“Here's one sure way to tell if the CYA higher-ups are serious,” Gun Rights Examiner wrote yesterday, citing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives management blaming lower-level employees for the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal:
Will they dare help prosecute their allegedly wayward underlings, and risk them telling what they know? Or will they just point fingers down the ladder, all the while insisting no crimes have been committed, and counting on that to keep those being blamed (but not prosecuted) from lawyering up and spilling their guts?
“I would place my money on the latter,” an insider source informed this correspondent.
Acting Director B. Todd Jones echoed that expectation in the December 24 Los Angeles Times puff-piece:
Jones expects the inspector general's report early next year. He said he will immediately refer it to the ATF's Office of Professional Responsibility for recommendations on job terminations or suspensions. "We sure will" be making some quick personnel decisions, he said.
This, in turn, follows and bolsters the narrative established by Barack Obama, that “People who have screwed up will be held accountable.”
Purposely not addressed in all this:
- International Traffic in Arms Violations, specifically on the part of “principals” who “induce” or “willfully cause” offenses, and who have not obtained a State Department law enforcement exemption permit.
- Kingpin Act violations.
- Culpability in the deaths of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and unknown numbers of Mexican (and U.S.?) nationals.
- Whistleblower Protection Act violations.
- Violations of Mexican law.
- Etc.
Does anyone seriously believe the long-awaited Office of Inspector General report will do anything to advance criminal charges that demand prosecution of the perpetrators and prison sentences for the convicted, as opposed to supporting the administration meme that these were mere procedural and judgment lapses, best handled by internal personnel policies and outside of public scrutiny?
Also see:
- A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker' for a complete list with links of independent investigative reporting and commentary done to date by Sipsey Street Irregulars and Gun Rights Examiner. Note to newcomers to this story: “Project Gunrunner” is the name ATF assigned to its Southwest Border Initiative to interdict gun smuggling to Mexico. “Project Gunwalker” is the name I assigned to the scandal after allegations by agents that monitored guns were allowed to fall into criminal hands on both sides of the border through a surveillance process termed “walking” surfaced.
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