Differences Between Bush’s ‘Wide Receiver’ Program and Obama’s ‘Fast & Furious’

Gary Krasner

It’s the difference between a marshmallow and a Mellow Marsh.

The main Democrat talking point to defend Obama’s debacle — Fast & Furious — is to claim that had begun under Pres. Bush. But in fact, the program they’re referring to that was run during Bush’s administration was called “Wide Receiver”, and it had been discontinued over a year before Obama took office. But more egregious than that is that it’s a facile sound-bite that ignores the stark differences between “Wide Receiver” and “Fast & Furious”, and worse, supposed serious journalists and correspondents do not call Democrats to task for it.

Here are the differences in simplest terms:

  • Wide Receiver (WR) was active from 2005 to 2007 (Oct.). Number of guns involved: 400
  • Fast & Furious (F&F) was active from Fall 2009 – 2011. Number of guns involved: 2,000

GUN TRACKING METHODS:

Electronic tracking
WR — RFID trackers installed in guns.
F&F — No electronic tracking.

Surveillance
WR — Actively tracked by airborn surveillance.
F&F — No active surveillance of any kind.

Purchases
WR — Straw purchases recorded & surveilled.
F&F — No recording or surveillance of straw purchasers

Further Explanation: The local ATF field agents were ordered not to follow the straw purchasers. Federal agents were not allowed to interdict the guns and they even ran interference for the smugglers with local law enforcement on multiple occasions to make sure those guns made it across the border.
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Differences Between Bush’s ‘Wide Receiver’ Program and Obama’s ‘Fast & Furious’”


Newest News on Obama’s Arming of Mexican Narco Terrorists

-By Warner Todd Huston

This past weekend there was a very quiet — in fact a secret — meeting between the chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), Kenneth Melson, and Congressional investigators looking into the gun walker case (also called Operation Fast and Furious) and the results seem to show that the culpability for arming Mexican narco terrorists by Obama’s administration is more widespread than just by the BATF.

BATF head Melson appeared in secret testimony that made matters worse for the Obama administration, showing that the gun smuggling scandal was a shared program among several federal agencies and not just one from the BATF…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.


Obama Happily Putting Guns in the Hands of Mexican Drug Dealers, Now Ending Up in Phoenix

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you haven’t heard about the Gun Walker case, it’s time you learned. This was an Obama administration Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (BATF) program where guns were sneaked across our southern border by Mexican drug dealers. It turns out that these guns were given them by the Obama administration. The idea was that the BATF could trace how guns get disseminated in Mexico. Officials also hoped that the program would help them find where the drug dealers are and if a few people got killed in the process… well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right?

The BATF program was code named “Fast and Furious.” Naturally it has become quite controversial and has led to much talk that BATF chief Kenneth Melson will be eliminated from that agency – this has yet to occur, though. This scandal is just in the early stages of becoming a major mess to be hung around Obama’s neck so there is no telling where it will end up. Big scandal? Swept under the rug? Could go either way even though it is a major scandal that should sink several members of the Obama admin, if not Obama himself….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.