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Sept. 25, 2011

AN EDITORIAL

Call for an Independent Counsel for Fast and Furious

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) is appalled and infuriated by what is coming to light about Operation Fast and Furious. F&F was a scheme concocted and run by The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF.) Other agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA,) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE,) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI,) and perhaps others, were willing participants. We call it a scheme for we will not dignify it by calling it an investigation. Our members have been involved in investigations and this activity was so far removed from acceptable investigative practices that scheme is a more appropriate word for it.

The departures from acceptable investigative practices were many, but in short, ATF allowed and encouraged and in some cases apparently coerced, U.S. gun dealers, whom they license, to abet violations of federal gun control laws. Those dealers sold guns to persons known to be straw purchasers, that is, individuals who were buying guns for others who were not eligible to buy guns. And it was done knowing that those guns would be given to Mexican drug cartel members, in many cases taken across the border for that purpose. In fact, that was ostensibly the purpose of the "investigation;" to see who those guns went to. It did not work out that way.

The misconduct of the investigation became so bad that several very senior field agents complained, one of them predicting that American officers would fall victim to the guns. A supervisor told him that omelets cannot be made without breaking eggs, and that if he didn't like it, he should transfer to somewhere else.

The outcome has been bloody. Many of those guns have been used in crimes in Mexico and the U.S. In fact, that is the only way ATF had of tracing them once they left the gun shop: by their presence at crime scenes. One of those crime scenes was the murder site of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December, 2010, as well as the murder scenes of over 200 Mexicans, according the Attorney General of Mexico, who had no knowledge of F&F as it progressed.

The Fast and Furious case is too complex, with too many ramifications for the U.S. and Mexico to fully explain here; we just don't have the space and we encourage the reader to research the background on line.

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers is compelled to comment on the ill-conceived and botched implementation of the gun running operation. This comment is outside our usual brief, which is education of the public about immigration and border issues, but the violations of law and prudent investigative practices are so egregious that we believe we should.

The political and diplomatic fallout over Fast and Furious has reached the highest levels of government here in the U.S. and in Mexico. It will impact relations between the two governments. It is becoming increasingly clear that very high-ranking individuals must have known the shape of the operation and in some instance must have approved it since standard operating procedures dictate that sensitive cases be approved at the Department of Justice. Some information developed through Freedom of Information queries indicate that the White House was brought on board with the case.

Due to the number of agencies and the political and professional stakes involved, it is no surprise that, at best, the administration is being uncooperative in Congress' inquiries into the matter. At worst, it appears that a cover-up is underway. Normally, the Department of Justice and agency Inspectors General would look into what has gone on. However, the conflicts of interest and the high stakes make it nearly impossible to expect that any of those entities would produce and unbiased, truthful finding.

Therefore, NAFBPO strongly endorses the call by Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Darrell Issa, for appointment of an independent counsel to investigate Fast and Furious and any of its sister cases in other states - and there are several. The American people, the Mexican government, families of murder victims in Mexico, and especially Brian Terry's family, deserve the truth about this outrageous activity conducted by our government. That misdeeds, felonies, in fact, have been committed and condoned by government agents is incontrovertible. Now, we must find out who is responsible. To do otherwise would be a miscarriage of justice.