In shocking new emails uncovered by CBS News today, Obama appointees within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration knew of and endorsed a plan to allow faulty car parts from Mexico into the U.S. in a effort to clamp down on sales of SUV's and other gasguzzlers.

Safety inspectors inside maquiladora plants along the Mexican border were told to ignore obviously faulty airbags and anti-lock brake systems so those parts could be installed on cars and trucks on the U.S. side of the border. 

The plan unraveled, though, when one of the parts installed on a Border Patrol car failed during a high-speed chase and an agent was killed in the resulting wreck. Further investigation of the incident has been stymied by the Justice Department sealing the case and removing it from the public record. 

Thanks to the efforts of whistleblowers inside the NHTSA, other faulty car parts have been found at over eleven different accident scenes throughout the United States, and over 200 highway deaths in Mexico have been linked to these faulty parts. 

Despite emails directly linking top-ranking members of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to the safety inspectors who let the faulty parts leave the assembly line, the NHTSA denies any involvement with these deaths and claims these deaths prove the need for tougher safety laws on SUV's and full-size cars. 

In sworn testimony in front of Congress last month, NHTSA head Charles A. Hurley blasted Congress for failing to pass tough new legislation and despite emails that showed his department was directly involved in distributing potentially deadly auto parts, refused to apologize for any of the deaths attributed to this botched operation and dismissed calls for his resignation as being "not organic".

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Sounds horrid, right? 

Replace "auto parts" with "guns" and "NHTSA" with "ATF", and you'll understand why conservatives are so upset about Fast and Furious.