
Fast and Furious, the gun running operation to Mexico by our own government is surfacing today thanks to the good work of Judicial Watch, a legal beagle public service watchdog headed by Tom Fitton. On July 18th, District Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the government had to release the Vaughn Index, a government information document that the Department of Justice fought hard to keep under wraps. The release became public news yesterday.
What is the Vaughn Index? According to the Daily Caller as detailed by the Office of Government Services, the Vaughn Index applies to documents which are subject to being held from public disclosure. It specifically contains three components. First, it identifies each document withheld; second, it states the reason why the information is withheld; and finally, it explains why the government feels the disclosure would damage the interest being protected by non-release. In other words, it is used to justify not complying with the Freedom of Information Act in situations deemed to be necessary for the nation's security.
Realize that this ruling doesn't provide all of the documents which might shed the light of truth on what happened, but it does give Judicial Watch access to a list of all documents withheld. This will go a long way to finding the truth as part of the investigation involved with the pending lawsuit by JW on this matter. Once an investigator realizes what is being withheld, it usually becomes so much easier to find the details.
Maybe in the end the family of Brian Terry, the murdered Border Patrol agent will get the truth and will be able to reach closure concerning his death. And hopefully it will shed light on just how many others were killed including several thousand Mexican nationals.
And most important of all, hopefully it will provide the answers to what caused this plan to be created in the first place. If, as many think, it was an attempt to put weapons in the hands of criminals and use it as a means to justify nationalized gun control, heads should roll. I think the heads rolling should be at the highest level of government where schemes like this were likely drawn up in the first place.
Never again should our government use its power against her own citizens and the true national interest and this might be a first step toward doing just that. But we've got a long way to go and many scandals to clean up. There are many more battles to come over this and many other scandals, but as the border push of today clearly shows, evil lurks in high places.
And to Tom Fitton and his courageous staff at Judicial watch, we all need to say thank you once again. This is just one more example of the great work they do and it begs the question: Why can't the Congress with all of its investigators and staff do the same thing? Do they lack the will to do what needs to be done due to political expediency? Sadly, in most instances the answer is likely yes.
Either stand up for American or sit down and be silent. The truth is rising and it will set our nation free.