Saturday, October 1, 2011

Operation FAST AND FURIOUS

This being Saturday morning, in the news is a report that the White House executed a Friday dump of documents on Operation FAST AND FURIOUS.  These documents tie then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly to ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell.  Mr Newell was the person leading FAST AND FURIOUS.  Mr Newell says that he and Mr O'Rielly were long time friends.  Per CBS News:
The email exchanges span a little over a month last summer.  They discuss ATF's gun trafficking efforts along the border including the controversial Fast and Furious case, though not by name.  The emails to and from O'Reilly indicate more than just a passing interest in the Phoenix office's gun trafficking cases.  They do not mention specific tactics such as "letting guns walk."

A lawyer for the White House wrote Congressional investigators:  "none of the communications between ATF and the White House revealed the investigative law enforcement tactics at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to 'walk.'"
Cloudy.

Here is a report from appears to be from part of the loyal opposition, talking about a plan to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF or ATF).

The Instapundit comments
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving agency. I agree with the suggestion, though, that such a move would likely be part of a cover-up, rather than an effort at government streamlining, or accountability.
What I still don't understand about this operation is why it was so extensive or why there has been this reluctance to talk about it.  The only thing that comes to mind is that this was really all about proving that, yes, violence in Mexico is because of guns being freely available in the United States, an assertion that was disproven when it was first raised.

But, this thread is slowly unraveling, and not at my end.

Regards  —  Cliff

  The term "Friday Dump" is described well here.

1 comment:

  1. Not since Nixon have we had a President who stonewalls and obscures as much as this one. I will cede that all Presidents and their merry men (and women) are afflicted with varying degrees of, shall we say "dis-ingenuity," but this one is over the top.

    Why do Presidents and their minions do this? Because they have an agenda, a personal vision (or have bought into one advanced by their chief "lieutenants") and they know that it will be objectionable to a significant part of the electorate. They hope to blow it by the populace and once accomplished, much harder to undo.

    Two words describe Obama, "arrogance" and "mendacity." He has a socialist agenda that far exceeds anything dreamed of by FDR and as he promised in his campaign, wants to "fundamentally change the United States of America." Well...he is doing just that...and in ways that most of us don't yet realize. Noted this AM that he has directed the DOE to come up with a means and process to centralize in DC all decisions regarding any action with electrical power lines anywhere in the US. Just one of hundreds of creating a massive central government that controls absolutely all aspects of life in America.

    Guess it is the crux of his "Jobs Plan."

    I will add that the "loyal opposition" has yet to field anyone that even remotely qualifies as a savior or breath of significantly fresh air. The current slate offers little more than a GOP flavor of DNC BS. Jut more "yada, yada, yada."

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