ATF Death Watch 78: FBI Claim “National Security” in Gunwalker Coverup

“A third gun linked to ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, new documents obtained exclusively by Fox News suggest, contradicting earlier assertions by federal agencies that police found only two weapons tied to the federal government’s now infamous gun interdiction scandal.” Whether or not the third weapon—an “SKS assault rifle out of Texas”— is traced to the ATF’s gun smuggling operation, the FBI has been caught covering-up the true circumstances surrounding Agent Terry’s murder. Both the Operation and the extent of the cover-up remain obscured. But new details offer intriguing clues as to why the ATF sent some 2000 weapons across the border, placing them in the hands of the Sinaloa drug cartel . . .

Against all available evidence, the mainstream media has perpetuated the idea that Operation Fast and Furious was a “botched sting.” The gun rights community has consistently maintained that the program was an attempt to create a crisis for the Obama administration to exploit (to provide ammo in the Left’s endless fight against Americans’ Second Amendment rights). This website has long maintained that the Operation Fast and Furious was a WYSIWYG black bag job. Guns to the Sinaloas. Done.

No, yes, yes.

With the help of the FBI, DHS, ICE, CPB, IRS, DEA, White House and State Department, the ATF let gun smugglers smuggle guns to the Sinaloas. The Sinaloas used the guns against Los Zetas—the cartel that poses the gravest risk to our friendly neighborhood Calderon government (up to and including a military coup). The ATF got trace data from “crime scenes” (i.e. intra-cartel carnage) that the Bureau could use to create a crisis for the Obama administration to exploit (to provide ammo in the Left’s endless fight against Americans’ Second Amendment rights).

Think of it as a modern-day Murder on the Orient Express, only with thousands of guns and thousands of victims; not the least of which was U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, murdered by drug thugs wielding not one not two but three ATF-enabled firearms. Contrary to what STRATFOR wrote recently, the anti-Zetas part of the program is not just an “excuse” for a Cartel leader to evade punishment for his crimes. Here’s a clue:

The two AK-type assault rifles were purchased by Jaime Avila from the Lone Wolf Trading Co. outside of Phoenix on Jan. 16, 2010. Avila was recruited by his roommate Uriel Patino. Patino, according to sources, received $70,000 in “seed money” from the FBI informant late in 2009 to buy guns for the cartel.

According to a memo from Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley, who oversaw the operation, Avila began purchasing firearms in November 2009, shortly after Patino, who ultimately purchased more than 600 guns and became the largest buyer of guns in Operation Fast and Furious . . .

“In recent weeks, we have learned of the possible involvement of paid FBI informants in Operation Fast and Furious,” Issa and Grassley wrote to Mueller. “Specifically, at least one individual who is allegedly an FBI informant might have been in communication with, and was perhaps even conspiring with, at least one suspect whom ATF was monitoring.”

Sources say the FBI is using the informants in a national security investigation. The men were allegedly debriefed by the FBI at a safe house in New Mexico last year.

Note: “a national security investigation.” Not a criminal investigation. These days, what with President Obama re-upping The Patriot Act, jaywalking can be national security matter. But it’s not likely that was the case here. We’re talking about FBI informants using U.S. taxpayer money to buy firearms for the Sinaloa cartel, “debriefed” by the FBI. We can safely conclude that the informants’ time in The Land of Enchantment had something to do with a cartel-related threat to American security.

Think about this: if Los Zetas staged a successful military coup in Mexico, how many refugees would that create? The fall of Czechoslovakia flooded Europe with refugees. Our porous border would be over-run by millions of Mexicans. Just sayin’.

Sources say the informants previously worked for the DEA and U.S. Marshall’s Office but their contracts were terminated because the men were “stone-cold killers.” The FBI however stopped their scheduled deportation because their high ranks within the cartel were useful.

Note: “the” cartel. Which cartel might that be? If we knew that, we’d have a clue as to what this alphabet soup of federal agencies is up to. Including the CIA. Again, why was the FBI involved with Mexican drug cartels unless they posed an internal danger to the U.S.?

No matter how you slice it, the facts don’t suggest an ATF stingless sting or a part of America’s “War on Drugs.”

Also today [via CBS], we learned that the Congressional investigation into the White House’s involvement in Fast and Furious has centered on some new names:

Today, the Congressional investigation into ATF’s Fast and Furious scandal officially expanded to include White House staffers. In a letter to President Obama’s National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) asked for records involving three current and former White House staffers.

The staffers are: Kevin O’Reilly, former Director of North American Affairs, National Security Council; Dan Restrepo, Special Assistant to the President, National Security Council; and Greg Gatjanis, Director for Terrorist Finance and Counternarcotics, Counterterrorism Policy, National Security Council.

Now tell me that Fast and Furious was an attempt to nail drug cartel kingpins on weapons charges. Meanwhile, Fox and friends (e.g. The Sipsey Street Irregulars) report the FBI’s coverup for what it is: an attempt to pull a veil over a jumbo-sized can of worms. What they’re not saying is why the FBI got into bed with the ATF in the first place. Now there’s a question . . .