Indictment in Border Agent Murder Turns up the Heat on Holder
A 14-count federal indictment has been leveled against an illegal alien and “other unnamed fugitives” in the Dec. 14, 2010 murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Terry was shot in the back with an AK-47-type weapon. At the scene were found weapons which had allegedly been knowingly allowed across the border by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives as a part of the now-notorious operations “Gunrunner” and “Fast and Furious.”
Rep. Darrel Issa, (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued a statement taking Attorney General Holder to task over the indictment and the program:
The announcement of an indictment against Manuel Osorio-Arellanes for the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is certainly good news, but leaves critical questions unanswered. The Justice Department still hasn’t said how and why guns purportedly being tracked and monitored by federal law enforcement officials as part of Operation Fast and Furious ended up in the hands of Agent Terry’s killers.
It angers me to think that this death might not have occurred had it not been for reckless decisions made by officials at the Department of Justice who authorized and supported an operation that knowingly put guns in the hands of criminals. For these officials to imagine that this operation would result in anything other than a tragic outcome was naive and negligent. Sen. Charles Grassley and I continue to demand accountability as we investigate this matter.
According to Examiner.com, others have been charged in the death, but the Justice Department has sealed those names.
The timing of the indictment is interesting, coming as it does shortly after Attorney General Eric Holder was grilled by both Issa and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Holder has claimed he had no knowledge of the operation, which allowed as many as 2,000 weapons, including .50 caliber sniper rifles, to be purchased by so-called “straw buyers” who bought the weapons legally with the intention of selling them illegally to gun trafficking rings and the Mexican drug cartels. The story was broken by CBS News earlier this year.
At least two American law enforcement deaths have been linked to weapons allowed across the border as part of the program. In addition to Terry, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata was also murdered with weapons sold under the ATF program.
Holder has repeatedly claimed the first time he or President Barack Obama heard about the program was on the news.
The Department of Justice have blood on their hands. Will prosecution of all those responsible for this criminal act be forthcoming?
GOES TO SHOW YOU, THIS GOVERNMENT KNOWES NOTHING, DIDN’T DO NOTHING, DIDN’T SEE NOTHING, AND SO, WHO’S RUNNING OUR NATION…….3 BLIND MICE?
GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.
No, three blind rats.
The rats have 20/20 vision, perfect hearing and voices as loud as a SEIU thug on a bull horn.
no Linda the people responsible for this will noet be prosecuted for the crime, holder has already said he knew nothing of it,
Holder wants to be top cop, he’s top cop.
Obama gets credit for Bin Laden, fine.
Holder gets credit for assassinating his own people – he should be fired for a lot of other reasons but this only adds to them. He is responsible and should have known about grey ops that got the wrong guy.
This whole operation was used to cynically claim that drug cartels were using US weapons and in response they could lay some draconian laws on us in order to DISarm us.
Now they have American blood on their hands and need to answer for it. They should be brought up on murder 1 charges.
yes lolly. they should be. but he wont unless the next administration has an investigation and brings charges, one can only hope.
There area a few other questions that Issa could be asking Holder, like why isn’t he enforcing our immigration laws. Failure to enforce the law is illegal; you can’t not do it.
You can bet that there is more political calculation behind Holder’s seeming ignorance of this isssue than meets the eye. I don’t believe him for a second when he says he didn’t know of the plans to allow weapons purchases to Mexican criminals. Anyone remember Hillary and her statement concerning the number of American guns used in Mexico a while back?
Something about this whole situation just doesn’t smell right.
BackwardsBoy – Another question Issa can ask Holder is why Justice dropped the Black Panther case? Yet anothr question to ask is why the ATF has not been shut down, now that its aiding and abetting of gun-running has been exposed.
Backwardsboy nothing about this intire administration smells right. the next administration needs to do a thorough investigation of this administration and there needs to be some hard time handed out,
reports like this are coming out of every orifice in this administration on a daily basis
their goal (among many) seems to be to desensitize us to corruption, treachery, treason, incompetence, lying, et al.
There are good arguments in support of the view
that government officials should not be subject
to criminal punishment for official acts, but
they sure as shinola can be thrown out of office.
A good reason to throw Holder out is that he finds
criticism ‘offensive’; It is only a few short steps
down the slippery slope to finding it criminal, as in
‘Crimes against the State’.
It is immunity, not power, which corrupts.
Holder did what he was told by a CFR Marxist controlled government, and it was an unlawful order. Except, Holder wanted to follow it.
Just another example of the agenda to help destroy these United States. Add it on to the debt, moving factories overseas, government healthcare, open boarders, and pushing poop in the military.
“The notion that somehow or another that this Justice Department is responsible for those deaths, that assertion is offensive.”
No Mr. Holder. What is offensive is a DOJ being accessories to murder. When you give a gun to someone knowing it is going to be used in the commission of a crime, you become an accessory. You are not above the law. You can’t use your government position as a cover for your crimes. You are an accessory. Eric Holder and others including Obama need to be punished for this. This was never intended to be used the way they say. They were trying to make it look as though guns were coming from America so they could try to infringe on the 2nd Amendment.
I am offended we have criminals using the cover of government to commit crimes against the country.
The timing of the indictment is interesting, coming as it does shortly after Attorney General Eric Holder was grilled by both Issa and Senator Charles Grassley . . .
Not sure what you mean, Patrick. Do you think Holder is trying to distract from the question of his involvement, or make a show of taking appropriate action? (I’m with you on everything else.)
Also, what are the DoJ’s obligations in releasing the requested info to Issa? Can they cite concerns about jeopardizing an ongoing investigation and just say No? I have the sinking feeling this information will never be released — not even if a Republican president is elected in 2012.
That’s exactly it “lookie we got a guy, the program works!”
They can cite ongoing investigation but they do have an obligation to answer subpoenas or be held in contempt.
Patrick
Thanks.
Will someone please tell me that David Voth is not still collecting a paycheck made up in part by my taxes???
Please help me to understand how an empty-headed fool in the whitehouse and a justice department filled with idiots can ruin a country full of honest, hard-working, tax-paying people, crying foul in their beer and doing nothing about the few marxists running the country. Are we stupid, tired, helpless,
asleep at the wheel–or too lazy to do something? Too comofortable collecting food stamps and welfare checks. Waiting for another bailout, some
more unemployment? Where are the guts? Are we waiting for the election which may very well be too late?? I say start kicking them out..or at the very least, stop paying taxes that enable them to continue feeding at the table we provide.
Stand up AMERICA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the same ATF that gave us Waco and Ruby Ridge. Is there no sense of ethics in this agency and is there anything they will not do in an attempt to expand their budget and turf? Why wasn’t this agency disbanded long ago, and it’s competent agents transferred to other federal law enforcement agencies?
As for Holder, he is plain and simply a liar.
To me, this episode, as terrible and tragic as it is, displays gross negligence but not necessarily bad intent. This alone is sufficient to rid ourselves of this AG. But it is some of the other matters that really cause me to think that this guy has to go. The unwillingness to prosecute the Blank Panthers, CAIR, enforce DOMA; the filing of a lawsuit against Arizona, investigating Bush administration folks … I am sure I am missing some other episodes … that show the heart and mind of this AG and I personally don’t like at all what I see.
With all due respect, CBS did not break this story – it was initially brought to light by cleanupatf.org,Mike Vanderboegh of the blog ‘Sipsey Street Irregulars’ and David Codrea, a writer at GunRightsExaminer.com
According to earlier reports, none of the suspects could be pinned with the crime, and all have since been deported after being charged with a federal misdemeanor of illegal entry into the US
I would like to know how they expect to re-acquire these individuals – Mexico will never extradite a Mexican citizen if they face the death penalty in the US, so we already know that is off the table.
This administration, seems to be very protective of the criminal element,yet has little or no respect, for the rights of Citizens of border states, who are suffering the impact of high crime rate,also cost of entitlement programs. If I recall correctly, Border Patrol agent Terry, was shot in the back, with an AK47 was under an order to carry a weapon with rubber bullets. Whose protection, were the people who issued that order concerned about? It’s a question that deserves an answer, especially when it is responsible for the death of one our own good men.
Remember how the Leftist congress people and Calderon were using the transfer of guns across the border into Mexico as a pretext for more gun control on all of us? If I were a conspiracist I would say that these Congress people and Calderon knew why.
Holder needs to be indicted as a conspirator in these gun cases.
This falls right into the (What Holder likes to describe as) PROFILE of the lawless Obama Administration.
–Seizing Chrysler and GM right after taking control
–Closing dealerships belonging to Republican donors
–overturning ,on their own hook, the convictions of the New Black Panthers
–dismissing charges against fund-raisers for terrorists
–ordering ICE not to take Illegal Aliens from State and Local authorities
What really bothers me about this is who is in charge. Holder claims that he and Zero knew nothing about the operation until they heard it on the news. That brings up the question of how a section controlled by Holder can run this operation openly to the point that the media knows about it and yet the man who is nominally in charge knows nothing. Seems to me like a total defeliction of duty on the part of Holder. Just what DOES he know that is going on. He surely shouldn’t be able to just say I know nothing and let the matter drop. This is pure and simple someone who is not on top of his job and when we are talking about the AG of the nation that is not a situation that should be permitted to continue. Holder at least needs to go and quickly. There are just too many questions asked that he is unable to respond to and he should not be permitted to continue to just keep refusing to answer. If I read the situation correctly Congress has the right, the obligation and the duty to question all matters of this sort and the AG does not have the right to refuse them.
You are absolutely right. Which is more disturbing, that Holder/Obama knew about this and are lying, or that they DIDN’T know? So, who did know? Who was the top person who knew?
This isn’t some drug sting or something, this involves arming criminals in another country. Why isn’t Mexico up in arms about this? (Sorry, no pun intended.)
There is something seriously wrong with this story and I don’t know why it isn’t getting more coverage.
Boehner call your congress together and file charges against Holder tomorrow =-No today and get the investigation running on the right track for prosecution. Take the head off of the snake and the rest of the body has no where to go but to wither, one stinking rat at a time and who knows, it may even get to the White House and through to the senate
If anything should be closed it should be holders DOJ job. We have idiots like this calling the shots, we deserve what we get!
Holder’s statement “The notion that somehow or another that this Justice Department is responsible for those deaths, that assertion is offensive” is truely offensive to me. They (the Justice Department) enabled the illegal export/smuggling of those weapons. Plus our justice system routinely charges parents in criminal proceedings and allows civil suits to be filed for not properly securing guns in the home, when their children use them to commit a crimes.
Stating that he was not aware of the program, clearly shows that he is either that he’s hiding something or not capable of leading DOJ effectively.
The LUNATICS are running the Whitehouse!
The taxpayers of America hope the dopes that selected this administration sit out the 2012 election. I hope we change presidents-we can’t possibly be this stupid twice in a row-can we? The smartest president ever? Listen to this dope speak ‘off the cuff’(teleprompter?) and you’ll soon see just how smart he isn’t.The level of his ‘superior’ intelligence seems apparent to everyone but him. He is the smartest guy in the room because he says so and only in a very small room filled with fellow socialists.Sooooo glad to see you go. Hurry 2012!