I am posting this for any readers who are interested in the full complete story, as it is now known, of the Fast & Furious project and the ensuing and unfolding disgrace. The first indications of a government covert project seriously gone awry seeped out in 2010 on a discussion board website named CleanUpATF.org whose goal is set forth thus:
Managers, Counsel, Internal Affairs and staff of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE or “ATF”) have repeatedly given false testimony, concealed substantial waste, fraud and abuse, abused their lawful authority, and waged systematic campaigns of reprisal against their own employees that dare to speak out. This website is intended by members of the ATF community to promote restoration of integrity, accountability and responsibility to ATF’s leadership, and regain the trust of the American taxpayer.
Mike Vanderboegh, publisher of the blog Sipsey Street Irregulars, and David Codrea, a writer for Gun Rights Examiner, began to correspond when they developed whistleblower contacts inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms there.
Codrea and Vanderboegh continued to coordinate their separate investigations and sources over a period from late 2010 to early 2012. Vanderboegh summarizes the Fast & Furious scandal as:
The Gunwalker Scandal Made Simple
There are five key accusations against ATF and DOJ made by ATF whistleblowers and other sources within FedGov:
1. That they instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.
2. That they allowed or even assisted in those guns crossing the U.S. border into Mexico to “boost the numbers” of American civilian market firearms seized in Mexico and thereby provide the justification for more firearm restrictions on American citizens and more power and money for ATF.
3. That they intentionally kept Mexican authorities in the dark about the operation, even over objections of their own agents.
4. That weapons that the ATF let “walk” to Mexico were involved in the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata, as well as at least hundreds of Mexican citizens.
5. That at least since the death of Brian Terry on 14 December, the Obama administration is engaged in a full-press cover-up of the facts behind what has come to be known as the “Gunwalker Scandal.”
Codrea and Vanderboegh have compiled all of their research and relevant links at Gun Rights Examiner under their title for this fiasco, The Gunwalker Scandal. It is a thorough and lengthy report comprised of eight parts. The links to A Journalist’s Guide to Project Gunwalker are as follows:
Click here for the Part One chronology from Dec. 28, 2010 through March 8, 2011
Click here for Part Two, beginning on March 9, 2011 and ending on April 15, 2011
Click here for Part Three, beginning on April 17, 2011 and ending on June 19, 2011
Click here for Part Four, beginning on June 20, 2011 and ending on July 27, 2011
Click here for Part Five, beginning July 28, 2011 and ending September 8, 2011
Click here for Part Six, beginning September 9, 2011 and ending on October 22, 2011
And click here for Part Seven, beginning October 23, 2011 and ending on December 18, 2011
Click here for Part Eight, beginning December 19, 2011, and ending January 26, 2012
Here is a link to the winning entry of CBS reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, for Video Investigative Reporting at the Edward R. Murrow Awards sponsored by the Radio Television Digital News Association in Washington, D.C. Attkisson fought a valiant battle to be allowed to report on this government sponsored gunrunning operation. She has been the only MSM reporter to do so.
CBS News: Gunwalker
UPDATE via Hamous
This is a Youtube video from C-Span of an interview with CBS reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, that covers much of her investigation. It is not the award-winning entry I reference above, but it is very informative nevertheless.
UPDATE #2
Mark Hemingway at the Weekly Standard covered this episode of Laura Ingraham’s interview of Sharyl Attkisson on her radio show. I had forgotten about the hysterical, unprofessional screaming fits they were throwing in the White House after Attkisson’s initial reporting.
Ingraham: So they were literally screaming at you? Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. [Laura: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?] Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House.”
Finally, Attkisson notes that the White House is claiming that a thorough investigation of the scandal is unwarranted:
[The White House and Justice Department] will tell you that I’m the only reporter–as they told me–that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.
Audio here: