Holder, BATF: Dumb and Dumber on Gunrunner

This keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger....first, the stuff we already knew:

...An internal memo from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shows that U.S. officials allowed criminals to buy 1,318 guns worth nearly $1 million, even after they suspected the buyers were working for Mexican drug cartels, and that the agency's effort to stop the guns had "yielded little or no results."

There were 15 suspects.

After buying 407 guns, they became suspects in Operation Fast & Furious, an offshoot of Project Gunrunner run specifically out of the Phoenix ATF office. In a companion memo dated June 15, 2010, field agents say they recovered “179 crime guns in Mexico…and 130” in the U.S., but roughly 1,300 were unaccounted for and "due to the proximity to the border, bank subpoenas and financial investigations have yielded little or no results."

Then it got even worse.

...a law enforcement source tells Fox News, that ATF undercover agents were acting as the straw buyers and purchasing guns using government-issued false identifications and then providing those guns to cartel traffickers to gain credibility in their undercover roles. In that capacity, the ATF "provided 2, 50 cal. machine guns to traffickers that are loose in Mexico and unaccounted for," the source said.

A .50 full auto is also called a "Ma Deuce."

HT: Arms/Law