Obama's Fast and Furious guns linked to another 69 dead
Bob Unruh/WND
The failed federal sting operation to trace weapons to Mexican drug cartels has been linked to the killing of another 69 people, including one massacre in which 22 died, according to a report from Judicial Watch, the Washington watchdog organization.
Judicial Watch has been pursuing details of Fast and Furious since the program was revealed and it was discovered that it put weapons in the hands of criminals without a trace.
The gun-running operation drew attention when it was revealed that Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a 2010 firefight with Mexican bandits armed with a weapon that originated with Fast and Furious.
Judicial Watch said that from December 2012 to March 2014, 94 Fast and Furious weapons were seized, including one found in the hideout of drug lord “Chapo” Guzman.
Documentation obtained by Judicial Watch shows “a total of 94 Fast and Furious firearms have been recovered in Mexico City and 12 Mexican states, with the majority being seized in Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa.”
“Of the weapons recovered, 82 were rifles and 12 were pistols identified as having been part of the Fast and Furious program. Reports suggest the Fast and Furious guns are tied to at least 69 killings.”
Previously, the guns had been linked to at least 200 deaths in Mexico alone.
The report said 20 of the weapons were identified as being involved in “violent recoveries,” Judicial Watch said.
Those include on June 30, 2014, when a 7.62mm rifle was recovered in Tlatlaya, Estado de Mexico, where a shootout left 22 dead.
Another incident was May 22, 2015, when two 7.62mm rifles were recovered from the site of a massive shootout in Rancho el Sol, Michoacán, that left one Mexican federal police officer and 42 suspected cartel members dead.
And on Jan. 11, 2016, a .50 caliber rifle was seized from the Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman’s hideout in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, where he was re-arrested, the report said.
“Fast and Furious was a Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ‘gunrunning’ operation in which the Obama administration allowed guns to be sold to Mexican drug cartels in the hope the weapons would be recovered at crime scenes. Fast and Furious weapons have been implicated in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of other innocents in Mexico. Prior reports tie Fast and Furious weapons to at least 200 deaths in Mexico alone,” the Judicial Watch report said.
The new information comes from documents obtained under a March 17 Freedom of Information Act request involving the BATF.
“These documents show President Obama’s legacy includes one of gunrunning and violence in Fast and Furious,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “As the production of documents from the ATF continues, we expect to see even further confirmation of Obama’s disgraced former Attorney General Eric Holder’s prediction that Fast and Furious guns will be used in crimes for years to come.”
Judicial Watch said it still has further actions pending over Fast and Furious.
WND reported earlier this year a federal appeals court ruled the Obama administration could not necessarily keep private certain documents that could shed light on some unclear matters.
A federal appeals court overturned a lower court’s determination that shielded eight documents related to the government program from congressional and public view.
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