Can guns really walk from the U.S. to Mexico? Federal agents say they can

Two U.S. agencies may arguably be out of control when it comes to their participation in Mexico’s war against the drug cartels. By "participation," I mean on the wrong side of the war.

Earlier this year we learned that federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents deliberately allowed the sale of assault weapons to drug dealers or their purchasing agents in the United States, with full knowledge that the military grade firearms were headed to Mexico. The idea was to track the weapons and “monitor their use” (transponder microchips were actually embedded in them). When the program was revealed, some heads rolled – although three officials who were major proponents of “Fast and Furious,” as it was known, were recently promoted. A U.S. Senate subcommittee has the matter under investigation, and it’s probable there will be some indictments out of the mess.

Barack Obama and his top man in the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured), have denied that they knew anything about Fast and Furious before the rest of the world learned of it in 2011. But now there is evidence that suggests the contrary. Email and other documents being reviewed by the Senate committee have revealed that even before Fast and Furious, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents had used a similar program called "Wide Receiver," with much the same purpose. In “Wide Receiver,” which lasted from 2006 to 2007, firearms were allowed to be “walked into” Mexico – that’s the term used by ATF agents – where they were delivered to criminal organizations. The ATF referred to the weapons as “lost” in internal documents. Most of the firearms in Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver were sold in Arizona, in locations close to the border. The paper trail under review by Senate investigators establishes that both programs were known to top Justice Department officials by October 2010 at the latest, well before Fast and Furious was publicly busted earlier this year.

Between 2,000 and 2,500 assault weapons were sold to the cartels under Fast and Furious. Only about 700 have been accounted for.

One Justice Department official investigating both secret arms sales programs, quoted in today’s Los Angeles Times, said "It's not going to be any big surprise that a bunch of U.S. guns are being used in Mexico." In reference to the unaccounted for firearms, he expressed optimism that officials wouldn’t "catch a lot of grief for their gone walking strategy," since people would understand that agents were just trying to track the cartels. "Walking the weapons" was a term repeatedly used by ATF agents in Wide Receiver, according to the Times.

Although the documents indicate that Attorney General Holder knew of both operations by the last quarter of 2010, he has told congressional members that he did not learn of Fast and Furious until March or April of 2011.

Here's an earlier article on the subject: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/two-us-officials-quit-over-fast-and.html.

Mas detalles en español: http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2011/10/%e2%80%9creceptor-abierto%e2%80%9d-mas-armas-perdidas-en-manos-del-narco/.