This one stretches credulity, but it's based on "sworn testimony."
According to Mexican magazine Revista Contralinea, the
testimony comes from a protected government witness and former hitman,
who cooperated in the prosecution of a Sinaloa Cartel accountant by the
Mexican Attorney General’s Office. The testimony details a series of
battles fought by a group of cartel members attempting to drive out
rival gangsters from territory in Mexico’s desert west. To do it, the
group sought weapons from the U.S., including at least 30 WASR-10 rifles
— a variant of the AK-47 — allegedly acquired from Border Patrol agents.
If true, it could reignite the debate over Operation Fast and Furious, the last time U.S. authorities allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican gangsters. Two days after the election, Attorney General Eric Holder — who had been at the center of allegations surrounding the scandal
— is now talking like he might not stay with the administration for
much longer. “That’s something I’m in the process now of trying to
determine,” Holder said Thursday. “I have to think about, can I contribute in a second term?”
Though we don’t know if the informant, who goes by the pseudonym
“Victoria,” is telling the truth about gangsters getting guns from the
Border Patrol.
Given Holder's track record, it's entirely possible that the Border Patrol closed their eyes while the guns 'walked' into Mexico. I'm not so sure that BP actually delivered the damn things.
This is part of a larger story playing out below the public's radar. There are persistent rumors that we have joined the side of one of the cartels -- Sinola, the one mentioned here -- on the grounds of it being more humane than the others.
ReplyDeleteIt's not clear that this is true, but it is a theory that would explain some stories we have seen at the public level. This is one of them that you cite; another is this attack on CIA officers in US diplomatic vehicles, apparently by one of the other cartels disguised as Mexican police. It would also make sense of the decision to do a 'gunwalking' operation without tracking devices such as had been used in the Bush-era operations of this sort.
These may, of course, also be un-linked facts that no overarching theory is necessary to explain. But if I were a Congressman, I'd be pressing the point in formal hearings.