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Project Gunwalker: ATF Accused in Congressional Report of 'Arming' Cartel for 'War'
On July 26, 2011, just before Issa's hearing, The Department of Justices Operation Fast and Furious: Fueling Cartel Violence JOINT STAFF REPORT was released by Issa and Grassley. read it here I knew of the report, but hadn't read it. Today, I ran across this report from Fox that had info that had come out in the report, but not in the hearings. Some of the interesting parts (new to me anyway): The failed federal anti-gunrunning program known as Operation Fast and Furious got so out of control in November 2009, it appeared the U.S. government was single-handedly "arming for war" the Sinaloa Cartel, documents show, even as U.S. officials kept lying to fellow agents in Mexico about the volume of guns it helped send south of the border. Those shocking allegations are revealed in the latest congressional report investigating the operation. At one point, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say guns sold under the program took just 24 hours to travel from a gun store in Phoenix to a crime scene in Mexico. ATF agents there pleaded for help but were told nothing about Fast and Furious, which was intended to let guns "walk" in order to track them to higher-profile traffickers. ------------------------ Meanwhile, the report claims the agents' superiors in Washington met every Tuesday, to review the latest sales figures and the number of guns recovered in Mexico. "How long are you going to let this go on?" Steve Martin, an assistant director of intelligence operations asked the ATF top brass at a meeting Jan. 5, 2010, according to a transcript of the meeting contained in the congressional report. None of the men responded and several quickly left the room, the transcript reveals. --------------------------- By Feb. 27, 2010, Lanny Breuer, the head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., was allegedly told that the ATF had successfully helped sell 1,026 weapons worth more than $650,000 to members of the Sinaloa cartel. The briefing included all top ATF officials, including the agents in charge in Los Angeles and Houston, as well as a half dozen top Justice Department attorneys. "So there's no doubt after this briefing that guns in this case were being linked to the Sinaloa cartel?" a congressional investigator asked Martin during a July 2011 interview. "I'd say yes." Martin replied. "Very apparent to everyone in the room? the investigator asked. "That's correct," Martin said. --------------------------------------------------- In December 2009, Southwest Border Czar Ray Rowley Yes, one of Obama's Czars, now retired threatened to expose Operation Fast and Furious because of "the large number of guns that had already been trafficked" but ATF officials talked him out of it. The precise number of casualties in Mexico isn't known, but ATF officials confirm the murder of Mario Gonzales Rodriguez, brother of the Chihuahua attorney general, with a Fast and Furious gun. According to the report, the U.S. knew for eight months of the link between the ATF operation and his death, but refused to tell any Mexican officials. Finally the acting ATF attaché told the Mexican Attorney General Maricela Morales. Her reply, "Hijole," which translates into "Oh my." Posted by: Sherry 2011-08-01 |
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