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| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico | |
| 2011-03-04 | |
"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was." An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen. Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States. Dodson's bosses say that never happened. Now, he's risking his job to go public. Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico. ATF named the case "Fast and Furious." Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles. So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it. Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets... the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence. Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. "I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two," he said. "The more our guys buy, the more violence we're having down there." Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over. Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs." There was so much opposition to the gun walking, that an ATF supervisor issued an e-mail noting a "schism" among the agents. "Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case...we are doing what they envisioned.... If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work... Maybe the Maricopa County jail is hiring detention officers and you can get $30,000 ... to serve lunch to inmates..." "We just knew it wasn't going to end well. There's just no way it could," Dodson said. On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague. According to Dodson, "They said, 'Did you hear about the border patrol agent?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And they said 'Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.' There's not really much you can say after that." Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry's murder. Dodson said, "I felt guilty. I mean it's crushing. I don't know how to explain it." Sen. Grassley began investigating after his office spoke to Dodson and a dozen other ATF sources -- all telling the same story. The response was "practically zilch," Grassley said. "From the standpoint that documents we want - we have not gotten them. I think it's a case of stonewalling." Dodson said they never did take down a drug cartels. However, he said thousands of Fast and Furious weapons are still out there and will be claiming victims on both sides of the border for years to come. Late tonight, the ATF said it will convene a panel to look into its national firearms trafficking strategy. But it refused to comment specifically on Sharyl's report. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #16 tipover - I didn't know that. Thanks. This whole deal is extremely FUBAR. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2011-03-04 13:39 |
| #15 CBS is reporting this story? Did hell freeze over or is there more, or less, to the story than they are willing to tell? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-03-04 12:33 |
| #14 Were they trying to pin the loss of these rifles on average joe and the 2nd ammendment? Do I need to re-evaluate Colderon's speech to the US Congress? What is the theory here? Was boss cartel going to go pick the guns up like in the movies? I'd think at best a cell would be charged, but only if Mexico shared the information how does that go? Oh those guns used in that assault against Police Headquarters, yeah we sold them to the bad guys, they are breaking the law so now you can go arrest them. Sure you can borrow our helicopter but watch out they are well armed, trust us on that. Unlikely. So, if true, we have a government organization arming and contributing to a group which destabilizes the Mexican Government? Yes the scary question is to what end? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-03-04 12:32 |
| #13 If you're going to give weapons to bad guys you ought to at least modify them so they don't work very well - or better still, work against the shooter. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-03-04 12:21 |
| #12 it might be a disgruntled senior agent Yep, might be. However, it's one hellva nuke hand grenade to take the bastards with you. The Bureau folks never had the ethics lesson that not only the act but the appearance of the act is unacceptable. This simply reinforces that lesson unlearned. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-03-04 10:30 |
| #11 I can see it being true. The guns are tied to US shops, crackdowns happen, anti-gun legislation is passes, ATF gets more funding and power and liberals get more anti-gun laws. Win-win-win for everyone in power. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-03-04 10:08 |
| #10 If they can just tie ONE of those weapons to a murder, just ONE! These people must go! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-03-04 09:42 |
| #9 This could be true. The ATF has been involved in shady $hit before. On the other hand, it might be a disgruntled senior agent who didn't get promoted or get a raise. He may also be an honest agent who can't abide this and is whistle-blowing. I noted this story was reported by Sharyl Attkisson on ace investigative reporterette (sarc on) Katy Couric's website. This may be a hit piece on guns and the left's |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-03-04 09:11 |
| #8 There's a lot of money sloshing around here. Look at what the Soviets could buy from Aldrich Ames for a pittance. Should we be surprised that there are equally weak and greedy humans working at the glorious BATF? Just another reason to legalize. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-03-04 09:11 |
| #7 I get treated like a de facto criminal every time I want to buy a revolver or hunting rifle, and the government gives guns to non-citizens like eating popcorn? If this is true, it will not go away. This is something that will strike America's consciousness like a gut punch, on two levels. One, it is another reminder that although we love our guns, for all the right reasons, we are subjected to unreasonable regulation to use them legally. Two, once again, we will have objective proof that the NPR-listening cultural-educational elite ruling class more highly regards scurrilous no-account foreigners than it does its own middle class center/right majority. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2011-03-04 05:57 |
| #6 Now you know why a couple of days ago, Obama meets with Mexican President Calderon and gives him a fat trucking deal. To try to buy him off just as this is hitting the fan, Chicago style. However...the people who have been victims of this outrage should make these politicians wish they were never born. |
| Posted by: Unavinter Henbane7582 2011-03-04 03:05 |
| #5 He ought to resign anyway. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-03-04 02:50 |
| #4 Holder ought to resign. Immediately. Looks to me like he is possibly accessory to murder. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2011-03-04 02:46 |
| #3 BH6; I have seen reference that the shops were told to complete the sales by the BATF. If that pans out the stink goes all the way to the top as that means the Background Check was falsified at the top, in DC. |
| Posted by: tipover 2011-03-04 01:27 |
| #2 I have been watching this story for coupla weeks now, but I can't credit it either way. |
| Posted by: badanov 2011-03-04 00:51 |
| #1 this sounds like b.s. - but if it turns out to be true, then damn - has to be one of the most retarded things I've ever heard a federal agency trying to pull off... BTW - what Phoenix gun shop was selling AK-47s to illegals or even Mex-American criminals? Unless it was from a private owner, Every piece I've ever bought I've been background checked like it's cool. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2011-03-04 00:42 |