So, BATF Was Directly Giving Guns to Criminals?

Apparently the boyos at the BATFE wasn't just letting smugglers buy guns and funnel the guns to Mexico. The ATF agents were using their authority as law enforcement officers to directly buy the guns that they then gave to the Mexican cartels.

Wouldn't that be like the FBI buying high-speed getaway cars for bank robbers?

What was the point of all of this, other than to make sure that American firearms were given to the cartels' gun thugs? And having done that, was all this done so that the BATF could then say "see, we need more gun control and more authority for our agents and more agents and a bigger budget"?

Was all of this, including the murders of Border Patrolmen, done just so the BATF could prevail in the Annual Battle of the Budget?

If so, can anyone posit a reason why the BATF's budget should not receive something like a 25% haircut?

(H/T)