Stephen Colbert and his fearless writers to hone in on the extent of the cynicism and hypocrisy that marks the latest iteration of the "Fast and Furious" story. Before the sun had set on a day that Republicans on the House Oversight Committee had voted Attorney General Eric Holder "in contempt" for failing to produce enough documents about the failed gun-running sting, the gang at Comedy Central was telling it like it is:
Fortune: Much of what you think you know about 'Fast and Furious' may not be the case at all
A day before the House of Representatives votes on a contempt resolution against Attorney General Eric Holder over the release of documents in the "Fast and Furious" operation, Katherine Eban at Fortune has called into question some of the most basic beliefs about what happened in this gun sales operation. Whether you've followed the case closely or never paid attention until now, it's worth a read.
"Fast and Furious" grew out of frustration at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Agents had a devil of a time getting prosecutions against straw purchasers who bought large numbers of guns they then passed along to others. The program was initiated in Arizona, which is a freaking free-for-all for gun buyers. Any 18-year-old without a criminal record can buy as many firearms in Arizona as he wants and the same afternoon transfer them to whomever. That whomever may very well be the person who put up the money for the purchase. After the transfer, the guns can wind up anywhere, but thousands of guns go to Mexico. Many of those wind up in the hands of gangsters in the drug cartels whose war among themselves and on the Mexican people have taken an estimated 50,000 lives in six years.
Straw-purchase cases are difficult to prosecute anywhere, but Eban writes that it was made more difficult by the reluctance of Arizona-based U.S. prosecutors to take on any case that wasn't ironclad. And their definition of that was extreme:
