Posted on 09/03/2011 6:07:42 PM PDT by mandaladon
At least three White House officials had some knowledge of a controversial federal gun-running investigation that resulted in a large number of guns falling into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, according to emails the Justice Department sent to Congress.
However, the emails do not indicate that the White House aides were briefed on the most controversial aspect of Operation Fast and Furious: the practice of allowing guns to “walk” or move across the border with little or no interference by law enforcement officials despite their suspicions that the guns were headed for drug gangs. The new emails, delivered to Congress Thursday night, show contacts between William Newell, the head of the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Kevin O’Reilly, who served as director for North American affairs on the White House National Security Staff. O’Reilly, in turn, briefed Dan Restrepo, the NSS senior director for the Western Hemisphere, and Greg Gatjanis, director for Counterterrorism and Counternarcotics, White House officials confirmed Friday. The emails were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
“The emails validate what has been said previously, which is no one at the White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk,” said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
While the emails don’t contain tactical details of the operation, they do show that the White House was in frequent direct contact with the ATF officials directly involved in Fast and Furious. The exchanges also suggest that ATF officials in Phoenix thought White House officials shared their goals and were acutely interested in the bureau’s work aimed at tackling the flow of guns into Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
I thought it was normal to stop downstream flooding by opening a dam wide open. I guess it works. Flooding will end when the dam's empty.
Go to any Lefty blog and that’s exactly what they’re saying...
Everyone mail a juicy, over-ripe peach to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Somehow put the letters IM on it.
Obama isn't a republican. The press doesn't care. Obama could stomp on newborn kittens in front of the whitehouse gates and the eneMedia wouldn't report it.
Blah blah blah. The American public will hear about this while eating their dinner. They will look up and say "oh, that is terrible," then they will go back to eating their dinner.
On the surface, it's tracking the flow of guns from American gun stores to Mexican drug cartels. As a tactical issue, this is largely irrelevant and easily stopped.
As a political issue, this is where it gets murky. 95% of the weapons in the hands of criminal elements in Mexico came from the Mexican military. The extreme and systemic corruption of the Mexican military is a sensitive topic, even though it's universally known. The Zetas are actually founded by a branch of the Mexican special forces that went rogue and turned to drug trafficking.
Imagine for a second if JSOC or SOCOM went rogue and started narco-trafficking!
The easy scapegoat here is American guns. American money. American lust for drugs. Those dirty gringos did this to us.
On the American side, Uncle Obamao is all too eager to find a scapegoat of his own to enact more gun laws. And look, all those American guns heading down to Mexico, killing innocent civilians! We must do something! Mexican government officials, take note! Now that the American president is complaining about American guns, it gives you even more cover to turn the dialogue off of local corruption, and on to eeeevil American gun store owners!
It was the perfect quid-pro-quo. We help support their neuroses, they help support ours.
And they almost got away with it, too...
Compare and contrast Watergate and Fast& Furious in 6000 words or less/
Well said.
It’s much worse than Watergate. Watergate was about covering up the theft of some Democrat campaign papers. Fast and Furious is about trying to cover up responsibility for multiple murders.
bfl
bfl
Did my #30 reply compare and contrast in 6000 words or less? Is there a prize?
Let me get this straight. Fast and Furious was basically about letting guns “walk” into Mexico in the hope they could be traced to cartels. The White House was supposedly briefed on the plan but didn’t know the particulars of the plan which is the purpose of contact and a briefing.
Sounds like BS to me.
Is this a “What did he know, and when did he know it?” moment?
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