Operation Fast and Furious: CBS News Deserving of Credit

A senior ATF Agent named John Dodson became so disgusted with what his agency was doing that he came forward. CBS Reporter Sharyl Attkisson has been one of Dodson's primary news contacts and she has done a phenomenal job of reporting the facts of the case. To sum up, Project Gunrunner is an ATF program that is supposed to prevent weapons from crossing the border into Mexico and ending up in the hands of drug cartels. An apparent offshoot of that larger project is Operation Fast and Furious. According to Dodson, ATF leadership mandated that they 'let guns walk' into Mexico.

This news report is a must-watch:



As if it wasn't enough that two of the guns the ATF allowed to 'walk' were found at the scene of Border Agent Terry's death, just prior to the fatal shooting, Border Agents there were firing bean bags at the assailants.

Via Arizona Daily Star:

Border Patrol agents shot beanbags at a group of suspected bandits before the men returned fire during a confrontation in a remote canyon, killing agent Brian Terry with a single gunshot, records show.

And an illegal immigrant wounded in the gunbattle who is now the only person in custody linked to the slaying contends he never fired a shot, according to FBI search warrant requests filed in the U.S. District Court in Tucson.

The documents provide the most detailed version yet of what happened in the deadly gunbattle Dec. 14 in Peck Canyon, northwest of Nogales.

The documents say the group of illegal border entrants refused commands to drop their weapons after agents confronted them at about 11:15 p.m. Two agents fired beanbags at the migrants, who responded with gunfire. Two agents returned fire, one with a long gun and one with a pistol, but Terry was mortally wounded in the gunfight.

Border Patrol officials declined to answer questions about protocol for use of force, citing the ongoing investigation.

Though hinted at in the video report, American Thinker takes it a step further and points the finger directly at Attorney General Eric Holder.

Speaking of Holder, how about this from March of 2009, via the Tucson Citizen:

With related kidnappings and killings occurring in the U.S., the Obama administration is likely to shift dozens of enforcement agents and millions of dollars to the fight against Mexican drug cartels.

Yet when Attorney General Eric Holder suggested reinstituting a U.S. ban on the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons, many lawmakers balked. The 1994 ban expired after 10 years.

If Holder wanted to ban the sale of certain guns because they made their way into Mexico and in the hands of drug cartels, why was his Department encouraging the behavior?

Was this a matter of creating a crisis in order to not let it go to waste?

American Thinker piece.