ATF Inquiry

[Clinotus]

Charles Grassley, ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee has written two letters to the acting Director of the ATF questioning its recent actions. A CC was sent to the DOJ.

http://230grain.com/post/atfi.jpg
http://230grain.com/post/atfii.jpg

http://230grain.com/post/atfiii.jpg
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Wonder how this will pan out.

[Clinotus]

Getting some traction in the press.


A federal operation that allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of suspected gun smugglers so they could be traced to the higher echelons of Mexican drug cartels has lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which have been linked to crimes, including the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent in December.

The investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious, was conducted even though U.S. authorities suspected that some of the weapons might be used in crimes, according to a variety of federal agents who voiced anguished objections to the operation.

Many of the weapons have spread across the most violence-torn states in Mexico, with at least 195 linked to some form of crime or law enforcement action, according to documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity and The Times.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the operation, said that 1,765 guns were sold to suspected smugglers during a 15-month period of the investigation. Of those, 797 were recovered on both sides of the border, including 195 in Mexico after they were used in crimes, collected during arrests or intercepted through other law enforcement operations.

John Dodson, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who worked on Operation Fast and Furious, said in an interview with the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, that he was still haunted by his participation in the investigation.

"With the number of guns we let walk, we'll never know how many people were killed, raped, robbed," he said. "There is nothing we can do to round up those guns. They are gone."

The ATF said agents took every possible precaution to assure that guns were recovered before crossing into Mexico.

Scot L. Thomasson, the ATF's public affairs chief in Washington, said the Fast and Furious strategy is still under evaluation.

"It's always a good business practice to review any new strategy six or eight months after you've initiated it, to make sure it's working, that it's having the desired effect, and then make adjustments as you see fit to ensure it's successful," he said.

But enough concern has been raised that some Washington officials have begun to dig deeper into the details of the operation.

On Thursday, as President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon met in Washington to discuss the increasing problems with drug and gun smuggling, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. asked top officials at the Justice Department to consult the inspector general to determine if further investigation of the operation was needed.

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, initiated an inquiry to determine whether guns traveled to Mexico through inadvertence or deliberate policy on the part of U.S. law enforcement.

"We still don't have the documents we've asked for. Maybe we will get the documents. But right now it's stonewalling," Grassley said in an interview Thursday. Read the rest of the article here (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guns-mexico-20110304,0,3428784,print.story)

[Clinotus]

Holder: 'Gunwalking' is wrong

That came in response to a CBS News investigation into allegations that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms intentionally allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons into the hands of Mexico's drug cartels for the purpose of gathering intelligence.

Gunrunning scandal at the ATF

Prior to this week, the position of the Justice Department was that ATF has never knowingly allowed guns to get into the hands of suspected gunrunners. However, Attorney General Eric Holder no longer appears to be denying the allegations, which have been made by a dozen veteran ATF agents.Eric Holder comments on 'Gunwalking'] (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20041655-10391695.html)

Video as well available at the source link.

[Clinotus]

Mexio to seek extradition of US agents.


""Ricardo Monreal, coordinator of the PT, will present a point of agreement to request the extradition of U.S. agents who executed the program," the sub-head explains.

Moreover, the point intended to encourage the federal Executive to request the extradition of U.S. agents who executed the program, for having committed the crime of trafficking in arms against the Mexican government, as well as those responsible for crimes likely...Source (http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/mexican-politician-calls-for-extradition-of-atf-gunwalkers)

Additional:

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/mexico-123868-operation-probes.html

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/03/ay-caramba-gunwalker-bill-declared.html

[Clinotus]

In advance of a hearing later today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a report containing new testimony and allegations in the ATF gunwalker case. According to the report, Carlos Canino, Acting ATF Attache in Mexico, calls the strategy his agency employed: "The perfect storm of idiocy." "We armed the [Sinaloa] cartel," Canino told investigators. "It is disgusting." Canino will be a key witness at the hearing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/26/cbsnews_investigates/main20083453.shtml

[Clinotus]

Reporting from Washington—
High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars.

In all, 100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious were transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso, making that West Texas city a central hub for gun traffickers. Forty of the weapons made it across the border and into the arsenal of Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, a feared cartel leader in Ciudad Juarez, according to federal court records and trace documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20111009,0,6431788.story

[at_at]

Is anything going to happen to the people who put this plan into action? I have a feeling that this will be one of those more of the same things don't change routines.

[Clinotus]

Is anything going to happen to the people who put this plan into action? I have a feeling that this will be one of those more of the same things don't change routines.

Yeah pretty much, its a finger pointing game at this point.


Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that he has not spoken with the family of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed in December by a group of assailants using at least two weapons tied to "Operation Fast and Furious," but he "certainly regrets" what happened.

Not offering an outright apology when prompted by a Republican senator to offer one, Holder, who was appearing Tuesday before Congress for the first time since his controversial testimony in May over the gun-running program, said he "can only imagine" the Terry family's pain. But, he said, it's "not fair to assume" that mistakes made during the botched operation "directly led" to Terry's death.

Holder was on the hot seat at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which he insisted that testimony he gave at his last appearance was accurate, but acknowledged that initial statements by the Justice Department after the issue became public were not.

In February, the Justice Department sent a letter to lawmakers saying every effort is made to "interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico."

But details of "Fast and Furious" and similar investigations under the Bush administration have since come to light that reveal otherwise. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member on the panel, said "mounting evidence" in the months since the letter has "put the lie" to Justice Department claims.

The information in the letter was "inaccurate," Holder said, adding, "I regret that."

.....
[url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/08/after-fast-and-furious-holder-to-blame-congress-for-not-supporting-atf/#ixzz1d7I4jW6u]Source

later in the same voice he blamed congress for it all:


The mistakes of 'Operation Fast and Furious,' serious though they were, should not deter or distract us from our critical mission to disrupt the dangerous flow of firearms along our Southwest border," Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Agents from ATF have told Congress their agency "suffers from a lack of effective enforcement tools," and a "critical first step should be for congressional leaders to work with us to provide ATF with the resources and statutory tools it needs to be effective," Holder said.

"Unfortunately, earlier this year the House of Representatives actually voted to keep law enforcement in the dark when individuals purchase multiple semi-automatic rifles and shotguns in Southwest border gun shops," Holder added.

Tragic all around.

The ATF doesn't suffer from anything, everyone who gets touched by that agency seems to suffer. The need more oversight and less tools in my opinion.