Posted on 11/10/2011 8:40:16 AM PST by Kaslin
“Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated.” –Special Agent John Dodson ATF Phoenix Field Division.
As allegations surrounding Operation Fast and Furious continue to heat up, many major media outlets continue to call the fatal program “botched,” which is a factually incorrect characterization.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines botched as: to foul up hopelessly, to put together in a makeshift way.
The only thing botched about Operation Fast and Furious is that the American public found out about it. Fast and Furious was carried out exactly as planned: allow straw purchasers to transfer guns to cartels, let those guns get trafficked back to Mexico and see where they end up. There was no plan to trace these guns and no plan to inform the Mexican Government of the operation, either.
Tactics used during Fast and Furious seem like mistakes, but in fact were just part of the strategy and process of Fast and Furious. Calling the program botched implies the Obama Justice Department didn’t intentionally allow 2000 high powered guns, including AK-47s and .50-caliber sniper rifles, to walk into the hands of ruthless drug cartels without proper tracing mechanisms. The opposite is true. This was the intention of the program, not an operational mistake in the process.
To prove the operation wasn’t “botched,” let’s take a look at some testimony from ATF whistleblowers about the operation.
On June 15, 2011 ATF Field Agent John Dodson, one of the first whistleblowers to go public about the scandal, testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee about Fast and Furious.
“I was involved in this operation, we monitored as they purchased hand guns, AK-47 variants, and .50 caliber rifles almost daily. Rather than contradict any enforcement actions, we took notes, we recorded observations, we tracked movements of these individuals for a short time after their purchases, but nothing more. Knowing all the while, just days after these purchases, the guns that we saw these individuals buy would begin turning up at crime scenes in the United States and Mexico, we still did nothing,” Dodson said. “Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated.”
On July 26, 2011 ATF Senior Special Agent Jose Wall, who is based in Tijuana, Mexico also verified Fast and Furious was intended from the beginning to provide guns to cartels.
“I could not believe that someone in ATF would so callously let firearms wind up in the hands of criminals. And that this activity has seemingly been approved by our own Justice Department and ATF management in the misguided hope of catching the “big fish,” Wall said. “These firearms that are now in the hands of people who have no regard for human life pose a threat to all of us, a threat to which none of us is immune.”
ATF field agents knew Fast and Furious had the potential to get people killed, including federal agents. Vince Cefalu was one of those concerned agents and, although he knew he would face retaliation for exposing Fast and Furious to the public, he did it anyway. When Cefalu started speaking out against his superiors within ATF about the way Operation Fast and Furious was being conducted, he was approached within 24 hours and told to stop. He was also threatened and told if he didn’t shut his mouth, he would be relocated to North Dakota, a long way from where he had been working along the southern border with Mexico. Despite threats from his superiors, Cefalu blew the whistle about Operation Fast and Furious anyway, which has landed him under review for what he describes as “a proposal for removal for telling the truth.“
In September, Cefalu explained his concerns during a Fast and Furious town hall meeting in Tucson.
“To think that they could do this sort of operation knowing there could be a dead ATF agent at the ends of those guns made me nauseous,” Cefalu said.
Cefalu also described the skyrocketing murder rate in Mexico as “people getting killed wholesale,” and the federal government gave cartels the guns they need to do it.
To further prove Fast and Furious wasn’t botched in its implementation, ATF Phoenix Field Division Supervisor at the time, William Newell, described in emails that guns showing up at crime scenes in Mexico was proof the operation was working.
The only people who have been trustworthy and credible throughout the investigation into Fast and Furious have been ATF whistleblowers. ATF management officials and Department of Justice officials have done nothing but lie, stonewall and cover-up the lethal program.
The Obama Administration botched the cover-up of Fast and Furious. Lies perpetuated by the Holder Justice Department continue to be shredded by a handful of media outlets, Sen. Charles Grassley, Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Darrell Issa and members of the House Oversight Committee, but in no way was allowing Mexican cartels to get their hands on high powered weapons a "mistake."
Its obvious to me that the real purpose of this operation was to create a backlash against the Second Amendment. While this was going on, the Cabinet level perps were blaming present gun laws for the presence of these weapons south of the border.
Wonder why bay of pigs comes to mind.
And don’t forget to note how they all say that IN UNISON - singing from the same propaganda songsheet written at some kind of leftist central base. Who sends those marching orders? How are they communicated?
Holder just acknowledged it was deliberate. Ill-advised, but deliberate.
What is missing is a logical reason to do it. Without tracking, it is difficult to believe the DoJ/ATF was interested in finding out who got which rifle.
No, it is far easier to believe this was done in exchange for bribes from the cartels to the political party controlling the Department of Justice.
Sorry, but that just makes more sense.
Manufacture a crises
(arm the southern drug lords with American guns)
Wait for the people to cry out for relief
(Oh my God. People are getting killed. Something but be done about the guns!)
Blame an opponent
(evil American gun manufacturers and their friends in the NRA)
Come in with a "new way" (socialism/communism/gun control) because the "old way" (free market, Constitution, legal system) didn't work!
They always follow this same path.
(Unusually, the crises is created by the left wing trial lawyers. Driving up costs so things become unaffordable is a common left wing tactic - See Obomacare, and pharmaceuticals are next).
Remember the mantra at the time, “90% of Mexican guns come from the US”,
which turned out to be blatantly false, but it did not stop the MSM’s from repeating it endlessly.
I can’t believe people ever believed that bull. When you
have the kind of money the drug lords have Yuri Orlov sends
you a case of booze and a hooker for Christmas every year!
See post #8.
Think back to everything the left has taken over.
School CRISES (kids aren't learning - teachers union)
Housing CRISES (the poor deserve a chance - Fanny/Freddy)
Bank CRISES (Housing loans for the poor!- Dodd/Frank)
Health Care CRISES ( What about the poor sick people? Emergency rooms must treat them all!)
Pharmaceutical CRISES ( Did you ever take this sugar pill? Call us! Trial Lawyers-R-us)
The list goes on and on....."Never waste a good crises (real, imaginary, or manufactured)."
No crises = no new social programs.
No new social programs = no socialism/communism progress.
Is it possible that cartel money has corrupted US government employees and the political system?
Lobbyists for La Raza. This is not new.
Is it possible that we have acknowledged the illegal alien problem since Reagan, have been fighting a war on terror for a decade, and leave our southern border wide open to this day?
I’ve been saying all along that nothing was botched. My only conclusion is that we have drug cartels using influence to buy the best weapons available, and a few million in bribes to get the DOJ / DHS / FBI to provide them a cover story. Do some good accounting of the bank accounts both domestic and foreign of carreer gubmint officials and you’ll find the motive.
The dems used the OJ Simpson trial in 95 to divided the races.
Following the trial Screwy Louie Farrakhan(SP?) had his Million Man March which he referred to as his Million Man Army.
Brian Ross began trying to stir up the racial pot in December 95 by dredging up the Rodney King case again.
The news media as a whole storied the racial pot by claiming black churches were being burned.
Bill Clinton stirred the racial pot even more when he jumped in with the phony storied of black Churches being burned.
BC had signed the assault weapons ban, but had given his buddies the Chinese a special waver that they could ship in somewhere around 100-150,000 SKS rifles. These rifles were so cheap you could buy one for under $50. An SKS with 205 rounds of ammo was around $65. An SKS in a wooden crate with 250 rounds of ammo, cleaning kit, sling, and IIRC an ammo belt was around $75.
While the Chinese were shipping in the SKS’s they were also smuggling in full auto weapons that were destined for the gangs in LA. The Chinese were going to make sure the Clinton's did not leave the WH in 1996.
They were ginning up civil unrest and arming up the gangs in 1996, and they are ginning up civil unrest and arming up the gangs now.
Anybody want to believe it's just a coincidence go right ahead and believe it.
Me, I'm not dumb enough to believe anything is a coincidence when the Clinton's are involved.
From the article: "There was no plan to trace these guns and no plan to inform the Mexican Government of the operation, either."
The GOP, and even conservatives, seem incapable of organizing even a truthful and legitimate talking point. It is despairing!
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