Why did the Obama administration deliberately allow the illegal export of guns to Mexico and Honduras?

Ann Althouse has a post ...  and a comment by Rose:

It's a very big deal - on a number of levels. It looks like three things are emerging. 1.) Funding was tucked into the Stimulus bill - who did that? 2.) It explains that odd comment Hillary made about all the guns in Mexico coming from the US, which felt at the time like a move towards gun regulation here, and 3.) similarly, it explains Obama's odd reaction to the Honduras mess.

Several interesting posts around the blogosphere: Two big developments have emerged in Gunwalker..... ATF Director Kenneth Melson has indeed spilled his guts and testified on July 4th before Congressional investigators. Gunwalker goes all the way to Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton and that walking manifestation of Incubus and Succubus, Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett. Further, Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea over at Sipsey Street Irregulars have broken news this morning that Holder/Clinton/Obama-Jarrett also were walking guns out of Florida into Honduras.

Here’s the money quote: “There are emails in existence where (Special Agent in Charge Virginia) O’Brien has advised those involved that Tampa does not have to report their walked guns because Tampa FD is not a part of Southwest Border or Project Gunrunner.”Barnhardt: Gunwalker – Laying It All Out

Honduras? Why would ATF walk guns to Honduras? 1. The national scope of the Gunwalker Scandal & 2. Because that's where some of the action is. sipseystreetirregulars

First, and this is important to understand: the Tampa operation proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that "Project Gunwalker" was a national strategy, not a Phoenix aberration. The "major media" has been slow to understand this. They have ignored the fact that the Houston Field Division had to have played a supervisory role in known straw buying incidents in Dallas and Columbus NM as they are in their area of operations, not Phoenix's. Original reporting on this subject from Texas has been pitiful.

Second, Honduras is where the action is.

Source claims ATF's Tampa SAC walked guns to HONDURAS! Part of Operation Castaway? Exclusive Report by David Codrea & Mike Vanderboegh. sipseystreetirregulars

And another by William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection

In Fall of 2009, the Obama Administration conceived Operation Fast and Furious, in which the ATF sold thousands of advanced weapons to Mexican drug cartels in order to track them once they were used in crimes. This policy perfectly dovetailed with Obama’s gun control arguments. First of all, by selling guns to the cartels that the ATF could definitely trace back to the US (because they were bought from the ATF), the percentage of guns used in Mexican crimes traceable to American guns would increase. ATF supervisors rejoiced at their success when they found that these guns were being used for violence in Mexico.

From the first I suspected that this program was designed to provide an excuse for more gun control in the US. It made no sense from any other perspective. We did not need this program (Fast & Furious) to identify Mexican drug cartel leaders, straw gun purchasers or their Mexican handlers. The only thing that made sense is to allow the administration to claim that US guns were the primary source of violence in Mexico.  Thanks to this government program the Obama administration became primary supplier of guns to Mexican drug cartels.

Thank goodness Obama is a Democrat.  If he were a Republican this would be a scandal.