Thread: Federal agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

Federal agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

by Sharyl Attkisson / CBS
Posted on March 4, 2011 at 11:12 AM

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.

He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?

"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was."

An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.

Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.

Sharyl Attkisson's original "Gunrunner" report
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/ ... 5609.shtml

Center for Public Integrity report
http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2976/

Dodson's bosses say that never happened. Now, he's risking his job to go public.

"I'm boots on the ground in Phoenix, telling you we've been doing it every day since I've been here," he said. "Here I am. Tell me I didn't do the things that I did. Tell me you didn't order me to do the things I did. Tell me it didn't happen. Now you have a name on it. You have a face to put with it. Here I am. Someone now, tell me it didn't happen."

Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.

ATF named the case "Fast and Furious."

Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles.

So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it.

Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets... the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.

One e-mail noted, "958 killed in March 2010 ... most violent month since 2005." The same e-mail notes: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone," including "numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles."

Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. "I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two," he said. "The more our guys buy, the more violence we're having down there."

Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.

Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs."

There was so much opposition to the gun walking, that an ATF supervisor issued an e-mail noting a "schism" among the agents. "Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case...we are doing what they envisioned.... If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work... Maybe the Maricopa County jail is hiring detention officers and you can get $30,000 ... to serve lunch to inmates..."

"We just knew it wasn't going to end well. There's just no way it could," Dodson said.

On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague.

According to Dodson, "They said, 'Did you hear about the border patrol agent?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And they said 'Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.' There's not really much you can say after that."

Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry's murder.

Dodson said, "I felt guilty. I mean it's crushing. I don't know how to explain it."

Sen. Grassley began investigating after his office spoke to Dodson and a dozen other ATF sources -- all telling the same story.

Read Sen. Grassley's letter to the attorney general
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Grassley_2011_03.pdf

The response was "practically zilch," Grassley said. "From the standpoint that documents we want - we have not gotten them. I think it's a case of stonewalling."

Dodson said he hopes that speaking out helps Terry's family. They haven't been told much of anything about his murder - or where the bullet came from.

"First of all, I'd tell them that I'm sorry. Second of all, I'd tell them I've done everything that I can for them to get the truth," Dodson said. "After this, I don't know what else I can do. But I hope they get it."

Dodson said they never did take down a drug cartels. However, he said thousands of Fast and Furious weapons are still out there and will be claiming victims on both sides of the border for years to come.

Late tonight, the ATF said it will convene a panel to look into its national firearms trafficking strategy. But it refused to comment specifically on Sharyl's report.

Statement from Kenneth E. Melson, Acting Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives:

"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will ask a multi-disciplinary panel of law enforcement professionals to review the bureau's current firearms trafficking strategies employed by field division managers and special agents. This review will enable ATF to maximize its effectiveness when undertaking complex firearms trafficking investigations and prosecutions. It will support the goals of ATF to stem the illegal flow of firearms to Mexico and combat firearms trafficking in the United States."

CBD Video Report:
Five Minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5r9jeLmb_U

http://www.kens5.com/news/national/Agen ... 07838.html

and here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/ ... redPost-PE

CBS News lead story--ATF whistleblower alleges deep corruption

* March 4th, 2011 3:07 pm ET

On the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric last evening, (see story above) the lead story focused on a whistleblower within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (the ATF) who alleges deep corruption within the agency. A plethora of charges were made involving illegal gun smuggling into Mexico and phony straw purchases of firearms at a gun store in Phoenix.

In previous reports it was noted that the ATF had engaged in placing U.S. guns into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels and bribing at least one gun store owner to allow illegal purchases of firearms by ATF agents--firearms that would then be 'walked' into Mexico.

U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has launched an investigation into the allegations. CBS interviewed Grassley as part of the segment last evening. But, as Grassley reported during the inteview, requests for information and documents from the Department of Justice, which oversees the ATF, have been met with stonewalling.

According to the whisteblower interviewed by CBS, supervisors and others higher up in the chain of command at the ATF were warned repeatedly about the fact that the guns-to-Mexico scheme was illegal. The official response of the ATF and the Holder Justcie Department, however, is that the entire sordid affair never happened.

Further, the CBS Report focused exclusively on the assumed official explanation for the gun running scheme made by concerned ATF agents rather than delving deeper into more sinister motives. For example, CBS never once questioned the assertion that agents made straw purchases at gun stores and ran guns into Mexico in order to trace the firearms and locate and identify Mexican drug cartels.

The questionable nature of such an explanation is highlighted by the fact that once the guns wound up in the hands of criminals in Mexico, nothing was done to address the problem. No action was taken by the ATF, the DOJ, or any other federal agency to stem the tide of the illegal and deadly activity of the cartels.

And this leads to the original allegation made by investigative reporters who first broke the story--the ATF engaged in a deliberate and sytematic effort to place guns into the hands of the cartels in order to pad statistics that supposedly 'prove' that the vast majority of firearms being used by Mexican criminals came directly from the U.S. In addition, the illegal straw purchases of firearms at gun stores were allegedly used to 'prove' that firearms dealers are breaking the law and must be more closely scrutinized.

As National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea reports, no sooner had CBS lead its broadcast with the story of corruption than the ATF launched into a frantic effort at damage control and to spin the story in their favor. But Senator Grassley apparently has no intention of letting up on the pressure as he persists in demanding that the Holder Justice Department provide necessary information.


http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in ... z1FfY3g5lO

This article is on Fark.com today.

The fark headline is:

Border patrol agent gunned down by cartel was shot with rifles sent to Mexico by the ATF, you know...just to see where they might end up

The fark comment section on this article:

http://www.fark.com/comments/6007791/


A good one from the comment section:

Hey, I heard that 90% of the guns retrieved by Mexican police can be traced back to the ATF.

Unfreakinbelievable!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6129--0-0.html

Got this email today:



Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 10:40:08 -0500
Subject: OBAMA killed Border Patrol Officer Brian Terry with Project Gunrunner
that supplied drug cartels with thousands of AK 47's and 50 Caliber rifles.
Fwd: BREAKING NEWS: CBS News to air 2nd 'Project Gunwalker' segment and
Grassley writes Holder again
From: XXXXXXXXX


President Obama has proven his inability, incompetence and outright stupidity in relationship to foreign affairs as well as domestic policy regarding drug and gun trafficking by Mexican Foreign Nationals.He is stonewalling an investigation by Senator Grassley. The criminal acts and cover up will continue until enough people scream their protests.

President FD Roosevelt is only one of hundreds of political elites who say nothing in government happens that is not planned. Obama has planned murder of government officials with specific policies that arm our enemies, and criminals while disarming our sworn officers.

Obama has proven he is either totally incompetent to be President or he is a traitor who knows what he is doing. Project Gunrunner (FAST and FURIOUS) implemented with his oversight permitted foreign national mercenaries to buy thousands of AK 47's and other high powered rifles and then permitted these same international criminals to transport them across international borders as well as all over the USA. Two of those AK 47's were used to kill border Patrol Officer Brian Terry. Obama arms the foreign nationals while he forces the USA officers to disarm and only use bean bags in their weapons.

This criminal policy demands all officers of the USA to not enforce the laws of the USA or comply with their sworn oaths to support the USA constitution.

The OBAMA gunrunning policy is designed to kill USA OFFICERS and create domestic and foreign terrorist attacks with weapons sold by USA vendors. This policy and subsequent OBAMA COVER UP is an attack on the very fabric of our nation's rule of law and our freedom.

Following reports from CBS news uncover the truth about Obama's ATF policies and procedures allegedly designed to "fight crime" but in reality were put in place to create more civil unrest in Mexico and the USA by arming more Mexican Mercenary killers.

Obama and past presidents have surreptitiously and openly defined policies to limit ability of sworn USA officers to do their duty. They won't permit them to arrest and detain foreign mercenary invaders or illegal aliens, they won't permit them to arrest those who participate in human trafficking or drugs. They won't let them defend our porous borders against unparalleled invasion by terrorists and other international gang cartels.

Actions of the president clearly indicate intent to create domestic unrest in the USA and Mexico to undermine the rule of law. There is no mistaking this intent carried out by all federal, state and local governments that support the anti American agenda of Political elites.

Wanton murder of Border Patrol Officer Brian Terry by Obama's AK 47's and subsequent cover up by Obama, the Justice Department, and the ATF, constitute HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS that can only be punished by hanging all responsible parties.

This outrageous treasonous conduct can not and will not be tolerated by a civil society. Demand the immediate arrest of all parties involved in the gunwalker program and those who covered up ATF criminal activity. The President must pay the ultimate price for his actions with immediate impeachment proceedings and hearings to determine his actual involvement in criminal and treasonous activity.

The following CBS and message from OATH KEEPERS must be read by all American Patriots.

You can not survive without knowledge of the evil plans your corrupt government political elite officials have for our beloved USA constitutional democratic Republic. These traitors must be charged convicted and hanged before we all are subjected to the same murderous climate they created in Mexico and hundreds other locations to destabilize governments of the world.

Watch the CBS videos.
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-n ... ndal-video
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id= ... photovideo

Did Big Sis’s Anti-Gun Policies Kill an ATF Agent?

Posted on February 14, 2011

By Doug Book, CoachIsRight.com

On December 14th, Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in an Arizona border shootout, presumably with Mexican illegals. Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano eulogized him a week later, saying “he put service before self, which is the mark of heroism.â€

Originally Posted by jean

Unfreakinbelievable!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6129--0-0.html

From this administration it is very very believable. I would not doubt it for one second. See those here illegally from Mexico are exempt to most all US laws and they are rewarded for breaking them by our very own government.

Originally Posted by onetrickydude

Originally Posted by jean

Unfreakinbelievable!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6129--0-0.html

From this administration it is very very believable. I would not doubt it for one second. See those here illegally from Mexico are exempt to most all US laws and they are rewarded for breaking them by our very own government.

From where I see it, they are exempt from All U.S. laws by the looks of it. what in the hell is happening to the federal government in this country and, how did they get so "CORRUPT" this administration can ill aford to speak negative about the corruption of another country and the corruption of their government. there is so much corruption in this our federal government from the white house on down and its shameful. there is no trust in our government anymore

Originally Posted by LadyStClaire

Originally Posted by onetrickydude

Originally Posted by jean

Unfreakinbelievable!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6129--0-0.html

From this administration it is very very believable. I would not doubt it for one second. See those here illegally from Mexico are exempt to most all US laws and they are rewarded for breaking them by our very own government.

From where I see it, they are exempt from All U.S. laws by the looks of it. what in the hell is happening to the federal government in this country and, how did they get so "CORRUPT" this administration can ill aford to speak negative about the corruption of another country and the corruption of their government. there is so much corruption in this our federal government from the white house on down and its shameful. there is no trust in our government anymore

None whatsoever.

Those girl scouts being busted for selling cookies need little sombreros.


You know...for the invisibility thing.