OBAMAGATE Scandal Gets Worse

(CBS News) WASHINGTON -
South of El Paso, Texas, on Mexico's side of the border,
lies Juarez - the most dangerous city in the world.
CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports
ATF Special Agent Rene Jaquez has been stationed there for
the past year, trying to keep U.S. guns from being trafficked into Mexico.


"That's what we do as an agency," Jaquez said.
"ATF's primary mission is to make sure
that we curtail gun trafficking."

Video: Mexico assignment "most dangerous in the world"

Video: ATF agent describes dangers of "gunwalking"


That's why Jaquez tells CBS News he was so alarmed to hear
his own agency may have done the opposite: encouraged U.S. gun dealers
to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexico's drug cartels.

Apparently, ATF hoped that letting weapons "walk" onto the
street - to see where they'd end up - would help them
take down a cartel.


Gunrunning scandal uncovered at the ATF


Jaquez is so opposed to the strategy, he's speaking out.
"You don't let guns walk. I've never let a gun walk."

Read Agent Jaquez's most recent job performance evaluation
summary from ATF management.



Yet ATF agents told us they were ordered to let thousands of weapons walk.
Two of them, assault rifles, were later found at the murder scene
of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in Arizona last December.

Another gunrunning suspect under ATF surveillance was linked
to the shooting of Customs Agent Jaime Zapata
and sources say many more "walked" weapons turned up at
Mexican crime scenes.


Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

Jaquez said, "I think this incidence is probably one of the darkest days in ATF's history."


But ATF wasn't working alone on the case known as "Fast and Furious."
Documents show ATF had conference calls with "DHS"
(Homeland Security). "USMS" (U.S. Marshals) and DEA. An "ICE," or
Customs agent, was on ATF's Fast and Furious team. They were
advised by an "AUSA," or Assistant U.S. Attorney under the
Justice Department.


AK 47s vs. bean bags in border drug war


Justice Department head Eric Holder said the inspector general is investigating.
"The aim of the ATF is to try to stop the flow of guns. I think they
do a good job in that regard. Questions have been raised by ATF
agents about the way in which some of these operations have
been conducted. I think those questions have to be taken seriously,
and on that basis, I've asked the inspector general to look at it."


Holder: Gunwalking is wrong


Jaquez is second sitting ATF agent to come forward and
speak out to CBS News on the controversy.


Jaquez says one of the most difficult things for him is believing
that his own agency inadvertently put innocent lives at risk.
Jaquez has family - uncles, aunts, father and sister - living in Mexico.
"Any one of us could have been shot with one of those guns."


Video: NRA members "outraged" over "gunwalking" reports

Jaquez says he's left wondering whether runaway violence in Mexico
can be partly blamed on the agency tasked with stopping it.