The Definitive Scandal: ‘Gunwalker’ Much Worse Than ‘Iran-Contra’
On October 5, 1986, a former U.S. Air Force C-123 transport plane was shot down in Nicaragua. The pilots and radio operator perished when the plane crashed, but a former U.S. Marine who was a cargo handler on the aircraft was able to parachute to safety. He was captured by the Nicaraguan government.
The former Marine, Eugene Hasenfus, claimed to be a cargo handler for the CIA. His capture and trial began the unraveling of what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair, which saw 14 Reagan-era officials indicted and eleven convictions for a plot that traded arms to Iran for hostages and illegally funded Nicaragua’s anti-communist rebels.
On December 14, 2010, a special unit of the U.S. Border Patrol came across a group of heavily armed suspects near Rio Rico, Arizona. The Border Patrol team identified themselves as law enforcement officers, at which point the armed men open fire. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was hit in the pelvis by a single bullet and died the next morning. One of the suspects was captured, and two AK-pattern semiautomatic rifles recovered at the scene were identified by serial number as weapons that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) — acting in concert with and with the blessing of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) — allowed weapons smugglers to purchase at U.S. gun shops. The weapons were just two of more than 2,000 firearms that ATF supervisors and the highest levels of DOJ management allowed to be “walked” across the border to narco-terrorist drug cartels in Mexico, in a scandal that promises to be more damning and deadly than Iran-Contra.
The ATF named their operation Fast and Furious, but it will go down in history by its more descriptive title: “Gunwalker.”
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding hearings this week on Gunwalker, and seems to be squaring up for a political duel with the Obama administration, which is seeking to block all access to official information about the operation. To date, the information collected by the committee has come from ATF whisteblowers, agents inside the operation who fought against senior government officials who were “giddy” over the death and violence from the roughly 2000+ weapons that they allowed smugglers to take across the border — weapons that seemed to be raising the body count in what was arguably becoming a Mexican civil war.
A damning and detailed 51-page report — The Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents (.pdf) — was released by the committee on Tuesday. The report captured testimony from ATF field agents who fought with their supervisors over orders that flew in direct contradiction to their primary order: to always follow the suspect with the gun and always interdict to keep the weapon from being used in a crime.
The report’s findings:
“DOJ and ATF inappropriately and recklessly relied on a 20-year-old ATF Order to allow guns to walk.” The agencies misrepresented the intention of the order to justify their actions.
“Supervisors told the agents to ‘get with the program’ because senior ATF officials had sanctioned the operation.” At least one agent was cautioned that if he didn’t stop complaining about the dangerous nature of the operation, he would find himself out of a job, and lucky to be working in a prison.
“Operation Fast and Furious contributed to the increasing violence and deaths in Mexico. This result was regarded with giddy optimism by ATF supervisors hoping that guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico would provide the nexus to straw purchasers in Phoenix.” ATF officials were seemingly unconcerned over the deaths of Mexican law enforcement officers, soldiers, and innocent civilians, noting that you had to “scramble a few eggs” to make an omelette, in a callous disregard of human life.
Senior ATF personnel including Acting Director Ken Melson, and senior Department of Justice officials at least up to an assistant attorney general, were well aware of and supported the operation.
Department of Justice officials hid behind semantics to lie and deny that they allowed guns to be walked across the border.
When asked by the Oversight Committee how many of 1,750 specific weapons that “walked” under orders of the ATF and DOJ could have been interdicted if agents were allowed to act as they were trained, the agents answered they could have stopped every single one.
Greetings:
Quoting: “AK-pattern semiautomatic rifles”
I really liked the way you described the weapons involved as opposed to the gratuitously inaccurate, but much more common, “assault weapons”. Too bad they don’t teach your wording in our Journalism schools.
Concur. Very precise, concise and accurate term to help draw the distinction between military grade AKs and civilian semi-autos based on the AK design. I applaud you as well.
‘Assault Weapons’ has a very specific legal definition here in CA (about 3 pages long and includes some shotguns)
Magazines for semiautomatic weapons holding over 10 rounds are also categorized as “assault weapons” in California.
Yes, however we are not all in California. So we appreciate the distinction being made.
The bottom line is that there is effectively no real difference between a gun that has been deemed to be an “Assault Weapon” and any other type of weapon other than it’s Scary appearance.
The term ‘assault’ has been defined as a violent physical or verbal attack, this means that any type of weapon could be considered an “Assault Weapon” per say.
This intellectually vague term that can be applied to just about anything that could be used to attack another, therefore, any type of gun, knife, club, tree branch, etc. could fit this description.
And by extension, this type of loose language could be used to ban any type of weapon –including all types of guns, not just the ones someone arbitrarily decides are scary looking.
Also concur. The author better watch out or he will be kicked out of the profession.
(I usually just call them “Kalashnikovs”. No way to know if they are machine guns, AK-47 or AK-74, without examining them, or seeing them fired.)
Made in Romania, reconfigured in Vermont with more lethal features, and marketed along the Southwest border, the WASR-10 has become the #1 gun recovered at Mexican crime scenes.
A semi-automatic variant of the AK-47, the WASR-10 is one of the most popular “weapons of choice” among Mexico’s drug cartels and a central player in the ongoing drug war that has claimed almost 35,000 lives over the past four years.
This Web-exclusive investigation of the Romanian AK tracks the circuitous route it travels, extending more than 7,000 miles from Romania through the U.S. and into Mexico. Along the way, the gun is transformed from a slimmed-down “sporting purposes” version — to pass the import test — into a lethal assault weapon that is heavily marketed in Southwest gun stores.
The journey of the WASR-10 sheds light on how firearms’ importers circumnavigate an import ban that’s been on the books for more than 40 years. And it reveals the limitations of law-enforcement efforts to staunch the flow of weapons into Mexico.
A joint investigation by FRONTLINE, the Investigative Reporting Workshop, The Center for Public Integrity, InSight and the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gunrunners-mexico/#ixzz1PTeLcNWh
“it reveals the limitations of law-enforcement efforts to staunch the flow of weapons into Mexico.”
You have that backwards. Law enforcement (BATFE) was AIDING AND ABETTING the flow of weapons into Mexico.
I was going to call BS on the PBS story, but the multiple commenters at the link you provided did a fine job of demonstrating how truly and profoundly ignorant and biased the PBS authors of the story are.
“And it reveals the limitations of law-enforcement efforts to staunch the flow of weapons into Mexico.”
Uh, not really. The primary enabler of semi-auto AK pattern-weapons into Mexico is a US Government Agency, the BATF. The BATF is the primary federal law enforcement agency dealing with firearms.
The very government that is supposed to enforce the law is not doing so, and has become the problem. There is little doubt that the BATF, the Justice Dept., and most likely the POTUS were behind the efforts to “walk” weapons into Mexico in a lame attempt to connect guns sold in the US to the drug war ongoing in Mexico. All so the government could justify more gun control. With no concern for lives lost, for damage done, families destroyed, no concern for anything other than a liberal agenda. There are a number of people in the Obama Administration who need to go to jail.
Amen, J Knight, amen.
The BATF and the DOJ with an able assist from State. As I recall, Secretary Clinton noted on several occasions that guns purchased in the US were showing up in the hands of the Mexican cartels, something she attributed to lax controls. I’m sure Mrs. Clinton would be delighted to sign the UN small arms treaty.
Wow, Jaybo! You mean, there’s been a “law on the books” for 40 years, and the criminals found a way around it? I am shocked, I tell you, shocked!!! Maybe we need more GUN CONTROL to stop this from happening!!! (/sarcasm)
And, in the same vein, we need more DRUG CONTROLS to stop this from happening! (/sarc)
Darn that Law of Unintended Consequences!
“More lethal features”?
Here’s a hint, those WASRs are lethal to whatever degree solely because of the round they fire. The “features” added are aesthetic only.
The lack of knowledge about guns of most journalists and gun control supporters is demonstrated by their unthinking repetition of Brady bunch gripe.
Here’s a tip, “scarier looking to the ignorant” /= “more dangerous”.
The crime is not sales along the American SW border to genuine US authorized gun buyers, but that the ATF/Justice/Obamaostration was attempting to subvert the God-given rights of People/Americans to defend themselves with the best available tools. Gunwalker is all about creating a crisis to justify an end-run around the 2nd Amendment via international treaty. The Small Arms Treaty will authorize every level of US and international law enforcement to crack down on all legal ownership/transfer/use/mfg/distribution of now-legal rifles/pistols/shotguns/ammo/accessories, AND THEY WILL.
It’s treason at the highest level, demanding life at SUPERMAX or a short rope with a long fall. Those who roll get a few years, and those who don’t should hang. All the way up to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., if we want to save the Nation.
Let’s not pretend that the “style” of the weapon has the slightest bit to do with what’s going on.
Cheers.
Jaybo, the article you linked to simply says that something was done to the rifles to make them deadlier, without saying exactly what was done to them.
So, you are the expert here, right? Come on, tell us how they were made deadlier.
While you are at it, rank the 7.62×39 in muzzle velocity and range. What is the 7.62X39 usually compared to? (Hint: It’s a very common deer rifle.)
It’s also been alleged, rather plausibly in light of past events, that Gunwalker was part of a new strategy to persuade the public of the absolute necessity of federal gun registration…and ultimately, a tight new regime of federal gun control.
Whatever the motivations, the affair strongly suggests that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should be defunded and disbanded, and whatever useful functions it might have performed doled out to other agencies.
I don’t think this program had anything to do with the cartels. It was always justification for restricting legal gun sales in the United States.
The same people in the Administration who were constantly claiming that the cartels were being supplied by American weapons – were the ones supplying them with American weapons!
The best part of the story – the gun dealers who wouldn’t dream of selling multiple guns to these obvious crooks without the ATF being there and telling them to do it.
Absolutely! This is right out of the Alinsky playbook. Create a crisis so that you can propose a “solution.” Chasing cartels was never the real goal – justifying regulations gutting the 2nd amendment was. This was an effort by the Obama administration to implicate legal US gun sales in Mexican drug cartel murders and border crimes within the US, thus justifying more regulations and restrictions on gun ownership inside the US. Chasing after the drug cartels was only used as a cover.
Prior to this scandal coming out, we were starting to see stories everywhere in the news about how easy it was for Mexicans to get guns from the US. Little did we know that it was easy because the ATF was making it so. Notice how the Democrats and the MSM have quit talking about this issue now that the scandal has come out?
This was an attempt to justify destruction of the second amendment. Our national socialist party doesn’t like an armed populace for obvious reasons. This is pure treason and criminal to the point that everyone who pushed this “policy” are guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
Daniel and Old Soldier-you are both on target.
This ‘project’ was meant to shoot down the 2nd amendment, NO doubt about it.They will allow the killing of as many innocent people as possible to kill this Constitutional right.
In Israel, according to perennial peace processor,President Peres, AKA Sheikh Peres,these Gunwalker deaths would be akin to his thousands of ‘sacrifices for peace’-well worth the price.
Consider that the ATF agents were specifically told to not track the guns after they had been transferred to an unknown person after sale.
Consider that in other operations, the ATF does not let functional firearms to “Walk” ANYWHERE.
Consider that there were no attempts at cooperation with Mexican law enforcement or that there would have been now way to actually accomplish what was supposedly the intent of the operation – that of taking down the Mexican gun running operations.
The only logical conclusion is that this was an attempt by the Obama administration to create a serious crisis with which to subvert the Bill or Rights.
There is no other logical conclusion.
Old Soldier, that’s exactly what I was thinking. A few months ago it seemed every news source was talking about how all these assualt rifles were being sold by American dealers and it was killing alot of innocent people. So really I can’t see how anyone seriously thinks this is about cartels. This was what lefites all scream about, a false flag operation. But it was used against an (somewhat) ally and was to decieve the American public.
So the interesting thing is in what ways will the MSM minimize the story, and try to spin it. There are still alot of people who don’t know about the ‘hide the decline’ emails. Yet the MSM was so blantant to go through Palin’s private emails.
The truth that is coming out, and which the administration has labored mightily to conceal, is that Holder and the DOJ were engaged in a deliberate attempt to create a story and atmosphere in which there would be a public outcry for gun control here in the U.S. This is the “low key” effort Obama referenced several weeks ago, only coincident with the story’s implosion. Let the indictment begin.
Remember that semi-private talk Prez O had with Brady Campaign et al? He was working on gun control “under radar,” probably looking for executive actions like banning the WWII rifles that were going to be imported from Korea.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/25/obama-were-working-on-gun-control-under-the-radar/
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/01/obama-administration-reverses-course-forbids-sale-antique-m-rifles/
So the readers are right. I don’t like conspiracy theories, but in this case, if the shoe fits… Obama and his entire administration hate your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Would they use government power to create a crisis, after continually claiming that 90% (now it’s 70%) of the cartel guns come from America?
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/06/10/atf-%e2%80%9870-of-mexican-cartel-guns-originate-in-u-s-%e2%80%99/
Facts don’t support you? Make some. We have the power and the technology, via a compliant media, to put over a big lie. It’s for a good cause, after all. Right?
That’s precisely what I thought as well. This administration’s first goal in everything is CONTROLING THE US POPULATION. They might have thought with their total lack of understanding that they would go after the cartels, but their first objective was to use this to promote new Gun Control laws.
BATFE serves exactly no useful purpose, and never has since Richard Nixon created it out of the old Alcohol,Tobacco, and Firearms Tax Division of Treasury in 1970. And at least some of its purposes (having nothing to do with firearms) are in direct violation of U.S. Federal Law.
On the firearms side, BATFE is exactly non-operational other than pursuing tighter gun laws. To wit;
1. When someone buys a firearm from a dealer, and undergoes the background check, it’s done by the FBI, not BATFE. And FBI agents will tell you that BATFE is “extremely uncooperative” in any Bureau inquiries on such checks. (That’s a Bureau euphemism for “they tell us to blow it out our a$$es”, as one SAC told me.)
2. When a local agency sends a weapon to Washington for ballistics tests in a criminal case, it goes to… the FBI laboratory. The Bureau’s lab is one of the best there is, and they have a firearms library that exceeds the Aberdeen Proving Ground Museum for completeness. BATFE has a lab- on paper. And a firearms library- theoretically. No one can tell for sure, as they haven’t allowed anyone else access to either one, or used either one to assist in anyone else’s investigations, for four decades.
3. When a local agency needs help on an explosives-related case- see (2). BATFE doesn’t do tests on HE or bomb components for anyone else, either.
On the non-firearms side;
4. When ATF was moved from Treasury to Justice in 2004 (by a President who previously had considered abolishing the agency and giving its firearms records to the FBI- see [1] and [2]), it retained its excise-tax collection functions on not only firearms, but alcohol and tobacco. This violates several provisions of the Federal tax statutes, which clearly state that a Federal tax-collection agency (1) shall not exist outside of the Treasury Department, and (2) shall not also engage in law-enforcement functions related to its tax collection functions. (This was winked at during Prohibition, and like Prohibition itself was a bad and very foolish precedent.)
Since BATFE apparently now exists primarily only to (a) harass law-abiding citizens who happen to own firearms, and now is (b) busy violating Federal laws it is supposed to enforce to justify even more regulations it can use to accomplish (a), it can accurately be defined as a “rogue agency”.
It should therefore be abolished as a result. If anyone asks why, tell them that it was just one more of “Tricky Dick’s” bad ideas.
clear ether
eon
I don’t think that defunding ATF is the answer. It is counter productive actually. It was ATF agents themselves who blew the lid off this. If you get rid of them, you will be left with the FBI handling these cases and those agents will NEVER openly discredit their agency. This was about the Justice Department – Eric Holder demanding that they use a tactic that the agents knew were wrong and counter productive. Ever hear of an FBI whistle blower? No, and you never will. Yet dismantle the BATF and who do you think will be taking over the regulations BATF handle now?
Your throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
That’s what you do when you a serious internationalist subversive.
Stop thinking that these guys make “mistakes”.
Subversion aims at chaos.
In the economy and in anything else.
Don’t cultivate illusions, America is facing a deadly enemy, and it is NOT a person, it is a (pseudo-)culture, a network of organizations, a whole administration.
They think Guevara, not Jefferson.
Ooops !
Apologies.
“That’s what you do when you ARE a serious internationalist subversive.”
Better.
Obama, Holder, and friends think the US is omniculpable. They probably set this up to help prove it.
I think that this is a back handed way that the Obama administration tried to use for “gun control” or the disarming of America. What keeps this leftist government from doing what they really want is the fact that the opposition or right wing is well armed. So far thats the group that has been vocally opposed to this whole scene. I think that the people of the United States should finance a retirement home for Mr. Obama say in Guadalajara, Mexico. That way he can reap what he has sown.
“I think that this is a back handed way that the Obama administration tried to use for “gun control” or the disarming of America.”
Absolutely agree with this statement. ATF covert agents could/should have been used to set up weapon sales stings but instead they enlisted/coerced private gun shop owners to make their case for gun control. The more damage these weapons did, the better for their case as well. Frankly, I don’t know why Mexico hasn’t deemed this a deliberate act of hostility against their government.
Because President Calderon’ is heavily dependent on U.S. foreign aid to shore up Mexico’s collapsed economy, and his own government. Therefore, he isn’t about to say anything except what he reads from the script he gets from Obama.
As in anything else, follow the money.
cheers
eon
A bipartisan group of House members announced on Wednesday that it is filing a lawsuit charging that President Obama made an illegal end-run around Congress when he approved U.S military action against Libya.
“With regard to the war in Libya, we believe that the law was violated. We have asked the courts to move to protect the American people from the results of these illegal policies,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who led the 10-member anti-war coalition with Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).
The White House is expected on Wednesday to deliver to Congress a much-anticipated report detailing military activity in Libya.
According to Kucinich, the suit will challenge the Obama administration’s “circumvention of Congress and its use of international organizations such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to authorize the use of military force abroad.”
It also will ask a judge to prohibit the White House from conducting a war without congressional approval.
“Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.” Frederick Douglass
Excellent article. The only thing I don’t understand, though, is the part about Gunrunner being the adminisrtation’s “attempt to develop enough gun-running evidence to bring down a cartel…” Can anyone please explain it to me? I find the whole idea somewhat laughable.
I mean, if the Mexican government hasn’t been able to shut down the cartels by prosecuting them for (a) illegal drug sales; (b) kidnapping; (c) murder; (d) assault; (e) terroristic threats; (f) bribery; (g) etc., etc.; then there’s NO WAY that bringing gun-running charges against the cartels will make the job any easier.
So if anyone has insight on this subject, please enlighten us, thanks.
It doesn’t make sense to me, either.
Because I’m baffled, I’ll play conspiracy theorist: the administration wanted to maintain a relatively open-borders policy (or at least forestall opposing efforts to tighten the border), but had intelligence that Islamist terrorists were trying to cross the border.
So, in essence, they paid the cartels “protection money” (in this case, access to as many guns as they wanted); in return, the cartels would ensure that no/few Islamist terrorists got across the border.
I wish that was the case. Natch, I think that Islamists have enough cash or fighting ability to avoid the treatment that Central American mojados have often been subject to. Note that the mass graves found near Tamaulipas and other border areas rarely if never include “Asian” or “Middle Eastern” origin persons.
If this program was started by the Obama DOJ, I believe it is nothing more than prison justice being administered by black nationalists – get the Mexicans and Rednecks/Aryans mad at each other and kill each other off .
I’ve been hearing that crap since 9/11; “Ooh! Islamoterrorists may be crossing the Mexican border!” Wise up, mi amigos! Terrorists crossing the borders? Across barren, scorching deserts? Dodging bullets from people twice as bad as THEY are?! (Shrug) Maybe! OR, they can just get on a plane anywhere in the world, fly into JFK or O’Hare, get picked up by a limo owned by a mosque and get taken to their new homes in downtown ________. (Fill in the blank.) Then, why bother? They are being indoctrinated in downtown ______ even as we speak. All under the watchful protection of (Drum Fill!) “liberal inclusion!”
My POINT is, (Sorry for the caps; no font editing, here.) the terrorists don’t have to sneak into this country through Mexico – they’re HERE!
Besides, let’s get to the real point. 1)Convict Holder, 2)do not let the media (including the I/net) drop this ball, 3)Don’t impeach aitch – just hammer him with all this until Nov 2012 and, finally, reform BATF or get rid of it.
But whatever we do, let’s not fall for the canard about muhammadim threats!
The ATF has had a number of guns referred to them for tracing by Mexican government (by serial number). Some of these were produced in the US and sold privately. Tracing works by reviewing records at the manufacturer, distributor, and eventually to the retail site. In general, private sales can occur with no paper trace.
The ATF then can look at which retail sellers show up more often.
The problem was, most guns were not referred to ATF for trace. Most are “real AK-47s(fully automatic military rifles smuggled across Mexico’s southern border) and the Mexican government knows they can not be traced in the US.
So the ATF needed to fatten up the share of guns that were traced to the US, so they could justify
(1) more funding for the ATF and
(2) more gun control laws in the US and
(3) a UN treaty that would force the US to ignore our 2nd Amendment freedoms.
Of course the Mexican government, if a fight for their lives would not have been happy about the ATF encouraging and permitting more weapons going to the cartels. Therefore the Mexican government was not apprised.
AK-47s are absolutly reliable, but are hard/impossible to shoot accurately from a distance (200+ meters). Because of that, people who fight against those armed with AK-47s can get an advantage by disciplined accuracy, shooting from a longer distance. Long range accurate (US) semi-automatic rifles make life very hard for the Mexican government forces because as the usual Cartel cannon fodder spray the Federales with inaccurate fire, selected Cartel markesmen can focus their attention on the most disciplined Federales. This leads to higher casualties for the best men in the Federales, having an effect out of proportion to the actual number of weapons provided.
The ATF has thus proven itself to be a “force multiplier” for the thugs and murderers of the drug cartels.
The people in charge in Mexico are not damaged by the drug violence. OTOH, the violence justifies further restrictions on the subjects.
The Mexican Gov’t might well have been fully involved.
Don,
Spot-on, like most of the comments here so far.
I agree the ATF needed to inflate the number of “U.S. traceable” weapons in Mexico for political purposes. I liked how the “90%” myth was a regular talking point among the Left before this story surfaced…pre-planned lies among our enemies at the state for sure.
The ATF is primarily an Administration force, like most layers of government. Paperwork, reports, metrics, and numbers….legalese, and loopholes, plea bargains and conviction rates for minutia paperwork violations….Thats their bread and butter, their Government make-work skill-set.
Tactical, efficient, practical street smarts is not what they are, or can do (very well anyway). They, without artificially created “situations” like Gun-Runner, would have precious little to do with the Mexican Civil War, since the majority of weapons used are full-on military issue…either stolen from Mexican arsenals by corrupt soldiers/cops or smuggled in from across the globe..
Lots and lots of full-auto AK’s in this world, trading hands amongst smugglers everywhere from Gaza to Mexico to Iraq to Peru….why in the world would anyone risk crossing a boarder twice, and pay RETAIL for a semi-auto?
Drug dealers would spend tens of thousands of dollars for a mere TRUNKLOAD of guns (and risk a boarder crossing) when they can get a SHIPLOAD for the same price, delivered to the beach of their choice in their OWN backyard? It just doesnt pass the smell test.
As far as tactical advantages with more accurate “non AK” types, its a moot point. Most criminal encounters are well inside 100 yards, fast and dirty…most shooters (good guys and bad) are shooting and moving too quickly for any “mechanical” accuracy differences (that are only noticeable on sandbags at the bench) to have any real advantage.
A rifle with a .5 inch group at 100 yards verses a 4 inch group at 100 yards, matters naught when you (and friends) are emptying several magazines into a police car from 30 foot overpass.
Its mostly about who has the (initial) superior position/surprise, who has cover, and who has re-enforcements on the way…Sometimes all you can do is hold them off with some return fire, get on the horn, and make them worry about what may be coming up behind them enough to leave.
Re:”President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice has purposefully armed narco-terrorist drug cartels that have been accused of bombings, ambushes, mass murders, public executions, and the assassination of police, politicians, and civic leaders. . . .
Gunrunner was an attempt to develop enough gun-running evidence to bring down a cartel, and instead supplied thousands of arms to drug cartels locked in a life-or-death struggle with a key U.S. ally and trading partner.
The above observation is an oxymoron. Giving weapons to a cartel that has been alleged to have committed the crimes cited is like giving a terrorist a tank so you can charge him with possession of stolen property. Meanwhile the terrorist achieves more destruction, mayhem, and is less vulnerable than without the weapon. The level of punishment for the gun running charge is minor by comparison to the crimes committed with the contraband weapons. I submit that this was done to rationalize stricter forms of gun control on the American people as suggested in comment 2 and the supplmentary comment by Old Soldier.
This is indeed a very good example for the need of massive restrictions. These restrictions need to be on the DOJ and the ATF. Indeed it needs to be part and parcel of restrictions on the entire executive branch. Department of Education now has SWAT teams for God’s sake! And what about Czars??? Where does the Constitution say anything about a bunch of little Caesars running around in control of executive efforts by bypassing congress?
The Executive needs to be neutered.
Don’t forget the EPA and the rest of the eco-terrorists and what they are doing to our energy sector!
The real problem to me is what several other people have mentioned. What was the quid pro quo? The administration says to “attempt to develop enough gun-running evidence to bring down a cartel…” Yet at the same time, we have the administration report that claims that 70% of the firearms that the Mexican government (roughly 30,000) submitted for tracing “originated in the US. This gives you roughly 21,000 firearms to use as a basis for any “gun-running” investigation. If they already know that US firearms are going into Mexico (whether you believe it or not), then walking guns another 2,000 firearms adds nothing new.
You can’t use the sales by the gun stores as evidence against the stores, they are the ones complaining to the ATF about the sales, and being told to sell them anyway.
Going back to the Iran-Contra analogy (better than many people see, I think), there we were trading firearms for hostages (and to anti-communists during the cold war, no less). What was the administration deal with the cartels here?
Our rights are to be held hostage. ATF sends down the guns, in exchange to take our rights hostage. I know that’s hard to accept for many people who believe government serves some good. Perhaps when it’s much smaller, it will act that way again.
Campaign contributions. Laundered here through La Raza, enc..
Carl, you are right…
There was no quid pro quo with sending 2000 guns tom Mexico.
They just needed to padd the numbers of the ’70%” lie to make it seem a plausable story.
The other reason they did this is two-fold:
1) Government workers are useless paper pushers. They only see in, and can only comprehend, things on printed on paper (or now, in Powerpoint Slides). Spreadsheets, Pie Graphs, Bar Charts. Everything is another circle, another subset, another line on a map. A new program, tax, catagory, rule or administrative project is always the answer.
2) Government Workers are unhappy being useless paper pushers. They imagine a world of intrigue and danger that they somehow can be part of influencing with their superior (administrative) brains, so they dream up administrative stupidness like this.
And what you get is a purely ADMINISRATIVE fiasco like Gunrunner….lots of paperwork, emails, phone calls, serial numbers, memo’s, meetings minutes and thousands of 4473 forms, lists of gun shops, dates, names addresses, etc. etc. etc…..
But no one FOLLOWED thes guys,….no one ARESTED them and put the screws to them to give up the bigger fish…they just drove away into the sunset, because the ATF is full of paper pushers that cant think their way out of a paper bag.
Its kind of like the way our Government Workers deal with multiply convicted, released child molesters who (duh) eventutually KILL.
They deal with it with by creating another Admin program they swear is better than the last one!
A NEW list, a NEW catagory, a DIFFERENT status, requirement, circle on a map, radius from a school, chuch or playground…New pie charts, bar graphs, powerpoint slides, rules and databases that will crunch and monitor data better than before….
But no one asks the obvious:
“if theyre a danger to kids forever, why not lock them away, forever”
Or, in the case of Gunrunner:
“how bout we burn the guys BEFORE they take off with the AK’s?”
There is really nothing like seeing federal officials quote Stalin as they excuse the dead and wounded resulting from their actions.
I think that reference to the eggs was Napoleon’s…something like you have to break eggs before you make an omelette…nothing to do with “scrambling” eggs.
The Obama Justice Department has innocent blood on their hands. In immorally supplying deadly weapons to the narco terrorists, the U.S. government became a part of the narco terrorists. If this is what they will do to our ally, Mexico and Mexican innocents, what dreadful plans do they have for America? This country is no longer recognizable as the great American nation it once was. Where America stood for justice, freedom and human rights. America is being transformed into something terrible.
There is one big difference, this time a dem did it. Dems are much more likely to forgive their own.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/28/obama-administration-eyeing-gun-control-radar-groups-warn/
Obama Administration Eyeing Gun Control ‘Under the Radar,’
“They’ve shown us how much they are prepared to do through regulation.”
Pratt pointed to two proposals in particular. Under one proposed rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, dealers in four Southwestern states would be required to report multiple sales to the same person of certain kinds of rifles.
“under the radar”
It’s called “leading from behind” your back.
I agree that this operation was likely being undertaken in order to promote further regulations and restrictions within the USA.
It is impossible to ignore all the rhetoric and breathless BATFE press releases from the past couple years about ‘how many’ US guns were making their way into Mexico to think that there was no shaping of the message going on.
I have also heard that some of these weapons may have had GPS tracking equipment hidden within them. If true this might have been intended as a means of long term surveillance and intelligence gathering.
But, even if true, we must conclude that the cartels are equally aware of this and either will inspect their weapons for such items (GPS technology has gotten very small, but batteries have remained fairly obvious) or will dispose of them.
Either way, if this was ever the intent of BATFE or DoJ then they should have no impediments to admitting so at this late date.
The stonewalling and obfuscation only make them appear more guilty.
This will be traced right back to the White House where it was sanctioned, then to the Department of Justice where it was implemented, this was a Obama/Holder operation and if it wasn’t they had better start co-operating with Congress and prove it. It sounds like a classic ‘false flag’ operation that the CIA use’s to discredit someone or something, in this case it would be the 2nd Amendment. Just this week Senators Feinstein and Schumer started talking about bringing back Feinstein’s Gun Ban, it is also the time for the Senate to be voting on the United Nations “Small Arms Treaty” that would effectively disarm the United States and do away with the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. Coincidence, I don’t think so, not with this gangster government and what they have already pulled. Hundreds of Mexican Police Officers have been murdered because of this, hundreds more Mexican Citizens have been murdered because of this, our own police officers have been murdered because of this, there will be a lot of people ready to talk on the stand and in front of Congressional Committee’s as they don’t want to be an accomplice to murder charges; heads will roll in the DOJ and in the White House.
This is nothing like Iran-Contra. This Adminstration was arming violent narco-terrorists who are at war with the more or less Democraticly elected Mexican government. The Contra’s were freedom fighters opposed to the imposition of a Marxist Dictatorship. If you want an analogy it is like Pakistan’s ISI arming the Taliban. Arguably this Adminstration is guilty of a war crime by supplying criminal organizations fighting the Mexican government.
One minor quibble. Two infantry Battalions would be the equivalent of six companies (four men form a fire team, three fire teams form a squad, three squads form a platoon, three platoons for a company, and three companies form a battalion).
And yes, the AFT and DoJ is being disingenuous when they say that they were going after the cartels. They aren’t stupid enough to believe that the Mexican government could do any more about it (knowing the the cartels are) than they can about daily beheadings going on in Mexico. They already know who the cartels are, and they can’t stop them because they are corrupted by them.
Just how blatant do Obama and Holder have to be in their criminal disregard of the Constitution and the rest of the laws of the United States before they are held accountable and Obama is impeached and Holder is convicted of his crimes and they are both either locked away for life or lawfully executed.
The more I hear about the beheadings in Mexico – the more I think that the muslims are with them and teaching them that little trick! I don’t remember them doing it years ago.
How can it possibly be worse than ‘Iran-Contra’? There has not been a word mentioned about it in either of my local daily newspapers. If a tree falls in the forest, …
Just tried to find this story on CNN.com and NYTimes.com top stories… nada.
I wonder if it’s time for a transnational class action by the victims of those guns? I wonder if there could be personal liability if officials were found to acting ultra vires.
O.k. so they’ve got their “crisis”…and while the rest of us sit wringing our hands there are multiple fronts upon which the 2nd amendment is being attacked. Gunrunner is a distraction. POTUS just restricted the importation of old Garand rifles into the U.S. for example; they’re U.S. made too.
We’re asleep at the wheel and we need a miracle.
Perhaps I missed it in the article above, but wasn’t it reported when the story was breaking that the Mexican government was not a part of nor was it informed in advance about Operation Gunwalker? When evaluating the stated good intentions of the ATF, keep this in mind.
You’re correct.
Not only was the Mex.Gov not informed, but neither was *ANY* US Personnel on the ground in Mexico.
ALL OF THE ABOVE were DELIBERATELY locked out of any trace-data for ANY gun involved.
When the ATF Liason to the Mex.Gov (Darrin Gil, IIRC) realized he was shut out of something big, he raised holy ‘ell all the way to DC. For this he was forced into early retirement.
So much for the “official story” huh?
This was TREASON – nothing more, nothing LESS!
The ATF is kind of a rogue agency that has been passed around to different cabinet departments under various names since 1886 and has never been adequately supervised. Note the different capers that have come to light from parties in the woods with racially derogatory signs posted around the camp site, Ruby Ridge, Waco, etc., and now this.
I expect that as this thing unravels, it will be discovered that someone skimmed a part of the profit on re-selling the guns in Mexico, and, yes, that would be worse than Iran-Contra.
This isn’t the first time those responsible for our security and defense have adopted a “let it pass” strategy to monitor a suspect organization, then had that strategy come back to haunt us.
In Collins and Frantz’ “Fallout”, the authors document how the CIA was aware of A Q Kahn’s nuclear proliferation efforts early on. Yet they chose to let him do his business while they watched from afar, trying to better understand the activities and reach of the organization. This went on for years as his proliferation activities expanded. Still they watched. At one point, they allowed allegedly “defective” centrifuges to pass which, while operating sub-optimally, still worked. Or how they had a Russian engineer pass on plans for a sensitive nuclear component which contained a critical flaw. Against instructions, he looked at the plans, then showed the recipients the flaw and how to correct them, thus advancing their nuclear projects.
One reads such a tale astonished at the abject stupidity of our defenders. The same holds here.
Leftists men think nothing of posing as lesbians living in a Fascist Islamic Hellhole to prove Muslims are “just like us underneath it all”.
Leftist women think nothing of “sexting” your junk, torrid affairs, or brothels operated from basements as long as the pervert, betrayer, or pimp is a bonafide Lefty droog…
Now Gunrunner… It should still shock us to our core to learn that this administration concocted the whole Gunrunner hoax in order to subvert the Constitution, and rob American citizens of our rights. Some might label that treason.
But even if it does not rise to that, and in fairness there are convincing opinions on both sides, it surely may constitute a “high crime”. Circumstance demands matter this is pursued to its finish, and aggressively.
This really could be an impeachable offense, not just in theory. If the allegations discussed in this discussion are true, and there is good evidence, how could it not be?
We need a strong independent counsel to investigate.
Remember, during the 2008 campaign, Obama’s name was found on a FARC computer. I wouldn’t surprise me if Obummer took money from the drug cartels. And its obvious Obummer has a chaos strategy which he will use to implement total control. After all, it will be “for the good of the people”.
One point to consider: the senior administration officials presumably responsible for Gunwalker are protected from US prosecution by the Constitution’s Important People Clause. But the Mexican government is sovereign and could very well bring criminal charges against them, in Mexico, if the evidence Issa’s committee is trying to lay its hands on becomes available. Even against Holder or Obama, if they’re involved; and we do have an extradition treaty with Mexico.
Just sayin’ what the stakes are, here.
“Gunrunner was an attempt to develop enough gun-running evidence to bring down a cartel….”
In reality, Gunrunner was (and is) and effort to attack gun ownership in the U.S.
“President Obama has long pushed the fiction that U.S. gun stores catering to civilians in border states are responsible for supplying up to 90 percent of the firearms used by Mexican cartels. In this fantasy scenario, straw purchasers buy firearms by the gross from corrupt gun dealers and then ship them over the border to Mexico.” http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/time-for-daylight-u-s-weapons-reaching-cartel-hands-a-huge-scandal/
Do you remember HR Clinton some time ago, in a official capacity at a congressional hearing, specifying that 90 percent plus weapons recovered in Mexico could be traced to USA? But we soon learned this sample was guns with traceable serial numbers (based on ATF). Most weapons recovered did not have serial numbers.
Think about this factoid in relation to the article and intersting blogging.
I hope the Hispanics, Mexican-Americans and Latino folks of this country remember this in Nov 2012.
DoJ/ATF/DHS KNEW this was going on at the SAME TIME they were going about mewling about AZ’s lax gun laws letting the weapons get into cartel hands.
What I see from where I sit look at the players involved this had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the stemming flow of weapons.
It has EVERYTHING TO DO with creating a pretext for the Federal Gov’t to violate the 2nd Amend.
IMHO Officials of the Federal Gov’t and Obama Administration set out with malice and forethought to egregiously violate the Constitution and Bill of Rights, they did so by conducing criminal activities with the express purpose of defrauding the American People.
Again IMHO Watergate was chump change, every senior official who sign off on this, who hand knowledge of this should spend a serious stretch of time in Club Fed.
Thank you Bob Owen for this excellent and important post. I have been watching Issa’s hearings and the abuse he’s managing from ranking member Cunningham of Baltimore – which in turn measures up right next to what Rep King is dealing with on his committee as far as political theater employed for distraction and limp rebuttal.
The correlation to Iran Contra is apt; it cuts to the heart of public policy on many fronts by an Obama administration that fein’s public transparency while devoting itself to dark ops, and once floundering, obfuscation and deception to cover it the incompetence and failure.
I’m quite familiar with Dennis Burke, the US attorney here in AZ at the center of this mess, and am no fan. He earned his stripes for the current appointment he enjoys not much different than did his former boss – Janet Napolitano.
A little history.
Janet earned her stripes carrying water for the Clinton’s when being a lead attorney for Anita Hill in the Thomas Hearings from the fateful year of the woman early in the Clinton Admin. Even before she rose to unlikely election as
Gov. (after the likewise unlikely election as Arizona Attny General) taking care of Hill was credited for earning her the US Attorney position she recommended Burke for.
Likewise, Dennis Burke was Janet Napolitano’s chief of staff here during her final years before joining Obama’s dream team. Note the signifigance of who is pulling strings to button up ATF and help Holder orchestrate this crap. It’s a Washington/Arizona tag team that spent many years perfecting the take down.
AS most readers here know Arizona has been a target rich enviornment for the Obama WH and DOJ, and Burke has been the most instrumental water boy to wield a variety of hatchets – most eminating from immigration issues. The fact Napolitano likewise is often at the helm as served Obama’s purpose when appointing her – lending cover and creditility since she’s a former border state Gov.
It’s kinda funny that you don’t read about this stuff so much in the MSM.
The Gunrunner revelations are a massive cluster$#*& for the White House, Holders DOJ, and the House Democrats who now face a pit bull in Issa. Just like Owens alludes, Issa knows he is barely at the tip of the head of this rotted fish, and jsut as Iran Contra once did, it leads right back to 1600 Pen Ave.
When I read some of Owens prior posts I was still of the opinion that Gunrunner was mostly about merely annoying matters of DOJ & Obama attempting to turn back the clock on gun control (like #5 Andy & #10 Carl). It’s been infuriating to hear the MSM barff up the Obama & Holder line regarding the US ‘arming’ the cartels, particularly when we as citizens are required to take a corrupt Mexican government and police and army’s word on those ‘facts’ – all issues Bob Owen has admirably been writing about for several years now.
Not anymore. At the center of all this is Obama’s administrations determined strategy to go with Napolitano & Holder’s view when downplaying (as well as blatant refusal to release memo’s/docs at Issa’s request) the dangers at the border.
Per usual it is all about politics for this WH;the Latino voter drive for 2012, the dismissive attitude regarding border security as national security, and the outright denial that Mexico is replaying Columbia albeit in a slower civil disintegration.
Unlike Columbia, where the violence, murder, and disorder stifened the spine of the public to demand order be restored – Mexicans today are willing to strike a faustian bargin with their demons to try and stop the killing. It is writ large for anyone taking notice. Calderon is losing the public just as LBJ did in ’68.
And why not – the corruption is beyond comprehension for most of us. The Press can’t report, the judicary can’t prosecute, the police can’t investigate – THEN THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF CARTELS BUYING OFF HUGE ALLIANCES FROM TOP TO BOTTOM!
Yet for domestic political oppertunism – as well as for matters of foreign policy both in congress (business interests ect) & at the State Dept – Holder okie dokie green lit this kind of asine ‘sting’?
Over the next few weeks and months we the people have a lot to learn about the clowns claiming to protect us. It extends far beyond Holder peeved over a few recent SCOTUS rulings giving the castle doctrine back to all of us, or Napolitano pretending that Mexico is our equal as she honned at playing Secretary of State with Sonora back in the calmer days when she was Governor in Arizona.
Anyone who saw Holders timid and buttoned up testimony last week knows better.
This might just be the best 4th of july present about to go off in generations.
How many on board this FUBAR program are CFR members, and love the UN?
It’s worse if a Republican administration had done it. When a Dem whose intention was to serve a higher purpose, then it’s alright, the MSM will give them cover, as usual. Remember the president assured his supporters that he was doing something under the radar to take away our guns? He forgot how incompetent our govt. is getting, can’t even incriminate the gun toting rednecks for the smuggling.
I know the investigation is at an early stage and so far the information is pretty much only based on whistleblowers with little to no access to administration officials or official documents (which has resulted from stonewalling) which can lead to some information being overly highlighted out-of-context…..
….. so given those caveats of incomplete information, here’s what caught my eye:
1) The (deliberate) withdrawal of surveillance between purchase of the weapon and its showing up at the crime scene
2) the “giddiness” of senior ATF officials when said weapons were found at said crime scenes
It’s strange that the true target of any ATF investigation was to bring gun-related criminal charges against the cartels – I am sure there is plenty of evidence about their drug running so that if they fell into US hands today that the cartel leaders are ensured of lifetime room and board at Florence.
In addition, even if you could somehow bring US charges against Mexican cartel leaders for straw purchases why do you need to wait until the guns showed up at a crime scene? Wouldn’t finding such weapons in cartel posession, say from raids or confiscations, all that you would need to make the linkage between the straw purchasers and the cartels?
So it’s that point there, that ATF wanted to let the guns “walk” all the way to commission of crimes that is the key – I had originally thought when this all blew up months ago with the killing of Border Patrol agent that the ATF was allowing straw purchases to proceed in order to trace cartel operations through its supply route and that somehow this had backfired. Little did I know that the ATF withdrew surveillance.
It’s that withdrawal as a feature and not a bug and the “desire” for crimes to be committed with said weapons – there is no need for such spectacles to occur to track weapons – which provide an observational line-of-sight into the ATF/DOJ scheme. Using Occam’s Razor it seems the logical conclusion (based on evidence so far) that the senior-level of DOJ and ATF wanted guns in the US to be used for crimes in Mexico at the very time administration officials were asking for stricter controls on guns (let alone that recent UN convention on small arms) based on the violence committed in Mexico with US-origin guns.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, any linkage between calls for gun control and Fast and Furious may be purely coincidental, but the evidence is strongly pointing toward something sinister (the Asst. AG link is key, would someone of that level be part of a process of this nature without telling the AG?) I also lived in Arizona for close to 20 years – I’ve done alot of camping in the Chiricahuas many times, I stayed in Rio Rico, I know people down in Douglas area and Santa Cruz County who used to go riding down by the border. No longer – it’s not safe and the danger is moving north as evidenced by signs along I-8. The fact that walked guns are being used in crimes on this side of the border is unspeakable.
You hate to believe the worst but when you look analyze the evidence and see the administration stonewall what are you left to believe?
Also (speaking as someone who used to help enforce the law for a living) the stated aim of “Fast and Furious” makes no legal sense.
1. Crimes committed in Mexico, against Mexican citizens (or anyone else) would be tried in Mexican courts. The U.S. has no jurisdiction. Note that for this sort of prosecution to work (Mexican with U.S. assistance), the Mexican Justice Ministry (at least) would have to have been briefed in on the operation from the start. Oops- I guess they forgot. (Strike 1.)
2. In the case of cartels receiving weapons below the border from “straw purchasers” above, only the purchasers could be prosecuted in a u.s. Federal court, because only they had committed a crime in U.S. jurisdiction. Oops again- they weren’t prosecuted, or even tracked. Which means that there is no credible chain of evidence proving that the guns they purchased (with BATFE’s help) were delivered to the cartels- that is, until they showed up in crimes in Mexico. (Strike 2.)
3. Even after (Strike 2), the fact that the guns were not tracked means that no credible chain of evidence can be be established to link the straw purchasers to the cartels. Quote: “I sold that gun to my cousin! I don’t know how it got to Mexico!” Unquote. (Yes, criminals lie. And in other breaking news, rain is wet, which I’m sure comes as a Hell of a shock to BATFE.) Oops yet a third time. (Even the Keystone Cops were better-coordinated than this.)
To completely negate any chance of establishing provenance, all that is required is for the cartel goons to refuse to tell who they bought the guns from- that is, assuming they are even caught, which they rarely are, or are caught alive, which is almost as rare. (Strike 3.)
They’re out.
The result is that BATFE’s “case” would never survive in court. They would not have enough probable cause to pass muster with a grand jury. Result- no indictments to begin with. And assuming they could get one (say, from a three-judge panel with more dogma than brains), any half-bright first-year law student could rip it to shreds on purely procedural grounds and get a dismissal for lack of evidence.
(Think the equivalent of Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan’s repeatedly getting cases thrown out because he never bothered to get a search warrant. No, “Dirty Harry” was not a particularly effective peace officer, when it came to getting convictions.)
On legal grounds alone, Operation Fast and Furious was a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money with no chance of accomplishing its stated aims. Which means that either its real objective was never admitted to, or those planning it are some of the dumbest, most inept, and most totally incompetent “law enforcement professionals” who anyone ever made the mistake of giving a badge and a gun to.
I call the odds six-five and pick ‘em.
clear ether
eon
Don’t forget the 50 caliber weapons.
There is a reason why the particular type of AK 47 was desired over others. The fact that it was a “semi automatic version” means nothing when you understand that it is easy to convert.
Made in Romania, reconfigured in Vermont with more lethal features, and marketed along the Southwest border, the WASR-10 has become the #1 gun recovered at Mexican crime scenes.
A semi-automatic variant of the AK-47, the WASR-10 is one of the most popular “weapons of choice” among Mexico’s drug cartels and a central player in the ongoing drug war that has claimed almost 35,000 lives over the past four years.
This Web-exclusive investigation of the Romanian AK tracks the circuitous route it travels, extending more than 7,000 miles from Romania through the U.S. and into Mexico. Along the way, the gun is transformed from a slimmed-down “sporting purposes” version — to pass the import test — into a lethal assault weapon that is heavily marketed in Southwest gun stores.
The journey of the WASR-10 sheds light on how firearms’ importers circumnavigate an import ban that’s been on the books for more than 40 years. And it reveals the limitations of law-enforcement efforts to staunch the flow of weapons into Mexico.
A joint investigation by FRONTLINE, the Investigative Reporting Workshop, The Center for Public Integrity, InSight and the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gunrunners-mexico/#ixzz1PTeLcNWh
Hoping that we’ll forget that you already posted those lies once in this thread, piggie?
Yeah, I caught that, too. PBS are not known for neutral reporting.. in fact, they are part of the MSM who promote the administration’s agenda.
Truth is, ANY “modern sporting rifle”, also known in the mainstream media as “assault weapons”, is “easily converted” to full automatic operation… just change the receiver. Problem: it is the RECEIVER that is the registered, and controlled, part of the weapon. And it is illegal for US residents to possess a full auto receiver without registering it as a Class 3 machine gun….. you and I can’t do it.
So, once you’ve got your hands on the full auto receiver, yes, it only takes a few minutes to “convert” your semi auto to full auto operation. The LIE comes in that you can’t just pop round to the Cabelas gun counter and BUY a full auto receiver. They can’t sell them.
Besides, do you really think the cartels, managing cubic millions of dollars, are unable to buy container loads of fully automatic military weapons on the world market? MOST of the weapons recovered in Mexico are made in places like Israel, Argentina, China, Russia… and come cheap. I’ve heard prices in the hundred dollar range in quantity. If these cartels are operating their own fleets of cargo 757′s and 777′s, operating with impunity all over the world, what’s the problem with flying one into China, loading to capacity with new military full automatic weapons and ammunition, and landing on their own private airstrips in Mexico and Guatemala? None…
so, the cartels are CERTAINLY not interested in the high cost and logistics hassles of importing US market “modern sporting rifles” on a onesie twosie basis…. no, this whole thing is driven by the desire of high adminstration officials to invent a “basis” for more controls and regulations on we US citizens’ ability to continue arming ourselves as we see fit. They FEAR the armed thinking citizen, and if this project hadn’t been exposed they’d have ample evidence to impose more restrictions… full long gun registration, limits on number and frequency of purchase, banning of certain types of weapon….. I sincerely hope this investigation continues, and finds solid proof of the corruption at the highest levels of the present administration. Preferably all the way to the kenyan top of it. The means always implemented to realise the desired end of total control is to destabilise the nation. “Create a crisis”, in modern parliance. THEN, any “solution” will be welcomed, and acceptable, to the population. Never let a crisis go to waste…. works well. If you don’t happen to have a crisis handy, why, just make one up. They work just as well.
Project Gunwalker is just such a manufactured crisis…. except now the hoo haws are in a crisis of their own making, and are scrambling to make it seem more like am ommelette than a crisis. The “eggs” that need to be broken are those in power. This is one crack-up I am eagerly watching, as it may well be the key to unravelling the tangled web of complicity and dictatorial control to which we find ourselves subject. A good housecleaning has been needed for a long time.
My one fear is that Mr. Issa will meet with some sort of “unfortunate accident”. Remember the Clinton administration? It happened every time noses got too close to the rotting fish carcass.
“There is a reason why the particular type of AK 47 was desired over others. The fact that it was a “semi automatic version” means nothing when you understand that it is easy to convert.”
Utterly wrong. Any weapon that can be “readily converted” to full auto fire is already a machine under federal law. What does that mean? In the past, this has meant that 12 hours of labor in a machine shop was sufficient. Periodically, BATF finds an example of a semiauto that can be “readily converted” to full auto, and when that happens, they issue a ruling in CFR identifying the weapon as now being a machine gun.
The war on drugs will be the excuse used to disarm us all.
Does anyone seriously doubt that the gun control subhumans will win on this, as they always do? Better to die fighting like men than to get gunned down like helpless dogs.
Providing weapons to insurgents is a common way of attempting to overthrow an existing regime. Were we trying to bring down the Mexican government? The Mexicans might see it this way, if they do not have a full understanding of our internal politics. It is certainly an easier explanation (to them) than Obama trying to manufacture a gun-control crisis. Wasn’t Iran-Contra about undermining the Marxist regime?
The optics of this are just so bad. 2012 cannot get here soon enough. Here’s a thought: How’d you like to be on the new Republican transition team and deal with these outgoing Obama staff daily? The fun would just never stop.
Here is a conspiracy: Provide support to one cartel to provide stability in Mexico (much more likely by the government in Mexico).
You know that someone who uses the metaphor of breaking or scrambling eggs, to describe a supposedly worthwhile sacrifice, is devoid of any moral bearings whatever. I don’t know who invented the expression, “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs”, but it was a favourite of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, two notorious English lefties of the twenties and thirties. They routinely trotted out the expression, when challenged about the Stalinist terror-famine and the purges.
The left loves to play God with other people’s lives and some on the left clearly get a kick out of being associated with extreme violence against others, while staying well away from it themselves. I think of, for example, of a one-time British government minister, Mo Mowlam, who hated talking to democratic politicians in Northern Ireland, but would drop everything to hobnob with terrorists; or there was Jean-Paul Sartre, who couldn’t tell one end of a rifle from the other, but disowned his former friend, Albert Camus, for speaking up for the pieds noirs during the Algerian War, in the face of hideous atrocities. Here in the UK, we have a “politician”, called Ken Livingstone, who is like the vampire who refuses to die in a sixties horror film: he keeps coming back. In the eighties, he supported the ira and today he gets his terrorism-chic from al-qaeda sympathizers. The classic example today, though, must be Robert Mugabe, whose rule in Zimbabwe has seen repeated orgies of state-sponsored violence, but who has never, even as a supposed guerrilla leader, seen the need to put himself in any danger.
I suppose that Tom Paine did rather fit the template, too.
When you provide a weapon to someone knowing it is going to be used in the commission of a crime, you become an accessory. I don’t think the law says, unless you are in the Federal Government. This was not policy, this was crime. We don’t have a legitimate govenment, it is a criminal conspiracy.
THE DEMOCRATS ARE A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY, NOT A POLITICAL PARTY by Dr. Jack Wheeler
On Tuesday (5/31), Ron Paul announced that “we are on the verge of having way too much dictatorship in Washington, D.C.” Verge? Verge??
The time is way past for verging. Our Federal Government has already become a dictatorship run by a criminal conspiracy calling itself a political party – just as the totalitarian conspiracy of Islamism calls itself a religion.
We owe no respect whatever to a fascist ideology posing as a religion – and we owe no respect whatever to a criminal gang posing as a political party.
The time is way past for ending the charade. If it is not ended now – if the Democrat Gang retains the White House in 2012 – then game over for America.
We’ll itemize a few of the legion of examples of the Gang’s criminality – but at the outset, let’s clearly state the purpose here.
It is of mortal importance for our future that we deny legitimacy to the Democrats. They are not a legitimate political party advocating legitimate political goals. They are a collection of looters, gangsters, thugs, extortionists, hustlers, shakedown specialists, scam artists, smooth-talking con-men, and mafiosi. All banded together to steal our money and control our lives with guns.
Read the rest here. http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/4552/2/
We have lost the war on drugs, and now the “cure” is worse than the disease. Does anyone know a high school student who couldn’t get marijuana if they wanted it? The fake marijuana is medically far more dangerous than the real stuff. What about the other drugs? Would people be using meth if coke and heroin were available? Not everybody smokes tobacco, nor has everybody tried smoking tobacco. Why would other drugs be any different. Not everyone would try them, not everyone would be regular users. People will know the dangers and avoid them.
And hey, there are tons of people who have experimented with marijuana and not been permanently damaged. Going to prison for a drug crime seems to be a permanent damage. My bet is Obama has used more recreational drugs than any previous occupant of the White House, and Blacks are damaged far more than any other group by the devastating effects of drugs, and the war on drugs.
The big question is, will higher-ups be fired, or not? Those higher-ups denied knowing anything about this, but there’s hard evidence that they’d been briefed – and more than once.
It was certainly a brilliant plan: let agents for the Cartel buy weapons over here and let them find their way to Mexico, where we can find them and arrest the Bad Guys (El Hombres Malo).
What could possibly go wrong?
Owen Morgan: We remember Ken [the Red] Livingstone. We also remember George Galloway (the MP for al-Qaeda). It seems to be a toss-up as to which side (of the ocean) has the worse politicians. At least you have Daniel Hannan over there.
This column and resultant posts represent some of the best journalism and most informed and informative comments available in a single place about both “gun control” and our government(read present administation, at least for now). Please, please, let’s have a Republican get it out into the open during one of the “debates” during the coming presidential election cycle. This is the only way it will get past the MSM and into the public eye.
Hero: Whomever can get the President off the teleprompter and showing his true colors before a wide audience of independent voters who do not pay much attention to politics.
Make a commercial out of the incident and show it over and over again.
I’d be happy if a Republican candidate would just say the word “guns.” The only time Bush II ever mentioned guns–the very issue that got him elected in the first place–was in the debates, and he had as many anti-gun as pro-gun statements there.
Guns are popular with the American people. Gun control devils are despised by the American people. The fact that the Republicans never use this issue to finish off the Demoncrats indicates to me that the infiltrators–David Frum, David Brooks, John Weaver, etc.–are knowingly giving the GOP bad advice, knowing full well that the gun issue alone is enough to guarantee Republican victories for the foreseeable future.
Can you imagine if George Bush or any republican administration had done this. There would have been unrelenting evening news coverage of this “outrage”. Heads would have rolled and impeachment hearings would be well under way. Instead, I doubt that if 1 out of 50 American adults have ever heard of this.
Don’t forget, “Gunwalker” would also provide the Obama DOJ with new facts and figures about guns purchased in the US and used in crimes in Mexico. This would provide an excuse for the Obama Administration to push for more restrictive laws concerning gun ownership in the US. They’d have gotten 2 birds with one stone.
Pretty damning. DOJ and ATF circumvent the law in order to get more restrictive laws passed.
If the ”problem” actually existed, BATF would not have had to fake it. Down goes the defense that BATF was merely using a tried and true investigative technique.
This argument was used over the weekend on Fox’s Eric Shawn show, where Shawn utterly failed to question the interviewee, a sincere-looking all-American guy named Chad Sweet, who is with the security company the Chertoff Group.
Chertoff, the first HSA boss, now has an interest in the manufacturer of the airport scanners that his company derives plenty of demand for via the Obama administration’s TSA.
Today Chertoff himself was on the news warning about the cyber attacks that have lately hit several admin-friendlies/hostages such as Citibank and Lockheed, as well as the senate and the CIA, for cryin’ out loud. What more evidence do you people need that we need the coming internet restrictions they are busily ‘deriving demand’ for, in the Gunwalker mode?
Anyhoo, back to Gunwalker, bear in mind that the registration law the administration is cooking up, can have a very nasty side effect (my bolding):
(snip)
Indeed, there was no need for the Na zis to pass a law like that, because the earlier Weimar government had already passed gun registration laws. When I asked Cramer about his reasearch, he said, “The laws adopted by the Weimar Republic intended to disarm Na zis and Com munists were sufficiently discretionary that the Na zis managed to use them against their enemies once they were in power.” In other words, they didn’t need to pass additional laws. The Na zis did pass a weapons law in 1938, but that only added restrictions to the previous law, especially for Je ws and other “non-citizens.”
(snip from)
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1791/did-hitler-ban-gun-ownership
***
(i gapped the hot words trying to avoid ”moderation” –but then noticed the H word in the link, alas)
So what your’re saying is that Chertoff, being a long-time government bureaucrat, understands how to apply the gun control formula for private gain? Wow, what a shocking concept!!!
1. Use government power to create a new crisis.
2. Create new government oversight to “solve” the problem.
3. When the problem persists, blame freedoms enjoyed by the law-abiding.
4. Pass laws restricting the law-abiding.
5. When criminals (or bureaucrats – same thing) find a way around the new regulation, begin again at step 1.
Yessir, that’s about the size of it –and admirably compressed; my compliments.
Great article except for this; Gunrunner was an attempt to develop enough gun-running evidence to bring down a cartel.
There is no conceivable way allowing guns to be run across the border to foreigners in Mexico already known to be murderers of the most violent sort could “bring down a cartel”.
This operation was designed for precisely what it was used for at the time it was in operation; anti gun propaganda for domestic consumption only.
DOJ and ATF bigwigs should go to jail and if Obama knew he should be impeached.
You’re right –what a freaking joke –what were they planning to do, sue the cartel? Oh THAT would scare them alright!
Thank you for the informative article.
To view it from another position-I am guessing this disaster is why Obama left the border open.If you add up the drain on our social systems,educational and prison costs associated with the illegal immigrants that flooded in while they played oh-so-clever cartel hunters,the damage to our economy is unrepairable.
The horror of innocent people,police and military deaths is unforgivable.
Where is our useless media?
Where is our useless media?
…resting up from reading 24,000 Palin emails and posing agonistes over the Weiner psycho mudpuddle.
A Question or two: Why are so many of us aware of what Obama is up to and doing nothing about it? Why are we blaming the MSM for not getting out the information when we all know they will not…where are the brilliant minds in
Congress and why are impeachment proceedings not started…why are we talking,
talking, theorizing, complaining, ad nauseum and sitiing on our backsides….and , incidentally, I`m 89 years old, a WW2 Vet, and they`ll get
my gun over their (or my) dead body !!!
great letter, good question. Maybe the answer is in the genius of our regularly-scheduled elections –which through fire and ice, thick or thin, we’ve always held, on time and per schedule.
Not that the ‘new world order’ approves!
In the words of the bug in Men in Black “your proposition is acceptable.” Obamacare is to rush that day.
Collecting thirty trillion in inhertence taxes early before people can use it up or transfer it to their decendents or place it in trusts is also what universal health control is all about.
Another example of this administration’s poor implementation of an conceptually ill-conceived plan. There’s no way that this plan could ever achieve the goal of dismantling the drug cartels. The great minds who conceived this piece of doodoo were certainly great masterminds who work in the office. As a “reward” (that is to say, if they don’t lose their jobs and pensions…which SHOULD be their just reward), they should be transferred to the field and work along the border of Mexico. Perhaps there they can develop a new perspective with the assistance of the agents who have been put in greater harm’s way working the border all this time. I would imagine that after a short time, these same great masterminds would find a new line of work.
Like others, I also believe the program’s main purpose was to provide a talking point for domestic gun control.
…a false talking point (AKA a “lie”), too, since there’d have been no need to fake it if it in fact existed in the world of reality.
The truth is, the guns come into Mexico at seaports, on ships from Europe and Asia –search it and see. Our intrinsically corrupt administration is in the ‘false narrative’ business on all fronts.
What’s worse? How about a war on drugs that fuels all of this crime in the first place?
exactly
Forget about ending it –it’s how the mob keeps retail prices as high as the market will bear. Ever wonder why the Colombia Free Trade bill won’t pass? Pelosi’s troops are protecting FARC –the channel her daddy’s boss, Lucky Luciano, set up. Ever wonder why two people as liberal on personal behavior as Pelosi and Biden are such staunch drug warriors? Can you say “Genovese” and “Gambino”?
2012 or bust –bye bye Miss American Pie
Late to the party, sportsfans.Don’t for a nanosecond wonder or speculate. This goes directly to the usurper in chief.As stupid and despicably criminal as it is, was likely his idea.Impeach, prosecute, hang. asst. att. general resigned. Reckon he no longer had the stomach for this barbarity and insanity. He woould be the one to give chapter and verse to the Issa committe, so look for him to “commit suicide.” Every day with zero it’s something unbelievable.
Let’s be about what “Gunwalker” was really about. It was an attempt by the Holder Justice (for select groups) Department to build a case for restricing gun sales to American Citizens. Nothing more, nothing less. Liberals and dictators fear an armed citizenry.
I can barely tell an automatic weapon from others but it has been obvious to me that our border agents should be armed with the equivalent of anything the MEXICAN or other person sneaking over our border is likely to have. They should not have to buy their own guns or worry about what the latest “social issue” people in our government elect to try……if the powers that be want to see how the illegal guns effect crime, let them or their kids be crime controlers in the border area. Does no one except a few border agents have the guts to question the underlying intent of such regulations? The delicate feelings of the Mexican government don’t count much with me. Their laws regarding property owned in Mexico are not very favorable to Americans.
It bothers me that the Latinos who prefer to protest American land grabs like to stir up trouble and voice their demands in the US rather than improve conditions in their own countries. I refer to the La Raza-endorsed classes currently being taught in Tucson, Arizona and probably a lot of other places. I can’t always read all the information but I really don’t know why the state of Arizona just doesn’t cut off state funding to such school districts. Kids should not be taught that the territory encompassed by 4 states was illegally acquired. Like it or not, American history should be forced down their throats.
Operation Fast and Furious, aka: Project Gunrunner, aka: Gunwalker was a deliberate attempt by policymakers at the highest levels of the Obama administration to subvert the Second Amendment and further diminish the free exercise of firearm rights of American citizens. They needed a big headline to get their gun control scheme out of the ditch. So, they create their own crisis AND headlines. Alias, “ninety percent of all guns in Mexico….blah, blah, blah”. That line was parroted by the Lame Stream Media for months in preparation for the big splash; a big table full of guns to display (guns crossing the border facilitated by ATF and DOJ Washington despite the objections by agents in the field)
Out of the ashes of Waco came the assault weapons ban of 1994. That legislation was way short of the Left Wing Wish List. They have been salivating for years to get all the guns, incrementally if necessary or in one swipe if the opportunity presented.
Here’s the plan: CREATE the perfect opportunity.
Here’s the mindset:
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”-Rahm Emanuel
“never waste a good crisis”-Hillary Clinton.
The plan all along in this manufactured ‘crisis’ was to be the subversion of the Second Amendment and thereby the entire U.S. Constitution. After all, the focused agenda of the NWO is global governance without that pesky Bill of Rights hanging around.
None dare call it T-R-E-A-S-O-N ?
While I fully support the 2A, hate the administration for this outrageous behavior and continue to try to educate people about what is going with the ATF, comparing Iran Contra to this scandal is apples to oranges.
Let’s not forget that the crack epidemic of the 80′s was spawned by the CIA’s trying to come up with off the book funds for their power play in Latin America. Not only did the people of the ghetto’s suffer as Freeway Ricky Ross sold the CIA’s crack, but the explosion of drugs led to the militarization of the police and is inextricably linked to the kinds of raids that led to Jose Guerena’s death.
Gun Walker is bad, Iran Contra was bad. But they were different and if I had to say which one was worse, I would have to go with Contra.
There is no doubt. Let us also not forget the knee jerk crack legislation by the Dems to “get tough” on crack that has resulted in totally disparate sentencing guidelines, resulting in the warehousing of millions of black Americans at taxpayers expense, all for political points in a completely unconstitutional. government run war on personal freedom that has no lawful basis.
i’d offer that, for the two projects to be compared, Gunwalker would need a person to fill John Kerry’s role.
http://www.aim.org/aim-report/aim-report-kerry-subverted-reagans-pro-freedom-policies-july-a/
(open snip)
…traveled to Managua, Nicaragua, with Senator Harkin to offer personal support to Ortega on April 18, 1985. A congressional vote on aid to the Contras was just days away. Kerry wanted to negotiate with the communists in Nicaragua and “give peace a chance.” Like Neville Chamberlain waving a printed statement hailing “peace for our time” with Hitler, Kerry brought back a peace proposal to derail Reagan’s request for Contra aid.
One day after Kerry and Harkin left, Ortega extended the government’s repressive state of emergency. Then, one day after the House of Representatives rejected the Reagan aid request for the freedom fighters, Ortega went to Moscow to collect a $200 million loan.
A new book by the Boston Globe on Kerry’s Senate career quotes Kerry as saying that he was “as mad as anyone” that Ortega went to Moscow.
(close snip)
***
…that Accuracy in Media article is just one of many that show a side of ‘Iran-Contra’ that has been buried, to Sen Kerry’s great benefit. One notes that he is beginning to be boomed for next sec’y of state. How perfect. Noted that at this month’s D-Day ceremony, Kerry was sent. Remembering Ronald Reagan’s immortal “boys of Pont du Hoc” speech at Normandy, i ask you to compare the big event at Kerry’s commemoration:
This operation was not intended to bring down the drug cartel.
It was intended to provide political ammunition against lawful gun ownership in the U.S.
Good to see it blow up in the face of corrupt officials.
LRRP
Let us not forget that at the SAME time ØbaHØlder and Nappy Janet were specifically targeting gun shop owners and FFL dealers in the Southwest (read: Arizona) for vilification, prosecution, and eventual bankruptcy. And now, our Dear Leader and his henchman are refusing to come clean.
What’s wrong with this picture?
This fustercluck makes me indescribably ill.
~(Ä)~
Regarding Gunwalker, the UN small-arms treaty, Obamacare, raising of the debt ceiling, America losing its AAA credit rating etc.
If Obama, the handpicked Muslim political token of the left gets re-elected in 2012 it will be civil war in the United States….of this I am convinced.
Corruption destroys a nation from the top down…but it will unravel from the bottom up…I just hope I can survive the violent reaction of the welfare proles when they no longer get their free stuff long-enough to get me a piece of the oathbreakers employed by the illegitimate fed.
The op it was called “Fast and Furious”
But its reasoning proved to be spurious
It armed the cartels
Like a dead fish it smells
And to LEOs, it’s most injurious
As the lines of this plot stand out bolder
Shooters’ tempers increasingly smolder
For its goal was to flay us
For Mexico’s chaos
And the man with the plan? Eric Holder!
Gun control, the choice of dictators the world over. Hitler, Stalin, etc. A disarmed population is one that is easier to control and to deprive of their rights. That is why areas of our country with strict gun control laws have the highest crime rates, and places with the most gun ownership have the lowest crime rates.
Is there any basis for bringing charges against Eric Holder (et alia) on this matter before the International Criminal Court in the Hague?
If for no other reason to publicly hoist our “Liberal” fascist government on its own transnational progressive (Tranzi) petard, it would seem that this act of aggression against the people and the government of Mexico is precisely what the ICC was created to address.
Let see in Iran Contra we tried to keep lines of comunications open with a contry half a world away by selling military parts that had been sold to them as an Ally of the United States until the Democrats undermined their Government and to get them to fund the rebellion resisting a communist dictatorship that the Democrats favored. It certainly passes the moral smell test but is too complex to be workable.
The Obama Operation Gun runner on the other hand attempted to undermine suport for the American Constitution by making it appear that substantual weapons traffic was supporting the Mexican drug Cartels. This doe not pass the smell test and is near to an act of war against the USA.
Investigations over the past forty years had shown that the Southern Drug Cartels have the wealth and presence on the international military black market to buy all the small arms that they wanted and had added sidelines at times bringing full militarty Chinese built AK-47, RPG and full automatic Uzi conversiion kits into the United States along with their drug smuggling. Recently they have added submarine shipyards to their bag of trricks. Now we know that guns went south across the border because the DOJ facilitated guns going South. I hope Eric Holder was not also selling Submaine consrtuction secrets to the Drug cartels.
The small retail gun shops in the United States are selling to citizens to protect themselves and do not want to be associated with guns that endanger their fellow gun owning citizens.
Worse than Iran-Contra? How about worse than Watergate? Watergate didn’t have a body count.
“Gunrunner was an attempt to develop enough gun-running evidence to bring down a cartel, and instead supplied thousands of arms to drug cartels locked in a life-or-death struggle with a key U.S. ally and trading partner.”
I wouldn’t be so sure that Gunrunner was an attempt to bring down a cartel so much as a deliberate, malicious arming of enemies of all humanity to levy predatory war against all humanity, especially the humanity of Mexico and the United States. The supervisors who ordered the agents to “get with the program” and not interdict the weapons and the masterminds in the so-called “Justice Department” overseeing this deliberate arming of enemies of humanity committed treason against humanity and need to be indicted, tried for treason, convicted, and executed. They are traitors to humanity.
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