Marathon Pundit: IG faults 14 for Fast and Furious fiasco; Holder gets a pass

The Justice Department's Inspector General's report on the disastrous Fast and Furious gun running operation--which led to the death of a US Border Patrol agent--was released today.

Attorney General Eric "I Know Nothing" Holder escaped blame in the IG report, but I believe that House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa will have the final say. Holder has already been held in contempt of Congress over his inaction on Fast and Furious.

From the Washington Times:

The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General on Wednesday blamed the failure of Operation Fast and Furious on a series of "misguided strategies," but found no evidence that Attorney General Eric. H. Holder Jr. knew of the misguided gunrunning investigation before its public unraveling in January 2011.

The long-anticipated 471-page report cites "errors in judgment and management failures" on the part of officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives headquarters in Washington and in the Phoenix field office, and says "questionable judgments" by Justice Department officials in Washington marred the department’s response to Capitol Hill inquiries.

The investigation came to light after two AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifles purchased as a part of Fast and Furious were found at the scene of the killing nearly two years ago of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The report recommended that 14 department employees be reviewed for possible sanctions or other disciplinary actions.

The report also says Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Mr. Holder's chief of staff, received a briefing about Fast and Furious in March 2010, but that the briefing "failed to alert Mr. Grindler to problems in the investigation." The report says Mr. Grindler learned three days after the Dec. 14, 2010, death of Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry of the link between weapons found at the scene of the killing and Fast and Furious, but did not tell Mr. Holder. It said he should have “informed the attorney general as well as made an appropriate inquiry of ATF or the U.S. attorney's office about the connection."