DOJ "Fast and Furious" Report Hits Hard--But Pulls Punches on Holder
NRA-ILA | Vol. 19, No. 38 09/21/2012
The Department of Justice Inspector General's report on the "Fast and Furious" scandal was released this week, and while it found 14 officials from the department and its Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives responsible for the reckless program, it failed, unfortunately, to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. responsible for the actions of those under his supervision.
The report provides a valuable account of the operation and the department's response, concluding that the operation "quickly grew into an investigation that lacked realistic objectives, did not have appropriate supervision within ATF or the U.S. Attorney's Office, and failed to adequately assess the public safety consequences" of letting guns flow freely into Mexico.
Even the New York Times, one of the leading media supporters of President Obama and an avid opponent of gun owners' rights, said in an editorial that "The recklessness of federal officials in their harebrained scheme to assist in illegal gunrunning to Mexican drug cartels was laid bare in a scathing report by the Justice Department's inspector general. ...Something as half baked as Operation Fast and Furious should never have been concocted in the name of law enforcement."
But the report also begs the question of who is actually in charge at the Department of Justice if such a program can be conducted for more a year, supposedly without the knowledge or approval of senior officials and the Attorney General himself.
The report provides a valuable account of the operation and the department's response, concluding that the operation "quickly grew into an investigation that lacked realistic objectives, did not have appropriate supervision within ATF or the U.S. Attorney's Office, and failed to adequately assess the public safety consequences" of letting guns flow freely into Mexico.
Even the New York Times, one of the leading media supporters of President Obama and an avid opponent of gun owners' rights, said in an editorial that "The recklessness of federal officials in their harebrained scheme to assist in illegal gunrunning to Mexican drug cartels was laid bare in a scathing report by the Justice Department's inspector general. ...Something as half baked as Operation Fast and Furious should never have been concocted in the name of law enforcement."
But the report also begs the question of who is actually in charge at the Department of Justice if such a program can be conducted for more a year, supposedly without the knowledge or approval of senior officials and the Attorney General himself.
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