WASHINGTON.- The White House received today an extensive report by the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the failed "Fast and Furious" operation that allowed for the illegal entrance of weapons to Mexico in 2009 and that exonerates the US Attorney General Eric Holder.

The internal investigation detailed "serious faults" in the undercover operation and recommended disciplinary measures against 14 employees of the DOJ and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), but determined that Holder did not know about the undercover operation until scandal broke about the weapons.

"Today's report states that the problem of the weapons trafficked was a tactic from the previous Administration and that the Attorney General of this Administration was the one to end it," said White House spokesperson, Eric Schultz.

"Nevertheless, the Department of Justice has taken strong measures to guarantee accountability and ensuring that this doesn't happen again, including important administrative, employee and policy changes," Schultz added.

"If the republicans (in the Congress) still have legitimate questions about the Fast and Furious Operation, this 450-page-long report answers them. After this exhaustive report and a 16-month investigation by the Congress, the republicans have no excuse to keep wasting the taxpayer's money and time with attacks motivated by politics and elections," he stressed.

The report by Inspector General of the Department of Justice Michael Horowitz declares: "we did not find evidence of the attorney general Holder having been informed, previous to January 31 of 2011, of the Fast and Furious Operation tactics used by the ATF in the investigation" of weapon trafficking.

On his part, Holder said through a press release that the document made public today confirms what he and other officers from the agency had been repeating for many months: that the high command of the DOJ "was not aware and had not authorized the use of a failed strategy and tactics" to track drug traffickers in Mexico.

The attorney general was targeted by a number of republican leaders in Congress who had asked for his resignation and that even voted in favor or charging him with "contempt" for allegedly not disclosing all information about the case to legislators.

ATF authorities allowed the smuggling of weapons from the US with the intention of reaching the drug lords, but lost track of about two thousand firearms, many of which have appeared on over a hundred crime scenes in Mexico.

Two of them were found at the murder scene of US border officer Brian Terry in December of 2010.

Editorial@sandiegored.com

Original Text : EFE Agency

Translation: Karen.balderas@sandiegored.com