The violent legacy of a secret government operation lives on.
Another weapon from Operation Fast and Furious has been found in the hands of violent armed groups in Mexico. The newest recovery happened on June 20 in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Mexican police and military arrested nine people and confiscated ten weapons after a gunfight between two groups. According to arrest documents, one of the weapons, a semi-automatic rifle, traces back to Fast and Furious.
The gun is listed as a “Romarm Cugir GP-WASR 10/63 rifle.”
Authorities traced the serial number to a purchase in Prescott, Arizona by Fast and Furious suspect Sean Steward nearly a decade ago: December 9, 2009.
Steward eventually pled guilty to trafficking firearms while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was monitoring him under Operation Fast and Furious.
Fast and Furious was one of numerous secret “gunwalking” operations launched by the federal government in the 2009-2011 time period that put thousands of assault rifles and other weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Border patrol agent Brian Terry and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata were murdered by Mexican drug cartel thugs in separate incidents in 2010 and 2011 related to guns that were trafficked while under the watch of U.S. agents who neither intervened nor tracked the “walked” weapons.
Read: The Violent Legacy of Fast and Furious
Federal agent John Dodson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms helped blow the whistle on the dangerous Fast and Furious operation in an interview with me for CBS News in 2011. At that time, and in interviews since, Dodson has warned that the violent legacy of the federal gunwalking programs would be felt for decades as many of the weapons remain in circulation.
In a 2017 interview for Full Measure, Dodson told me some of the important unanswered questions include “the amount of homicides or murders that have been caused by the firearms that we allowed to be trafficked, what the ultimate cost of this strategy was.”
Unanswered questions include ‘the amount of homicides or murders that have been caused by the firearms that we allowed to be trafficked, what the ultimate cost of this strategy was.’
John Dodson, Special Agent, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Watch the “Full Measure” interview with Dodson by clicking here: http://fullmeasure.news/news/cover-story/fast-and-furious-08-24-2017
Since 2011, the Justice Department has refused repeated requests from Congress and the news media to fully disclose details of incidents involving guns that had been illegally trafficked to Mexican drug cartels under the watch of U.S. agents in Operation Fast and Furious.
Based on news reports and other sources, I’ve tracked the following known crimes linked to the “walked” weapons.
Crimes linked to Fast and Furious and related operations
Deaths
At least 69, including 2 U.S. federal agents, 3 Mexican police, 1 terrorist torture/kidnaping/murder in Mexico.
Attempted murders or injuries
3: 1 in Mexico; 2 in U.S.
Kidnapings
4 (all in Mexico)
Assaults/Shootouts
6 incidents including, 2 in Mexico against military, 2 in U.S. against Phoenix law enforcement
In 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress for withholding relevant documents. Subsequently, President Obama declared executive privilege to keep White House documents regarding Fast and Furious from being produced to the public or Congress.
What a revolting legacy. Michael Rupert touched on stuff like this when he discovered an element of government trafficking drugs for to fund one program or another.
What is the going rate to sell out the country in which you live?
Two more patsies being punished for the prior administration’s crimes. Holder showed exceptional disdain for the laws he was sworn to uphold. Never has an attorney general of the U.S. demonstrated such hatred for the U.S. and its people. I’d trade him for these two patsies in a heartbeat.
I dunno, Janet Reno had no problem ordering the murder of US citizens. On at least 2 separate events.
What about the Gun Dealers who were told to keep selling and then go to jail and lose everything, what about them huh? Chirp Chirp? Made out to be a scapegoat, lose everything!
Ian M.Garland, did two undercover stings to help and then goes to jail, How does that work?
Physically and Mentally tortured for over 400 days in solitary, frozen to the point were I couldn’t walk, sat in human shit for hours, day after day! were’s the outcry for me huh?
Ian M. Garland
So many unjustices left unresolved!
It’s good to see Sharyl still hot on the tail of Fast & Furious but
frustrating to see the DOJ still sand bagging release of the truth.
I hope to see Trump reelected and the DOJ forced to honor all
FOI requests for F & F facts. As to why AG Barr has not ordered
transparency on F & F, I can only guess: Think of the enormous
moral, if not legal liability of the U.S. Government to families
of murdered Mexican citizens, that public release of the Full
Facts of Fast & Furious could entail. Still, my U.S. Federal Gov.,
is responsible for aiding abetting these murders, during the
Obama Administration. I want FULL TRUTH about F & F made
public ASAP. Thank you Sharyl Attkisson, for staying on this!
Another legacy of the initiators of the progressive army whose aims are coming to light(or maybe not…Obama’s claim of executivepriviege)
That is the ObaMarxist harm to our republic. We need to indict, try and HANG Hussein and Holder for treason.
What about all the OTHER similar operations run by the REST of the BATFE Field Divisions across the country? Like Castaway, run out of their Tampa Field Division with help from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and the Miami-Dade Police Department? Running weapons to Communist terrorists in Honduras supporting their former President Zelaya!
I mention their existence here and have written extensively of them in the past.
Why no mention of this program starting in 2006 during the middle of Bush’s 2nd term?
I have written of it (and broke the original news about it). It was not a part of this same program, but a single, small, separate gunwalking case where the guns were tracked (unlike the Obama era cases), it was short-lived, and the suspects were not prosecuted due to the nature of the gunwalking. The Obama era effort spanned years, was numerous simultaneous operations, involved thousands of weapons, and the guns were not tracked. Both instances were eventually widely accepted as — unacceptable.
The ATF Academy’s Undercover School taught from at least ‘88-‘01 that I know of, that neither firearms nor explosives are to be “walked”, due to the obvious death which could result. The approval to do so in Fast & Furious flew in the face of training based on better judgement. I welcome a discussion of the above with Ms. Attkisson, based on my years in charge of that school, and other personal experiences in the undercover “sale” of firearms to the criminal element.