Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), whose staff helped write the report. UPI Fil Photo/Kevin Dietsch |
License Photo
WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- U.S. firearms agents based in Mexico bitterly denounced their bosses Tuesday for a sting operation and keeping them in the dark.
Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Darren Gil, a former attache for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, said: "I would like to apologize to ... the people of Mexico for Fast and Furious. I hope they understand it was kept secret from me and my colleagues."
"Operation Fast and Furious is indeed a disaster," he said.
The committee, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has been investigating the ATF operation, which allowed illicit firearms to get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Jose Wall, an AFT agent in Tijuana, said: "I could not believe that someone in ATF would so callously let firearms wind up in the hands of criminals. But it appears that I was wrong."
Carlos Canino, the current acting ATF attache at the embassy, said: "I would like to inform this committee and the American public that I believe what happened here was inexcusable, and we in Mexico had no part in it.
"These allegations stemming from this case, that a few ATF agents and supervisors deliberately allowed guns to walk, have destroyed ATF's credibility with our Mexican law enforcement partners and the Mexican public," Canino said.
Earlier Tuesday, Issa's committee released a report in which Canino and other agents said ATF higher-ups in Phoenix and Washington ignored their agents' warnings until Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in Arizona last December and two AK-47s sold in the Fast and Furious sting were found at the scene.
