BRIAN TERRY - Slain agent's family 'sickened' by info on Fast & Furious
Slain agent's family 'sickened' by info
Politico
By: Mackenzie Weinger
March 28, 2012 01:54 PM EDT
The family of the U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in connection with Operation Fast and Furious said it “is sickened” to learn that law enforcement agencies were not sharing information that could have possibly closed the investigation early and spared his death and other bloodshed.
“The Terry Family, like most of America, is sickened to read the latest revelations relating to ATF’s error-plagued and misguided Fast and Furious Investigation,” the family of slain agent Brian Terry wrote in a statement. “It is beyond our comprehension that U.S. federal law enforcement agencies were not talking with one another.”
The Los Angeles Times reported last week it had obtained documents showing that the law enforcement agencies were not coordinating their respective investigations. The ATF released the alleged gun trafficker Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta in May 2010 in the hopes he would bring them two drug lords, who were actually brothers and FBI informants, Eduardo and Jesus Miramontes-Varela. After Celis-Acosta was arrested in Feb. 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported the ATF learned that the brothers were secret FBI informants.
“One can only imagine that if the FBI, DEA and U.S. Attorney personnel had only shared their information with ATF agents that the Miramontes brothers were FBI informants, [then] the entire Fast and Furious debacle could have been avoided,” the family wrote.
“With this single piece of information, ATF could have chosen not to proceed with Operation Fast and Furious, which ultimately put almost 2,000 assault weapons into the hands of some of the most dangerous criminals in North America. Had this simple piece of information been shared among the different federal law enforcement agencies in Arizona, some 200 Mexican citizens would not have had to lose their lives in needless violence and U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry would still be alive,” they said.
The operation attempted to investigate drug cartels and weapons traffickers but ended up supplying them with weapons. Investigators lost thousands of firearms, and many of these weapons crossed the border into Mexico. Terry was shot in December 2010 with guns linked to Operation Fast and Furious.
Slain agent's family 'sickened' by info - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com