Kurt picks up on something I missed. "But other than that, Senora Lincoln, it really IS a very good play." Bureaucrat tries to calm Mexican fury

William F. Brownfield, head of the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, who is trying to sell the "benefits" of the Gunwalker scandal to outraged Mexicans.

Although I mentioned Laura Carlsen's article from Foreign Policy in Focus entitled "Obama's Mexicogate?" yesterday here, I missed an important event and a larger conclusion to be drawn from it in his Examiner article, "'Project Gunwalker': When 'justice' is in the hands of criminals."

Meanwhile, let us not forget the State Department, as well, from whom Rep. Issa has also requested documents. That's probably a good idea, because there would certainly seem to be at least some knowledge of "Project Gunwalker" in that department. William Brownfield, head of the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, seems proud of this operation, as reported in Foreign Policy in Focus:

The outrage increased when William Brownfield, the State Department’s head of International Narcotics, praised the program to the Mexican press and confirmed it was “ongoing.” The former ambassador to Colombia and long-time promoter of the drug war scoffed at criticisms, stating that the number of arms that have passed to “uncontrolled destinations” was “limited.”

Well, Secretary Brownfield, I'm certainly glad the number of guns our government helped to put into the hands of ruthless killers was "limited" -- I would hate to think that the number was infinite.

When the Justice Department commits crimes (and is protected in those crimes by a member of the House committee charged with government oversight), and the State Department is complicit with and defends what has been described in some circles as an act of war against a neighboring nation and important trade partner, the legitimacy of the entire government must come into question.

That's the larger point. But the event I missed, referred to by Laura Carlsen, is contained in this article from last month in the Mexican newspaper Reforma.

Here is a Google translation of the article. I will have comment afterward.

Wednesday March 9, 2011

PREDICTS SURPRISES WITH 'FAST AND FURIOUS'

REFORMA Mexico City (March 9, 2011) .- The operation "Fast and furious" that implemented the Bureau of Alcohol, Snuff, Firearms and Explosives United States (ATF, for its acronym in English) to track network traffic weapons and know their intermediaries, will produce positive results in the future, saw yesterday William R. Brownfield, subsecretario antinarcóticos de EU. Brownfield, U.S. undersecretary narcotics.

"When we have all the details of this operation we will discover that produced very positive results, and that's just a projection, I think we will discover that only a very limited number of weapons in this operation, which is still active, went from one person to another or to other places without control. "

In a CBS television report, an ATF agent revealed that one of the nearly 2 billion arms spending in recent years left to Mexico, through the "Fast and Furious", end up being used in the killing of a U.S. agent.

"We will discover that the operation resulted in lawsuits against several people who have been responsible for past criminal activity related to arms trafficking. In the end the two governments, the two peoples, will conclude that this operation, like many others in years past, produced positive results," he said in an interview with REFORMA.

Brownfield said the implementation of any government action to curb arms smuggling along the common border and detect the movements of the smugglers involved "some risk" to be assessed and calculated.

Also former U.S. ambassador to Colombia and Chile, said he did not know the details of the operation of the ATF, disclosed last week in an interview on CBS, but warned that nearly all of the devices used by U.S. law enforcement agencies are successful.

"For years and to some extent for decades, I heard on both sides of the border concerns and criticisms, from time to time, by the capacity of municipal institutions, state and federal United States to control the movement and arms sales.

"It is suggested that this lack of control occurs or increases the movement of weapons from U.S. to Mexico. In my 32 years of service as a diplomat of the U.S. Government have seen many police operations in several U.S. police agencies, the vast majority, 99.9 percent yield positive results, "he said.

The undersecretary of the U.S. State Department said that in general terms, the actions of the ATF to limit arms trafficking and bring to justice those responsible for this illegal has been positive.

"I agree that the media have a right to express opinions, to ask questions, but I have the right to talk about the big screen and not only that part of the display of one centimeter by one centimeter in which everyone talks about problems.

"If all the display indicates that this process is positive overall, I think your readers have a right to know that too," he said.

Missing years to provide anti-narco achievements

Brownfield also acknowledged that the Merida Initiative will get its first results "visible" until two or three years.

"We had to wait like 40 years to reach this situation so complicated, we are entitled to at least two or three years to produce measurable results, visible results that you can make and state.

"It is a process that can produce an immediate result, the truth is that I maintain optimism," said the bilateral cooperation program anticrime marked in Mexico in June 2008 between President George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón.

Brownfield said the program provides a route similar to that in the beginning, had the Plan Colombia for more than a decade to reduce the violence of drug cartels.

"Experience with the Plan Colombia was that in the early years, when the government began to apply pressure against organized crime, for about two years the reaction of these organizations was incredibly violent, for about five years around the world criticizing the situation, even my government.

"They said they had not produced results, which still produced a lot of cocaine, there was much violence, where were the results of the investment, we had to wait about seven years to see results. Colombia is not Mexico (...) but I think that if we learned anything it is that these processes and strategies take time, "he said.

The official predicted that the Government of Mexico to win the battle being waged against organized crime.

More coordination

The U.S. government is promoting a new anti-crime plan for regional cooperation which will integrate the seven Central American countries, Colombia and Mexico.

Brownfield said the plan seeks to reclaim the guidelines of Plan Colombia and the Merida Initiative to reduce the supply of illicit drugs, limit their transfer and to have safer communities.

"The logic is that countries will participate to make a consultation to decide their priorities ... because every country is different and has its own set of threats," said U.S. Undersecretary narcotics, after meeting privately with Attorney General's Office, Arturo Chavez Chavez, with the Secretary of Public Security, Genaro Garcia Luna, and the undersecretary for North America of the Foreign Ministry, Julian Ventura.

Right.

"But other than that, Senora Lincoln, it really is a very good play."

This was printed on 9 March, a lifetime ago in Gunwalker scandal terms. But the ham-handed attempt of this ugly American trying to sell the Mexicans on the positive aspects of the mounds of Gunwalker dead is just breath-taking in its stupidity. The administration really doesn't have a clue how to defend the indefensible. Nor, for that matter, do I. It only gets worse for the guilty from here on out, until we have the truth. Then it REALLY gets bad for them. The country, however, will be a good deal better off. Both countries, in fact.

Melson, are you sure you're not better served by rolling on this? What? Are you afraid they'll kill you? Well, considering that Hillary Clinton seems to be investing her reputation in the coverup, perhaps you should be. Try to stay out of Fort Marcy Park, if you can.