Molon Labe
03-04-11, 11:53 AM
I don't usually start these threads, but here goes...
Original Source: Open letter by Senator Grassley to AG Holder (http://www.scribd.com/doc/49971654/2011-03-03-CEG-to-DOJ-ATF).
It is has been over a month since I first contacted Acting Director Melson about serious whistleblower allegations related to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) operation called “Fast and Furious”—part of the broader “Project Gunrunner” initiative. Several agents alleged that ATF leadership encouraged cooperating gun dealers to engage in sales of multiple assault weapons to individuals suspected of illegally purchasing for resale to Mexican cartels. These agents were motivated to come forward after federal authorities recovered two of the Operation Fast and Furious guns at the scene where a Customs and Border Patrol Agent named Brian Terry was killed.
* * *
My office continues to receive mounting evidence in support of the whistleblower allegations. For example, attached are detailed accounts of three specific instances where ATF allowed firearms to “walk.”2 In all three instances, the suspect asks a cooperating defendant to purchase firearms at a gun dealer who was also cooperating with the ATF. So, two of the three participants in the transactions were acting in concert with the ATF.CBS report (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7358389n&tag=watchnow)(video)
(text (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml))
Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.
* * *
Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go (http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Grassley_201103_page24.pdf)began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets... the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.
One e-mail noted, "958 killed in March 2010 ... most violent month since 2005." The same e-mail notes: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone," including "numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles."
Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. "I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two," he said. "The more our guys buy, the more violence we're having down there."
Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.
Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs."
* * *
On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/23/eveningnews/main20035609.shtml)was gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague.
According to Dodson, "They said, 'Did you hear about the border patrol agent?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And they said 'Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.' There's not really much you can say after that."
Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry's murder.When this story was being discussed before the whistleblower went public, the motivation wasn't a sting, but to pad the statistics (you may recall there was a debate about whether Cartel guns were coming from the US or from elsewhere). Now they say it's a sting.... but this "sting" never led to any arrests, just lots of innocent people being killed--including a US Border Patrol agent. And it was done without the knowledge and approval of Mexican authorities... how can you run a sting op in a foreign country, especially one that involves arming the most violent armed gangs in history? It has to be criminal.
Original Source: Open letter by Senator Grassley to AG Holder (http://www.scribd.com/doc/49971654/2011-03-03-CEG-to-DOJ-ATF).
It is has been over a month since I first contacted Acting Director Melson about serious whistleblower allegations related to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) operation called “Fast and Furious”—part of the broader “Project Gunrunner” initiative. Several agents alleged that ATF leadership encouraged cooperating gun dealers to engage in sales of multiple assault weapons to individuals suspected of illegally purchasing for resale to Mexican cartels. These agents were motivated to come forward after federal authorities recovered two of the Operation Fast and Furious guns at the scene where a Customs and Border Patrol Agent named Brian Terry was killed.
* * *
My office continues to receive mounting evidence in support of the whistleblower allegations. For example, attached are detailed accounts of three specific instances where ATF allowed firearms to “walk.”2 In all three instances, the suspect asks a cooperating defendant to purchase firearms at a gun dealer who was also cooperating with the ATF. So, two of the three participants in the transactions were acting in concert with the ATF.CBS report (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7358389n&tag=watchnow)(video)
(text (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml))
Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.
* * *
Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go (http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Grassley_201103_page24.pdf)began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets... the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.
One e-mail noted, "958 killed in March 2010 ... most violent month since 2005." The same e-mail notes: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone," including "numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles."
Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. "I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two," he said. "The more our guys buy, the more violence we're having down there."
Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.
Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs."
* * *
On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/23/eveningnews/main20035609.shtml)was gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague.
According to Dodson, "They said, 'Did you hear about the border patrol agent?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And they said 'Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.' There's not really much you can say after that."
Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry's murder.When this story was being discussed before the whistleblower went public, the motivation wasn't a sting, but to pad the statistics (you may recall there was a debate about whether Cartel guns were coming from the US or from elsewhere). Now they say it's a sting.... but this "sting" never led to any arrests, just lots of innocent people being killed--including a US Border Patrol agent. And it was done without the knowledge and approval of Mexican authorities... how can you run a sting op in a foreign country, especially one that involves arming the most violent armed gangs in history? It has to be criminal.