In God We Trust

Obama Should Learn Nixon's Lesson




By Bradley Blakeman
Newsmax.com


T
U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry
(AP Photo)

The Obama Administration in order to deflect and distract any and all culpability away from its own involvement, mishandling and cover-up of the facts and circumstances surrounding the bungled Fast and Furious gun-running operation, would have us believe gross distortions and complete fabrications.

One of President Barack Obama’s favorite ploys to escape liability for his own incompetence is to blame his predecessor, President George W. Bush.


In the case of Fast and Furious, the administration attempts to draw a comparison to the Bush Administration’s operation Wide Receiver. They wouldhave us believe that the two operations are the same.

They are not.

Fast and Furious got out of control and resulted in the death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Let’s examine the facts about both operations and then you can determine for yourself whether or not the Obama administration is justified in its comparison — or whether it is merely trying to deflect responsibility for a rogue Justice Department operation that led to the death of a U.S. law enforcement officer on the president’s watch.

Operation Wide Receiver: 2006-2007 Bush Administration

This was a program of “gun-walking” sting operations run by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) under a master program known as Project Gunrunner that was implemented to stem the flow of illegal American firearms into Mexico.

Sales were set up between a phony purchaser and gun traffickers in the United States. The ATF allowed guns with tracking devices to be bought by gun runners working through straw purchasers represented as members of Mexican drug cartels.

Here are some facts about the program:
  • 1400 guns were involved — none were actually allowed to cross the U.S./ Mexico border.
  • The program was aimed at the arrest and prosecution of Mexican drug runners and gun runners.
  • It marked a coordinated effort between Mexico and the U.S.
  • All guns had RFID tracking installed in them and were tracked in real time.
  • At least 1,400 arrests were made.
  • The program was terminated when the Bush Administration learned that the bad guys had discovered the tracking devices and were removing them.
  • President Bush ended the program in 2007 — two years before the launch of operation Fast and Furious.
  • No persons were killed as a result of this operation.
Operation Fast and Furious: 2009-2011 Obama Administration
  • The program involved multiple U.S. law enforcement agencies of the Department of Justice — the Drug Enforcement Agency and ATF. It was intended to combat Mexican drug cartel activity with a focus on identifying and eliminating arms-trafficking networks.
  • More than 2,000 guns were involved — many of which were allowed to cross the border.
  • The Mexican government was not aware of this illegal activity of the U.S. government to run guns into a sovereign nation.
  • No tracking devices were placed in the guns that were part of this operation.
  • No arrests were made under this operation.
  • It is reported that more than 200 people were killed as a result of this operation, including agent Terry, who was killed by a gun sold by U.S. operatives to Mexican criminals.
  • The operation was halted only after pressure and exposure.
  • Holder was forced to apologize to the Terry family.
  • Holder allegedly never briefed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on the operation and she never demanded a briefing — or received one from DOJ after learning of the agency's culpability in the death of her agent.
  • Attorney General Holder lied to a congressional committee on at least four separate occasions and has refused to obey congressional subpoenas to provide material information surrounding the operation. This led to a recommendation by a Congressional committee that Holder by held in contempt of Congress.
As you can see, the operation run by the Bush Administration is completely different from the operation run by the Obama Administration — in scope, size, purpose, and results.

Unlike political scandals where the cover-up is worse than the crime, that is not so with Fast and Furious.

Here the government attempts to cover-up the murder of a U.S. agent that was an unintended consequence of the government’s ill-conceived operation.

It defies common sense and human nature that President Obama would not be outraged at the killing of agent Terry and would want to get to the bottom of the who, what, where, and why surrounding his death.

The fact that the president, his attorney general, his secretary of Homeland Security and his own party are involved in thwarting any attempt to get to the bottom of this gun-running operation gone terribly wrong, tells me that they are covering up illegal and/or inappropriate conduct of high government officials — possibly the president himself, or his closest advisors.

Like President Nixon before him, Obama believes that this scandal will blow over and his obstruction will wear down those seeking the truth.

Mr. President learn from history — or be condemned to repeat it.

Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to Fox News Opinion. Read more reports from Bradley Blakeman — Click Here Now.

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