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C0untZer0 · September 29, 2011, 08:42 AM

The fact that this article appeared in Forbes is good.

I haven't seen staff reporters at the major news organization produce much on this, but I have a feeling they will start. The staff reporters in the major MSM outlets are losing out, and it's somewhat of a goldmine of news. Despite the political views of the reporters and their managers - no one can afford to be outclassed and out-scooped.

I think that one of the things that Frank Miniter has done in this article better than any single article on the scandal so far is that he shows that it's doubtful the operation was put together to somehow build a case against the cartels - none of the requisite work to accomplish that was ever done. There are gaping holes in standard investigative processes, inexplicable lapses in planning and an incredible lack of foresight and planning - if they were really trying to build a case against the cartels.

However, if they were simply trying to show that lax gun laws in the United States were responsible for arming the Mexican drug cartels - they had everything they needed to accomplish that.

In order to show that irresponsibly lax gun laws were responsible for arming dangerous Mexican drug cartels, they merely had to get U.S. guns into the hands of the cartel, have the guns show up at crime scenes, have a straw buyer in custody and be able to trace the guns to U.S. gun stores. I’ll admit that there were some problems with this plan – such as having any of the gun store owners reveal that the sales to straw purchasers would not have even been completed except at the urging of the BATFE. But maybe to the BATFE, that was considered a minor PR detail that could have been glazed over.

The Forbes article does make it clear that if the intent of Operation Fast and Furious was to build a case that there are problems with current gun law – then they mostly had their bases covered. If the intent was to build a case against the cartels – it was inexplicably lacking in basic investigative procedures. In that regard, the operation was so poorly, planned and so poorly executed that it calls into question the stated intent of the operation.

September 29, 2011, 08:42 AM	#1155
C0untZer0 Junior member Join Date: April 21, 2011 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,555	The fact that this article appeared in Forbes is good. I haven't seen staff reporters at the major news organization produce much on this, but I have a feeling they will start. The staff reporters in the major MSM outlets are losing out, and it's somewhat of a goldmine of news. Despite the political views of the reporters and their managers - no one can afford to be outclassed and out-scooped. I think that one of the things that Frank Miniter has done in this article better than any single article on the scandal so far is that he shows that it's doubtful the operation was put together to somehow build a case against the cartels - none of the requisite work to accomplish that was ever done. There are gaping holes in standard investigative processes, inexplicable lapses in planning and an incredible lack of foresight and planning - if they were really trying to build a case against the cartels. However, if they were simply trying to show that lax gun laws in the United States were responsible for arming the Mexican drug cartels - they had everything they needed to accomplish that. In order to show that irresponsibly lax gun laws were responsible for arming dangerous Mexican drug cartels, they merely had to get U.S. guns into the hands of the cartel, have the guns show up at crime scenes, have a straw buyer in custody and be able to trace the guns to U.S. gun stores. I’ll admit that there were some problems with this plan – such as having any of the gun store owners reveal that the sales to straw purchasers would not have even been completed except at the urging of the BATFE. But maybe to the BATFE, that was considered a minor PR detail that could have been glazed over. The Forbes article does make it clear that if the intent of Operation Fast and Furious was to build a case that there are problems with current gun law – then they mostly had their bases covered. If the intent was to build a case against the cartels – it was inexplicably lacking in basic investigative procedures. In that regard, the operation was so poorly, planned and so poorly executed that it calls into question the stated intent of the operation.