Thread: 'Fast and Furious' gun fiasco unfolds in Mexico

Jose de la Isla: 'Fast and Furious' gun fiasco unfolds in Mexico

Posted July 16, 2011 at midnight

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's presidential election, coming up a year from now, could easily have the U.S. gun policy known as "Fast and Furious" at the center of public debate.

Revelations about how the policy was implemented and its consequences are still developing, but the bullhorn of new disclosures tends to show it was crazy from the start.

"Fast and Furious," as it now seems, was one phase of a plan managed out of Phoenix involving arms purchases destined for Mexican drug cartel members. The buys were known to U.S. government officials who were attempting to identify higher-ups in the cartels. More than 2,000 guns were sold, including those linked to the ambush killings of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata.

ABC News reported in early July that Fast and Furious weapons were used in several crimes committed in Arizona.

But the "higher-ups," who authorities were attempting to identify through the operation, were already known to other investigative agencies and may even have been paid informants. Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the others included the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, which kept his agency in the dark. Had he known about the fiasco, Melson claimed, the ATF could have had a material impact on the Fast and Furious investigation as far back as late 2009 or early 2010. The arms were allowed to slip by ATF agents into presumed organized-crime hands.

On July 3, Mexican authorities captured Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar, known as Z-7, one of the original 14 principal leaders of the extremely violent Zetas drug cartel. He disclosed his belief that the U.S. government was involved in facilitating arms to a rival criminal gang, the Gulf cartel. According Mexico City's daily Excelsior, he stated to federal police that for a time buyers for the rival gang said even the U.S. government was selling arms and facilitating transport of them and there seemed to be some kind of agreement with the authorities.

Fast and Furious may not have been an isolated matter.

According to Excelsior, 115 of the arms confiscated from cartel members were found to have originated from Texas.

The lawyer for gun dealers in Houston, Dick Deguerin, told Excelsior that his clients reported suspicious purchases of assault rifles, 9mm revolvers and AK-47s. One chain store was told by ATF officials to continue providing them with information about suspicious sales and to continue selling arms to Hispanic purchasers of high-powered weapons who paid in cash. ATF took the information, said Deguerin, but his client never heard from the agency. The Houston operation may have been called "Gunwalker."

A third staging, in Tampa, Fla., was called "Castaway." It apparently let arms flow to Honduras that later showed up at crime scenes in Mexico, according to Excelsior.

Novelist Larry Correia blogged, "If I were to write a thriller in which a federal law enforcement agency knowingly allowed and even encouraged thousands of American guns to cross the border to arm Mexican drug cartels, in an effort to pad their stats to push for more gun control laws, even though innocent Mexican citizens and a U.S. Border Patrol agent were killed in the process and afterward there would be a huge cover-up that went all the way to the President... some reviewers would say that my plot was silly."

Not silly. Deadly, deliberately crazy.

U.S. policy insanity is already severely criticized in Mexican civic society. Some Mexican senators have called for the extradition of responsible agents to answer for arms trafficking. That does not sound so crazy anymore.

Jose de la Isla writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. His email address is joseisla3@yahoo.com.


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http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/1 ... artner=RSS

Some Mexican senators have called for the extradition of responsible agents to answer for arms trafficking.

That does not sound so crazy anymore.

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It sounds like the logical next step in an international crime scandal.

PROBLEM: How ya gonna extradite the POUSA and his attorney general to Mexico

Canada better start an investigation as well on any and all Gun Runner operations in Canada

if Obama can willfully condone the slaughter of Mexican citizens then Canada better start looking into this nutty administrations antics as well

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6420--0-0.html

"Fast and Furious" should have been called Speedy "Gonzalez" and Loco

HAPPY2BME: It sounds like the logical next step in an international crime scandal.

PROBLEM: How ya gonna extradite the POUSA and his attorney general to Mexico

Seriously well put question! Wish they would get extradited along with a whole slew of their cohorts...

Sounds like the Mexican Government is trying to absolve themselves from any of the consequences. They were probably all in cahoots together on the profits.


Kathyet

Originally Posted by kathyet

Sounds like the Mexican Government is trying to absolve themselves from any of the consequences. They were probably all in cahoots together on the profits.


Kathyet

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When did George Bush do ANYTHING without Vicente Fox's permission?

When has Barack Obama done ANYTHING without Felipe Calderón's permission?

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

Originally Posted by kathyet

Sounds like the Mexican Government is trying to absolve themselves from any of the consequences. They were probably all in cahoots together on the profits.


Kathyet

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When did George Bush do ANYTHING without Vicente Fox's permission?

When has Barack Obama done ANYTHING without Felipe Calderón's permission?

So Cohorts it is!!!



Kathyet