In an interview with a Mexican magazine, President Obama empatically denies that he or Attorney General Eric Holder gave authorization for
Fast and Furious.The lead ATF official in Mexico at the time Darren Gil says somebody in the Justice Department did know about the case. Gil says his supervisor at
ATF's Washington D.C. headquarters told him point-blank the operation was approved even higher than ATF Director Kenneth Melson."Is the director aware of this," Gil asked the supervisor. Gil says his supervisor answered "Yes, the director's aware of it. Not only is the director aware of it, D.O.J.'s aware of it... Department of Justice was aware of it."
Other ATF field agents declare, "We had been forbidden to detain individuals, we could not confiscate weapons or identify the people involved. Our sole mission was to observe. That's how we lost track of weapons that came to Mexico."
Gun shops where they bought guns and rifles also knew of the operation.
The ATF asked them to participate in the case. Agent Dodson's account: "The gun shops were more concerned than the ATF about the multiple sales because they knew that those who were buying weapons did not want them for their personal use. With this approach,
the gun shops thought they were doing the right thing, they had no idea that we (the agents) were not intercepting the weapons. "