Democrats Blame Bush For Operation Fast And Furious With Fabrications – OpEd

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When U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was questioned by Congress about Operation Fast and Furious, an ATF operation that ended up a political fiasco, the Democrat Party sent out its operatives armed with talking points that accused the Bush Administration of masterminding the operation.

Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder defended the department’s actions and blasted Republicans for trying to ” score political points” in the investigation of the program. GOP lawmakers have called for Holder’s impeachment.

Meanwhile several Democrat Party talking heads stressed that the ATF snafu was actually a President George W. Bush sanctioned operation.

Holder called the tactics used in Fast and Furious “flawed” and ” unacceptable,” but said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has made changes in training and oversight measures to ensure such things never happens again.

Operation Fast and Furious involved agents from ATF allowing illegal sales of guns, believed to be destined for Mexican drug cartels, to slip into Mexico, so that they can track sellers and purchasers. But after weapons found at Mexican and U.S. murders were traced back to the program, it was denounced as a failure.

Meanwhile, a small army of Democrat Party talking heads appeared on TV and radio news programs armed with statements stressing that the ATF snafu was actually a President George W. Bush sanctioned operation.

“It is just another bite at the “blame-Bush” apple for these people,” said political strategist Mike Baker.

Baker, a former police officer and attorney, notes that the ATF implemented an operation known as Project Gunrunner during the Bush Administration in 2006 as a comprehensive strategy to reduce firearms and explosives related violent crime associated with Mexican criminal organizations operating in the U.S. and Mexico by preventing these organizations from unlawfully acquiring and trafficking firearms and explosives.

Through Project Gunrunner, ATF worked in conjunction with its domestic and international law enforcement partners to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the firearms and explosives trafficking infrastructure of criminal organizations operating in Mexico, along the border, and other areas of the U.S.

Project Gunrunner’s objective was to deny Mexican drug cartels the tools of the trade, which they employ to murder rival drug traffickers, civilians, as well as political, military, and law enforcement figures in order to strengthen their grip on the lucrative drug and firearms routes into and out of the United States.

Intelligence was gathered, analyzed and appropriate leads were disseminated to ATF field offices for investigative action. The information was also shared with Federal, State, local and tribal partners, as well as Mexican law enforcement counterparts, each contributing their unique capabilities and resources, forming a multi-layered, comprehensive approach to disrupting firearms trafficking and drug-related violence.

Project Gunrunner investigations resulted in the identification and prosecution of firearms trafficking organizations in all parts of the United States, from Minnesota to Florida to all our border states, where ATF criminal intelligence and tracing data has provided valuable leads used in identifying individuals and organizations providing firearms to Mexican criminal enterprises.

The Obama-Holder version of the operation did not involve informing the Mexican authorities nor did it have the “controls” in place to prevent a snafu from occurring, according to Baker.

“The Big Lie is that the Obama Administration simply continued a Bush Administration ATF operation. Fast and Furious is all Obama and Holder. Period.”

Jim Kouri

Jim Kouri, CPP, formerly Fifth Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, and he's a columnist for Examiner.com. In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.

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