As the mainstream media has reluctantly, ever so reluctantly, begun to "discover" the Fast and Furious scandal, we can detect a lie that is growing and growing in the frequency with which it is told and one which Republicans are not swatting down. The lie was just repeated by White House spokesman Carney who asserted that F&F began under the Bush administration and that it was AG Holder who put an end to it.
F&F, however, was not merely a continuation of the Bush administration's "Wide Receiver" Operation. WR used a time-tested law enforcement tactic of "controlled deliveries" of a relatively small amount of weapons, some 300 or so, to known criminals, followed the guns, and then arrested the culprits. No weapons were allowed across the border; no weapons were "lost."
Holder's F&F was something completely different. It was an attempt to "prove" a long-held liberal and media assertion that US gun stores and gun shows supplied most of the weapons to the Mexican drug gangs, and the only way to clamp down on drug-related violence was to enact ever-stricter gun control legislation in the US. One problem: The evidence to support this hypothesis did not exist. The geniuses at DOJ and ATF, therefore, decided to create the evidence. It was evidence planting on a massive scale. The ATF and prosecutors forced legitimate gun store owners to sell weapons, often over the written objections of those owners, to "straw purchasers" who then provided the guns to Mexican criminals. The ATF encouraged thousands of these sales, followed the transport of the weapons, and watched as they crossed into Mexico where all control was lost. We know what happened then: hundreds of Mexicans were killed along with one and possibly two US federal agents (BrianTerry and, possibly, Jaime Zapata).
This is not Watergate. How many people died in Watergate? This is criminal behavior of the rankest sort. People on both sides of the border have died because of F&F. The Obama misadministration's deliberate assault on the second amendment has produced a bloody disaster. This is one of the greatest stories ever ignored by the media. Now that the media can no longer ignore it, it behooves all of us who believe in preserving our fundamental freedoms, including those in the second amendment, not to let the media and the Obama misadministration twist, distort, and lie when dealing with this scandal.
I think I am less surprised by this administration's fabrication of evidence than I am of the total lack of interest by the Fourth Estate. For a long time I have said I thought the lack of pre-election vetting of this candidate by the MSM would be a case study in future journalism classes. Now I'm no longer sure; they are so much in the tank they think they're performing professionally. That's why the contempt vote and Obama's assertion of privilege is so important to getting the history out: F&F could be ignored by the MSM, but contempt and assertion of privilege cannot. For a long time I thought Issa was failing to get the investigation going properly. Now I think both the timing and the direction are about perfect. Obama's retreat to Chicago politics only 5 months ahead of the election will not go unnoticed by independent voters. Already Obama is down to 43& on Drudge, and the fall will likely create momentum. I am cautiously optimistic about this election.
ReplyDeleteif GWB did it, then there would be no assertion of privilege. BHO would be falling all over himself releasing those documents.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point.
Deletegreat point rice alum
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteHelp a sister out... how does that read in English?
DeleteBob Dole did Viagra ads, hence the moniker "ED" Dole. "Congress" is a term used to describe intercourse, so if Dole needs Viagra, he is unable to satisfy sexual congress. In MM congress, one is the pitcher, the other the catcher (receiver), you can figure it out from thre. F&F is a term for vigorous congress, whether MM or MF.
DeleteOy. Next time I will let you guys talk right over my head. Thanks for the entertaining G-rated translation for the R-rated content.
DeletePlease return to the previously scheduled broadcast...
"It was evidence planting on a massive scale."
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr. Mad, that is the sentence I've been waiting for and you even managed to tie in the 2nd Amendment angle without confusing me or going off into conspiracy land -- which is why I gave up trying to understand this story the first time around.
"Now that the media can no longer ignore it..."
ReplyDeleteOn last night's ABC News broadcast, there wasn't one second invested in this story. Not one word on Obama's EP assertion. They're not even trying to mask their bias anymore. In fact, I'm convinced its more than bias. Its compliance to deceive.
I remember seeing Hillary on TV saying American weapons were a major cause of the violence in Mexico. That was sometime early last year, maybe February or March, if memory serves.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this explains the executive privilege gambit: early F&F stories implicated DOJ, Homeland Security and State as the coordinators. Nothing about that since. Could this be why Obama's blocking the investigation?
I was about to write a piece on State's role. I think, frankly, State was deceived by DOJ.
DeleteI've read that Homeland Security, DEA, the FBI and others were involved. I hope you're right about State, but I have to wonder about the others.
DeletePS. I'd like to use my real name but I don't have any of these accounts.
OT but relevant. Why isn't this obviously deliberate avoidance of publishing anything critical of Teh Won leading to future FCC actions stripping the corporations involved of their federal broadcast licensed properties? They are not acting in the public interest and should be ripe for forfeiture, in my view. Taking away their "voice" in mega-markets seems the perfect way to charge them for their dishonesty and incompetence.
ReplyDeleteRe: State deceived by DOJ
ReplyDeleteState people are very intelligent and don't mind reminding the junior departments of that. Accordingly, they're extremely easy to lead around by the nose whilst praising their perspicacity.
Case in point: your FSI briefer who was full of misinformation she was absolutely certain about. Dunning-Kruger effect, amplified by characteristic FSO blindness to the abilities of others.
As a retired SF soldier, I encountered the same pressure from State folks to document US-sourced semi-auto guns recovered by police and COIN forces my guys and I trained. There was usually one FSO or two who would share a sarcastic remark with me after the brief, along the lines of, "We keep telling them the guns are leftover from the civil war, but as they point out, if we knew what was going on here in San Bananiqe we'd be back in Washington on the San Bananique desk."
The only place I saw significant quantities of semi-auto US-spec "assault rifles" [sic] was Jamaica, and even there, there were more full-autos in the hands of the bad guys. Jamaica's an island with Draconian gun control, limited ports and airports, a very decent professional police force (which patrols with the Army because the cops are so badly outgunned) and special "gun courts" which, ah, "streamline" justice for those accused of gun crimes. "Habeas sentence. Next!"
Yet their senior cops have heard this same bullshit from our FSOs and believe it. So they want us to have a gun control regime like theirs, which is not even possible under our Bill of Rights, and we sure wouldn't want the results they have gotten with it so far.
(Their other beef with the US is the "Jamaican" whose mom has been an illegal in the US since he was 1, that we deport "home" at the end of a prison sentence for gang crime. They think "we broke him, we bought him" and it's possible to see their point. Not just Jamaica, you hear this everywhere down south and in the Carib).
Thanks, very interesting.
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