The link below has information in it that ought to shock all Americans. CBS-News did a story that ATF agents (tasked to stop the flow of guns from America to Mexican drug cartels) were ordered by high officials in the ATF to knowingly allow the guns to be smuggled to Mexican drug cartels. This is bizarre beyond belief.
The CBS report cites one source as saying 2500 guns were shipped to drug cartels with the knowing approval of high ATF officials, including .50 caliber guns and 575 AK-47 type weapons. How many of these guns were used to kill Mexican federal agents fighting the drug cartels? The report cites at least one American agent was killed with one of the guns the ATF allowed into cartel hands. How many Mexican civilians have been killed with these guns? Whoever the high ATF officials were that assisted the flow of guns to Mexican drug cartels were, they have blood on their hands.
One Senator, Charles Grassley of Iowa, is seeking to investigate the ATF’s bizarre policy, but he has reportedly been “stonewalled” in his efforts to get at the truth. Obviously Congress and the Dept. of Justice need to investigate this governmental misdeed and find out the names of those officials who authorized and implemented this policy that effectively made the US federal government an ally of the Mexican drug cartels.
This whole incident begs several questions; all of which have very bad implications. My February 22nd post reported that the radical, pro-Iranian Islamic group, Hezbollah, was forming an alliance with the Mexican drug cartels to smuggle across (or under) the US border not only cartel drug shipments but Hezbollah agents who could be unleashed as terrorists against US civilians in the future war. Given the reported ties between Hezbollah and the drug cartels, how many of these guns ended up in the hands of Hezbollah agents who could use them against Americans in the future?
The CBS report states the higher ATF officials were trying to trace the flow of weapons in this scheme to allow guns to reach the cartels, but that is not a provable fact, given that investigations have not yet been held. What other very uncomfortable motives or facts could be unveiled if extensive investigations were held? Was the actual goal to proclaim American guns were being used in Mexican violence in order to impose new gun-control measures on legitimate US gun shows or gun-dealers (I recall seeing or hearing media stories about such proposals before the story broke that it was the ATF itself which was facilitating the flow of American guns to the cartels). Finally, investigations should be held to determine if some high US officials are taking bribes from Mexican drug cartels to subvert the legitimate internal functioning of US federal agencies.
I hope Sen. Grassley gets some support in his efforts to have this scandal investigated. The ATF agents cited in the CBS story (which can be seen at the link below) state their ATF superiors ordered them to let the guns flow to the cartels. Those ATF superiors have names. Congress needs to subpoena them, put them under oath and get to the bottom of this. Whoever was helping the Mexican drug cartels and subverting the ATF agents from doing their job should be facing lengthy prison terms. How can what they did be anything but criminal? Congress needs to investigate this to see how high into the US government the rot extended, but will this gutless Congress take any meaningful action? Don’t hold your breath. If this story outrages you, call or email your Congressional representatives to demand tough investigations of this official corruption.
This is one more in a long line of media stories and reports that the USA is a state of deterioration and that the rate of decay is accelerating. Kudos to CBS-News for doing this story. We need more investigative journalism like this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml
