Obama's DOJ: Inept Or Dishonest?

Three times the feds had the man who was supposedly the primary target of its "Fast and Furious" in custody, and released him every time.

Yesterday FOX News revealed that the main suspect of Operation Fast and Furious was arrested and released three times. THREE TIMES. Two of those arrests happened in Phoenix, the origin of Fast and Furious.

FOX News showed a video of Manuel Celis-Acosta firing 10 rounds from a 45 caliber handgun purchased illegally by his accomplice Sean Stewart. But unfortunately it took the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry to end the operation.

“We could have taken him in and prosecuted him anytime. It’s either total incompetence. Or maybe it’s something a bit more coordinated that the Department of Justice is not willing to talk about yet,” Representative Jason Chaffetz told Fox News.

You'd have to be a real stonehead or a member of the mainstream news media not to conclude that this whole operation was about an attempt to cook up support for stricter gun control laws - especially since they've essentially confessed to it.

Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.

In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico. Two were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. 

ATF officials didn't intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called "Demand Letter 3". That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or "long guns." Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.
On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF's Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious: 

"Bill - can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks."