ATF Agents: Higher-Ups Let Guns Go To Cartels

[Ichingcarpenter]

Three agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives marched to Congress on Wednesday to blow the whistle on a risky operation targeting gun traffickers.

The agents told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that more than 1,000 guns tied to the ATF's investigation of drug cartels are still missing somewhere in the U.S. and Mexico. Lawmakers want to know who approved the operation in the first place.

The ATF agents testified that they tried for months to sound alarms about an operation called Fast and Furious, in which federal officers in Arizona watched AK-47s being sold to people who would pass them illegally to Mexican cartels.

The whistle-blowers said they wanted to intervene early and arrest the so-called straw buyers. But time after time, higher-ups who wanted to build big criminal cases against drug kingpins directed them not to act, they said.
ATF agent Peter Forcelli didn't mince words......snip



http://www.npr.org/2011/06/15/137205543/atf-scandal-heats-up-in-congressional-hearing?ft=1&f=1001

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Isn't this the same deal as Project Gunrunner from 2006?