Posted on 06/16/2011 10:53:57 AM PDT by jazusamo
Pay attention to this era-defining event: The 2,000+ weapons are implicated in an estimated 150 shootings of Mexican officers and soldiers, two American officers, and an unknown number of civilians.
On October 5, 1986, a former U.S. Air Force C-123 transport plane was shot down in Nicaragua. The pilots and radio operator perished when the plane crashed, but a former U.S. Marine who was a cargo handler on the aircraft was able to parachute to safety. He was captured by the Nicaraguan government.
The former Marine, Eugene Hasenfus, claimed to be a cargo handler for the CIA. His capture and trial began the unraveling of what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair, which saw 14 Reagan-era officials indicted and eleven convictions for a plot that traded arms to Iran for hostages and illegally funded Nicaragua’s anti-communist rebels.
On December 14, 2010, a special unit of the U.S. Border Patrol came across a group of heavily armed suspects near Rio Rico, Arizona. The Border Patrol team identified themselves as law enforcement officers, at which point the armed men open fire. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was hit in the pelvis by a single bullet and died the next morning. One of the suspects was captured, and two AK-pattern semiautomatic rifles recovered at the scene were identified by serial number as weapons that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) — acting in concert with and with the blessing of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) — allowed weapons smugglers to purchase at U.S. gun shops. The weapons were just two of more than 2,000 firearms that ATF supervisors and the highest levels of DOJ management allowed to be “walked” across the border to narco-terrorist drug cartels in Mexico, in a scandal that promises to be more damning and deadly than Iran-Contra.
The ATF named their operation Fast and Furious, but it will go down in history by its more descriptive title: “Gunwalker.”
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding hearings this week on Gunwalker, and seems to be squaring up for a political duel with the Obama administration, which is seeking to block all access to official information about the operation. To date, the information collected by the committee has come from ATF whisteblowers, agents inside the operation who fought against senior government officials who were “giddy” over the death and violence from the roughly 2000+ weapons that they allowed smugglers to take across the border — weapons that seemed to be raising the body count in what was arguably becoming a Mexican civil war.
A damning and detailed 51-page report — The Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents (.pdf) — was released by the committee on Tuesday. The report captured testimony from ATF field agents who fought with their supervisors over orders that flew in direct contradiction to their primary order: to always follow the suspect with the gun and always interdict to keep the weapon from being used in a crime.
The report’s findings:
“DOJ and ATF inappropriately and recklessly relied on a 20-year-old ATF Order to allow guns to walk.” The agencies misrepresented the intention of the order to justify their actions.
“Supervisors told the agents to ‘get with the program’ because senior ATF officials had sanctioned the operation.” At least one agent was cautioned that if he didn’t stop complaining about the dangerous nature of the operation, he would find himself out of a job, and lucky to be working in a prison.
“Operation Fast and Furious contributed to the increasing violence and deaths in Mexico. This result was regarded with giddy optimism by ATF supervisors hoping that guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico would provide the nexus to straw purchasers in Phoenix.” ATF officials were seemingly unconcerned over the deaths of Mexican law enforcement officers, soldiers, and innocent civilians, noting that you had to “scramble a few eggs” to make an omelette, in a callous disregard or human life.
Senior ATF personnel including Acting Director Ken Melson, and senior Department of Justice officials at least up to an assistant attorney general, were well aware of and supported the operation.
Department of Justice officials hid behind semantics to lie and deny that they allowed guns to be walked across the border.
When asked by the Oversight Committee how many of 1,750 specific weapons that “walked” under orders of the ATF and DOJ could have been interdicted if agents were allowed to act as they were trained, the agents answered they could have stopped every single one.
The more than 2,000 weapons that the Obama Justice Department allowed to be delivered to Mexican narco-terrorist cartels are thought to have been used in the shooting of an estimated 150 Mexican law enforcement officers and soldiers battling the cartels. Two American law enforcement officers have also presumably fallen prey to these weapons, along with an unknown number of civilians on both sides of the border.
President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice has purposefully armed narco-terrorist drug cartels that have been accused of bombings, ambushes, mass murders, public executions, and the assassination of police, politicians, and civic leaders.
Obama’s Justice Department armed the enemy of our neighbor and ally, providing enough arms to equip ten infantry companies, or two battalions, of violent drug dealers.
Iran-Contra was a misguided attempt to trade arms for hostages and supply a covert supply of arms to rebels fighting against a communist dictatorship during the Cold War.
Gunrunner was an attempt to develop enough gun-running evidence to bring down a cartel, and instead supplied thousands of arms to drug cartels locked in a life-or-death struggle with a key U.S. ally and trading partner.
You tell me which is worse.
I couldn’t agree more, rqsr. The gun grabbing aspect and arming of drug cartels warrants the people behind this winding up in federal prison, many people have died because of their criminal conduct.
Let’s be VERY careful because words mean things.
Gunrunner started during the Bush administration. Straw gun buyers were tracked, arrested and the guns were seized.
Operation Fast and Furious began in 2009 under Obama and Holder. Straw gun buyers were tracked, NOT arrested and the guns were NOT seized.
Agents were met with threats when they questioned the policy.
This is an important distinction.
During testimony yesterday a break in DOJs time line was exposed. Obama gave an interview to hispanic television in March, before DOJ admitted the operation even existed. This means they expect Issa and company to believe that Obama knew but Holder did not.
YEAH, RIGHT. If Holder gets a contempt charge he’ll be LUCKY.
I agree with most that the idea here was to implicate honest firearm dealers and owners.
For those that think the media would report the facts, remember, the number of children killed by firearms statistics includes those up to age 25 and those killed by the police or citizens in self-defense.
I agree. Chasing cartels was never the real goal - justifying regulations was. Prior to this getting out, we were starting to see stories about how easy it was for Mexicans to get guns from the US. Little did we know that it was easy because the ATF was making it so.
This was an attempt to justify destruction of the second amendment. Our national socialist party doesn't like an armed populace for obvious reasons.
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Whatever your real name, I refuse all your plots. You are an illegal foreign born tyrant, you'll swing from a lamppost someday!
Yep, the idea that these cartels needed these guns in particular is ludicrous - they have the money and contacts to get the same or better weapons at cheaper prices from around the world. Another Freeper pointed out that it made no sense for the cartels to spend so much money on these guns ($500 for an AK) and couldn't figure out why they did it.
But what if the cartels actually made a deal with the Obama administration to buy and use the guns. Then Obama uses the resulting carnage to attack gun rights in the US, and pays the catels by looking the other way when drugs get imported, or when dealers could be arrested.
When will impeachment proceedings begin? We have so many issues that are now impeachable offenses...so what are they waiting on?
“This is why liberals should not be involved in law enforcement.”
Exactly,there is a bad flaw in someone who professes to be a liberal.
Bob, you miss the TRUE purpose of Gunwalker, that being to create the “necessity” for new, more repressive gun legislation in the US!!! Two “Gunwalker” sold rifles were left at the scene of Terry’s murder!! How often do criminals leave their weapons at the scene??? Were they PLANTED on the direction of the ATF in order to provide evidence that new legislation was needed?????? Remember, if John Dodson had not spoken up and become the first and most important ATF whistleblower, from the day of Terry’s killing right up to NOW, there would be nothing but the tragic death of a Border Patrol agent! And leftists in DC—including the Obama Regime—would be SCREAMING for more gun legislation.
Hmmmmm....let’s see, one operation fought communists, while the other got people killed in an operation aimed at ginning up false evidence to be used to violate my civil rights under color of law. Yup, identical ops. Excellent comparison.
Karl, you have hit the nail directly on the head! This was a two edged covert op...both edges sinister in their inception...guns to the drug cartels stupid...blame the US NRA and the second amendment for the whole damn problem of the resulting mahime priceless...
The left is always subverting the truth of intent...never can their ideas stand up to real and rational informed citizens!!! never!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.