Do 'Gunwalker' apologists REALLY think DoJ No smarter than 'Underpants Gnomes'?

 

  • 'PROJECT GUNWALKER'
  • June 28, 2011
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    • Kurt Hofmann's photo
    St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner

    The explanation of "Project Gunwalker" that we're apparently being asked to accept is that it was an honorably intended, but horridly ill-conceived, strategy to (somehow) "topple a drug cartel" in Mexico, in a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) "sting operation." Any questioning of this apparently official line is dismissed as a "paranoid conspiracy theory." Media Matters, for example:

    So it should come as no surprise that the right-wing media have turned a controversial program from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) into an elaborate conspiracy directed from the highest reaches of government intended to bolster the case for gun control legislation - even as they acknowledge there is no evidence for this claim.

    The Washington Post goes so far as to argue that the "Project Gunwalker" scandal demonstrates the need to bestow more power and funding on the very perpetrators of this monstrous scheme to assist in the murder of hundreds on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border:

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    We may never know whether the bureau would have launched the Fast and Furious operation had it had other, more effective tools at its disposal. Those who would clobber the bureau for possible mistakes should look in the mirror and accept some responsibility for its failings.

    The biggest problem with the notion that "Project Gunwalker" was a "botched sting operation" is that the idea is frankly impossible to take seriously. Such an idea requires one to believe that senior Department of Justice officials, up to at least the level of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, could convince themselves that the South Park "underpants gnomes" provided the model (which they explain in the ten-second sidebar video) for the best strategy for thwarting gun trafficking to Mexico.

    National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea (who invented the "Project Gunwalker" name), in his new "War on Guns" gun rights advocacy radio show on NBC 1260, spoke yesterday of the "Gunwalker"/underpants gnomes analogy. Listen to this mp3 file--it's just over a minute and a half long.

    Two weeks ago tomorrow, in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing about "Project Gunwalker," BATFE Special Agents John Dodson (the first BATFE whistleblower to publicly come forward) and Peter Forcelli made clear that there was no conceivable law enforcement purpose to "Project Gunwalker," and as Special Agent Forcelli stated, no value for prosecutors if any arrests were somehow made. The ridiculousness of this "strategy" is such that it provided several minutes of superb material for Jon Stewart's Daily Show.

    Sipsey Street Irregulars' Mike Vanderboegh first brought Assistant Attorney General Breuer to our attention back in early February. As can be seen in Mr. Vanderboegh's piece, Breuer has extensive experience with the law, and whatever his other failings, is clearly far from stupid.

    Those asking us to believe the "botched sting operation" story, though, want us to believe that someone no smarter than an underpants gnome graduated from Columbia Law School, and went on to have Breuer's career.

    David Codrea suggests we start referring to the "brains" behind "Project Gunwalker" as "underpants gnomes," and try to make the meme stick. Let's do that. Let's make the "Gunwalker" apologists defend the notion that the United States Department of Justice is run by people no smarter than underpants gnomes.

    Update: See National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea's "Calling out excuse-mongering Jon Stewart and Media Matters on Gunwalker intent" for much more.

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