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Documents Suggest Bush Administration Used 'Fast And Furious' Tactics
NPR ^ | January 5, 2012 | Carrie Johnson

Posted on 01/06/2012 11:01:26 AM PST by neverdem

The Justice Department sent nearly 500 pages of documents to Republican lawmakers Thursday that suggest the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may have used questionable tactics and lost track of American-made weapons in a gun trafficking investigation on the Mexican border as early as 2006.

The documents sent to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) could add a new dimension to a political controversy that's raged on Capitol Hill for a year. Issa and other Republican lawmakers have accused the Obama administration of acting recklessly by losing track of almost 2,000 guns on the Southwest border in a botched ATF operation called Fast and Furious. Two of those weapons were recovered near the body of slain U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

The newly released email messages and briefing papers suggest there may be similarities between the Obama operation "Fast and Furious" and an earlier effort during the Bush administration to target the flow of guns into Mexico. The papers include several communications between ATF supervisors and Justice Department prosecutors in Arizona who were trying to build a case against "a very powerful, aggressive and violent" Mexican drug cartel in an earlier operation dubbed "Wide Receiver."

A senior Obama administration Justice Department official who briefed reporters on the documents said the papers show law enforcement officers in the Bush years could have filed criminal conspiracy and false statements charges against lower level figures in the gun trafficking operation, but they decided to watch and wait until they could move higher up the chain of command.

"We want the... manufacturing and distribution pieces also – we want it all," an ATF official wrote in March 2006.

The case ultimately languished in the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona until the Obama administration sent help from Washington D.C. and indictments were handed down in May and October 2010. Six people have been convicted in connection with Wide Receiver, the senior Justice Department official said.

The new disclosures could be featured in a Feb. 2 hearing where Attorney General Eric Holder will square off against Issa over the ATF failures. The last time the two men met on Capitol Hill, fireworks erupted, when Issa likened Holder to the Nixon era Attorney General John Mitchell and Holder reached back to the era of Joseph McCarthy and asked Issa whether he "had any shame."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Mexico; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: atf; banglist; batfe; dea; dhs; doj; fastandfurious; fbi; gunrunner; gunwalker; holder; issa; obama; propaganda; widereceiver
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Holder testified that he knows the differences between F&F and Wide Receiver. Sen. Cornyn pushed him to admit that in Wide Receiver the guns had tracking devices and the GOM was involved. Maybe we'll find out how Bill Newell, Dennis Burke, and the DOJ came up with F&F strategy and why they would lie to Grassley. The only thing that makes any sense is that F&F was a "false flag" operation with political motives. Isn't it odd that the DOJ has not thanked the whistle blowers for their service and courage to come forward and save lives? Thursday, January 05, 2012 11:17:46 PM

NPR got nailed for its spin of Wide Receiver in the comment section.

1 posted on 01/06/2012 11:01:30 AM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Right....of course it was Bush that started it.

Hmmmm....didn’t the Democrats take control in 2006? Funny how this stuff always spins back to Bush’s fault...especially during the time the Dems controlled things.


2 posted on 01/06/2012 11:04:15 AM PST by Lucky9teen (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.~Thomas Jeffer)
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To: neverdem

This is half a click away from using the excuse that it was all Bush’s fault.


3 posted on 01/06/2012 11:04:19 AM PST by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all......)
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To: neverdem

I don’t see how this has any resemblance to what Obama was doing. I see the word “could” used in the article. Looks like NPR is putting up a smoke screen to try and cover for Obama.


4 posted on 01/06/2012 11:05:06 AM PST by Parley Baer
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To: neverdem

Even if this is true, “they did it too” is NOT a valid defense for the actions of this administration.


5 posted on 01/06/2012 11:05:25 AM PST by WayneS (Comments now include 25% MORE sarcasm for no additional charge...)
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To: neverdem
SUGGEST the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives MAY have used QUESTIONABLE tactics

Weasel words. Good grief!

6 posted on 01/06/2012 11:05:52 AM PST by 1raider1
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To: neverdem

this is not acceptable no matter who started it, opr who could have and should have terminated it. people are being killed, and this is wrong whether it is a dem or a rep.


7 posted on 01/06/2012 11:06:44 AM PST by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: Lucky9teen

Oliver type writer.


8 posted on 01/06/2012 11:09:09 AM PST by org.whodat (Just another heartless American, hated by "AMNESTY" Newt, Willard, Perry and nervous supporters.)
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To: Parley Baer

HERESY! Nationalized People’s Radio would never do that for Dear Leader.


9 posted on 01/06/2012 11:09:27 AM PST by WOBBLY BOB (Congress: Looting the future to bribe the present.)
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To: neverdem
The papers include several communications between ATF supervisors and Justice Department prosecutors in Arizona who were trying to build a case against "a very powerful, aggressive and violent" Mexican drug cartel in an earlier operation dubbed "Wide Receiver."

The Obama administration was trying to build a case against American gun merchants. Difference #1.

the papers show law enforcement officers in the Bush years could have filed criminal conspiracy and false statements charges against lower level figures in the gun trafficking operation, but they decided to watch and wait until they could move higher up the chain of command.

The Obama administration didn't watch at all. They didn't care where the guns ended up, apparently. Difference #2.

This writer may have some profession or other, but she sure ain't a journalist.

10 posted on 01/06/2012 11:09:37 AM PST by skeeter
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To: neverdem
Obama Administration Rule Number 1:

1. When all else fails. Blame Bush.

11 posted on 01/06/2012 11:11:05 AM PST by apillar
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To: neverdem

Every BAD thing Bush II did, Obama repeated IN SPADES.

BOTH are wrong and one of the reasons this doofus is sitting in the Oval is his predecessor. The other reason just endorsed Romney (John McPain).


12 posted on 01/06/2012 11:11:05 AM PST by ZULU (LIBERATE HAGIA SOPHIA!!!!!)
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To: neverdem

Well then, that mikes it all OK, huh?


13 posted on 01/06/2012 11:12:01 AM PST by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: WayneS
Even if this is true, “they did it too” is NOT a valid defense for the actions of this administration.

No kidding...I guess this makes it okay not to pay my taxes because Obama's cabinet didn't pay their's.

14 posted on 01/06/2012 11:12:40 AM PST by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: WayneS
“they did it too” is NOT a valid defense

WRONG! For a liberal this is the most valid defense in existence.

15 posted on 01/06/2012 11:12:54 AM PST by Drill Thrawl (The patient is too far gone to save.)
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To: Lucky9teen

I have noticed an absolutely frantic and widespread ‘Bush did it’ effort on the part of the lefty media and their unthinking, unblinking minions since the New Year arrived.

They must realize that selling Obama is a fool’s errand so they’re going back to 2007 and beyond.


16 posted on 01/06/2012 11:13:56 AM PST by relictele (Green energy is neither)
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To: neverdem

1. “Bush did it too” is not an excuse in any court.

2. Thanks Dubya!


17 posted on 01/06/2012 11:14:41 AM PST by MetaThought
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

Heyyyyyyy.

You might be on to something, there...


18 posted on 01/06/2012 11:16:24 AM PST by WayneS (Comments now include 25% MORE sarcasm for no additional charge...)
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To: WayneS

“Even if this is true, “they did it too” is NOT a valid defense for the actions of this administration.”

Right, but it is the only defense they have - valid or not. Of course when we try to apply their standards to our actions in the future (vis-a-vis recess appointments or anything for that matter), the gnashing of teeth will be able to be heard from outer space. I think Glen Beck played the sound of it on his show about a year or so ago.

Let’s face it... if we are unwilling to play by their rules we will always get beat by them (moral equivalence being ingrained in the public mindset and all).


19 posted on 01/06/2012 11:16:46 AM PST by jurroppi1
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To: neverdem
Mom: "Johnny, get your hand out of that cookie jar!"

Johnny: "But Susie stole cookies."

20 posted on 01/06/2012 11:17:12 AM PST by matt1234 (Bring back the HUAC.)
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