What — and Who — Made ‘Gunwalker’ Tick?
My co-blogger Bob Owens’ recent PJMedia story, “The Definitive Scandal: ‘Gunwalker’ Much Worse Than ‘Iran-Contra,’” laid out the parameters of an incredibly flawed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) operation known as “Operation Fast and Furious,” or “Operation Gunwalker.”
As early as 2009 and until recently, ATF agents were ordered to allow weapons illegally purchased in the United States to “walk” across the southern border into the hands of drug traffickers. The attempts of honest, competent line agents to stop the flow of guns were met with orders to ignore their duty and threats by their supervisors who told them that the highest levels of the ATF and Department of Justice were behind the program. Gun dealers who complained were told to cooperate and to sell large numbers of guns to criminals. So loose were the controls that, to this day, the number of guns involved is not precisely known, but ranges from the hundreds to the thousands.
ATF managers and administrators have tried to justify the operation by a variety of means. The Obama DOJ has denied that any guns were ever allowed into the hands of criminals and has engaged in Clintonian language parsing. In their view, unless an ATF agent actually placed a gun in the hands of an illegal straw purchaser and allowed them to walk away unmolested, no guns “walked.” A “walking” gun, in ATF parlance, is an illegally obtained gun about which agents know, but which moves beyond their control, either accidentally or purposely. This DOJ corruption of reality was imposed on ATF supervisors, who embraced it, ordering agents to allow scores of illegally purchased weapons to walk.
Phoenix ATF “Group VII” supervisor David Voth, in an April 2, 2010, e-mail, noted that there were 187 murders in Mexico in March, including 11 policemen, and that the ATF allowed the purchase of 359 guns in March, including “numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles.” According to lower-ranking agents, Voth was excited about what was happening in Mexico, apparently believing that the level of violence proved the value of the investigation which would lead to the arrests of high-ranking drug cartel criminals.
During a January 25, 2011, press conference, Phoenix ATF Special Agent in Charge William Newell announced the indictment of 20 people in the Fast and Furious case. Despite the fact that most of the indictments were for low-level straw purchases, Newell claimed that they represented the complete elimination of a firearms trafficking ring. He also claimed that ATF never allowed any guns to walk. For a multi-state federal investigation spanning several years, 20 arrests, particularly for bottom-of-the-ladder criminals, would normally be considered an embarrassment — and would have been far more likely to be downplayed rather than publicized.
In a February 4, 2011, letter to Senator Charles Grassley, Ron Weich, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, doubled down on the DOJ claim — proved to be false by multiple ATF agents — that the ATF never allowed weapons obtained by straw purchasers to walk into Mexico. Questioned later, DOJ argued that since it wasn’t actual straw purchasers who walked the weapons, but unknown third parties to whom they gave the guns, the guns didn’t really walk and their lie wasn’t actually a lie.
DOJ and ATF justification for Fast and Furious has always been that the operation was necessary to work up the chain to the heads of drug cartels and that, somehow, these high-ranking criminals would be implicated in the trafficking of guns. This is utter nonsense. Quite apart from the statements of brave, whistle-blowing ATF agents, there is every reason to believe it is nonsense that has cost American and Mexican lives. The key to understanding why lies in understanding police psychology and procedure.
I cannot believe underlings would, every one, fall on their swords to protect a higher up. It is all unraveling, and Obama and Holder are probably sweating bullets right about now. I hope to God that Issa has already discovered a smoking gun.
Why would it be a bad idea to defund the ATF. Let the FBI enforce weapons laws and eliminate every position of management and supervision in the ATF.
People keeping comparing this to Iran-Contra. I believe it is more like the Watergate fiasco as there is a primary violation of laws followed by collusion to obstruct justice. And like Watergate it appears to go all the way to the top of the executive branch.
The only real difference is that Nixon actually had enough personal honor that he could be shamed into resigning his office. The current president has no such characteristic.
Also, who died during Watergate?
The idea is so stupid it had to come from Jug Ears himself… or maybe Hitlery. She was, after all the point man telling the world Mexico got their guns from us but she failed to say it was Hussein and Holder running the guns.
This problem is huge, our Government sought a reason to impose draconian gun laws thus subverting the Constitution by using criminals making straw purchases.
It’s nuts!
I believe all this was on purpose. I believe Obama and Holder and all his other thugs deliberately sent those weapons over the border to cartel members and terrorists. THIS is what they are all trying desperately to hide.
While some might chalk this up to a anti-second amendment conspiracy, the “stellar” history of ATF management fully supports incompetence, arrogance unsupported by performance, and dishonesty as the causes behind the fiasco.
Dig deeper Rep. Issa, let’s root it out and get these moron managers out of government and into flipping burgers where they belong.
Is there a single thing in all the world that Obama or Holder has touched, that has not turned to sh-t?
Despite their self righteous, hyper-arrogant self worship, both of them are one man wrecking crews.
For those of you that believe in our 2nd Ammenment we can’t afford another term for Obama. He could end up naming 2 more jurists to SCOTUS.
We should also consider the possibility that ATF and/or DOJ management personnel were bribed or blackmailed into ordering this. IMO a full investigation of this possibility is merited.
It isn’t as if we didn’t already know we needed to abolish the ATF and at least several parts of the DOJ.
DOI
Yet another strange chain of events, in this case all the way to tragedies, opening the terrifying question of “random incompetence versus deliberate malevolence”? Run-of-the-mill incompetence often suffices to explain blunders of various degrees of severity, but this case is beyond any benign rationalization: There is a typical element of rage in the reasons given by those who commit destructive acts in the name of some highly aspirational pursuit.
One representative example is the practice of “spiking”, planting steel rods in the trunk of trees so the saw used to cut them will be damaged, and therefore “punish” the fellow whose job it was to cut the tree, who might actually get hurt in the accident, even as he was not personally responsible for the decision to cut the tree. God knows what happens when the blade hits the hard steel rod, and at what physical risk the tree cutter is exposed? If a point is to be made about the merit of not cutting a tree, there exist civilized ways of making it, and the recourse to savagery is not one of them.
There is a disconcerting parallel with the reason usually given for the ban of assault weapons: They are supposed to kill people, regardless of whether they can kill just by themselves versus kill when someone operates them with murderous aims. Allowing powerful guns to walk in the name of demonstrating the evil of assault weapons is just as irresponsible and savage as spiking a tree in the name of nature conservancy, but it is far worse for the magnitude of the ramifications.
The serious question has to be raised: Was the Obama-con-DOJ-fundamental-transforming-machine hellbent on risking innocent lives in order to produce a dramatic illustration of the “official” theory behind weapons ban? They actually found an “excuse” to abort the prosecution of the new black panthers case, so one can ask whether there is any limit in the art of making stuff up for the sake of pursuing some grand agenda? The whole Obamacare damn-the-torpedoes example is a disconcerting precedent.
In this lunatic line of rationalization, if a crisis is “not to be allowed to go to waste”, how about a manufactured crisis, should one be needed? The allegation is serious, and so needs to be the means of enquiry necessary to answer it!
Congressman Issa is doing his part, and so are the whistle blowers. They all deserve our respect and our gratitude. The pursuit of the truth does not come cheap, and they have dearly earned our praise.
ATF has historically been a “cowboy” operation, featuring venal, ignorant administrators and soldier-of-fortune type agents.
But this agencywide, illegal operation had to be initiated at least at Holder’s level; and has the bitter flavor of an obamaideation.
How many hundreds, thousands, will be killed with the walking guns? What insane, unconstitutional, evil scheme will Orambo come up with next? Most importantly, WHO is going to slap this miserable punk into a federal penal institution for a ton of years?
I hope any ATF agents and other insiders who don’t know where to take their information are aware that Andrew Breitbart is a reliable reporter.
Darned right! Brilliant!
I wonder if Issa will issue subpoenas and take the administration to court to enforce the subpoenas if necessary.
Steve, you are aware that Issa has issued a subpoena to Holder and that Holder is ignoring it? According to one of the PJM columnists (can’t remember which one) there is NOTHING we can do about this. Issa can’t call federal agents to get the files he wants, because only Holder has the authority to mobilize federal cops. The only action that can be taken against Holder is to impeach him — and that isn’t going to happen for obvious reasons. The AG is effectively above the law.
Nice to know, isn’t it? I hope I’ve gotten something wrong.
Great article, PJ- keep up the good work.
Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea got there months ago – along with some very courageous ATF officers. http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/
Why is that light flashing on my dot connector? This administration has the hots for every leftist in the western hemisphere – Chavez, Zelaya, Ortega, even our (their) old friend Che is still idolized by some of these guys; and it is inimical towards entities that are successfully fighting them, such as the governments of Colombia and Honduras. And I seem to remember that back in 2007 when the Colombian army raided a FARC outpost in Ecuador they discovered messages relating to a visit by some mysterious Americans trying to reassure them that if they could hold out a little longer there would soon be a friendlier administration in Washington. So my question now is: are some people in this administration interested in destabilizing Mexico to the point that a narco/leftist takeover can be effected? That would be a big step in the advancement of the Socialist cause in this hemisphere. Just brainstorming here.
You know what needs looking at? GUN CONTROL! America is the ONLY western nation on the good Earth to allow unmitigated private possession of every kind of gun. Why in the world would we allow anyone to possess machine guns? My stupid, hick neighbor (not Randall, my neighbor here in NYC, but that butt-head neighbor of mine at my country home in North West New Jersey) has a closet full of guns. He’s always rattling about in his crappy Ford, swizzlin’ down cheap Bud Light, mouthing off about his Ruger .22 light-machine gun, or his Smith and Wesson automatic rotating .357 magnum machine pistol. Why would we allow anyone to have such things? NO ONE SHOULD OWN A GUN! Unless one is a person of great importance who needs special protection, like a congresswoman, or Rosie O’Donnell.
Goodness gracious Lovely… You have so many things wrong in your post that I almost don’t know where to begin. Lets start with this: Has your neighbor EVER attacked anyone with his guns? Your ranting about various guns that don’t actually exist exhibits your complete lack of knowledge about guns and their usage. You sound like either one of two things, an elitist snob (from your description of your neighbor) or an ignorant idiot of the left who has no interest in the actual facts. Probably both but that’s just my opinion.
Great satire! It got thick enough that even I (satirically challenged to a frightening extent) caught it!
Well done!
Lovely, you don’t know what you’re talking about but to you it sounds good.
“The atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference. They deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”
Oops, check your dollar bill, he had his feet on the earth.
carter, you have fallen for LovelyEarth’s parody!
You HOPE it was a parody. Unfortunately it sounds so much like many of my former co-workers where I worked for the City of LA that it cannot be dismissed as such. This is EXACTLY their attitude.
It’s a parody. The line about Rosie O’Donnell being important gives it away.
I thought the “I’m trolling” dog whistle was the identity of the complained-about guns.
LovelyEarth has appeared in numerous threads at PJM in the past few weeks, with dead-on parody that always leaves one outrageous clue.
And this one was, I must say, particularly good, chewy, and funny!
I agree. Ignorant parts and all. Some of my co-workers and some of the people around town (and this in Alaska?!) actually believe each of those points or can be brought to believe them.
Gunwalker has all the hallmarks of the Obama regime modus operandi. The rule of law means nothing to these people, and that fact alone should rally every serious law-enforcement officer to aid Rep.Issa in getting at the truth of this situation, and bring those responsible to account; quickly.
The “inner-circle” wall built around Obama has crumbled…and those appointees hired to shill for him better wise up. They’re only there as gun fodder, and when the SHTF they will be the first ones sacrificed.
Lets hope that when Obama throws acting ATF head Melson under the bus, that Issa can flip him. Melson knows where all the bodies are buried and his testimony could reveal the higher ups involved.
Yes, yes, and heck yes. Although I’m sure someone in the admin is preparing something to keep Melson’s mouth shut.
The simplest explanation is that the drug sellers gave money to the right people in Washington DC, in exchange for weapons. The attempt to embarrass the GOP over the 2nd Amendment may be true but it seems a lot more airy fairy. We know the right people in Washington DC need the money, because elections don’t come cheap.
When a federal law enforcement agency plans an operation, they have a meeting at the agency HQ. Those meetings involve DOJ attorneys. So the only question that remains is, how high up the DOJ chain did the decision making go. For an operation of this magnitude, I think it could be safely said, very high.
Just a humble observation here: with the “One”s love of the use of personal pronouns and the image that he runs everything, I find it amazing that something this huge they want to act like “they are just amazed! How did that happen?!” and “”they are just shocked” and “didn’t know a thing”… Given the fact that they have a history of just ignoring court orders and going around normal channels to accomplish what they want, I wonder if the decision makers are even touchable. Who or what is big enough to “make them accountable”? Just thinking out loud…
“That level of idiocy is probably rare, even in the federal government.”
Well for the ATF bozos, not really!
It’s perfectly plausible that the administration and the DOJ thought they could use extralegal means to achieve gun control, since that’s been their stated objective all along. Additionally, if the violence along the border got bad enough, it would be a perfect excuse to declare martial law and punish those states, like Texas and Arizona, that don’t go along to get along. I put nothing past this administration and this Department of Justice.
The question is, what will we do about it? Who’s going to be the patsy, and who’s going to get nothing but a slap on the wrist, and who’s going to get off scot free?
If the Republicans don’t make hay out of this (along with every other blunder the Democrats have committed) during the 2012 election, then there’s no hope for this country or the world.
So how many federal agents have to be killed before we can give a federal agency the death penalty, and close it down completely?
We know from (Pigford) the department of Agriculture that billions in damages to the American people is not enough. We know from the ATF that two federal agents murdered, and tends of Americans murdered at Waco are not enough.
So, here is the question: How many murders would be enough before you would support giving a federal agency the death penalty? When does the harm of a federal agency outweigh any good it may do?
The ATF is the police department in charge of legal things: It is legal to produce, sell, buy and consume alcohol. It is legal to plant, grow, process sell and use tobacco. It is legal to manufacture, buy, sell, and safely use firearms.
Of all the federal agencies, this is the most dispensible. Let us dispense with it.
This looks like what we have been needing to get that crook out of the white house so who do we contact with is info ? Who ever idea this was needs to go to jain for a long time.
99.9% of all this would go away if the relevant drugs were legalized, and sold much as is alcohol. As with alcohol, drug abusers that harm others would receive significant penalties, including imprisonment. Prohibition does not work, and foments crime.
@26. Richard Bramwell
99.9% of all this would go away if 99.9% of the population had the common sense to not do drugs.
The Obama Administration and the lefies have so many issues going at one time it is hard to keep up. The Gunwalker issue is just anothr bait and switch just to keep us confused. We all know that it did not happen without Holder’s approval. Obama and co. think that we citizens are to stupid and they can do whatever they wish. Let us hope that Mr. Issa can at least take out this bag of trash. We need to not only clean out the White House, but the whole of the Federal Government.
Operation Justify Guncontrol… all vote in 2012 like our nation depends upon it because it does.
Here’s the problem no one wants to touch: There is zero constitutional authority for an armed gang of tax thugs in the first place. The “brave agents” who have stepped forward are the equivalent of morally conscious mafia bag men. The ATF is an abomination on America, as are all the other liberty wrecking, tax sucking alphabet soup “agencies”, that do nothing but leech money from the productive into the coffers of the war on whatever has been declared evil to the ruling hypocrites in DC, who are mainly corrupt criminals awash in illegal money anyway.
Gun toting tax police, no matter how seemingly righteous, are evil. Just as evil as the very people they say they are saving us from.
If being viewed as incompetent is a death sentence for an agency, then we need to point out the incompetence of the ATFE. They are certain to assist once they realize our goal, as their idea of competence is at odds with reality.