First Guns, Then Grenades
Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal reports (full story requires subscription) on a case brimming with similarities to the Justice Department’s “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal. Journal writer Evan Perez tells of a man suspected by ATF agents in Phoenix of supplying grenades to Mexican drug cartels. The suspect, Jean Baptiste Kingery, was arrested last month in Mexico by Mexican authorities and charged with violating organized-crime laws. Police discovered enough materials to make 500 grenades when they raided Kingery’s home in Mazatlan.
The Journal reports that ATF agents arrested Kingery in June 2010 after having him under surveillance for months. At that time, he possessed 116 grenade hulls and other components. He admitted he manufactured grenades and supplied them to a drug cartel known as La Familia Michoacana.
Kingery nonetheless was released without charges, and now ATF agents and Justice Department lawyers are offering divergent explanations as to why he wasn’t prosecuted in the U.S. One ATF agent “practically begged” for Kingery to be charged, but prosecutors declined. For their part, prosecutors maintain that ATF agents wanted to use Kingery as an informant and therefore requested charges not be brought.
This case, when viewed alongside the many failures of “Fast and Furious,” should have some in the ATF and/or the Justice Department fearing for the future of their careers. It will be interesting to see how far into the chain of command of the ATF and the Justice Department the scandal reaches.
If these failures had occurred under a Republican administration, can you imagine the attorney general surviving the scandal? Neither can I.
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Comments :
Mar '11
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
What, no close air support? Those boys down south lack foresight.
Seriously, I can't get my head around what ATF was actually thinking when they let this little party run as long as it did.
Jun '10
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
Given that the Attorney General serves at the president's pleasure, is there anything that can be done to get rid of Holder. From my perch he looks like the worse/most incompetent/most politicized AG the US has ever had, so how does the country get rid of him short of electing another president.
Oct '10
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
As this unfolds, the divergent explanations so abpty put will become a cascade.
This may be one of the largest challenges in exposing fraud to date.
May '10
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
It will take a lot to convince me that all of this was not initially intended to create enough mayhem and murder in Mexico with American firearms to create howls for more gun control. Basically, like the initial raid on the Branch Davidians, it was a cynical publicity stunt.
Jul '10
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
Mr. Dunphy, welcome to Ricochet. Have followed you in NR for years.
Question: During President Felipe Calderon’s visit to Washington in May of this year to address a joint session of Congress to instruct us on proper US immigration policy (never mind Mexico’s own extremely strict laws on this issue), he also during one speech railed against the supposed flow from the U.S. of over 80% of the illegal arms in Mexico. Interestingly, President Obama made a similar statement less than a year earlier, though he said the figure was about 90%. While this seemed at the time to be a thinly-veiled attempt on the part of this Administration to bolster its opposition to gun ownership in general, is there perchance a relationship between this and the current “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal? I,e., what did they know and when did they know it?
Jul '10
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
Cont.
BTW,
Bill McMahon, deputy assistant director of the ATF, stated that of the 100,000 weapons recently recovered in Mexico, only 18,000 were determined to have been manufactured, sold, or imported from the United States. Of those, just 7,900 were purchased from licensed gun dealers, then illegally transferred to criminals.
Far simpler for the cartels is the black market which accounts for most of the weapons in Mexico, very often purchased from corrupt government officials in Central and South America – including Mexico itself. More weapons are purchased from Mexican military and police forces than are smuggled from the U.S.
Oct '10
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
For as much as this affair reveals a twisted and corrupt thinking of the parties involved in the US system, consider what happens in Mexico.
Weapons and equipment thefts from the Mexican Military are all to common, as well as soldiers changing sides. Gets hard to tell who is who. Note that the Mexican Government appears powerless to stem the tide.
What is most troublesome is why the US officials appear to contribute to the outcome. Then again, if there was a question, it was just answered.
Jul '10
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
Kind of makes Ya think of what they may be doing with Our nuclear secrets....
Apr '11
Re: First Guns, Then Grenades
Many liberals will tell us that we need more gun control in the U.S. to prevent murders in Mexico. They don't happen to mention that Mexico has far stricter gun control than we do, yet has substantially more violent crime. Surprisingly, those who make a career out of smuggling and murder don't appear to feel guilty about violating Mexico's gun control laws.