Posted on 05/06/2011 3:47:50 PM PDT by neverdem
Edited on 05/06/2011 8:10:44 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
The murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Mexico last year has touched off a scandal that's now reverberating in Washington.
Members of Congress say that weapons found at the scene of Brian Terry's death have been traced to a federal program that allegedly allowed hundreds of guns to go from the U.S. across the border.
Investigators at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives called it Operation Fast and Furious, just like the blockbuster movie. Agents wanted to follow the flow of guns from the U.S. into the hands of deadly Mexican drug cartels. But the only thing that's coming fast and furious now are hostile questions from Congress.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who oversees the ATF, tried to explain what he knew about the episode at two hearings on Capitol Hill this week.
"You have to understand the way in which the department operates," Holder said. "Although there are [a lot of] operations, this one ... has gotten a great deal of publicity."
But Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) interrupted. "There are dead Americans as a result of this failed and reckless program, so I would say that it hasn't gotten enough attention," he said.
Issa, who leads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is trying to uncover how the gun-running investigation went off the rails and whether top Justice Department leaders approved it in advance.
Following The Trail
To find out more, congressional investigators have traveled to Arizona, where people allegedly working with drug gangs illegally purchased more than 1,000 guns. Many of those guns were later found at crime scenes on both sides of the border.
Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley has been on the trail, too.
"At best, the ATF was careless in authorizing the sale of thousands of guns to straw purchasers," Grassley said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday. "At worst, our own government knowingly participated in arming criminals, drug cartels and those who later killed federal agents."..........."
Bump for later ...................... FRegards
Who's funding is being threatened by the big meanies on the right? Lefty NPR is covering a story that most assuredly the left doesn't want to know about, an out of control ATF is involved in more homicides, including Border Control Agent Brian Terry & an ICE agent.
Yep. And when will the investigations start on the U.S. banks who laundered money for drug cartels and the feds just “looked the other way?” Karl Denninger has been blogging about that for a while now.
NPR?!?!?
A sad, desperate attempt to remain relevant, and to show at least the pretense of “fairness”.
What’s up there is just an excerpt. I posted the whole story, but an admin mod modified it without the usual link below the excerpt.
See comment# 25. You have to go to NPR to read the whole story.
I had already read the article on NPR. The comments below the article were surprising — almost all of them anti-Obama and Holder.
When does the criminal prosecution against rouge members of DOJ and BATFE begin????
Wow! The “Gunwalker” cover-up stinks so bad that even NPR can’t ignore it anymore!
People's faith in unlimited technological ability is misplaced. I don't know of any "tracking devices" that can be hidden on an ordinary gun and report back its location after being transported hundreds of miles over an unknown time period. Batteries have limits.
Yes, but ABC, NBC, and the New York Times are still ignoring it. Can the corruption of the MSM get worse? Of course it can!
It isn't the first time time that people have died at the hands of th ATF as a result of their incompetence.
There, fixed it for you.
Thanks.
Assuming, from one article, that NPR is desperate to protect their funding.
Admittedly, they don't run many stories that reflect poorly on the Dems, but this is far from the first.
It would be folly for them to think occasional pieces such as this would influence their funding, as it would be folly for you to think the same.
Other than CBS, there has been very little curiosity about this in the press.
Once I retired from another agency, so this is hearsay, and as ATF left Treasury for HS, I kind of lost track of their bona fides. At that time, ATF had inherited the worst management practices, possibly from IRS CID; Agents hated most of their management and I won't even mention what many managers were surreptitiously subjected to because of their management practices.
Possibly promotion was based on who you knew at golf, the bar or whatever and not ability. Is there a need for a civil service exam for promotion? Top management was not known to reach down to the lowest levels to ascertain what was happening, so BS was well filtered on the way up. Sounds like they need to be returned to Treasury as the FBI believes they are in charge of everything and perhaps there is no need for HS!
The best thing I recall about ATF is their hiring practices. Told to hire more women, it seemed as everyone of the ladies could have been in Playboy or other magazine. All knockouts. Then again, I think that idea blew up in their faces. All JMO
Thanks for the ping/post; thread. BTTT for Brian Terry!
Just axe Gorelick about 9-11!!!
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