An ill-conceived sting by the BATF? Who knew?

The New York Times has an editorial about the BATFE:

If Congressional Republicans are really intent on getting to the bottom of an ill-conceived sting operation along the border by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE), they should call President Felipe Calderón of Mexico as an expert witness.
Mr. Calderón has the data showing that the tens of thousands of weapons seized from the Mexican drug cartels in the last four years mostly came from the United States. Three out of five of those guns were battlefield weapons that were outlawed here until the assault weapons ban was allowed to lapse in 2004. To help him stop the bloody mayhem, he is pleading with Washington to re-enact the ban and impose other needed controls.
That is the last thing Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, wants to hear. He and Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, issued a report last week castigating the ATF for an operation in which federal agents, hoping to track guns to Mexican cartels, monitored but did not stop gun sales to people suspected of obtaining weapons for those criminal groups. Two of the American-sold guns showed up at the scene of a fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent in Arizona last year.
The Justice Department has ordered an investigation, and it must be candid in assessing what happened. Congress needs to be candid about how loophole-ridden laws have created a huge market for assault weapons which end up in Mexico. At a hearing, Mr. Issa insisted: “We’re not here to talk about proposed gun legislation.” Federal officials sought authority to require gun dealers to report bulk sales of assault rifles, only to have it blocked by a provision in the Republican budget. A responsible Congress would re-enact the assault weapons ban, outlaw uncontrolled gun-show sales, and reform regulations that allow corrupt dealers to stay in business.