In an 89-page report, titled “Fatally Flawed: Five
Years of Gun-walking in Arizona,” the Democratic staff portrays Fast and Furious
as the fourth investigation, dating back to 2006, in which Arizona-based agents
of the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employed the tactic
“gun-walking” — failing to interdict illegally purchased guns in an attempt to
build a bigger case.
“This report debunks many unsubstantiated conspiracy
theories,” Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, wrote in a
cover letter. “Contrary to repeated claims by some, the committee has obtained
no evidence that Operation Fast and Furious was a politically motivated
operation conceived and directed by high-level Obama administration political
appointees at the Department of Justice.”
In Fast and Furious, which ran from late 2009 to early
2011, A.T.F. officials lost track of about 2,000 guns purchased by suspected
“straw buyers.” Many weapons are believed to have reached a Mexican drug cartel.
Two guns linked to the investigation were found at the site of a shootout in
which a Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed.
Congressional Republicans — led by Representative Darrell
Issa of California, the chairman of the House oversight committee, and
Senator Charles
E. Grassley of Iowa, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee —
have been investigating Fast and Furious for the past year, and much of the
Democratic report consists of a synthesis of previously released information.
Still, the report fills in some new details. There has
been substantial discussion of two other Arizona-based investigations in which
guns purchased by suspected straw buyers also reached Mexico — a 2006-07 case
known as Operation Wide Receiver, and a 2007 investigation called the Hernandez
case. The report discusses a third, from 2008, called the Medrano case, in which
A.T.F. agents watched suspects cross the border with weapons.
The Democrats also suggested that Arizona-based A.T.F.
officials developed the tactic out of frustration because prosecutors refused to
charge gun cases, even when they had a level of evidence that would have
satisfied prosecutors in other jurisdictions.
So, there is evidence pointing to a problem dating back to 2006, but somehow this is the Obama Administration's fault? Okie Dokey - Nice try Issa.
We began a very lively discussion among the team this morning so I invite you to partake. I don't need to go any further to clue you in on my thoughts.
Food for Thought
1. Is the Democratic Report sufficient proof to absolve the Obama Administration of fault?
2. Was Darryl Issa on a witch hunt or was he justified in launching this investigation?
3. Can Democrats be trusted to deliver an impartial analysis on an incident surrounding a Democratic President's administration?
