As if the Obama administration were not making a big enough hash of border security — and, to be fair, in this it’s only following in the non-illustrious footsteps of the Bush administration — now we’re actually arming the Mexican drug cartels so they can kill our Border Patrol and ICE agents. From my New York Post column today:
This week, the Obama administration is expected to fire Kenneth Melson, the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — tossing him under the bus as a symbolic gesture to a congressional committee headed by Rep. Daryl Issa (R-Calif.).
Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating an insane ATF operation — a supposed sting that involved the deliberate funneling of thousands of weapons to ultra-violent Mexican drug cartels in 2009-10…
The Justice Department, which oversees the ATF, says the idea was to allow the sale of handguns, AK-47s and .50 caliber rifles to so-called “straw purchasers,” who’d then pass them along to the cartels. In theory, ATF agents would then trace the extent of the smuggling networks in an effort to stop the illegal cross-border gun trade.
Yeah, right.
Something to keep in mind: Until the reorganization of the nation’s intelligence and law-enforcement services after 9/11, the ATF was essentially the muscle arm of the IRS — another good argument for the flat tax or the Fair Tax.
Fast and Furious was supposed to prove the theory. That is, the administration “knew” who the bad guys were — legitimate gun dealers in the Southwest — and set out to make them the heavies in a phony sting operation…
The Issa hearings are just scratching the surface of a larger scandal — Washington’s consistent, bipartisan refusal to fulfill its constitutional duty to secure the country’s borders.
Time to get furious about this — fast.