Deadly Diplomacy

I recently wrote about the Obama Administration and its shabby treatment of the United Kingdom. Now it is time to shift focus to our neighbor south of the border - Mexico.

I am talking about Operation Fast and Furious and its diplomatic fallout. On July 4th, acting BATFE Director Melson with his own attorney sat down with Sen. Grassley and Rep. Issa to discuss this operation. What emerged from this discussion plus released emails is a multi-agency operation that involved the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security at the minimum. Also evident was efforts by higher ups in the Dept. of Justice to control how information flowed between agencies and what was reported to Congress. Most troubling of all is the possibility some of the straw buyers that ATF allowed to buy weapons might have been on the payroll of other US agencies - taxpayer money might have been used to purchase weapons that slipped into Mexico and killed 150+ Mexican citizens.

If I believed honorable men and women were in the Department of Justice, I would expect them to do the right thing. However the evidence is clear these people are not honorable. So investigations have to be carried out to find out how much FBI Director Mueller really knew, along with various attorneys, agents, supervisors, and other agencies like DEA knew. Then proceed to impeachment and/or prosecution of the accused. This matter has to be fully explored and investigators must follow the evidence no matter where it leads, even if that leads to Obama and his czars.

Attempts to downplay and pretend this crisis, that makes Watergate a tempest in a teapot, is failing. Citizens in the United States are learning these facts even as most media outlets continue to ignore the controversy. This stonewalling can not last because Mexico has learned of Operation Fast and Furious because places like CBS and Fox News did break the story. That Mexico had to learn from media outlets of this has greatly upset the government of Calderone because the US State Department should have talked with their Mexican counterparts about an operation that would cross international borders. The Obama Administration did not inform Mexico. So the Mexicans are naturally having flashbacks of 1848, 1916, and other incidents where the United States arbitrarily forced itself into Mexican affairs. In fact Mexico is now demanding those who are responsible for Fast and Furious be extradited to Mexico to stand trial.

So this mess is not going away anytime soon. It no longer matters if Fast and Furious was an Obama attempt to get more restrictive gun laws passed. Because of 150+ murders in Mexico it has become an international incident. And until the Obama Administration negotiates in good faith with Mexico to resolve this matter, US-Mexican relations will be strained. Be interesting to see how Mexico pursues making its displeasure known. They could declare war on the United States for supporting criminals trying to topple Mexico, that would play well with Mexicans on both sides of the border and would be a good reason for war that would play on the international scene. Cuba and Venezuela would support Mexico in resisting Yanqui imperial aggression. And just think of Mexico bringing its complaint to the United Nations.

Update: Thanks to Birkenstock Cowboy for this link.
This is very bad if it proves out. That the Tampa BATFE office allowed guns to slip out the country to Honduras and then slip over into Mexico. Running two seperate arms pipelines into Mexcio to equip the drug cartels with guns? Reagan caught holy hell for the overt arms pipeline to Afghanistan and was almost toppled because of Iran-Contra. The Obama Administration would deserve to be savaged in the international community for the sheer affrontery of these actions. Mexico and Honduras would be within their rights to call a meeting of the OAS to discuss these grave matters. And the OAS would be justified in condeming the US for these unprovoked aggressive acts. And just think, after OAS sanction, Honduras and Mexico take their case to the UN. How many of those countries would love to take the US down a few notches? This has the hallmarks of being a massive disaster for the United States if all this turns out true. Even if only part of its true, this is still a disaster for the United States. To broaden the area of destruction, some of the Fast and Furious guns have now been seized in the United States.