FOX: The failed federal anti-gunrunning program known as Operation Fast and Furious got so out of control in November 2009, it appeared the U.S. government was single-handedly “arming for war” the Sinaloa Cartel, documents show, even as ATF officials here kept lying to fellow agents in Mexico about the volume of guns it helped send south of the border. Those shocking allegations are revealed in the latest congressional report investigating the operation. At one point, agents say guns sold under the watch of the program took just 24 hours to travel from a gun store in Phoenix to a crime scene in Mexico. ATF agents there pleaded for help but were told nothing about Fast and Furious, which was intended to let guns “walk” in order to track them to higher-profile traffickers. MORE
WASHINGTON POST: When assault weapons from Phoenix showed up in large numbers at Mexican crime scenes last year, federal agents posted in Mexico City called their superiors in Washington and Phoenix and urged them to shut down any gun operation they might be running because of the mounting violence. But their concerns were brushed aside, according to a new report that will be released Tuesday by Republican lawmakers. The report follows a congressional investigation of the controversial gunrunning sting, known as Operation Fast and Furious, that was overseen by the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. MORE
RELATED: With no official figure released for the death toll in Mexico’s drug war for the last six months, the country’s news media are beginning to speculate that the number may have already surpassed 40,000. The government released its last figure of 34,600 drug war-related killings in January. Since then, Mexico has experienced a slew of violence related to the drug war, including the discovery of over 300 corpses in mass graves in the northern city of Durango. A number of Mexican media outlets believe the death toll from the drug war, launched by current President Felipe Calderón in 2006, has topped 40,000. MORE