There’s been a fair amount of controversy surrounding ATF Agent John Dodson’s new book The Unarmed Truth: My Fight to Blow the Whistle and Expose Fast and Furious. Initially, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (And Really Big Fires) blocked publication, claiming the book would hurt morale and “have a detremental [sic] effect on our relationships with the DEA and FBI.” When that didn’t fly they cited Agent Dodson’s contractual obligation not to accept freelance work. And now the ATF’s OK’ed the book’s release—with sections redacted for “law-enforcement reasons.” This arrangement indicates that Dodson’s “tell-all” won’t answer the central question about a program that channeled some 2000 U.S. gun store guns to Mexican drug thugs over a period of ten months, arming the rip crew that murdered U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry . . .
Why? What was the point of Operation Fast and Furious?
Ever since F&F first came to light, the ATF has claimed that Fast and Furious was a sting operation. Let the bad guys get guns, follow the guns, arrest the bad guys. Only that’s not the way it went down. Not a single gun smuggler was arrested until after the scandal broke. The ones who were nabbed “retroactively” all received extremely light jail sentences.
Agent Dodson seems to have bought into the sting pretext but good. In Congressional testimony, he told of an incident where he followed a gun buyer loaded-up with illegal gun store guns. Fearing he was about to lose sight of the smuggler, who was separating himself from the stash, Dodson radioed his superiors for permission to make the arrest. His superiors told him “no.” He was surprised; proof positive that Agent Dodson was out of the loop.
Why? Why did the ATF allow that shipment, some 2000 illegally purchased guns in all, filter into Mexico without keeping track of them? There is no such thing as a “sting” operation where law enforcement officers let drugs, guns or other contraband out of their control. You simply don’t let guns (and grenades) “walk.” What would be the point of that?
There are two competitive but not mutually exclusive theories. One: politics. Uncle Sam was arming the Sinaloa drug cartel against the potentially destabilizing Zetas. Two: gun control. Uncle Sam could use Fast and Furious guns recovered from Mexican crime scenes to build a case against “assault weapon” sales in the U.S.
Again, it seems clear that Agent Dodson doesn’t know who authorized Fast and Furious and their true intentions. Notice the book’s subtitle: My Fight to Blow the Whistle and Expose Fast and Furious. Not The Truth About Operation Fast and Furious. Dodson didn’t blow the whistle on the ATF when he was called off the surveillance job described above. Dodson only went public on F&F after Agent Terry was murdered, when Congressman Issa and Senator Grassley were hot on the ATF’s tail and Dodson’s ass was on the line. This book’s all about him.
Anyway, why would Dodson know the big picture? Fast and Furious was a black bag job, authorized by the NSA at the White House and run well outside of Congressional control, conducted with the knowledge of various federal agencies involved in drug and border enforcement (such as it is) and foreign policy (e.g., the FBI, DEA, CPB, CIA, NSA, DHS and the State Department). Hence the ATF’s initial objection that The Unarmed Truth would hurt inter-agency relations.
I reckon the bits of Dodson’s book redacted for “law-enforcement reasons” will be the [very few] parts hinting at a wider conspiracy. Dodson probably cut a deal with Uncle Sam that lets him make money from the book and sell himself as a truth teller while protecting the government from the real Fast and Furious scandal. Which isn’t anything like a “botched sting.”
As today’s revelations about U.S. spying on Mexico indicate, Obama’s Boyz and Hillary’s [State Department] harridans were up to their eyeballs in Mexican politics and, it should be noted, their illegal-drug-dependent economy. Quite how Fast and Furious played into that equation remains a mystery. But one thing is for sure: the ATF relished their role in Fast and Furious. The operation would have continued if Agent Terry had not paid for the Obama administration’s extra-legal activities with his life.
Agent Dodson is not the hero we need to expose the truth about Operation Fast and Furious. But who is?
The ATF needs to be a store, not a government agency.
I for one would like to pick up a nice cigar, a nice bottle of bourbon and a new gun in the same place.
I would also like, at a minimum, having a competent, LAW ABIDING agency overseeing our 2A rights. Ideally, no agency overseeing our 2A rights.
The ATF was a store! It was called “Fearless Distributing”. It didn’t work out so well. Makes for entertaining reading though.
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/backfire-190528221.html
My favorite headline is “ATF leader who oversaw botched sting will run Phoenix office”
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/atf-leader-who-oversaw-botched-sting-will-run-phoenix-office-b9943426z1-213728421.html
The existence of such an agency is not law-abiding, according the “shall not be infringed” part of A2.
Are you me?
I live in rural nevada and we have just such a store. Plus porn.
F&F was designed to put American guns next to dead Mexican bodies. This was to support the lie that 90% of Mexican crime guns came from the USA.
Don’t forget about the back door registration of gun sales by residents of boarder states. Buy more than 2 guns a month (of the same type, ex: 2 long guns, 2 handguns) and you get reported to the ATF. Would’ve been worse if F&F was allowed to run it’s full course.
The problem is that not all Mexican guns comes come directly form the U.S. plus many are smuggled in from overseas through the U.S.
It certainly did that. And we know that ATF big-wigs literally high-fived each other when they received reports of F&F guns recovered at Mexican crime scenes. In fact, I’ll put the DOJ map in the post.
+1
The is total ATF jack-booted thuggery and hit on the 1st Amendment. There need to be some heads on a fence post and butts in Leavenworth over Fast & Furious including Eric with-Holder.
The fact that they redacted part of the book is a no brainier. They have to to keep possible deniability alive.
This is the “Not Responsible” administration. This way they can continue to campaign against all the bad things that happen, even though they and their policies are what caused them all.
Oh, except that they love to claim that they killed Bin Laden. *rolleyes*
An tell-all about the ATF that has to be edited by the ATF. An excercise in futility? I guess not entirely–the author still gets paid.
Yeah; fox, hen house, you know the rest.
I hope he sent the un-redacted draft to Issa and his committee.
A nice thought, but not a chance.
remember when we used to live in America?
*sigh*
There were no “good old days” when the government always did the right thing and respected all of its citizens’ rights, all of the the time. Even in the US. Was there a time when things were better? For some things yes, but probably worse for others that other citizens were equally passionate about.
Good governance is a path and a process, not a previous or upcoming state of affairs. That’s why “constant vigilance” and “situationally aware” are phrases with a lot more application than most appreciate.
I’m thinking pre-9/11 and a few years prior were pretty good times, except for the idiotic national AWB. Of course, the AR market exoded after the ban expired under GWB.
Reading the congressional report I was astounded at how many 50 cals were being sold and allowed to walk to Mexico.
Not small change either.
From my talks with LGS around my area 50 cals don’t move every day, so I’m sure those shops were happy to “fulfill a government contract” for such rifles. Now 50 cals literally moving to Mexico, you really don’t see that every day. Apparently the ATF was trying to get some traction for that old fable that 50 cals are so dangerous no civilian should be able to own one.
It actually made sense once I thought about it. Mexican drug cartels don’t really need semi-automatic ARs and AKs from the U.S., they have plenty of full autos down there that they can get them from other countries. But 50 cals are a bit more of a specialty item that you need to get from the U.S.
The thing is, ANY sales of a 50 is ‘special’ enough that the ATF probably has an investigator on the case as soon as an NICS check is called up for one, and that is just normal policework. The fact that they allowed so many to be sold to known drug cartel members and then further allowed them to walk is just culpable negligence in my book.
There’s nothing negligent about it. That was the plan all along.
There are two competitive but not mutually exclusive theories.
The two reasons are complementary, not competitive. I’m sure that the ATF and the other alphabet agencies all had major wood at the very thought of arming the Sinaloas while simultaneously disarming Americans. The guys who thought up the plan were probably regarded as a geniuses.
The Truth
Fast and Furious is a frustrating read. On one hand, I have worked for the government. I don’t see it as benevolent or well meaning, but too incompetent to change its own underwear, let alone deprive an entire population of its rights.
But there’s always the other hand. And it’s interesting that the only guns allowed to “walk” are the specific ones up for being banned. Fast and Furious sent out ARs, Barretts, and Five-Sevens. AKs were stopped, if they were sold at all. And the 5-7s are being found with AP ammo, which is exceedingly hard for civilians to procure.
Also, F&F was interdepartmental, which means the president(‘s office) signed off on it.
I don’t personally believe there’s a conspiracy, but I wouldn’t be surprised by one, either.
F&F was no “SNAFU”, no “fustercluck”, and no “botched sting operation”. It was a calculated plan to advance the anti-2 A. agenda of the Obama Administration.
My take away on this is that the ATF basically neutered Dodson’s book to cover their ass-ets, and Dodson wrote it to cover *his* ass-ets.
So is Dodson’s book is simply a non event; it seems ‘the rest of the story’ on Fast n’ Furious won’t be told until somehow the real meat is exposed by some inside player or investigative researcher / author who can publish an exposé without restrictions.
The first time I heard about that book, I thought Dodson was a hero: blowing the whistle on some serious government wrongdoin and whatnot (hey, that’s what Barack “Most Transparent Administration in History” Obama wants, right?)
But now it appears that he just wants to LOOK like a hero and profit. If he really cared about exposing the F&F, he would have just compiled all the evidence he could and sent it to WikiLeaks. On the other hand, I can kind of see how he might wish to get out at least part of the truth, while avoiding a fate like Julian Assange and Ed Snowden. Not exactly pleasant.
It will be interesting to see what exactly that book reveals.
Excellent article. I posted it on FB. Maybe that’s crappy OPSEC, but I like to use social media for news a little more substantial than sports and vacation photos.
Dude, does your phone act “funny” every once in a while? Has your internet connection slowed down a little lately?
Yes and yes.
With northen Mexico effectively a defacto Narco State, I would understand the NSA keeping watch on the area and the influential players.
My take on Fast & Furious was that since there was no evidence of the “Iron River”, it had to be created. When the gun dealers reported the dodgy sales and were then instructed by the BATF to allow them to proceed, you would imagine the gun dealers getting nervous about where this would lead. Is it true that many of the dealers have since been charged with allowing the sales despite being ordered to in the first place?
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