"I'm clean."
The DOJ-IG report on Operation Fast and Furious has just been released. It contains 500 pages, and even the news media has not fully digested its impact yet. Here is the preliminary Fox News report with a link to the IG's report itself. In summary, it may be said that the report splits blame between the ATF in Arizona and the Justice Department. Fourteen DOJ employees have been singled out for possible disciplinary action including Criminal Division chief, Lanny Breuer. Yet, the report says Eric Holder had no knowledge of what was going on until February. One DOJ high level official, Jason Weinstein, resigned today.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/19/major-report-released-on-fast-and-furious-doj-official-resigns/
Here is the link to Holder's statement, which is shameless.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/September/12-ag-1134.html
Note how Holder makes reference to 2006, when Operation Wide Receiver was underway during the Bush administration. There is a big difference between Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious. Under Wide Receiver, the Mexican police were involved, whereas in Fast and Furious, they were not. In Wide Receiver, surveillance was maintained on the weapons and tracking devices were installed. Wide Receiver was discontinued when it was learned that the weapons eluded surveillance and crossed into Mexico due to the batteries running out on the tracking devices. None of that was done in Fast and Furious.
It is still going to take some time today before the report is fully analyzed. In the meantime, the only thing Holder cares about is that he is in the clear. He still refuses to accept any responsibility for the shoddy performance of his department.
Update: Here is Hot Air's take. The writer raises a great question. Why can't the administration drop its claim of executive privilege for those some 80,000 documents that the House Oversight committee has subpoenaed?
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/19/doj-ff-probe-pattern-of-serious-failures-14-employees-up-for-sanctions/
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/September/12-ag-1134.html
I wonder why an operation of this nature would be initiated without involvement of the Mexican police?
ReplyDeleteI think even Gary Fouse could put his finger on the answer...
Possibly, since the Mexican police (most if not virtually all of whom at all levels) are so corrupt, to keep them from blowing the operation??
ReplyDeleteIn addition, if the Mexican police were kept ignorant of the U.S. gov't involvement, they would be able to report more convincingly that the guns they found at crime scenes which were traceable to the U.S. were in fact illegally smuggled into Mexico, thus creating apparent independent support of the Obama Adm's contention that 90%of guns seized in Mexico came illegally from the U.S, in its effort to institute more gun control domestically.
See how easy it is??