Posted on 07/26/2011 9:02:04 AM PDT by dragnet2
Reuters) - At least 122 firearms from a botched U.S. undercover operation have been found at crime scenes in Mexico or intercepted en route to drug cartels there,
Mexican authorities found AK-47 assault rifles, powerful .50 caliber rifles and other weapons in late 2009 that were later linked to the U.S. sting operation to trace weapons going across the border to Mexico,
Guns from the program, dubbed "Operation Fast and Furious," also were found at the scene of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the border state Arizona last December. It is not clear if they were the weapons responsible for his death.
The sting has become an embarrassment for the Obama administration and its Justice Department, rather than a victory in cracking down on the illegal flow of drugs and weapons to and from Mexico.
It has also hurt ties with Mexico, which has been battling the violent cartels in a war in which thousands have died.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and federal prosecutors had hoped the sting would help them track gun buyers reselling weapons to cartels. But U.S. agents did not follow the guns after the initial purchaser re-sold them.
The House of Representatives Oversight Committee, led by Republican Darrell Issa, and the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Charles Grassley, have been investigating the sting and will issue the report Tuesday.
Their investigators say at least 122 firearms bought by suspected gun traffickers were found at Mexican crime scenes or caught going to the cartels.
Of the 2,000 weapons sold to the suspected gun traffickers, just over half remain unaccounted for
the Justice Department is also conducting its own investigation The Justice Department said it could only confirm 96 guns recovered in Mexico
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I prefer the Goldilocks ‘just right’ .50 calibers.
Uh no, that's BS.
They come here for the free medical, welfare etc, and a U.S. government that kisses their butts at ever turn, while the American standard of living and our economy plummets...
It's why Parkland Hospital in Dallas if churning out nearly 1000 anchor babies per month, as the U.S. tax payers twist in the wind. This, in a so-called conservative state.
Obama won't Secure the border and gives speeches to LaRaza. Basically provides a welcome mat.
Did ya forget, Bush's Rove gave speeches at La Raza and Bush in 8 years made American citizenship all but pointless?
8 years of Bush and a conga-line of 10 million more illegal aliens just walked right in...During war time no less.
It's all political D vs R, bull cheet.
It's all a choreographed charade, as the audience of fools applaud.
Who does BATF answer to these days: Dept of Justice, Treasury, or CIA?
I know it has gone back and forth over the years. (I am currently reading Gordon Liddy’s autobiography “WILL”, and am on the chapter about his days as a “Treasury agent”.)
“Botched”? Nope, it did what they wanted it to. The only “botching” are the whistleblowers.
The government had to know, if they cut loose thousands of guns to be taken into the black hole of Mexico, the U.S. government would be exposed at some point, as the perpetrators of this lunacy.
Didn't the government think this would backfire on them? How could they have hatched this scheme and not expected this to blow up in their faces?
Did they actually think they could use violence down in Mehico, to blame it "easy" access of American guns?
How stupid are these people running government?
DOJ. That is who pushed this.
The ATF did remember to plant the GPS tracking devices in the guns, didn’t they?
/s (as if its needed)
Those are probably meant for U.S. citizens.
Besides, those are likely the size of a small cell phone, and wouldn't be practical, and cartels sweep stuff for electronic surveillance anyway.
Besides they likely had no intention of tracking them anyway.
The real questions are:
1. The government didn't know if they cut loose thousands of guns which were taken into the black hole of Mexico, they'd be exposed at some point as the perpetrators of this lunacy?
2. Did they actually think they could concoct this scheme and use violence down in Mexico, to blame it on "easy" access to American guns?
This is laughable in an insane way.
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