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| Project Gunwalker: CBS Begins the "Blame Bush" |
| 2011-10-05 |
| The ATF, the agency that's supposed to stop gun smuggling, turned a blind eye for years, as hundreds of guns "walked" across the Mexican border, CBS News has learned. In a report on "The Early Show," CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson said a confidential informant has come forward "with a fascinating story of how U.S. agents began letting guns 'walk' across the Mexican border - more than four years ago." Gun enthusiast and licensed dealer Mike Detty said he was working a Tucson, Ariz., gun show in early 2006 when a young Hispanic man bought a half-dozen semi-automatic rifles. He paid $1,600 cash. Detty recalled, "But then he asked if I had more, and I told him that later in the month I would have another 20 from my supplier. And he said, 'I'll take 'em all.'" Detty said he suspected the buyer was trafficking for a drug cartel. Tucson is just an hour from the Mexican border and a popular shopping center for smugglers. Detty notified ATF - the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. To his surprise, ATF told him to go ahead with the big sale and sent an undercover agent to watch. Then, a local ATF manager made an unusual and dangerous proposition: He asked Detty to be a confidential informant. Detty told CBS News, "He said, 'Mike, I think we've got a real chance at taking out a powerful cartel. Can you help us?' I made that commitment. And I really thought I was doing something good." Detty said he even signed an informant contract. As he understood it, he'd sell to suspected traffickers. Agents would track the weapons, expose the cartel's inner workings, and then interdict the guns before they could ever get loose on the street - or so Detty thought. Detty said his business, "Mad Dawg," catered to this dangerous clientele in his living-room showroom. ATF agents watched and listened outside. Detty said ATF would have a small audio recording device. Sometimes it was hidden in a box of Kleenex," he said. One of the biggest cases was code-named: "Operation Wide Receiver." Attkisson asked Detty, "Do you know about how many guns we're talking about?" Detty said, "It's right around 450." Detty came forward after things didn't work out as Detty had thought they would. Detty says he realized ATF was letting guns "walk" and instead of helping to take down cartels, he'd helped ATF arm them. Attkisson asked, "When you look back and think in hindsight knowing what we know now - that all those guns were going on the street - what do you think about?" Detty said, "It really makes me sick." Attkisson noted that all this happened under the Bush administration - three years before the start of "Fast and Furious," the better-known ATF operation under the Obama administration that has come under scrutiny . "Fast and Furious" allegedly let thousands of weapons fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, and is now the subject of two investigations. Attkisson said efforts to reach former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who was in office when "Wide Receiver" started under the Bush administration, were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, his successor is under fire. Republicans are calling for a special prosecutor to investigate whether Attorney General Eric Holder told the truth when he testified earlier this year to Congress about when he first knew about 'Fast and Furious.'" According to Atkisson, "gunwalking" may not be limited to border towns. She said, "We have found allegations of gunwalking in at least 10 cities in five states, so this apparently was not isolated to Arizona." |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #4 Should have known it was all Bush's fault. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-10-05 15:50 |
| #3 Well, we do know, Obama/Holder took a small program known to fail, implemented it on a much larger scale, and expected a different outcome. Google "wide receiver" guns -- and you get the "story of the day" about gun walking -- Bush era etc, etc, etc. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2011-10-05 15:19 |
| #2 The difference is that during the Bush administration, the straw buyers were arrested before they reached the border. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2011-10-05 14:54 |
| #1 Attkisson has been working the Gunwalker story from the beginning, despite much hope of ever getting through the editorial objections. Now she's finally found an angle that will work. It seems that much the same program existed in the Bush and Obama BATF and Justice Departments: why? What missing underlying motivation or fact are we still not seeing? (Or is it like illegal immigration, where both sides want the same thing, but one side for the cheap labor and the other for the cheap votes?) In any case, I'm all for her chasing the story even if it ends up being mostly on the Bush administration. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-10-05 12:42 |