TheAgitator.com
Good Enough for Government Work
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011So you just oversaw a disastrous government operation in which your agency passively stood by while illegal weapons were smuggled into Mexico, many of which were later later used in brutal murders carried out by drug cartels. What’s next for you?
Why, a promotion of course!
The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico.
All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns were lost and many turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and two at the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
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 . . .
And it gets better.
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.”
Emphasis mine.
It occurs to me that a promoted ATF agent is less likely than a fired ATF agent to be forthcoming about what higher-ups—political appointees, for example—knew about the operation, and how much and when they knew about it. But that would assume bad intent. Then again, the alternative is that these agents were promoted solely on merit, which really isn’t any less disturbing.
In any case, these guys should probably start making room on their mantles for a Medal of Freedom.
The ATF should stop running weapons and do something
constructive, perhaps cleaning up trash on the side of the road
like jail work crews. Or start laying down rails for high speed trains, like
most civilized countries have…
Add Woodsy the Owl as a “green” mascot and you got some serious PC damage control.
this department is gonna get uglier and uglier- especially as the drug war in Mexico intensifies and tobacco smuggling increases…
To be fair, who among us wants to give a poor evaluation to a guy who just helped kill a couple hundred people.
You know who is in charge at ATF? This guy: http://i.imgur.com/KKIlf.jpg
Color me shocked that police who screwed up and caused passive or active harm to their fellow citizens aren’t severely dismissed and disciplined by being put on paid administrative leave.
No, no…not a Medal of Freedom. They have already been short listed for Next Year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Sheesh…if you were any good of a journalist you would have already known that. You Progressive/Right-Wing Extremist Hack.
These guys have to be promoted in order to knock them up into a better pension bracket, so they keep quiet about all the unfixed weaknesses they oversaw.
The ATF is totally ripping off Seinfeld.
If memory serves, weren’t several of the
assassinsbrave and noble enforcers of the law promoted after that fiasco, also?The ATF is just one of a number or federal departments taht needs to go,and cut the others in half.
Ha. Picked this story up yesterday. And in today’s update, it appearsMelson knew about Fast and Furious one month into operation, not this last January as he claimed.
where is the link to the original article? can’t seem to find it in post…
I believe it’s this article.
Hecuva job, boys! Just try not to get caught next time. Heh Heh. And I agree with Michael Pack (#9) that ATF needs to go. There is no need for a federal agency to enforce gun laws and investigate arsons/bombings. Everything ATF does can be taken care of by State/Local police, fire departments and fire marshal’s offices. Having ATF is a duplication of services and is an example of unecessary federal encroachment. In the event of a terrorist bombing of some sort, the FBI takes over anyway. There should be much less federal involvement in law enforcement matters.
I don’t claim to know how the ATF is structured anymore; so this is a guess on my part, but those job titles sure look like the kind that have to get vetted through the White House. I try to go easy on blaming a President for every little screw up in the executive branch, but I think there’s a reason to wonder how high up the promotions went.
Hey, they gave Yossarian a medal and promoted him to boot!
And more crimes linked to this “operation”:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110817,0,7742514.story
May I just say,,,,, Fuck You Eric holder!
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“Why, a promotion of course!” –
Nothing new about this. In the Army, (Australian) when you need to get rid of a clown from your unit, you just promote them out of there. As far away as possible.
[...] Story via Radley Balko. [...]
I believe that old popular4 saqying by past presidents, THE BUCK STOPS HERE!
I believe that Fast and Furious was an attempt by the very high ups to get these guns out and when crimes were commited with the guns the Progressives would use that to try to take away our right to keep and bear arms. I believe that The president and The US Attorney approved it.
Remember the statement never let a good crisis go to waste.They were trying to create a crisis so they could get the useful idiot so called news to start the propaganda spin. I don’t trust anything these guys say or do.
All should load http://SipseyStreetIrregulars.blogspot.com at least once a day. The Dutchman, there, is the guy who originally broke the story, which is still being systematically ignored by the MSM. If you can afford it, a buck or two in his tip jar would be a good thing, as he is old and sick, and living from hand to mouth.
III.