U.S. 'Fast and Furious' gun trafficking operation papers released

[IDemo]

Source: Reuters

The U.S. Department of Justice released thousands of subpoenaed documents about the controversial "Operation Fast and Furious" gun trafficking investigation to a congressional committee on Friday, a committee spokeswoman said.

The operation was a failed effort between 2009 and 2011 to stop gun smuggling across the United States' southwestern border by the department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and federal prosecutors in Arizona.

As part of the operation, the department knowingly allowed people to illegally buy guns in the United States and take them into Mexico, court documents showed. A federal judge ordered the department to release the documents to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The records released on Friday were about the department's internal deliberations on congressional and media inquiries about the investigation, the Justice Department said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-fast-and-furious-idUSKCN0X52JV

[randr]

1. Friday dump does not bode well

[GreydeeThos]

2. Right wingers hoping for evidence against Obama will be disappointed

The people hoping to 'get the goods' on Eric Holder and President Obama are not going to have much to go on. All they will find is career BATF agents started a program under Bush that continued on under President Obama and then went awry. The clock has run out on some aspect of the operation, and now legal action is off the table. Probably the statutes of limitations has expired or some BATF manager has retired or even passed away.

Happy hunting guys, this witch hunt has come to a dead end.

[7962]

3. "failed effort between 2009 and 2011"

Cant really pin it all on W

[cheapdate]

4. Not really. It was FUBAR.

It was a half-baked plan from the Phoenix ATF office. "failed effort between 2009 and 2011" is a shade misleading. The operation began in October 2009 and was shut down January 2011.