You got our gun control regulations through! Great job! Here's promotion!
ATF agents involved in Operation Fast and Furious who should have been fired by now for putting over 2000 high powered weapons into the hands of ruthless Mexican drug cartels, on purpose, have been promoted. Yes, promoted. Only in government can you have blood on your hands and get a pay raise and moved from the Phoenix Field Office to a cushy office in Washington D.C.
The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF's deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency's Phoenix office.
McMahon and Newell have acknowledged making serious mistakes in the program, which was dubbed Operation Fast and Furious.
"I share responsibility for mistakes that were made," McMahon testified to a House committee three weeks ago. "The advantage of hindsight, the benefit of a thorough review of the case, clearly points me to things that I would have done differently."
McMahon was promoted Sunday to deputy assistant director of the ATF's Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations — the division that investigates misconduct by employees and other problems.
Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF's acting director, said in an agency-wide confidential email announcing the promotion that McMahon was among ATF employees being rewarded because of "the skills and abilities they have demonstrated throughout their careers."
Newell was the special agent in charge of the field office for Arizona and New Mexico, where Fast and Furious was conducted. On Aug. 1, the ATF announced he would become special assistant to the assistant director of the agency's Office of Management in Washington.
Voth was an on-the-ground team supervisor for the operation, and last month he was moved to Washington to become branch chief for the ATF's tobacco division.
William Newell was the agent who lied to Congress by saying ATF never let guns "walk" during testimony on Capitol Hill in July, despite Operation Fast and Furious being an operation that involved giving drug cartels guns from the beginning in order to "track down," cartel leaders. From July 26, 2011:
“These guns went to ruthless criminals,” Carlos Canino, ATF Acting Attaché to Mexico said in testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday regarding the scandal-plagued Operation Fast and Furious. “It’s alleged that over 2,000 guns were trafficked in this investigation. To put that in context, upon information and belief, the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment has approximately 2,500 rangers. That means that as a result of this investigation, the Sinaloa cartel may have received almost as many guns that are needed to arm the entire regiment. Out of these 2,000 weapons, 34 were .50-caliber sniper rifles. That is approximately the number of sniper riles a Marine infantry regiment takes into battle.”
Remember, William Newell, who again has been promoted, would not admit Operation Fast and Furious was a bad idea and would not say he wouldn't do it again.
Former ATF Special Agent in Charge William Newell would not condemn Operation Fast and Furious and allowing guns to walk into Mexico during testimony and questioning. In fact, Newell went so far as to say he was unaware of guns walking into Mexico, despite internal emails showing he did know. Newell admitted the agency made mistakes but would not admit the program was a bad idea and exposed that he was in communication with a member of the White House national security team. His testimony also conflicted with previous testimony given by Special Agent John Dodson of the Phoenix Field Division who said on June 15, “Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated.”
“At no time in our strategy was it to allow guns to be taken to Mexico,” Newell said, adding that at no time did his agency allow guns to walk.
“You’re entitled to your opinion, not your own facts,” Issa responded.
If you're wondering, Fast and Furious hasn't led to a single arrest of a drug kingpin and has resulted in the murders of two U.S. federal agents and countless murders of innocents in Mexico. Now, Operation Fast and Furious has resulted in the promotion of the very agents who carried out the operation, despite knowing it involved huge risk and would get people killed.
In addition, new gun control measures targeting Southern border states have been implemented by the Obama Justice Department as a result of Fast and Furious, and the operation was designed to promote gun control from the beginning. Seems like these agents did their job to get those new gun control measures implemented and are being awarded by the Obama Administration for doing so. Newell is also the agent who admitted the White House was involved with Operation Fast and Furious.
What a coincidence!
To: William Newell-Promoted
CC: William McMahon-Promoted
Requirement to report long gun multiple sales? Done
Promotions for Newell and McMahon for meeting gun control goal? Done.