The highlight of Attorney General Janet Reno's eight hours of testimony on August 1, 1995, was her revelation that the 54-ton tank that smashed through the Davidian compound should not be considered a military vehicle — instead, it was just "like a good rent-a-car." Apparently the Justice Department had purchased the damage waiver and didn't worry about getting a few scratches or blood stains on those tanks. -- "The Hypocritical War on Terrorism," by James Bovard, December 1996.
U.S. gun-tracing operation let firearms into criminal hands.
A federal operation that allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of suspected gun smugglers so they could be traced to the higher echelons of Mexican drug cartels has lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which have been linked to crimes, including the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent in December.
The investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious, was conducted even though U.S. authorities suspected that some of the weapons might be used in crimes, according to a variety of federal agents who voiced anguished objections to the operation.
Many of the weapons have spread across the most violence-torn states in Mexico, with at least 195 linked to some form of crime or law enforcement action, according to documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity and The Times.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the operation, said that 1,765 guns were sold to suspected smugglers during a 15-month period of the investigation. Of those, 797 were recovered on both sides of the border, including 195 in Mexico after they were used in crimes, collected during arrests or intercepted through other law enforcement operations.
John Dodson, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who worked on Operation Fast and Furious, said in an interview with the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, that he was still haunted by his participation in the investigation.
"With the number of guns we let walk, we'll never know how many people were killed, raped, robbed," he said. "There is nothing we can do to round up those guns. They are gone."
Then there's this outrageous hoot from one of the ATF's Voodoo Spin Doctors:
Scot L. Thomasson, the ATF's public affairs chief in Washington, said the Fast and Furious strategy is still under evaluation.
"It's always a good business practice to review any new strategy six or eight months after you've initiated it, to make sure it's working, that it's having the desired effect, and then make adjustments as you see fit to ensure it's successful," he said.
GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICES?
GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICES?!?!?
When were they going to re-evaluate? When half the population of Mexico was dead? This ranks right up there with Janet Reno's comparison of the military Combat Engineer Vehicles and Bradley Fighting Vehicles at Waco to "good rental cars."
Janet the First's "good rental cars."You know you're in trouble when a government bureaucrat starts lecturing you on "good business practices." It is like a prostitute lecturing you on chastity, or a serial killer on the sanctity of life. Neither knows anything of what they are preaching.
ATF to join The National Register of Responsible Business Practice? Only if they need to justify "walking" even more firearms south to Mexico.
6 comments:
When were they going to re-evaluate? When half the population of Mexico was dead? This ranks right up there with Janet Reno's comparison of the military Combat Engineer Vehicles and Bradley Fighting Vehicles at Waco to "good rental cars."
You know you're in trouble when a government bureaucrat starts lecturing you on "good business practices." It is like a prostitute lecturing you on chastity, or a serial killer on the sanctity of life. Neither knows anything of what they are preaching.
Now, that's good!
If the media finally comes to interview you and David, would you do it, Mike?
Again, congratulations on such an amazing job on getting this story to light.
That Bovard article is even better and funnier now in the fullness of time.
All that big talk about being hard on terrorists from Billy Jeff and he had like, what? A good dozen times to kill Bin Laden and did nothing? Nothing Sandy Berger can't shred, though!
1:55est- limbaugh just touched on the Gunwalker issue.
I LOL'd.
"When were they going to re-evaluate, when half the population of Mexico was dead?"
We've been told that in order to make an omelet, one has to break a few eggs.
Yeah, break the eggs then go back and shoot the chicken that laid them. That makes a real good omelet.
Wino logic: I was told once by a wino that smoking and wine is good for what ails you. He said the wine loosens congestion and the cigarettes make you cough it up.
Some people can rationalize anything.
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