Lawyers Guns and Money

I haven't written much about the scandal variously known as "Fast and Furious" or "Gunwalker," but I've been following the matter. And we now have a moment of clarity:

A letter forwarded on Friday by a proven reliable source to Gun Rights Examiner and Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars documents Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives management authorizing the sale of firearms, which sources say were intended for delivery to cartel purchasers as part of the “Fast and Furious” / ”Gunwalker” scandal.

You can read the letter here. Sipsey Street Irregulars, in case you were wondering, is a blog that has been following this case quite closely. But what happened to the guns that the ATFE agent bought?

The existence of this letter provided to these reporters by a previously reliable source familiar with the Fast and Furious investigation, coupled with interviews of other sources across the country which put it into context, provides startling proof that the Federal government did not merely “lose track” of weapons purchased by “straw buyers” under surveillance by the ATF and destined for the Mexican drug cartels. In an undercover operation ordered by Fast and Furious supervisor David Voth, the U.S. government purchased firearms with taxpayer money from licensed firearms dealers, instructed them to conduct the sales “off the books,” and used an ATF agent, John Dodson, to deliver them directly to people that Dodson believed were conducting them across the border.

Emphasis mine. Further:

According one source close to the Issa committee and knowledgeable of its workings, this revelation “puts a stake in the heart of the ‘botched sting operation’ lie.” He continued, “There never was any ‘sting,’ there was only a deliberate effort to provide weapons to the DTO’s (Drug Trafficking Organizations).” He added, “this was one hundred percent us — our money, our guy, our (gun)walking.”

And, in case you didn't know it, the fruits of this operation include the death of U.S. agents with guns that the Mexican drug cartels got from the operation.

I suspect we'll learn more about what actually happened in the coming days, but we live in a world where you need to rely on the Sipsey Street Irregulars instead of the folks at 30 Rock or elsewhere. There's a lot more at the link and I'd recommend you click it.