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The lawmakers have been investigating an A.T.F. program called Operation Fast and Furious in which federal agents knowingly let weapons slip across the Mexican border in the hope of tracing them to drug cartels. Two of the guns later turned up in Arizona, where an American Border Patrol agent was killed in a shootout.

Mr. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Mr. Issa, Republican of California, have accused the Justice Department of obstructing their investigation into who authorized the operation, which was begun in fall 2009 by the Phoenix field division of the bureau.

Mr. Melson told committee staff members, the letter said, that he had wanted to cooperate with the investigation earlier but that the Justice Department had directed him and other officials “not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/us/po ... 7guns.html

Breaking News: Source claims ATF's Tampa SAC walked guns to Honduras

Exclusive Special Report by Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea

Virginia O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Tampa Field Division, ran a gun-running investigation that was walking guns to Honduras using the techniques and tactics identical to Fast and Furious, it was reported to these correspondents this evening via private correspondence from a proven credible source.

On 21 September, 2010, A. Brian Albritton, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida issued a press release on Operation Castaway :

United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton, Virginia O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge of central and northern Florida Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operations, and Susan McCormick, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations, Tampa Field Office announce the initial results of Operation Castaway, an intensive and wideranging Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) firearms trafficking investigation conducted by ATF, ICE, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and the Miami-Dade Police Department. ATF describes Operation Castaway as the most significant firearms trafficking investigation in Central Florida history.

According to court documents, a group of defendants connected to Hugh Crumpler, III, were involved in a major international gun trafficking operation. . . . Firearms like those involved in this investigation are often smuggled through Honduras and other Central and South American countries before being used in violent crimes in Mexico and other countries in the region. A number of the firearms trafficked by the defendants in Operation Castaway have been linked to violent crimes around the world.

The press release concluded, "This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Bishop Ravenel and E. Jackson Boggs. Operation Castaway remains an ongoing investigation."

SAC O’Brien was previously the Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division, was later promoted to the Deputy Assistant Director of ATF, but then stepped down to the position in Tampa. Whether the allegations of our source refer to the ongoing Operation Castaway remains at this hour unclear, but our source is certain that O'Brien has allowed the "walking" of straw-purchased firearms to Honduras using the same failed strategy as the Phoenix Field Division's Operation Fast and Furious. That Operation Castaway involved arms smuggling to Honduras is also certain.

"This is confirmed as accurate," the correspondence continued. "There are emails in existence where O’Brien has advised those involved that Tampa does not have to report their walked guns because Tampa FD is not a part of Southwest Border or Project Gunrunner."

"From a first person source she is sh*tting herself trying to cover it up," the report stated.

No one from ATF is available at this late hour to approach for comment. This information has also reportedly been disclosed to Chairman Darrell Issa of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee Member Charles Grassley for follow-up and investigation.

http://m.examiner.com/examiner/db_/cont ... ue#display

LTS TRN 2 wrote:I think

LTS TRN 2 wrote:I think we safely blame the Chimp for this one.

the operation, which was begun in fall 2009

mvscal wrote:Still batting .1000 I see.

mvscal wrote:

LTS TRN 2 wrote:I think we safely blame the Chimp for this one.

the operation, which was begun in fall 2009

Good luck with that. Still batting .1000 I see.

LTS TRN 2 wrote:The Chimp is to blame for abetting the entire New Pearl Harbor of 9/11, and then abetting the totally fraudulent war on Iraq--which has gutted our economy--and that's about $3 trillion down the drain. The Chimp was on watch when the entire sub-prime meltdown ensued, and he bailed out his Wall St. buddies. The gun tracing program is very small change. The Chimp bestrides the nation's collapse like a demented closet homo with a lobotomy.

Tom In VA wrote:

Tom In VA wrote:On this topic, I found another interesting angle on this whole "Fast and Furious" imbroglio. It suggested it was done purposefully as a "False flag" as well or at best an attempt to hit "two birds". Ultimately, drug cartels and criminals weren't the targets though. The second amendment and the further disarmament of the law abiding citizens was the primary target in this.

Goober McTuber wrote:

Tom In VA wrote:On this topic, I found another interesting angle on this whole "Fast and Furious" imbroglio. It suggested it was done purposefully as a "False flag" as well or at best an attempt to hit "two birds". Ultimately, drug cartels and criminals weren't the targets though. The second amendment and the further disarmament of the law abiding citizens was the primary target in this.

You have proof to back that up?

Tom In VA wrote: I'll provide links those peoples opinions when I can.

Goober McTuber wrote:

Tom In VA wrote: I'll provide links those peoples opinions when I can.

Let me help you out:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

Scandal: Rather than a botched attempt to catch criminals, was the ATF program actually an attempt to advance gun-control efforts by an administration that has blamed Mexican violence on easy access to U.S. weapons?

If "Operation Fast and Furious" was merely a botched attempt at law enforcement, why was a supervisor of the operation, David Voth, "jovial, if not, not giddy but just delighted about" marked guns showing up at crime scenes in Mexico, as career Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent John Dodson told Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee?

Perhaps because all was going as planned until it was learned that two of the AK-47s recovered at the scene of the fatal shooting of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December were bought in ATF's Operation Fast and Furious. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals — this was the plan," Dodson testified to the panel. "It was so mandated."

ATF agent Olindo James Casa said that "on several occasions I personally requested to interdict or seize firearms, but I was always ordered to stand down and not to seize the firearms."

Yet, as we've noted, gun-tracking operations stopped at the border. That seems odd if the purpose was to catch gun traffickers and their drug-lord bosses. It makes sense, however, if the real purpose was to perpetuate, in the interests of pursuing the administration's gun-control agenda, what Bob Owens of Pajamas Media calls the "90% lie."

Goober McTuber wrote:

Tom In VA wrote:On this topic, I found another interesting angle on this whole "Fast and Furious" imbroglio. It suggested it was done purposefully as a "False flag" as well or at best an attempt to hit "two birds". Ultimately, drug cartels and criminals weren't the targets though. The second amendment and the further disarmament of the law abiding citizens was the primary target in this.

You have proof to back that up?

mvstinfoilhat wrote:

Goober McTuber wrote:

Tom In VA wrote:On this topic, I found another interesting angle on this whole "Fast and Furious" imbroglio. It suggested it was done purposefully as a "False flag" as well or at best an attempt to hit "two birds". Ultimately, drug cartels and criminals weren't the targets though. The second amendment and the further disarmament of the law abiding citizens was the primary target in this.

You have proof to back that up?

What other purpose could be served by intentionally permitting illegal weapon sales and then allowing those weapons to leave any effective control?

Following criticism from Republicans over a controversial gun-trafficking program, Kenneth Melson, the acting chief of the ATF, is facing pressure to resign. But it turns out that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the head of the House Oversight Committee and one of Melson's chief critics, was briefed about Operation Fast and Furious last year and did not express any opposition to it at the time.

The Washington Post reports:

At the briefing last year, bureau officials laid out for Issa and other members of Congress from both parties details of several ATF investigations, including Fast and Furious, the sources said. For that program, the briefing covered how many guns had been bought by “straw purchasers,’’ the types of guns and how much money had been spent, said one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the briefing was not public. “All of the things [Issa] has been screaming about, he was briefed on,’’ said one source familiar with the session.

The ATF program was designed to monitor the illegal sale and transfer of guns from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels. At a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, ATF agents told lawmakers that instead of arresting the small-time buyers, they were instructed to stand by and watch to see where the guns went in an effort to build a case against bigger arms dealers.

Doing so, however, meant that U.S. guns wound up in the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. And after Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered in a shootout along the Arizona-Mexico border in December, two weapons found on the scene were linked that the “Fast and Furious” program.

The committee released emails last week detailing Melson's involvement in the program, and Issa called on the acting director to resign in an interview with Fox News.

“He was part of the bad judgment. And when I say bad judgment, it wasn’t just him,” Issa said. “They had to go to Justice to get money, to get FBI agents, all of the other people that helped coordinate this, and to get the wiretaps they used. This was a program so stupid from the start.”

Goober McTuber wrote:but I don't believe it was some conspiracy to take away my guns.

mvschickenlittle wrote:

Goober McTuber wrote:but I don't believe it was some conspiracy to take away my guns.

You still haven't addressed the bottom line:

US law enforcement agencies deliberately allowed the sale of military quality small arms to Mexican drug cartels. We're far beyond simple stupidity here.

The only plausible reason for doing this is to precipitate a crisis and use that to enact draconian gun control legislation. If you have a plausible alternative scenario, I'm all ears.

LTS TRN 2 wrote:Well gee, Avi, you're really spinning your wheels today, aren't you? Look around--everywhere LESS gun control is the steady current. Especially in Tea Bagger areas, open and concealed weapons are now legal. Are you just on auto-smear?...Oh, of course you are. My bad.

Goober McTuber wrote:I find it totally plausible that government agencies would hatch thoroughly crackpot schemes in an effort track down Mexican drug cartels.

LTS TRN 2 wrote:Look around--everywhere LESS gun control is the steady current.

mvscal wrote:

Goober McTuber wrote:I find it totally plausible that government agencies would hatch thoroughly crackpot schemes in an effort track down Mexican drug cartels.

That's nice except for the fact that this crack pot scheme doesn't track down Mexican drug cartels. In fact, it doesn't and could never track down anything because they let those weapons out of their control. The only time they "track" any of these weapons is when they turn up at a crime scene.

The well-intentioned yet "thoroughly crackpot scheme" isn't plausible nor does it fit the facts.

Operation Fast & Furious is the name of an illegal gun trafficking sting run by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It started in 2009 and ended in late 2010 shortly after the death of Brian Terry, a US Border Patrol Agent and has since become the subject of controversy and a U.S. congressional investigation. During the operation, at least 2,000 guns were released and tracked by ATF agents into Mexico, many of which have been linked to at least 150 shootings.

mvscal wrote:

LTS TRN 2 wrote:Look around--everywhere LESS gun control is the steady current.

And you would need a big, bloodspattered international crisis to swim against that current now, wouldn't you? Lights coming on yet?

Wakey, wakey...