The Dail Kos finally notices Gunwalker

Bouncing off the NPR story, the collectivists at Daily Kos have finally noticed Gunwalker. The analysis actually links back here with the reference to "militia types."

Let me just say that this is a serious abuse of power on the part of the ATF and that the Republicans are perfectly within their oversight duties to investigate this. This story so far has been covered extensively by mainstream conservative blogs, Alex Jones & co., and a few militia types as well. However, there has been a notable lack of attention paid to this scandal by progressives and the left-wing blogosphere. One of the first groups to report on the scandal was the relatively non-partisan Center for Public Integrity, which in the past played a key role in documenting the lies that lead to the Iraq War.

It is obvious that the controversy surrounding this scandal has taken a much more partisan bent since March. It reminds me of Waco, when Republicans investigated another genuine abuse of power that liberals tended to ignore. In my opinion, the American left was far too willing to ignore the Waco tragedy and ridicule those who brought it up as survivalist reactionaries and gun nuts. The GOP may have been hypocrites for harping on the issue while engaging in their own brand of authoritarianism (and conveniently ignoring the fact that the first raid of the Davidian compound happened under Bush 41), but none of that changes the fact that the Waco affair, from the initial flashy raid to the smashing of the compound with armored vehicles, had all the hallmarks of an overly militarized approach by an arrogant law enforcement agencies that made a bad situation a million times worse.

As we have seen in the decades since Waco, the militarization of law enforcement and the increasing use of paramilitary-style raids has resulted in much unnecessary death and destruction. Perhaps we should have been more attentive to the legitimate concerns surrounding Waco to make sure it wasn't merely another means of bashing Clinton. Looking back, I wish the US left could have voiced more concern about the government's hostile approach to the Branch Davidians and made memories of the incident more than fodder for Scaife-funded hit men and NWO crackpots.

Now we see the ATF embroiled in another real life scandal, one that is eerily reminiscent of the CIA-Contra-crack controversy. It is probably the case the Issa and company will try to tar Holder as being personally complicit in this and is willing to bend the truth to do so. Regardless, we should treat the underlying story as a serious matter that deserves our attention. If Holder played a significant role in this and/or covered up incriminating facts, he should indeed be held accountable. We shouldn't be hesitant to take on abuses of power for any reason, especially petty partisanship.