From the Los Angeles Times March 10, 2011:

Mexico lawmakers demand answers about guns smuggled under ATF’s watch

A legislator says at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers being tracked by U.S. agents from the ATF. The charges may exacerbate already rocky U.S.-Mexico relations.

Lawmakers in Mexico are demanding an investigation into a U.S. law enforcement operation that allowed hundreds of weapons to flow into the hands of Mexican drug cartels amid claims from a ranking legislator that at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers under the watch of U.S. agents.

U.S. authorities say manpower shortages and the high number of weapons sold resulted in their losing track of hundreds of guns, from pistols to .50-caliber sniper rifles, though a federal agent deeply involved in the Phoenix-based operation said it was “impossible” that U.S. authorities did not know the weapons were headed for Mexico.

More….

March 11, 2011 LA Times article:

Mexico says U.S. never told it tracked guns were passing border

Mexican authorities say they were aware of the U.S. anti-gun operation that allowed smugglers to buy weapons under the watch of agents in the United States, but that they had no idea that the program allowed weapons to be smuggled into Mexico.

In a statement issued late Thursday, Mexico’s federal attorney general’s office said Mexican officials were advised of operations north of the border against suspected traffickers. But the Mexican agency said it “had no knowledge of the existence of an operation that might include the transgression or controlled trafficking of arms to Mexican territory.”

More…

The gist of the two articles is that ATF never told Mexican authorities that the US was letting guns “walk” into Mexico as part of ATF’s “Fast and Furious” investigation of how weapons sold in Phoenix ended up in drug cartel hands.

Mexican officials claim at least 150 Mexican were killed by ATF “walked” guns.

ATF admits at least 195 guns “walked” to Mexico have been found at crime scenes in Mexico.

US officials are questioning how the Mexican authorities got their estimate of 150 victims….gosh with 195 guns found….surprising that the victim count isn’t more like 300 since many of the shootings in Mexico involve multiple victims. And we don’t even know for sure if only 195 weapons were allowed to “walk” across the line. Some estimates put the number much higher.

And 2 of the “walked” ATF guns turned up at the murder scene of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. US feds are stonewalling any inquiries in that nasty piece of news.

And the US Embassy in Mexico is trying to deflect attention from the ATF and blame Mexico:

From: “Mexico  News Travel and Culture” :

US Embassy in Mexico Tries to implicate Mexican Authorities With The ATF operation “Fast and Furious”

Wed, 9 Mar 2011 | 

The US Embassy in Mexico is on operation spin mode and thus is trying to deflect attention from the ATF .

The US Embassy in Mexico is telling reporters that Mexico knew about the thousands of guns that were intentionally let  “walk”  into Mexico.  On January 25, 2011 the ATF arrested 20 gun runners , after the The ATF operation the  U.S  told Mexico about “Fast and Furious” , but they never told them about the thousands of guns that had and continued to enter Mexico.

In a statement from the US Embassy try and paint a picture as if Mexico had forehand knowledge of the  ATF operation “Fast and Furious”. When , in fact documents point to ATF gun running since 2008 and not January 25, 2011 like the US Embassy has implied.

Below is the full statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico:

March 11, 2011 – Because of the attention given to this issue, the Embassy of the United States would like to issue the following clarification:

There is no contradiction between the statement of the Mexican government and the information provided by the United States concerning an operation that dismantled a major arms trafficking ring that has been called Fast and Furious. The operation took place on U.S. territory and arrested 20 defendants on January 25, 2011.

After the arrests on January 25, reports emerged alleging that the operation could have entailed a transfer of arms from the United States to Mexico. Attorney General Holder has called for an investigation. He has stated unequivocally that such actions, if true, “would not be acceptable.” He affirmed that he “made that clear to attorneys and agents in charge of ATF.”

The Mexican Government has stated that “it had no knowledge of an operation that might include the transgression or the controlled trafficking of arms to Mexican territory.” The briefings that took place between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement focused on operations on U.S. territory to crack down on trafficking operations. The alleged transfer of arms to Mexican territory at this point is exactly that – an allegation. Attorney General Holder has underscored that he takes “those allegations seriously.” He said “that is why I asked the IG (Inspector General) to report on it.”

The Government of Mexico has constructively “offered whatever support might be necessary in order to clearly establish the facts.” This type of mutual support is reflective of our common objectives to stop the illicit movement of arms, drugs and money that threaten both Mexican and U.S. citizens.

 

What started out as a scandal that should have topped out inside the ATF management is now spreading upward into the Obama Adminisration. Justice, DHS and the State Department are all now covered in fecal material because they are trying to protect a seriously misguided  scheme to let guns walk into the cartels’ hands so someone could get credit for busting some big cartel honcho. So what if a lot of Mexicans got killed…and even US law enforcement folks…the glory goal was all consuming.

This reminds one of another time when a bunch of burglars got caught…and had the Nixon Administration hung them out to dry real fast, there would not have been the Watergate scandal. But coverups just keep growing like bacteria and eventually infect the entire body.

And one wonders if Mexico might demand the extradition of the ATF bosses that allowed all those guns to “walk” into Mexico so they could tried for aiding and abetting the murder of Mexican citizens….and be thrown into a Mexican prison….run by cartel buddies….

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