Difference between revisions of "Operation Fast and Furious"

Revision as of 01:39, September 28, 2012

Operation Fast and Furious (also known as Project Gunwalker) is a government-funded program of the White House^[1] United States Treasury Department Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Justice Department involving the illegal sale of guns used by Mexican drug gangs from the United States to drug cartels, and other gangs in Mexico. Ann Coulter reported the purpose of the operation was "to strengthen liberals' argument for gun control." ^[2]

Operation Fast and Furious has developed into an enormous scandal and failure for the Obama administration. Two U.S. border guards were killed as a direct result of Fast and Furious, and Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt for refusing to answer a House subpoena about it.

The ATF named their operation Fast and Furious, but according to many it will go down in history by its more descriptive title: "Gunwalker."^[3] On July 26, 2011, during a hearing on the gunwalking operation, ATF Special Agent Bill Newell told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010.^[4]

While the United States Congress was conducting an investigation into why the Executive Branch allowed high-powered guns to be "walked" to drug cartels, the liberal Media, Democrat politicians, Attorney General Eric Holder and the White House attempted to cover-up the facts;^[5] the Obama administration is reportedly intimidating witnesses into not testifying to Congress.^[6] Other known crimes, in Mexico and in America, have been traced to these weapons provided by the U.S. government. Gunwalker firearms are turning up in Arizona gun crimes, and some of the firearms in question may not have ever left the United States at all.^[7] "Our federal government may bear responsibility for at least 200 murders committed with “walked” firearms." ^[8] Ed Morrissey claims, "at least 300 lives" have been needlessly lost. ^[9]

Ongoing Event

New details of Operation Fast and Furious are still being uncovered because this is an ongoing event. As cover, President Barack Obama has decidedly turned to the Department of Justice inspector general to investigate the crime.^[10] President Obama intends to use the Gunwalker scandal as a means for implementing stricter gun control.^[11][12][13]

News

Conservapedia's In the News featured story on July 7, 2011:

As Hot Air noted, "...before Congressional investigators, Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), revealed important new details of Operation Fast and Furious..."^[15]

• The ATF isn’t the only agency to bear some responsibility for the botched operation that sent guns to Mexico. The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Agency seem to have possessed information that could have had a material impact on Fast and Furious (i.e. info that could have eliminated or reduced the ostensible ‘need’ for the operation in the first place). Or, as the letter puts it, “We have very real indications from several sources that some of the gun trafficking ‘higher-ups’ that the ATF sought to identify were already known to other agencies and may even have been paid as informants.”
• Taxpayer money was likely used to finance the gunrunning. “The evidence we have gathered raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities.”
• Senior ATF officials would have preferred to cooperate with Congressional inquiries — but “Department of Justice officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress.”
• Melson was at no point asked to resign.

External links on Project GunWalker

• A journalist's guide to 'Project Gunwalker'-Part One
• Death in the Desert: Project Gunwalker and the ATF Cover-Up
• ATF Gunwalker (Grassley/Issa letter timeline links)
• Could Gunwalker be Obama's Watergate?
• ATF Gunwalker Scandal Set to Blow
• Project Gunrunner Tied Directly to President Obama

References

1. ↑ White House delayed rule meant to stop gun flow to Mexico, Sari Horwitz and James V. Grimaldi, Washington Post, December 17, 2010
2. ↑ [1]
3. ↑ The Definitive Scandal: ‘Gunwalker’ Much Worse Than ‘Iran-Contra’, Pajamas Media, July 8, 2011.
4. ↑ Sharyl Attkisson. ATF Manager says he shared Fast and Furious Info with White House, CBS News, July 26, 2011.
5. ↑ Mark Hemingway. Obama Admin Seals Records of Murdered Border Patrol Agent Implicated in Fast and Furious, The Weekly Standard, November 30, 2011.
6. ↑ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/26/issa-atf-warns-witnesses-to-limit-testimony/
7. ↑ http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gunwalker-terrorizing-america-too-guns-show-up-in-u-s/
8. ↑ MSM Sheep: Ignoring the Scandal of the Century, Pajama's Media, September 28, 2011
9. ↑ It's time for Eric Holder to resign, The Week, December 20, 2011
10. ↑ Bob Owens. DOJ Inspector General Can’t Be Trusted to Investigate Gunwalker, Pajamas Media, July 8, 2011.
11. ↑ Obama’s Assault On The Second Amendment: Project Gunwalker, Tarpon's Swamp, March 4, 2011.
12. ↑ Roger Hedgecock. Obama's the Target of Mexico Gunrunning Probe, Human Events, June 17, 2011.
13. ↑ Obama’s Latest ‘Gun Control’ Proposal will not Close ‘Gunwalker Loophole’, Posted on March 15, 2011 by 2ndAmendmentright.org.
14. ↑ [2]
15. ↑ ...the post-testimony fallout...