12-08-2011, 06:05 AM
Fast and Furious: Report Says Sinaloa Cartel Has Enough U.S. Guns to be an Army
Posted on July 27, 2011
Sen. Charles Grassley [R-Iowa] has released a shocking new report on which claims the bungled federal gun sales program called "Operation Fast and Furious" turned more than 2,000 high-powered weapons over to "straw men" for Mexican drug dealers.
The result, according to the report, is the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico now has enough weapons to launch a Mexican government take-over. [ read the report here: http://grassley.senate.gov/judiciary/upl...xico-2.pdf .]
The report released to coincide with a third day of testimony in the Congressional investigation of "Fast and Furious."
[ here is the report and video of the hearing: http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/07/fast-a...g-cartels/ ]
ATF Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City testified they were denied information about Operation Fast and Furious that was being run out of the Phoenix Field Division. Once they found out, they said they were "disgusted" that so many guns had fallen into the hands of violent drug dealers. The testimony was that Mexicans and agents will be in danger for decades due to the reckless sales of Americans guns to cartels, which was ordered by ATF supervisors.
Senator Grassley summarizes yesterday's hearing and what's to come.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr9ESxioO...r_embedded
The failed federal anti-gunrunning program known as Operation Fast and Furious got so out of control in November 2009, it appeared the U.S. government was single-handedly "arming for war" the Sinaloa Cartel, documents show, even as U.S. officials kept lying to fellow agents in Mexico about the volume of guns it helped send south of the border.
Those shocking allegations are revealed in the latest congressional report investigating the operation.
At one point, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say guns sold under the program took just 24 hours to travel from a gun store in Phoenix to a crime scene in Mexico. ATF agents there pleaded for help but were told nothing about Fast and Furious, which was intended to let guns "walk" in order to track them to higher-profile traffickers.
Meanwhile, the report claims the agents' superiors in Washington met every Tuesday, to review the latest sales figures and the number of guns recovered in Mexico.
"How long are you going to let this go on?" Steve Martin, an assistant director of intelligence operations asked the ATF top brass at meeting Jan. 5, 2010, according to a transcript of the meeting contained in the congressional report. None of the men responded and several quickly left the room, the transcript reveals.
By Feb. 27, 2010, Lanny Breuer, the head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., was allegedly told that the ATF had successfully helped sell 1,026 weapons worth more than $650,000 to members of the Sinaloa cartel. The briefing included all top ATF officials, including the agents in charge in Los Angeles and Houston, as well as a half dozen top Justice Department attorneys.
"So there's no doubt after this briefing that guns in this case were being linked to the Sinaloa cartel?" a congressional investigator asked Martin during a July 2011 interview.
"I'd say yes." Martin replied.
"Very apparent to everyone in the room?" the investigator asked.
"That's correct," Martin said.
Meanwhile, ATF agents in Mexico were seeing a flood of weapons coming south. When asked, ATF brass told the resident ATF attaché in Mexico things were "under control."
"They were afraid I was going to brief the ambassador on it or brief the government of Mexico," said Darren Gil, former ATF attaché in Mexico.
For months, officials assured Gil that Fast and Furious was going to be "shut down," but it wasn't.
"We're getting hurt down here," Gil told ATF International Affairs Chief Daniel Kumor."
http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/07/fast-a...e-an-army/
Posted on July 27, 2011
Sen. Charles Grassley [R-Iowa] has released a shocking new report on which claims the bungled federal gun sales program called "Operation Fast and Furious" turned more than 2,000 high-powered weapons over to "straw men" for Mexican drug dealers.
The result, according to the report, is the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico now has enough weapons to launch a Mexican government take-over. [ read the report here: http://grassley.senate.gov/judiciary/upl...xico-2.pdf .]
The report released to coincide with a third day of testimony in the Congressional investigation of "Fast and Furious."
[ here is the report and video of the hearing: http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/07/fast-a...g-cartels/ ]
ATF Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City testified they were denied information about Operation Fast and Furious that was being run out of the Phoenix Field Division. Once they found out, they said they were "disgusted" that so many guns had fallen into the hands of violent drug dealers. The testimony was that Mexicans and agents will be in danger for decades due to the reckless sales of Americans guns to cartels, which was ordered by ATF supervisors.
Senator Grassley summarizes yesterday's hearing and what's to come.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr9ESxioO...r_embedded
The failed federal anti-gunrunning program known as Operation Fast and Furious got so out of control in November 2009, it appeared the U.S. government was single-handedly "arming for war" the Sinaloa Cartel, documents show, even as U.S. officials kept lying to fellow agents in Mexico about the volume of guns it helped send south of the border.
Those shocking allegations are revealed in the latest congressional report investigating the operation.
At one point, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say guns sold under the program took just 24 hours to travel from a gun store in Phoenix to a crime scene in Mexico. ATF agents there pleaded for help but were told nothing about Fast and Furious, which was intended to let guns "walk" in order to track them to higher-profile traffickers.
Meanwhile, the report claims the agents' superiors in Washington met every Tuesday, to review the latest sales figures and the number of guns recovered in Mexico.
"How long are you going to let this go on?" Steve Martin, an assistant director of intelligence operations asked the ATF top brass at meeting Jan. 5, 2010, according to a transcript of the meeting contained in the congressional report. None of the men responded and several quickly left the room, the transcript reveals.
By Feb. 27, 2010, Lanny Breuer, the head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., was allegedly told that the ATF had successfully helped sell 1,026 weapons worth more than $650,000 to members of the Sinaloa cartel. The briefing included all top ATF officials, including the agents in charge in Los Angeles and Houston, as well as a half dozen top Justice Department attorneys.
"So there's no doubt after this briefing that guns in this case were being linked to the Sinaloa cartel?" a congressional investigator asked Martin during a July 2011 interview.
"I'd say yes." Martin replied.
"Very apparent to everyone in the room?" the investigator asked.
"That's correct," Martin said.
Meanwhile, ATF agents in Mexico were seeing a flood of weapons coming south. When asked, ATF brass told the resident ATF attaché in Mexico things were "under control."
"They were afraid I was going to brief the ambassador on it or brief the government of Mexico," said Darren Gil, former ATF attaché in Mexico.
For months, officials assured Gil that Fast and Furious was going to be "shut down," but it wasn't.
"We're getting hurt down here," Gil told ATF International Affairs Chief Daniel Kumor."
http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/07/fast-a...e-an-army/
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