Gone To Texas
500+ Posts
At the following link is a great read with some actual facts (i.e., rare real journalism) rather than idle speculation designed to further incite the D vs. R divide in this country: The Link
It is long but I highly recommend it to anyone who has been following the Fast & Furious controversy.
I was pretty early to jump on the bandwagon of critics of the ATF and Justice Department. I was living in Mexico when the story broke, and it was just impossible to understand how something this idiotic could happen. It never made sense. The story linked above finally helps explain some of the mystery, and my view of this entire scandal has made a very sharp turn. The soundbite version is: the ATF seems to be doing the best they can with limited resources and mutinous employees; "gun walking" never really happened the way it has been portrayed in the media; and above all the problem is not political but rather systemic: weak rules on punishments for straw gun buyers, no resources for law enforcement to surveille and catch straw buyers, reluctance to enforce what laws do exist, and most of all foot-dragging attorneys. The hysteria about this scandal is probably not deserved. IMO we should refocus the hysteria on our insane drug war and our inability/unwillingness to enforce existing gun laws before crusading for new ones, but those are topics for separate threads.
Still, a ton of questions are outstanding. Most striking, what is wrong with the US Attorneys in Phoenix? Why has the Justice Dept senior leadership been so slow to acknowledge so many of the facts, if true, that this article puts forth? Why did they feel the need to go so far as to hide behind Executive Privilege?
A few highlights from the article:
It is long but I highly recommend it to anyone who has been following the Fast & Furious controversy.
I was pretty early to jump on the bandwagon of critics of the ATF and Justice Department. I was living in Mexico when the story broke, and it was just impossible to understand how something this idiotic could happen. It never made sense. The story linked above finally helps explain some of the mystery, and my view of this entire scandal has made a very sharp turn. The soundbite version is: the ATF seems to be doing the best they can with limited resources and mutinous employees; "gun walking" never really happened the way it has been portrayed in the media; and above all the problem is not political but rather systemic: weak rules on punishments for straw gun buyers, no resources for law enforcement to surveille and catch straw buyers, reluctance to enforce what laws do exist, and most of all foot-dragging attorneys. The hysteria about this scandal is probably not deserved. IMO we should refocus the hysteria on our insane drug war and our inability/unwillingness to enforce existing gun laws before crusading for new ones, but those are topics for separate threads.
Still, a ton of questions are outstanding. Most striking, what is wrong with the US Attorneys in Phoenix? Why has the Justice Dept senior leadership been so slow to acknowledge so many of the facts, if true, that this article puts forth? Why did they feel the need to go so far as to hide behind Executive Privilege?
A few highlights from the article:
