Proving once again that the American government is always willing to provide charity to the needy in other lands, the ATF (under Eric Holder's Department of Justice) apparently helped smuggle more than 1700 weapons to Mexican criminals and drug cartels "to see where they'd surface."
Theoretically, this would provide valuable information which would allow the ATF to shut down gunrunners. But in this case, "theory" went out the window... and the AK-47s and armor-piercing shells were unsurprisingly used to murder dozens (if not hundreds) of people, including a U.S. Border Patrol agent and a Customs Enforcement agent.
When a huge operation like this goes so badly awry, it's important to find out exactly who authorized it and just what the hell they were thinking. And already, an investigative House Committee has been able to strike two names off the list: Barack Obama and Eric Holder - both of whom claim they knew absolutely nothing about the operation.
Mr. Holder denied responsibility for the actions of his people, claiming that he'd established in previous testimony that "my people" are actually the Black Panthers.
Mr. Obama went even farther, explaining that he couldn't possibly be aware of every Justice Department plan to ship guns to the Mexican drug cartels because he oversees "a pretty big government" with "a lot of moving parts." He then added that many of the moving parts are "really shiny" and that he blacks out if he watches them too long.
While it's disturbing to think of so many high-powered weapons heading into Mexico, we doubt that the problem will last very long. Because considering the porous state of our southern border, we're pretty sure a lot of those weapons will be coming back eventually...
Barack Obama and Eric Holder - "No Guns" Heroes?
Update June 18, 2011
We usually go farther back in the vaults for these weekend cartoons, but this one deserved to be revisited right now. Because this week, Rep. Darrell Issa of the US House of Representative's Oversight and Government Reform Committee was holding hearings to find out just who in the Obama administration authorized a plan to put hundreds of automatic weapons and sniper rifles into the hands of Mexico's drug cartels.
So far, those in the ATF who've been interviewed aren't shedding a lot of light on the operation, other than to express their frustration at being ordered "from above" to stand down and watch the guns leave our control...on their way to the most dangerous criminals on Earth. According to one agent, "We knew the next time we’d see the guns would be at crime scenes. And not the first crime these guns were used in, but the last."
None of the ATF agents can explain why the "Fast and Furious" program was created or who is responsible...though they did not eliminate the possibility that it was done for purely political reasons.
The American people deserve answers...as does the family of US Border Agent Brian Terry, who was brutally murdered by drug runners using two high-powered rifles which had been supplied by our own government.
Despite pressure, even from Democrats, the Obama administration is refusing to answer any questions, forcing the possibilty that they'll have to be subpoenaed to share what they know about "Operation Fast and Furious."
They're refusing to be fast...and the rest of us should refuse to be anything less than furious.
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Update June 18, 2011
We usually go farther back in the vaults for these weekend cartoons, but this one deserved to be revisited right now. Because this week, Rep. Darrell Issa of the US House of Representative's Oversight and Government Reform Committee was holding hearings to find out just who in the Obama administration authorized a plan to put hundreds of automatic weapons and sniper rifles into the hands of Mexico's drug cartels.
So far, those in the ATF who've been interviewed aren't shedding a lot of light on the operation, other than to express their frustration at being ordered "from above" to stand down and watch the guns leave our control...on their way to the most dangerous criminals on Earth. According to one agent, "We knew the next time we’d see the guns would be at crime scenes. And not the first crime these guns were used in, but the last."
None of the ATF agents can explain why the "Fast and Furious" program was created or who is responsible...though they did not eliminate the possibility that it was done for purely political reasons.
The American people deserve answers...as does the family of US Border Agent Brian Terry, who was brutally murdered by drug runners using two high-powered rifles which had been supplied by our own government.
Despite pressure, even from Democrats, the Obama administration is refusing to answer any questions, forcing the possibilty that they'll have to be subpoenaed to share what they know about "Operation Fast and Furious."
They're refusing to be fast...and the rest of us should refuse to be anything less than furious.
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And now the "The Iran–Contra affair" for this era is beginning, except far more stupid and much easier to unravel.
ReplyDeleteNow why would anyone think the Obama Administration would just go and answer questions, it took 2 years for him to release his birth certificate and he's not volunteering to answer questions about his private little war in Libya. This President has shown an absolute contempt for Congress, this Country and its citizens. Congress needs to get off its collective keister and reign in this complete and total wack job. Impeachment is looking more and more like a legitimate answer to his power tripping ways....
ReplyDeleteWith a "justice" department like this, who's worried about criminals?
ReplyDelete@Dave,
ReplyDeleteback when Hiz Highness was running (the FIRST time for presidency), he made the comment (or it was made about him) that he would be ready to rule from day one. although it was quickly denied as a 'grammatical slip' , it seems to me that that is PRECISELY what he has been doing.
You're not being cynical enough. This program was initiated in order to further their gun control agenda. Laws broken and people murdered, just to make the American people believe that guns are bad.
ReplyDeleteAnd the MSM is all over this story like fies on a can of Raid.
ReplyDeleteThat's "flies on a can of Raid"
ReplyDeleteA few nits to pick, but they're significant -
ReplyDelete1) The guns in question were SEMI-automatic - as in self loading. Pull the trigger once, it fires once, and reloads. An 'Automatic' gun will keep firing as long as you hold the trigger down - i.e. a 'machine gun'
2) part of the definition (last time I looked, anyway) "Assault Weapon" was "Fully Automatic Capability." Calling these rifles 'assault weapons' is like calling your Mustang GT a NASCAR racer. LOOKS similar,yes. But a whole different class of performance. And yes, I'm sure they were NOT 'full auto' as those are a) rare, b) expensive as shit c) closely tracked. It seems extremely unlikely that there are / were that many available on the market.
3) Not particularly high powered, either - The 7.62 x 39 cartridge is slower and carries less energy than a .243 - which is widely considered to be an 'entry level' or 'kids' deer rifle. Not saying it won't kill you good and dead - has been in use basically everywhere that isn't NATO for 60 years. But in terms of 'high power' it's pretty much at the bottom of the heap. Well, except for the .223 that M-16 fires...
@Pete(Detroit)- Being a complete non-expert on guns, the fault for inaccurate description is mine. The significant fact is the one that you confirm: that these are guns that can kill people "good and dead"...which is, in fact, what they've been doing.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea for Barack Hussein and Holder was that their widely-touted figure of "90% of guns captured in Mexico were traced to gun stores in the U.S." from early in 2009 was shown to be a lie (who's surprised by that?), so they would MAKE it true. Therefore, it was never the intention of those at the tip-top to stop the guns at the border. The guns would be found in Mexico, they would be traced to the U.S., then they would have a new basis for additional infringements on Americans' 2nd Amendment rights. All part of the plan.
ReplyDelete@JustaJeepGuy- That sounds exceptionally plausible. It seems like there was very little money or supervision given to actually tracing the movements of the guns (the supposed reason for the operation), and simply identifying the guns at crime scenes as "from America" would have no point - except for the one you mention.
ReplyDeleteRelated to all of this, the gun dealers who were told to sell guns to shady characters are now distrustful of the ATF and law enforcement, after previously having had good relations with them.
What a fustercluck.
+1 to the ATF political false-flag agenda as the true motive. (Foolishly conceived, ineptly half-executed; this is what happens when middleaged law professors are allowed to act out Mission:Impossible wet dreams).
ReplyDeleteThe gun rights blogs have covered this well, with a clear trail to the WH.
The highly politicized ATF has a long record of staging Reichstag Fires (Ruby Ridge, Waco, and now GunRunner aka FastnFurious) with the goal of a total ban on civilian ownership--which would guarantee vast new power, numbers, and an almost Pentagon-esque budget.
These guns were supposed to found at Mexican massacre scenes, traced to US gun shops, then exploited to support the Brady/Bloomberg agenda. Woops, who knew that US agents would be among the massacred? A half-baked, sounds-good-over-Chivas-in-a-Learjet 'plan', glaringly impossible--except to a group who've spent their entire adult lives in the tenured cocoon of academic fantasyland. A bit like the over-his-head bureaucratic villain in 'Enemy of the State'.
Stilt, no worries, have heard these rifles referred to as 'automatics' and 'assault rifles' all over the media - just this is the first place I can correct the record..
ReplyDeleteEither most folks are unaware of the difference (very possible) or deliberately confusing the public (also very possible). Thanx for the opportunity to rant a bit, clear the air as it were.