Fast And Furious: 22 Shocking Facts About The Scandal That Could Bring Down The Obama Administration

End of the American Dream

Could Fast and Furious be the scandal that brings down the Obama administration?  With the full knowledge of the Department of Justice, ATF agents facilitated the sale of thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels and dropped all surveillance of those weapons once they crossed the border.  Weapons sold during Operation Fast and Furious have been used to shoot U.S. border control agents.  Weapons sold during Operation Fast and Furious have been found at dozens of crime scenes in Mexico.  Nobody has been held accountable for this scandal yet.  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been stonewalling all efforts by members of Congress to look into Fast and Furious.  A CBS reporter that has been aggressively investigating this story was recently screamed at and cussed at by a high ranking official that works in the White House.  It has become abundantly clear that the Obama administration desperately wants to hide what went on during Operation Fast and Furious.  So will they succeed or will we eventually find out the truth?

What you are about to read should shock the living daylights out of you.  The U.S. government purposely armed Mexican drug cartels with thousands of guns and then ordered agents not to follow the weapons across the border.

This should be a story that the mainstream media is pounding on every single day.
But they aren't.

In fact, they are mostly ignoring it.

However, if the truth starts getting out and the American people start grasping what really happened this thing could become absolutely huge.

In fact, this could end up being Obama's Watergate.

The following are 22 shocking facts about the scandal that could bring down the Obama administration....

#1 During Operation Fast and Furious, ATF agents purposely allowed thousands of guns to be sold to individuals that they believed would get them into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

#2 ATF agents were specifically ordered not to intercept the guns before they crossed the border.  The following is a brief excerpt from a CBS News report that detailed the fierce objections that many ATF agents expressed when they were ordered to stand down....

On the phone, one Project Gunrunner source (who didn't want to be identified) told us just how many guns flooded the black market under ATF's watchful eye. "The numbers are over 2,500 on that case by the way. That's how many guns were sold - including some 50-calibers they let walk."

50-caliber weapons are fearsome. For months, ATF agents followed 50-caliber Barrett rifles and other guns believed headed for the Mexican border, but were ordered to let them go. One distraught agent was often overheard on ATF radios begging and pleading to be allowed to intercept transports. The answer: "Negative. Stand down."

CBS News has been told at least 11 ATF agents and senior managers voiced fierce opposition to the strategy. "It got ugly..." said one. There was "screaming and yelling" says another. A third warned: "this is crazy, somebody is gonna to get killed."

#3 Operation Fast and Furious remained a secret until the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.  Two guns that were sold during Operation Fast and Furious were found at the scene of the murd

Agent Terry's Family Denied Crime Victim Status In Gun Walker Case

John Hayward
Salem News

(WASHINGTON D.C. Human Events) - Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder at the hands of Mexican criminals carrying at least one weapon from the ATF’s “Operation Fast and Furious” brought that awful program to a screeching halt.  The straw purchaser who secured the weapon carried by Terry’s killers, a 23-year-old Phoenix man named Jamie Avila, is now on trial for gun-trafficking offenses.

Agent Terry’s family asked to be granted status as crime victims, so they could talk with prosecutors and speak at Avila’s sentencing.  It’s a routine request… but to the surprise of many observers, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona has denied them.  William LaJeunesse of Fox News reports:

U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke argues because the family was not "directly or proximately harmed" by the illegal purchase of the murder weapon, it does not meet the definition of "crime victim" in the Avila case. Burke claims the victim of the Avila's gun purchases, "is not any particular person, but society in general."

Prominent litigator and the former U.S. Attorney in Florida, Kendall Coffey disagrees.

"The government apparently is saying they're not victims, even though it was a federal crime that put the murder weapon in the hands of the killer of Brian Terry," says Coffey. "They are simply rights of respect, rights of communication and the right to be heard."

Gosh, it’s a shame Agent Terry was caught in the crossfire when those invaders started shooting at society.

Why would U.S. Attorney Burke issue this unusual decision?  Take a wild guess:

Coffey and others wonder if Burke has a conflict. It was his office that led Operation Fast and Furious. The operation, while executed by agents for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was managed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley. Hurley drafted the response to the family's motion. It was signed by Burke.

Congressional investigators are expected to subpoena both to appear before the House Government and Oversight Committee next month to answer questions about the flawed operation that put some 2,000 weapons in the hands of the Sinaloa cartel.

LaJeunesse goes on to speculate that Avila might have cut a deal with prosecutors that would keep him out of jail, a development that would go over especially poorly if Terry’s family was seated in the courtroom, armed with official crime victim status.  

The family may also be considering a wrongful death suit against the federal government, which would involve Burke.  Victim status would pump a lot of energy into that case.

Meanwhile, the expanding Gun Walker case has involved agencies beyond the ATF and U.S. Attorney’s Office, including the IRS, FBI, DEA, and CIA.  Robert Farago and Ralph Dixon of the Washington Times offer the provocative theory that the CIA was actually the driving force behind Operation Fast and Furious.

The CIA​ is concerned that the Los Zetas drug cartel has a real shot at overthrowing the Mexican government.  They control huge amounts of territory, they’ve got military training, and they control a terrifying arsenal.  Their major rival is the Sinaloa cartel, which is the caffeine-free Diet Coke version of Los Zetas.  They also happen to be the major recipients of Fast and Furious guns:

Operation Fast and Furious may not have been the only way the CIA helped put lethal weapons into the hands of the Sinaloa cartel and its allies, but it certainly was an effective strategy. If drug thugs hadn’t murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry with an ATF- provided weapon, who knows how many thousands more guns would have crossed the U.S. border?

To be sure, Operation Fast and Furious suited the ATF’s needs. It was all too willing to let guns walk to increase its power, prestige and budget in Washington. It actively recruited so-called straw purchasers and happily used American gun dealers as pawns. And it was only one agency in a mosaic of federal agencies helping the CIA actualize its covert plans.

The fact that Operation Fast and Furious was part of the CIA’s black-bag job in Mexico does not excuse the ATF for violating the very federal laws it was created to enforce; for contributing to the deaths of hundreds of innocent citizens, including a Border Patrol agent trying to live up to his oath; or for being unrepentant, uncooperative and unresponsive to the wishes of the American people for honesty, integrity and loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.

There has never been a more dangerously misguided, dishonest, and covered-up program than the Gun Walker project.  Whatever you think of scandals like Watergate or Iran-Contra, they were balsa wood scale models of this monstrosity.  It’s increasingly clear that the stated purpose of the operation – 

 following the guns to their cartel buyers – was never realistic.  The L.A. Times reports today that even a few months into the project, it was clear that its dogs were not hunting:

Five months into the surveillance effort — dubbed Operation Fast and Furious — no indictments had been announced and no charges were immediately expected. Worse, the weapons had turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the ATF official was worried that someone in the United States could be hurt next.

Acting Deputy Director William Hoover called an emergency meeting and said he wanted an "exit strategy" to shut down the program. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for decades had dedicated itself to stopping illegal gun-trafficking of any kind. Now it was allowing illegal gun purchases on the Southwest border and letting weapons "walk" unchecked into Mexico.

But those at the meeting, which included a Justice Department official, did not want to stop the illegal gun sales until they had something to show for their efforts. Hoover suggested a "30-day, 60-day or 90-day" exit plan that would shut Fast and Furious down for good — just as soon as there were some indictments.

In the end, it took a year and a half to get any indictments… and they came after Agent Terry was killed.  Was it really an attempt to pump up gun-crime statistics for the benefit of American liberal politicians, a CIA operation that shredded U.S. law in a desperate attempt to support the government of Mexico, or both?  It’s a story that gets worse every day.  Today the family of the courageous Border Patrol agent killed by this insane program was told by a U.S. Attorney that they’re not officially victims of the crime that armed his murderers.

Adding insult to murder

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Today prosecutors have opposed a request by parents of murdered Tucson District Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry. Terry's parents want to be part the case against the man who bought the two rifles found at their son's murder scene.

But Government lawyers say the events are not connected.

Department of Justice US attorneys actually propose the absurdity that the case against Jaime Avila and 19 others accused of smuggling the murder weapon is different from Terry's because Terry was a victim of murder - not a victim of firearms offenses.

Lawyers for Terry’s parents asked a judge to let them become part of the case so they can stay updated.
But Government lawyers are trying desperately to disconnect Attorney General (AG), Eric Holder’s Project Gunrunner (see Fast and Furious) from the murder of a Border Patrol agent trying to enforce our smuggling laws.

Brian Terry’s mother wants to know who authorized the ATF weapon smuggling that caused the death of her son in the desert south of Tucson. She will find her answer in a 2009 speech in Cuernavaca, Mexico, recorded in the Justice News, where AG Eric Holder announced Project Gunrunner:

"Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner. DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion. DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail." (Holder, 2009)

Project Gunrunner resulted in Arizona’s “Fast and Furious” scheme of illegal gun smuggling.

Project Gunrunner resulted in the deaths of at least two American law enforcement Agents and over 150 Mexican law enforcement officers.

Trying to separate AG Holder’s Project Gunrunner from the murder of Tucson District Border Agent Brian Terry is an insult to Brian Terry’s parents. But it is also an insult to every law abiding American’s intelligence.


Associated Press (2011). Arizona Capitol Times.  Feds oppose agent’s parents becoming part of case.http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2011/08/11/feds-oppose-agents-parents-becoming-part-of-case/?utm_source=Publicaster&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Capitol%20Times%20August%2011%20Morning%20Edition&utm_term=Feds+oppose+agent%e2%80%99s+parents+becoming+part+of+case
Holder, E. (2009). Justice News. United States Department of Justice. Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/ United States Arms Trafficking Conference. http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090402.html

Gun-smuggling cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants

Los Angeles Times
Richard A. Serrano

Probe reveals that the U.S. agency running the 'Fast and Furious' anti-gun-trafficking operation didn't know about the alleged FBI informants. Congressional investigators are looking into the matter.

Reporting from Washington—Congressional investigators probing the controversial "Fast and Furious" anti-gun-trafficking operation on the border with Mexico believe at least six Mexican drug cartel figures involved in gun smuggling also were paid FBI informants, officials said Saturday.

The investigators have asked the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration for details about the alleged informants, as well as why agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the Fast and Furious operation, were not told about them.

Suspected members of the Zeta drug cartel are arrested in Guadalajara.
Weapons also were seized.

 The development raises further doubts about the now-shuttered program, which was created in November 2009 in an effort to track guns across the border and unravel the cartels' gun smuggling networks. The gun tracing largely failed, however, and hundreds of weapons purchased in U.S. shops later were found at crime scenes in Mexico.

The scandal has angered Mexican officials and some members of Congress. Investigators say nearly 2,500 guns were allowed to flow illegally into Mexico under the ATF program, fueling the drug violence ravaging that country and leading to the shooting death of a U.S. border agent.

In a letter to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, the investigators asked why U.S. taxpayers' money apparently was paid to Mexican cartel members who have terrorized the border region for years in their efforts to smuggle drugs into this country, and to ship U.S. firearms into Mexico.

"We have learned of the possible involvement of paid FBI informants in Operation Fast and Furious," wrote Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The two have been the leading congressional critics of the program.

"At least one individual who is allegedly an FBI informant might have been in communication with, and was perhaps even conspiring with, at least one suspect whom ATF was monitoring," they wrote.

The FBI and DEA did not tell the ATF about the alleged informants. The ATF and congressional investigators learned later that those agencies apparently were paying cartel members whom the ATF wanted to arrest.

"Operation Fast and Furious was conceived to get some of the bigger fish down there," said one official close to the congressional investigation, who asked not to be identified because the probe is ongoing. "Then it turned out that some of the ones they were zeroing in on actually, mostly likely were paid informants."