Question: What is this Operation Fast and Furious scandal about?

[Tennessee Gal]

I have never heard of it, but it is being posted on Facebook as if it is a huge scandal that will bring Obama down.

[Mz Pip]

1. AFT screw-up

"A federal operation dubbed Fast and Furious allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of suspected gun smugglers so the arms could be traced to the higher echelons of Mexican drug cartels. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the operation, has lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which have been linked to crimes, including the fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010."


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/atf-fast-furious-sg,0,3828090.storygallery

[Tennessee Gal]

3. Thanks.

And how is this a huge scandal involving Obama?

[The Magistrate]

8. It Is Not, Ma'am

The 'usual suspects' dream big dreams, but that is all.

[Mz Pip]

9. As far as RWers go

anything bad that happened after 1/20/09 is Obama's fault. This program started under Bush, though.

[TheWraith]

12. Two different programs, actually.

"Fast and Furious" started circa 2009. There was a previous similar program around 2006 called "Wide Receiver" where there were tracking devices implanted in the weapons, but the tracking devices turned out not to work. (You'd think they'd test that beforehand...)

[zbdent]

20. I believe they're blaming him for plenty before 1/20/09, too ...

far back enough that they can blame anything before that on Bill Clinton. Maybe with a stop off on Nancy Pelosi.

[theaocp]

2. Complete gov't ineptitude that ended up giving

guns to Mexican cartels. Stupid? Yes. Going to bring Obama down? Doubt it.

[blm]

4. It's the extension of Bush's Wide Receiver operation begun in 2006, but, you won't

hear much about that from Republicans. They want to pretend that Obama and Holder came up with this operation and that all the agents involved never answered to Bush's DOJ.

[X_Digger]

16. Actually, in wide receiver..

They tracked the guns, apprised the MX officials, and their MX ATF field offices.

This is akin to encouraging tainted drugs be sold and wait to see where the bodies turn up. No tracking past the first level straw purchasers.

[Arctic Dave]

5. Fubar undercover operation.

What the intended goal was nobody knows.

[vaberella]

6. Nah...from what I have read. Won't bring him down.

Some government agencies fuck up. Common.

[TheWraith]

7. The ATF sanctioned the sale of firearms to smugglers who took them across the Mexican border.

They overrode the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and also at times overruled the owners of the shops where these purchases were being made, resulting in them selling I believe between 1,000 and 2,000 firearms to people who then took them across the border. It's billed as a "failed sting" to catch smugglers, but the ATF never arrested any of the 5 people they were selling to--even though those people accounted for an estimated 80% of illegal firearm trafficking--never informed the Mexican authorities, and had no way or means to track the people after the weapons left the US. It's suspected by some that the ATF's real goal was to "pad" the problem of cross-border trafficking in order to ask for more money and powers from Congress.

A considerable number of said weapons have resurfaced here in the US at crime scenes, including one of them being used to murder a Border Patrol agent.

It might take out Eric Holder, who received briefings on it, but it won't even brush Obama.

[tularetom]

10. You have just opened this

There are few things more controversial than OF&F.

The NRA has taken it on as a cause and a lot of morans think it will indeed bring Obama down.

It was a stupid and ill advised action by the BATF but it really has its roots in decisions made during the bush administration.

You might start here to learn a bit more about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal

[doc03]

11. I don't know seems like Faux is the only one that gives a

flying f--- about it.

[Daniel537]

15. I think the family of Agent Brian Terry gives a flying fuck about it.

[Oneka]

24. Sheryl Atkisson

of CBS news has done a series of stories on "fast and furious"

[X_Digger]

13. Jon Stewart did a great piece on it..

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-21-2011/the-fast-and-the-furious---mexico-grift

[Daniel537]

14. Supposed sting op that ended up in a Fail of Epic Proportions.

"On the evening of December 14, 2010, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and others were patrolling Peck Canyon, Pima County, Arizona, 11 miles from the Mexican border. The group came across five suspected illegal immigrants. When they fired non-lethal beanbag guns, the suspects responded with assault weapons, leading to a firefight. Agent Terry was shot and killed; four of the suspects were arrested and two AK-47 assault rifles were found nearby. The rifles were traced to Fast and Furious within hours of the shooting, but the bullet that killed Terry was too badly damaged to be linked to either gun.[3]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Terry#2009.E2.88.922011:_Operation_Fast_and_Furious

[Tennessee Gal]

17. Thanks to you all.

I am now doing a little research based on what you have posted.

I found this one to be interesting: ‘Operation Wide Receiver’: The Bush Administration Had Its Very Own ATF ‘Gun Walking’ Scandal

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/wide_receiver_the_bush_administration_had_its_very_own_atf_gun_walking_scandal.php

[banned from Kos]

18. the only "scandal" concerning the Obama administration

Is that Holder got an email on it and later testified he didn't remember reading it.

They can't tie Obama to it at all.

[Tennessee Gal]

19. We know they would try if they thought it had a chance.

Apparently there is no chance.

[railsback]

21. Its a story

that completely contradicts the Rightwing's everlasting mantra that 'Guns don't kill people. People kill people'.

[Zax2me]

22. Political crap.

Generated from NOTHING.

[badtoworse]

23. Speaking of crap, you might do a little research before you post the next time.

Fast and Furious is a black eye for Obama and Holder becuase the they allowed the weapons that subsequently were used to kill a border patrol agent to cross the border and lost track of them. The fact that Wide Receiver started under Bush does not change that.

[banned from Kos]

25. There is no evidence they even knew about the program until this year

This "scandal" is an invention of the right wing.

ETA ----(until 2011 rather)

[badtoworse]

26. Holder, at least, knew about it in July, 2010

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20115038-10391695.html

Whether Obama actually knew about is really not that important because it happened on his watch.