Comments on: Fast and Furious scandal is much ado about the wrong thing

By: Brian O'Neill

Brian O'Neill — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:41:38 +0000

Good question, Dave, but which is more illegal? Turning over information to Congress in violation of the President’s executive authority, or refusing to turn it over and risk the contempt of that same Congress?

Sounds like the classic no-win scenario that one usually finds in politics.

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By: Dave98373

Dave98373 — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 07:47:45 +0000

On a separate note, if the US AG is not held accountable for criminal activity then why should anyone follow law?

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By: Dave98373

Dave98373 — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 07:38:26 +0000

Brian- Politics aside, we must agree that it is very sad to endure continued deaths of our youth. Unless we change our approach to this problem, we can expect more crime.

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By: tomwa007

tomwa007 — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:09:32 +0000

I am afraid to mention Ollie North and the Iran-Contra affair because Reagan is a God to the GOP but is there much of a difference?

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By: Harry_Anslinger

Harry_Anslinger — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 19:15:43 +0000

@Tuddo thanks for the insightful link.

@Gandalf when someone request links to your claims don’t just futher pontificate, provide THE LINKS. If you don’t understand see tuddo’s post above. Thanks.

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By: tuddo

tuddo — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 13:16:21 +0000

Gandalf, the most in-depth reporting so far has been by Fortune Magazine with its 6-month investigation reported here:

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/

The investigation also revealed how the political case became more important than the real issues.

The “straw purchasers” of the guns were gun cartel shills, not ATF informants. ATF agents tried to stop most of the purchases at the point of sale, but prosecutors refused to let ATF agents intervene with the sales citing lack of direct evidence. (Evidence that was dismissed included such things as showing that the purchasers who were routinely buying extremely expensive guns over and over had no reportable income and sold the guns immediately after buying them.)

ATF says that it is not the lack of laws on gun purchases such as this that is the problem, but the lack of enforcement that prosecutors are willing to engage in. It is illegal to sell to straw purchasers, but no amount of evidence could be gained until after the fact that would satisfy prosecutors.

Knowing that they could not get prosecutors to stop the sale or arrest the straw purchasers, the ATF followed guns to Mexico so they could gather the after-the-fact evidence prosecutors said they needed. That proved a very difficult task and one the ATF was not well-suited to perform.

Sloppiness and poor performance? probably, but conspiracies like you and Fox and the NRA ae alleging? Not very likely.

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By: islandernwly

islandernwly — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 03:39:57 +0000

Gandalf.
Thanks for the reply. I asked for your links because I have been studying this case and from your first comments you have produced nothing that is factual to the documents and emails that have been produced, because what you have stated is your own interpretation about what the media has reported in its condensed version of events. Some of your facts are deemed probable, even by Issa and Grassley. All you have, that is fact, is guns bought and sold, one agent dead, guns lost, Mexicans killed. That isn’t getting to the answers as to who authorized it. If you really research all the data available, set a time line to who said what and when,with everyone from Holder, Melson, Breuer,Ventura,Garcia,Blanco,Wilkerson,Brandson and others no one talks about, you could just possibly get a little closer than you are. I too want the truth to come out. I have my hypothesis, now Its just waiting for the investigations findings.

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By: Gandalf

Gandalf — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:49:01 +0000

What is even more upsetting is that to date not a single person has been even fired over this. Not one. The biggest players got reassigned. That’s it. Fired? Some people need to be in jail for murder. Four years, hundreds of dead, and nothing. All of America should be outraged.

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By: clabberass

clabberass — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 22:17:08 +0000

What about controlling the border, why is this not mentioned. The Obama administration has made no effort to curtail the violence in Mexico, they just want a reason to regulate firearms, and it got a bunch of people killed in the process.

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By: BlaineCGarver

BlaineCGarver — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:33:04 +0000

Brian, of course it’s political. One side of the aisle is constitutional, and the other is not…care to guess which is which? Obama denies involvment, even knowledge: So, why did he invoke executive privlege? That’s reserved ONLY for Presidential Involvment..Hmmm?

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