[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16474]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              OPERATION FAST AND FURIOUS, WHO'S TO BLAME?

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, when the coach messes up, blame the 
team. This policy occurred yesterday.
  Yesterday, in an attempt to divert attention from the Attorney 
General, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer took one for the head 
coach and testified about Project Gunrunner. He claimed that he knew 
about the practice of ``gun walking'' but still tried to punt the ball 
by placing blame on Team ATF for not stopping Fast and Furious. But the 
Department of Justice oversees the ATF, and apparently the Justice 
Department knew about Fast and Furious. So why didn't they stop it? Mr. 
Breuer said that he had talked to the ATF about it, and so he thought 
he didn't need to tell the Attorney General. So now it appears the 
dysfunctional Justice Department is responsible for this disaster.
  Bottom line: Nearly 2,000 semiautomatic weapons were blindly sent 
into the hands of criminal narcoterrorists in Mexico, and people died 
because of this operation, at least two Americans and who knows how 
many Mexican nationals. Thousands of guns are still unaccounted for in 
Mexico.
  Clearly, the Department of Justice needs a new head coach, and a 
special counsel should be appointed to investigate Fast and Furious.
  And that's just the way it is.

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