers under ATF monitoring at 2,500; other officials put the number closer to 2,000. Nearly 800 were recovered “as a result of criminal activity on both sides of the border.”
Worst of all, the guns that the ATF agents were ordered to let slip into Mexico were not merely used in cartel violence in Mexico, but were used against American citizens and law enforcement. CBS News noted:
On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terrywas gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague. According to Dodson, “They said, ‘Did you hear about the border patrol agent?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And they said ‘Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.’ There’s not really much you can say after that.” Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry’s murder.
Only after Terry’s death did the ATF round up and charge 34 individuals believed to be involved with moving the guns across the border.
The Department of Justice initially denied the whistleblowers’ claims. Last week, however, DOJ sent a confidential memo to U.S. Attorneys in southwestern border states, declaring, “We should not design or conduct undercover operations which include guns crossing the border. If we have knowledge that guns are about to cross the border, we must take immediate action to stop the firearms from crossing the border, even if that prematurely terminates or otherwise jeopardizes an investigation.”
The "why" is so obvious I almost hesitate to post. The Feds have been exagerating the impact of U.S. purchased guns showing up in Mexico in order to have an excuse to crack down on legal weapons owned by legal Americans. The Feds were called out for exagerating.
So the Feds took the next step - creating actual examples they could then point to while, of course, remaining silent about their own role. If U.S. agents or civilians get killed; "well", go the Feds, "if you want to make an omelette..."
Thankfully the Feds were caught at the game. Sadly not in time to save at least one agent and who knows how many others.
A number of months ago the Obama regime asserted as did the Calderon regime in Mexico that most of the guns used by the drug cartels were coming from the U.S. This was quickly debunked as only a small percentage of the weapons were from here. So in order to support the narrative the regime had to come up with a way for more American weapons to be found there. Thus creating a new "crisis" and the need for gun and ammunition control here. BTW...see what the ATF did regarding some WWII and Korean war M1 Garrands and M1 carbines South Korea wanted to sell here to collectors and others that wanted to own a piece of history.
I really, really doubt that this little exercise took place without the knowledge and consent of some pretty highly placed officials in DOJ. My thought is that we'll find out that Holder did know about it.
"Why did the Justice Department allow Mexican cartels to purchase 2,500 U.S.-made guns?
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1)Create the Problem
2)Let Chaos Ensue
3)Provide the Solution
Project "Fast $ Furious" was to provide justification for greater restrictions on legal gun ownership in the USA. It was a forcefull attack on Rights protected by the US Constitution.
Back in April 2009, Obama claimed falsely that 90 percent of the guns used in Mexico were from the US-a claim widely debunked and ridiculed at the time.
This idiotic gunwalker program was probably spawned as a way to somehow justify Obama's phony April 2009 assertion that "This [drug]war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border,"
In April 2009, Obama made some utterly bogus assertions about US manufactured weapons ending up in the hands of drug criminals in Mexico. His claims were widely ridiculed and debunked.
I suspect that this idiotic gunwalker program was created to somehow justify Obama's bogus claims made at his April 16, 2009 press conference.
Remember the Greta and Hillary show about US guns recovered in Mexico on FNC, where a table of alleged US guns that ended up in Mexico were ogled over for the cameras? And the talk was all about the need for a new assault weapon ban in the US? When it was pointed out you couldn't legally buy most all of those guns on the table in the USA, Obama needed a quick fix to set up his Second Amendment destruction by regulations.
Whenever there is something that doesn't make since, like the Branch Davidian massacre, the hand of government is always in there stirring the pot.
So now it makes sense, and Greta can do another show, don't worry about all the dead Mexicans and Americans, it's for a good cause ... gun control.
Remember the Greta and Hillary show about US guns recovered in Mexico on FNC, where a table of alleged US guns that ended up in Mexico were ogled over for the cameras? And the talk was all about the need for a new assault weapon ban in the US? When it was pointed out you couldn't legally buy almost all of those guns on the table in the USA, Obama needed a quick fix to set up his Second Amendment destruction by regulations.
Whenever there is something that doesn't make sense, like the Branch Davidian massacre, the hand of government is always in there stirring the pot.
So now it makes sense, and Greta can do another show, don't worry about all the dead Mexicans and Americans, it's for a good cause ... gun control.
I absolutely support U.S. government protection of the right of Americans to bear arms, but there is no corresponding requirement that the U.S. government guarantee Mexican access to weapons. As such, regardless of the politics surrounding this program, individuals who violate the law and traffic weapons to Mexican cartels (in effect enemies of the U.S. and its citizens) should face the full penalty of law. I applaud Issa in working to cut through the politics and get to the bottom of this. If the DOJ for any reason, political or otherwise, failed to take efforts to prevent the sale of weapons to Mexican criminals, they should be held accountable for that failing.
At the risk of sounding like some kinda nut... I'd like to remind people about the claims way bck in the 90's when Clinton was on his way to passing the assault guns ban...Guns used in NYC were going from VA up I95...This is Obamas version of this...Guns from USA are killing in Mexico
I sure hope they ban guns soon. That way, no one will be able to get them. Just like we banned Marijuanna and now nobody does that any more and it's not a problem on our borders.
The body count for just US agents is two, Zapata and Terry. The circumstances surrounding Terry are very unusual, as there has been no movement on indicting any of the actors caught after his death. The little information out there points to several of the weapons recovered being "walked' weapons. ALL of this happened with the full knowledge of the White House at the highest levels. The ATF agents that attempted to seize weaponry at the border were threatened by their supervisors(!!!) that the order came from the top. The reasons are obvious when one is familiar with how this regime conducts itself. The communist in chief needed some excuse to start down the road to disarming the American populace, what better way to do this and de-stabilze an ally? It's a twofer by Gad!! Never underestimate the evil and venality that sit at the oval office.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was actually high level ATF and DOJ personnel that were making the purchases. I find it difficult to believe the cartels would be so brazen in their attempts. Does it strike anyone else as odd that they mention sales of in excess of 500 guns "for personal use" when they are pushing for legislation to limit the number of guns US citizens can purchase over a given time period? How convenient that these purchases would take place at such an opportune time!
And a fellow Marine that I served with paid the ultimate price for it.
So, we expect the Mexican authorities and our own agents to contend with the Mexican drug cartels after allowing the latter to arm themselves with Barrett .50 cal's?
Brilliant, simply brilliant. Only the Obama Justice Department could devise and implement such a strategy.
Just one more example of creating a problem so you can inject your solution, but they got caught this time.
The BP oil spill is another one where I believe they created the problem so they could implement the ban on drilling solution.
The housing bubble was created by the left, so QE1, QE2, and all of the debts rolled into the government from Freddie, Fannie, GM, et al. put the taxpayers on the hook for everything while the bankers walk from any responsibility after having been bailed out.
Mubarak must go, QuackDaffy must go, the day Congress leave town, Obama rolls in with a weeks planned strategy that he failed to even make Congress aware of, his solution to a problem he himself initiated. Just the prior year he sold Egypt the largest amount of modern weapons in history, then he ousts him, where will those weapons go now?
I don't think we want anymore of these create the problem so Obama can provide the solution actions without informing Congress, it is the change we can't believe in.
Are we, possibly, arming Hizbollah agents at our border? (We know Hizbollah is involved with the Mexican drug cartels.) Think this is out of the question? Look for the video clip in which Samantha Powers -- with apparent but restrained glee -- spoke of possibly having to fund a "mammoth" protection force for Palestine (against Israeli's "human rights abuses") instead of Israel's military. We are the Great Satan, remember.
I don't doubt that our regulatory agencies are all corrupt in one way or another. I would not be suprised at all if one or more agencies are involved in drug smuggling into the US. Economically speaking we already know this is true. Prohibition creates a lucrative black market that would otherwise be not so lucrative. The question is do they actually have their hands dirty with drugs or do they just play darth vador economic mind tricks?
