Posted on 03/11/2011 5:32:53 AM PST by Second Amendment First
Lawmakers in Mexico are demanding an investigation into a U.S. law enforcement operation that allowed hundreds of weapons to flow into the hands of Mexican drug cartels amid claims from a ranking legislator that at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers under the watch of U.S. agents.
U.S. authorities say manpower shortages and the high number of weapons sold resulted in their losing track of hundreds of guns, from pistols to .50-caliber sniper rifles, though a federal agent deeply involved in the Phoenix-based operation said it was "impossible" that U.S. authorities did not know the weapons were headed for Mexico.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has acknowledged that at least 195 weapons sold in Arizona under Operation Fast and Furious have been recovered in Mexico, traced as a matter of routine via serial numbers after their recovery from crime scenes, arrests and searches.
The Mexican lawmaker did not say how the new casualty statistics were calculated. But the estimates, which could not be independently confirmed, provide troubling new fallout from an investigation in which guns sold to suspected smugglers in the U.S. already have been linked to the deaths of two U.S. law enforcement agents.
Humberto Benitez Trevino, a federal deputy who chairs the justice committee in the lower chamber of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, said in comments released by Congress this week that "we have 150 cases of injuries and homicides with arms that were smuggled and passed illegally into our country."
Benitez said the figure came from "sources," but he did not specify who the victims were or where shootings took place.
"This was an undercover program that wasn't properly controlled," Benitez said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The LAT is rolling with the cover story: it was a “sting attempt gone awry.”
Toro mierda, completamente.
Tell Mexico to keep their gunnees on their side of the border....and stop taking those lucrative bribes.
The Mexican government will get more billions of our vanishing tax dollars all because ATF and Eric Holder are the worst incompetents in this outrageously inept administration.
EVERYONE should be fired and the ATF shut down. Where are the Republicans???
Look Toward the White House. Fire the right man.
If a nuke goes off in downtown L.A., what's left of the MSM will make excuses for Obama, explain to the survivors that he really meant well.
....not to worry lawmakers, you’ll know more about what happen than the average US citizen. The transparency administration has fix things first.
Probably true. “It was a nuclear security drill that went awry.”
Hey Benitez, when is the Mexican government going to reimburse the American taxpayer for the cost of entitlement programs accessed by the 35 million illegal aliens his country has “exported” into the U.S. over the past 25 years in order to avoid having to make massive welfare payments to them or worse? You stinking hypocrite, shove those weapons up your enchiladita!!!!!!!
Libs love to 'grow the government' except where it can do the most good. ICE, Border Patrol, military, etc.
It was a stupid, rogue operation by a rogue agency of our sleazy, politicized government.
NOW the news is picking it up since the Mexican government is whining about it.
Screw the Americans but say “how high” when the Mexicans tell you to jump.
Yeah, it's nitpicky, but I'm sick of the lazy-ass writing in the lamestream media these days! They're Mexican lawmakers, not "Mexico" lawmakers. What...are they afraid they'll be called racist if they use the word "Mexican"? Sheesh...
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I believe it was done with the OK of the democrat admin.
A copy of the strategy, obtained by The Times, specifies that the operation was to mainly involve sharing of intelligence across a wide variety of U.S. law enforcement agencies along with specially vetted units of Mexican law enforcement. But it envisioned the movement of weapons across the border.
"The controlled movement of firearms, ammunition, explosives, explosives devices, and/or components or non-functional 'props' of such items across the U.S.-Mexico border from the United States shall be coordinated with and approved in advance by Bureau headquarters and the MCO."
MCO, do you have any idea what that means? So the strategy change was in 2010. This left a different impression:
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