US government openly admits arming Mexican drug gangs with 30,000 firearms - but why?

[Avatard]

This is not a conspiracy theory, nor a piece of fiction. It is now an openly-admitted fact that this was pulled off by the BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, more commonly called "ATF") under orders from Washington. The program was called "Fast and Furious."

http://www.naturalnews.com/032934_AT..._firearms.html

[derf]

It was probably done with the best of intentions and had far reaching goals that were over estimated. Some knucklehead who had a bright idea probably pitched the idea like this:

They already have guns, give them a few more (10 or so wont make a difference), we can track those and figure out how they get from legal US hands to the cartels. Throw that in a flashy powerpoint with a few seemingly easy yet far reaching goals and a big payoff if it works. And all of a sudden after a few levels of hashing off what would have been a small 10 gun program somehow turns into a massive program with huge negative effects

This was a dumb idea, and I really believe that it was a failure by the ATF and whatever other agency was involved, at every level of leadership, and every person that put their signature on this needs to be looked at seriously, but thats all it was, one big fuck up

[Kaneman]

Originally Posted by derf

It was probably done with the best of intentions and had far reaching goals that were over estimated.

Seriously dude, seriously? Goddamn....

[derf]

Originally Posted by Kaneman

Seriously dude, seriously? Goddamn....

yeh very seriously, you guys give too much credit to the government, it really is filled with a bunch of good hearted people (and a whole slew of idiots) that are covered in red tape, political programs and pressures to produce results by any means (aka throw money at the problem). Its really the same as any other industry but with larger budgets and farther reaching impacts

[Avatard]

Eating the seafood platter at a sketchy restaurant is a "bad idea".

This is 30,000 firearms.

This transcends the phrase "bad idea" by a significant chunk, sorry.

[anthonyk]

Originally Posted by Avatard

Eating the seafood platter at a sketchy restaurant is a "bad idea".

This is 30,000 firearms.

The garbage news site (and that's being nice) seems to be mistaken with their numbers. From the original Reuters article they quoted:

"Of the nearly 30,000 firearms recovered in 2009 and 2010 in Mexico, where gun possession is illegal, some 70 percent were determined to have come from the United States, ATF officials told lawmakers last week."

Not from the ATF, or the US government, but from north of the border in general. Sure it was a stupid move, but I'm with Derf. This is government incompetence, not a conspiracy.

[Avatard]

This is clearly the work of good hearted people. Good call, Derf.

[derf]

Originally Posted by Avatard

This is clearly the work of good hearted people. Good call, Derf.

I'm dead serious, 90% of the folks that did this seriously thought that it would eventually pay off big in tracking down how guns get where, the other 10% are bumbling idiots. I'm just calling it like I see it

[Avatard]

You need corrective lenses. The way you see it is pretty fucked up, IMHO.

[derf]

Why? Do you think people went out to arm Mexican drug cartels because they thought it was fun? Give me a serious explanation, really lay upon me your vast knowledge of how the government works.

Really it was just a bunch of people trying to do a good thing that did it in a fucked up way and it blew up in their faces, sometimes the simplest answer is really the answer