Operation Fast and Furious

About

"Operation Fast and Furious", or just "Fast & Furious" (F&F), "was the name of an investigation run by ATF agents and federal prosecutors in Arizona that allowed thousands of guns to be sold to operatives of Mexican drug gangs who then smuggled them across the border for use in the drug war. The operation was exposed after a U.S. border agent, Brian Terry, was killed [on 2011-12-19] and two guns that ATF and prosecutors had allowed to "walk" as part of Fast and Furious turned up at the scene of the crime."³

Whitewash

There is a theory generally popular among Americonservatives which holds that there was some kind of coverup surrounding F&F:

• Ann Coulter argued that the operation was run by Eric Holder for the White House with the intention of killing American law enforcement officials for the purpose of advancing gun control². She seems to be making an argument, but at the moment it's not making sense to me. -W
• After the Obama administration cited executive privilege and refused to provide documents, Michelle Malkin claimed (without evidence) that Obama was directly involved¹.

Links

Reference

• Wikipedia
• Conservapedia
• SourceWatch
• Daily Kos: all posts tagged "fast and furious"
• TIME: all posts tagged "Fast and Furious"
• Right Wing Granny: all posts tagged "operation fast and furious"

To File

These need to be reorganized; many items in the "no cover-up" section are basically just reporting, not arguing one way or the other. There need to be three sections (conspiracy, debunking, and reporting) as well as just a straight timeline view.

• claims of a cover-up / culpability:
  • 2012-09-21 President Obama Falsely Claims Fast and Furious Program "Begun Under the Previous Administration"
  • 2012-09-21 5 Ways Fast & Furious Tarnishes Eric Holder's Justice Department (Heritage Foundation) makes the following allegations about the Inspector General's report on the matter:
    1. The report singles out top Department of Justice officials for wrongdoing.
    2. The report appears to contradict sworn testimony by Attorney General Eric Holder.
    3. The report faults top Justice Department leadership with failing to adequately respond to the murder of an American border patrol agent.
    4. The White House refused to disclose any internal communications to the inspector general.
    5. The report fails to consider evidence that a top DOJ official knew the department misled Congress.
• claims that there is no cover-up:
  • 2011-06-15 Fox Hypes Bogus Theory That ATF Operation Meant To Lay Groundwork For Stricter Gun Laws
  • 2011-08-17 ATF denies it promoted Fast and Furious supervisors
  • 2011-08-30 ATF head reassigned in wake of 'Fast and Furious' controversy
  • 2011-12-08 Lawmakers: Heads should roll over gun-walking
  • 2012-02-10 NRA's LaPierre Returns To Fox To Promote Fast And Furious Conspiracy
  • 2012-04-19 Fast And Fallacious: Pavlich's Book On ATF Operation Filled With Falsehoods
  • 2012-04-23 Fast And Spurious: Katie Pavlich's ATF Conspiracy
  • 2012-05-10 On Fox, Mark Sanford Repeats Paranoid ATF Gun-Control Conspiracy
  • 2012-05-17 Issa Report Again Debunks Right-Wing Media's Fast And Furious Conspiracy Theory
  • 2012-06-21 Operation Fast and Furious: All your questions answered
  • 2012-06-27 The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal: "A Fortune investigation reveals that the ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. How the world came to believe just the opposite is a tale of rivalry, murder, and political bloodlust."
    • forum commentary
  • 2012-09-20 Fast and Furious Report Destroys Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories

Footnotes

1. 2012-06-21 Michelle Malkin: 'Obama Is At The Center' Of The Fast And Furious Scandal

2. 2012-07-11 Fast and Furious Is Not a D.C. Law Firm

3. 2012-09-20 Fast and Furious Report Destroys Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories