U.S. suppling Mexican Cartels

[Huskerz1]

So, let me get this straight. The feds use our tax dollars to flood the mexican cartels with approx. 1800 firearms. One dead Border Patrol Agent and at least 195 violent crimes later involving said firearms, only 795 of said firearms are recovered? Hmmm...initially I'm at a loss for words. Not very responsible gun owners are the feds.

U.S. has lost track of many firearms it allowed into Mexico
Los Angeles Times

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.

Operation Fast and Furious was conducted even though U.S. authorities suspected that some of the weapons might be used in crimes, according to 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 crime or law enforcement action, according to documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity and the Los Angeles Times.

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

John Dodson, an ATF agent who worked on Fast and Furious, said in an interview with the center, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, that he is still haunted by his participation.

"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 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 are digging deeper into the details of the operation.

On Thursday, as President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon met in Washington to discuss the increasing problems with drug and gun smuggling, Attorney General Eric Holder asked top officials at the Justice Department to consult the inspector general to determine whether further investigation of the operation is needed.

U.S. Sen. Charles 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 Thursday.

"Too many government agencies always want the big case," he said. "They keep these gun-running sales moving along even when they have people within the agency that say something bad's going to happen. They had plenty of warnings ... and the prophets turned out to be right."

Much of what is now known about the case has surfaced only since Customs and Border Protection Agent Brian Terry was fatally shot in Arizona in December.

But the investigation was under way more than a year earlier, when Mexican customs agents in the small border town of Naco stopped a passenger car traveling from the U.S. that was carrying a surprising cargo: 41 AK-47s, a .50-caliber rifle, 40 semiautomatic gun magazines, a telescopic rifle sight and three knives.

At least three guns found that day were traced through their serial numbers to a gun shop in Glendale, Ariz., which then led to Jaime Avila of Phoenix, who had purchased four weapons there.

Over the next year, federal agents watched Avila and several associates buy more heavy-duty weapons, which investigators were convinced were intended for Mexican drug cartels.

Despite their suspicions, the ATF allowed Avila to continue.

It was part of a new strategy embarked upon after the agency had found it increasingly difficult to build cases against "straw buyers," who purchased weapons for the cartels.

The buyers were working for increasingly complex trafficking organizations.

As a result, the ATF decided to go after not just the buyers but also the organizations, Thomasson said.

It was an attempt to apply the tactics of a narcotics investigation, in which small-scale drug buyers are allowed to operate under surveillance in the hope of catching their more powerful cartel contacts.


Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/03...#ixzz1Fmx2yP77

[ztrouble]

OH it doesn't mention where the head agent in that operation TOLD the gun shops to sell to the suspected Straw purchasers does it?

Or what about the head agents intimidation of those coming forward about this?

FUCK THE ATF!

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.htm...1145029&page=1

http://grassley.senate.gov/about/ATF...r-Strategy.cfm

cleanupatf.org

[Huskerz1]

F our gov't and liberal media too. All they care about is statistics that support an assault weapons ban. Statistics that our gov't has now directly added to.

When nig nog gets his 2nd term, he, eric holder, and janet neonazitano will figure out a way to circumvent a vote and get a ban in place.

[slims00ls1z28]

Wow, just wow that's sad pathetic and disturbing to say the least.