"Fast & Furious" it's Bush's fault!

[Slapstick]

New ATF Head:‘We’ve Got to Hit Reset’ on Investigative Moves in Wake of Fast and Furious

Read more: New ATF Head:
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Towards the end of the article, (16th paragraph) DOJ is trying to shift the blame onto the Bush administration because they ran a similar program. Anybody else tired of this Administration blaming Bush for all their mistake?

 

[rich8483]

If i did something wrong three years ago and then left my job, my replacement would have been able to fix that problem by now.

If the problem is not fixed/still ongoing, either my replacement is doing the same thing wrong or worse, or is a complete moron.

 

[CarmelHP]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...ative-moves-in-wake-fast-and/?test=latestnewsAnybody else tired of this Administration blaming Bush for all their mistake?

The problem is it wasn't just a mistake, it was the execution of policy. The Obama Administration knew what they were doing, they just got caught.

 

[rambone]

I think a lot of people are in denial about the bad things that Bush actually did.

If Bush's people had the same damn program then it needs to be brought to light too. Wrong is wrong.

Nobody should get a free pass because they are on the Red Team.

 

[rich8483]

I think a lot of people are in denial about the bad things that Bush actually did.

If Bush's people had the same damn program then it needs to be brought to light too. Wrong is wrong.

Nobody should get a free pass because they are on the Red Team.

right. but obama has had three years to change the direction of the country and just keeps doing the same things. and then blaming it on someone else. you cant continue something for three more years and say you have no part in it.

 

[Slapstick]

right. but obama has had three years to change the direction of the country and just keeps doing the same things. and then blaming it on someone else. you cant continue something for three more years and say you have no part in it.

Exactly right. Justifying your own bad behavior because someone else did it is just childish and wrong and frankly I'm getting tied of waiting for this Administration to take some responsibility for their actions instead of blaming everything on Bush, the Tea Party, Republicans, the weather, some old lady down the street, the dog eating the memo, etc, etc.

Maybe in this case the ATFE & DOJ should have headed the warning many a mother had given their children over the years, "If all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump too?"

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Exactly right. Justifying your own bad behavior because someone else did it is just childish and wrong and frankly I'm getting tied of waiting for this Administration to take some responsibility for their actions instead of blaming everything on Bush, the Tea Party, Republicans, the weather, some old lady down the street, the dog eating the memo, etc, etc.

Maybe in this case the ATFE & DOJ should have headed the warning many a mother had given their children over the years, "If all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump too?"

Your grandchildren will still be waiting for this Administration to stop blaming Bush for their troubles.

 

[IncendiaryGunner]

So prosecute them all... problem solved...

Oh, they would rather sweep it all under the rug... I see...

 

[insanemonkey]

My understanding is that Gun runner started under Bush. Fast and furious is the part of that program that started in 2009, which allowed guns to walk into Mexico. I am not defending Bush or saying that is not possible for him to be involved with F&F. Just I have not read anything to say the gun walking started under him.

Just because the bigger program started with Bush, does not mean he had a part in the illegal part of it that started in 2009. What happens in 2012 if Obama wins again. Is he going to be blaming it on Bush in 2015. At some point it becomes your fault, because you did not fix the issue. He may not have caused an issue, but he allowed it to continue and grow.

 

[indykid]

That's it, let's just blame Bush for the whole mess, and just because this country started a war with Britain in the 1700s doesn't mean we shouldn't blame Bush for that too.


But, but, but that would mean we became a free and sovereign country because of Bush!!!! OOPS!

 

[IncendiaryGunner]

I don't think the comment was blaming Bush for Fast & Furious... I think he was attempting to deflect by pointing out that another program "Operation Wide Receiver" previously also allowed guns to be transferred to "suspected gun traffickers".

But deflecting does not justify F&F... the "well these people did it" does not make it ok...

I predict investigations that do not lead to prosecutions, or prosecutions that lead to minor wrist slaps.

 

[Effingham]

Anybody else tired of this Administration blaming Bush for all their mistake?

Very much so, yes.

It's been old for years.

Tony

 

[pudly]

Unfortunately, a lot of people mix up Operation Gunwalker and Operation Fast & Furious. There are actually a lot of these "operations" that are intermixed.

Operation Gunwalker was run from 2005-2008 under the Bush administration to arrest straw purchasers and smugglers and resulted in hundreds of arrests and prosecutions. Source

Operation Wide Receiver was a sub-program of Operation Gunwalker that in fact did allow some guns to go into Mexico. However, this was despite real attempts to track the guns using RFID tags and aerial surveillance. The guns that were successfully smuggled out of the U.S. were due to technological limitations and mistakes, not due to intent. Because of the these problems, this program was shut down in 2007. Source. This differed fundamentally from Fast & Furious in that there was no real tracking or attempts to stop gun smuggling in F&F.

Operation Fast & Furious ran from 2009 to 2011 under the Obama administration using Gunwalker funds. It ostensibly was to catch the "king pins" by allowing thousands of guns to be purchased and transported to Mexico, even allowing purchases by people who were flagged by NICS. There was no real tracking of where these guns went and some have been found in the U.S. rather than Mexico. This was a fundamental change in methods and policy. F&F did not result in any arrests/prosecutions until after it was exposed. Source/Source. In June 2010, this program switched from allowing straw purchasers to direct purchases using US taxpayer dollars by ATF agents and sending those guns to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico. Source

Operation Castaway allowed guns to be "walked" from Florida to Honduras. I have not been able to find a complete timeline, only info about a press release by a US Attorney of the central district of Florida in September 2010. Source.

The Indiana "operation" (I wasn't able to find a name) appears to date to Jan-Dec 2010 based on the ATF documents that demanded info from the Evansville FFL on their sales. This operation allowed straw purchases that ended up sending guns to Chicago gangs. Source.

 

[insanemonkey]

Thank you pudly for laying it out like that. I have kept up with it pretty well, but it is huge and complex and I can see why people might glaze over trying to keep up with it.

 

[pudly]

If you look at the various government operations that I listed above, one theme that you will notice is that the earlier operations were designed to catch and prosecute straw purchasers and gun runners. In the last three, the US federal government either is enabling straw purchases and gun running or (as Mark Steyn has put it) has become the gun runners. Truly amazing times.