"Fast and Furious" Weapons Found at More Crime Scenes

Speaking of Barney Fife Holder, the fallout from the Fast and Furious debacle just keeps on coming.

Firearms from the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious weapons trafficking investigation turned up at the scenes of at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., as well as at a Border Patrol agent's slaying in southern Arizona last year, the Justice Department has acknowledged to Congress.

The department did not provide details about the crimes. But The Times has learned that they occurred in several Arizona cities, including Phoenix, where Fast and Furious was managed, as well as in El Paso, where a total of 42 weapons from the operation were seized at two crime scenes.

Since Eric Holder was at the top of the food chain in the oxymoronically named Obama Justice Department, what did he know and when did he know it?

...But a source close to the controversy, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation, said that as early as January 2010, just after the operation began, weapons had turned up at crime scenes in Phoenix, Nogales, Douglas and Glendale in Arizona, and in El Paso. The largest haul was 40 weapons at one crime scene in El Paso.

In all, 57 of the operation's weapons were recovered at those six crime scenes, in addition to the two seized where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed.

Weich's letter also said a total of 1,418 firearms were circulated under the program. How many remain missing in the U.S. and Mexico is unclear. The total is considerably lower than earlier estimates, when authorities said that at least 2,000 guns had vanished.

Hey! I've got an idea! Let's facilitate the sale of deadly weapons to a bunch of really bad people doing really bad things, because maybe, somehow, in some way we're not quite sure of, we can track these guns to someone we can maybe arrest, after they've committed even more crimes. What could possibly go wrong?

H/T Mememorandum

"Fast and Furious" Weapons Found at Valley Crimes

PHOENIX - Weapons linked to a questionable government strategy are turning up in crimes in Valley neighborhoods.

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. We’ve discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ controversial "Fast and Furious" case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities.

More guns sales ineptly handled by BATFE are showing up at crime scenes on this side of the border. The story and the reporter repeatedly talk about this as a "strategy".

This was hardly a "strategy". At best it was a tactic, so poorly thought out and ineptly implemented as to assure its failure from the beginning. The architects of this clusterfumble are trying desperately to cover their tracks and find a scapegoat they can blame this on. Remember when the White House couldn't remember or find out who hired Craig Livingstone ? Good luck finding the fingerprints of anyone high enough up the food chain to be truly responsible for the "Fast and Furious Foul-up" on this

In other news, the BATFE plans to let children play with matches as part of a "strategic" plan to watch children get hurt. Eric Holder could not be reached for comment.

Update: There's a Petition to Fire Holder here.

H/T Memeorandum

Cross posted at LCR, Lady Cincinnatus , Say Anything.

ATF Sits and Watches Guns Illegally Shipped into Mexico

Barack Obama, leader of the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight, holds joint press conferences with the President of Mexico, while apparently, simultaneously conducting an inept and fruitless sting operation that allowed hundreds if not thousands of guns to be illegally shipped to Mexico and used in crimes both in Mexico and the US, while his ATF was sitting idly by.

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, (John) Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen. Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.

So, while Obama talks a good fight in in his press conference, the truth is, his administration is actually making the problems worse.

...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.

ATF named the case "Fast and Furious." Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles.

So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it.

Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go 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.

So, the flow of firearms across the border was unimpeded, the Mexican government was not informed as to what the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight was doing... Could it get any worse? Unfortunately, yes.

On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry 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.

Here's video of the joint press conference:



H/T Maggie's Notebook
Cross posted at Say Anything