A little help understanding Fast and Furious controversy. [View all]

[Baitball Blogger]

I still don't understand who's on first.

I'm trying to figure out what the Republicans are upset about. Do they want to know how the Feds figured out how the gun walking policy started? I got that impression from the paragraph below:

"In a letter to the committee chairman, Darrell Issa of California, a Justice Department official said the executive privilege applies to documents that explain how the department learned there were problems with an investigation in Arizona of gun-running into Mexico, called Operation Fast and Furious."

So, Issa wants to know how the Fed found out about the gun running in Mexico? Could it be because Operation Fast and Furious was started under George Bush's regime?

"Gun-walking has long been barred by Justice Department policy, but federal agents in Arizona experimented with it in at least two investigations during the George W. Bush administration before Fast and Furious. These experiments came as the department was under widespread criticism that the old policy of arresting every suspected low-level "straw purchaser" was still allowing tens of thousands of guns to reach Mexico. A straw purchaser is an illicit buyer of guns for others."

I really don't know what the trouble is. Sounds like the Feds know who is responsible and they don't want to make the leaks worse by releasing the names of their sources to congressmen who may give the info to the wrong people.

But I could be wrong.

Sources from: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-06-20/news/sns-ap-us-fast-and-furious_1_executive-privilege-justice-dept-documents