Wait, so we had guns going to Mexico? Fast and Furious explained



Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons and property of the USDAgov

We keep seeing reports of this “Fast and Furious” story. What are we to make of it?

Guns were being sent into Mexico.

The republicans want answers. The democrats view this as a witch hunt and the republicans merely playing politics.

Wait a minute. WHY were guns going into Mexico?

Obama has used the executive privilege to withold documents, congress has voted to hold Eric Holder in contempt. Yet others say that this really started during the Bush administration and that this is a costly waste of time.

So let me get this straight. WERE guns going into Mexico?



We do know that guns were going into Mexico. The why is much more complicated. There are different theories. We could know for sure, but the attorney general and the president are stonewalling on information.

Why does it matter? Well we had American weapons being funneled to violent people in a foreign country, for starters. Well who in the world would allow that to happen? THAT’S WHAT CONGRESS IS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT! Who authorized this program? Why did they authorize it? How high did this go in the government? Who knew what and when did they know it?

At least one American federal agents was murdered on the boarder with those weapons. His family deserves answers. Holder claimed to have had known nothing. But it is known for a fact that his Chief of Staff had intimate knowledge of what was going on.

In March 23, 2011, in an interview with Univision, Obama said that neither he nor Holder had authorized Fast and Furious and that the Mexican government would have also been unaware. Obama goes as far as saying that he hadn’t even been aware of the program stating, “This is a pretty big government.” (which, ironically, might have been his only true statement in the interview.)

In another interview, Obama claimed that Holder knew nothing and that the ATF was the entity who orchestrated Fast and Furious.

May 3, 2011: While testifying to congress, Holder stated: “I’m not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

October 3, 2011: It came to light that Holder had actually had knowledge of this at least as early as July 5, 2010 in official briefings which were addressed specifically to Holder. This was reported by Katie Pavlich (who has a great book entitled “Fast and Furious.”)

So basically, Holder lied. And he probably knew about it before July because we now know that Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler knew about it as early as March 2010.

According to the Mexican Attorney General, at least 200 Mexicans have died from these weapons. What did Holder know? We would be able to answer that question if they would be up front with information. They’re not and they haven’t been. And now Obama is using the executive privilege to attempt shielding Holder.

June 20, 2012: Congress votes Holder in contempt for failing to provide the documents which had been subpoenad.

Some in the media are doing everything they can to downplay what has happened. MSNBC’s Martin Bashir called it “a witch hunt.” As I’ve already said, others are trying to downplay this as nothing but political posturing from the right. Really?

Can’t you at least entertain the idea that there could actually be something to this? What are the republicans trying to distract the American people from? The amazing job Obama is doing as president? Newsflash: Obama is four and a half months away from being voted out.

One liberal commentator made the cavalier statement, almost in passing, that republicans in congress have been on this for over a year. If Holder could have been forthright from the beginning, and if no wrongdoing from his department had occurred, perhaps this could have been dealt with long ago. But he not only failed to cooperate, he failed to tell the truth. But why would he lie if he did nothing wrong? If there’s nothing to hide, why won’t they turn over documents?

Some of the other attempts to mitigate the significance of Fast and Furious have been truly absurd. People have argued that it’s because of the race of the president and attorney general. Others have argued that this really began during the Bush Administration.

Really?

Holder lied to cover up something that’s Bush’s fault? That makes absolutely no sense. Fast and Furious – as a matter of fact – did NOT begin during the Bush Administration. There was a program called Operation Wide Receiver where guns were being used for the purpose of capturing drug cartels in sting operations, and this was done in conjunction with the Mexican government.

Fast and Furious was entirely different. It began and ended during Obama’s term. Fast and Furious was also a unilateral American move and was not done with Mexico.

This current issue is obviously not Bush’s fault. If it were, why on earth would the Obama Administration be stonewalling? Also, there were actually isssues with Operation Wide Receiver. The Department of Justice indicted several people connected to that program. So to try to justify Fast and Furious in light of Bush doesn’t make sense because people actually did face legal issues.

With Fast and Furious, we know Holder has lied and it appears that Obama is covering him. This could turn out to be nothing (but if it were, why the lies?) Or it could be a much more significant scandal.

There’s a conspiracy theory that the Obama Administration intentionally wanted the guns to get into Mexico to cause a spike in border violence and that they could look at the increased violence as a scapegoat reason to enact federal gun restrictions.

Absurd?

Again. That could be debunked with a transparent administration. But they’re not transparent and speculation continues to bubble.

Maybe President Romney will be able to get to the bottom of this.

jrb

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