Thread: Fallen border agent Brian Terry honored

Fallen border agent Brian Terry honored

More than 300 attend memorial in NE Valley

by Dennis Wagner - Nov. 12, 2011 10:03 PM
The Arizona Republic

Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent killed in the line of duty nearly a year ago, was honored at a memorial ceremony Saturday as a patriot, a hero, a man of honor.

"His memory is our eternal blessing," Gov. Jan Brewer said.

"This man committed his entire adult life to handling America's business," added Jay Dobyns, a federal agent who served as master of ceremonies.

Terry, a former U.S. Marine and ex-police officer, was killed Dec. 14 when his Border Patrol tactical unit got into a midnight gunbattle with banditos in a canyon near Rio Rico.

Two rifles recovered at the scene were traced to Operation Fast and Furious, a controversial federal gun-running investigation that allowed hundreds of weapons into Mexico.

Among those at Saturday's event was John Dodson, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who exposed the flawed probe in testimony before Congress.

Dobyns, an ATF agent, said he felt cheated that he'd never met Terry. Then he pulled out a whiskey bottle, took a swig and said, "Thank you, Brian Terry."

More than 300 people attended the event at the Scottsdale International Auto Museum.

Many of the speakers directed their comments directly to the deceased agent's mother, Josephine Terry, who came with about 30 family and friends from Michigan to attend the event, many of them wearing T-shirts with "Agent Terry" on the back.

"We're overjoyed. This is even bigger than we thought it would be," Terry's sister Kelly Willis said. "We're here to celebrate Brian, and that's what's happening."

Media received written instructions not to question the family about Terry's death or the political furor over Operation Fast and Furious.

However, Dobyns told Terry's relatives that they have an absolute right to know the full story of how he died.

Josephine Terry told The Arizona Republic last week that she holds the government partly responsible for her son's death. She said her family is contemplating a lawsuit against the government and has hired former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, who already has taken action in U.S. District Court to secure family members' rights as crime victims.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Brian Terry is now "a son of Arizona" who gave his life in the state and that he may have been killed by weapons the government allowed into criminal hands.

He said Terry should be honored by a commitment to finding "the full and complete truth, and justice."

www.azcentral.com

Added to Homepage with a heavy heart:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6766--0-0.html

God rest your soul, Brian Terry.

Your life was not in vain.

We are many.

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

God rest your soul, Brian Terry.

Your life was not in vain.

We are many.

I will second that, Sure wish I could have made the memorial.

RELATED

Slain agent's memorial to include critics of gun sting

AZCentral.com
by Dennis Wagner - Nov. 12, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic


A memorial event today in honor of murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry promises to celebrate the life of an American hero, but organizers acknowledge that politics likely will mix with pathos.

Among those selected to speak at "Remember Brian Terry" are harsh critics of the Obama administration, including Gov. Jan Brewer, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and conservative Fox News KFYI radio host Mike Broomhead. The master of ceremonies is Jay Dobyns, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who has been a critic of the agency's leadership for years.

All those figures have become aligned with the Terry family since revelations that guns involved in a fatal border shootout on Dec. 14 were traced to an anti-smuggling investigation that allowed firearms to reach Mexican drug cartels.

The case, known as Operation Fast and Furious, is the subject of congressional inquiry and a probe by the Justice Department's inspector general. It has fomented widespread criticism of Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama administration.

Just this week, the Terry family issued a news release declaring that ATF and Justice Department officials "screwed up" by allowing guns into the hands of criminals and demanding that Holder take responsibility.

Josephine Terry, the agent's mother, told The Arizona Republic that she holds the government partly responsible for her son's death and is comfortable with the memorial's political bent. She said her family is contemplating a lawsuit against the government and has hired former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, who already has taken action in U.S. District Court to secure family members' rights as crime victims.

Charlton's role has proved ironic: On behalf of the Terrys, he has assailed the Fast and Furious strategy that let guns go to Mexico. Yet, when he was Arizona's top federal prosecutor, federal agents employed the same tactic in another case.

The Terry family has asked for victim status in a gun-trafficking case against Jaime Avila, who is accused of purchasing the assault-type rifles that were found at the scene where the agent died. In court, Charlton argued that Avila played a role in the homicide by providing arms to killers, so Terry's relatives would be victims of the trafficking crime.

The Department of Justice answered that Terry's family does not qualify because the agent did not die as a "direct and proximate" result of Avila's alleged felony.

Charlton responded that a government news release about Avila's arrest said gun-trafficking defendants "have as much blood on their hands as the criminals" who use smuggled guns and that Avila's conspiracy to deal in firearms "killed agent Terry."

Justice Department records indicate that Charlton was involved with a similar case while he served as U.S. attorney for Arizona. In a 2006-07 operation known as Wide Receiver, federal prosecutors and agents let several hundred guns "walk" to Mexico in the hope of catching cartel bosses.

In an interview last month, before documents from the case were divulged, Charlton said he did not recall Operation Wide Receiver and had no memory of authorizing such a strategy while in office. He added that, during the George W. Bush administration, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had given him instructions to make firearms trafficking his No. 1 enforcement priority.

"I don't believe that I ever approved letting guns walk," Charlton said at the time. "But ... there needs to be an investigation as to what occurred so that these kinds of events cannot happen in the future."

This month, the Justice Department released an e-mail and memo sent to Charlton in July 2006 under the heading: "Operation Wide Receiver, Policy Question."

In the memo, prosecutors asked the U.S. attorney about authorization to allow criminal suspects to transport weapons into Mexico "without any further ability by the U.S. government to control their movement or future." The message noted that the ATF's civil lawyer opposed the tactic, "citing moral objections." Charlton e-mailed a response the same day: "Thanks -- I'm meeting with the ATF SAC (special agent in charge) on Tuesday, and I'll discuss it with him then."

Federal records verify that agents subsequently allowed criminals to ship several hundred firearms across the border.

Charlton told The Republic this week that he does not recall a case named Operation Wide Receiver or the exchange of e-mails concerning it. He emphasized that there is no record showing that he authorized the investigative strategy. "It certainly wasn't approved by me or the assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the case," he said.

For reasons that remain unclear, agents and prosecutors handling Operation Wide Receiver let the case drop in 2007 without arresting suspects. Three years elapsed, and Charlton was no longer in office when another federal prosecutor decided to seek indictments.

By then, Operation Fast and Furious was fully under way, using the same strategy that has since been condemned.

Although some ATF agents and Justice officials balked at the strategy, it was not exposed until Terry's murder.

Last month, Babeu convened a news conference to assail the government for Fast and Furious, describing it as "a larger scandal than Watergate." The sheriff, who is considering a run for Congress, called for the firing of Holder and the appointment of an independent prosecutor.

Dobyns, a legendary undercover agent who became tangled in legal battles with the ATF, has written blogs blaming what he describes as corrupt and incompetent bureau management for letting guns go across the border. He is listed as emcee for the Remember Brian Terry event scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.today at the Scottsdale International Auto Museum in the Pavilions at Talking Stick. (Tickets are $35 online at www.rememberbrianterry.com, $50 at the door.)

Christy Lynn Miller, co-organizer of the memorial, said her intent is to honor a man who sacrificed his life and to raise money for Josephine Terry.

Miller acknowledged that featured guests may have additional agendas, adding, "I don't want the situation to be political, but, unfortunately, it is."

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... itics.html

===========================================

Hundreds Attend Funeral Service for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry

By ROBIN SCHWARTZ
WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com

(Video at source)

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/lo ... 01222-wpms

Fast and Furious: Brian Terry Will Change the Way America Does Business

2 hrs ago

Katie Pavlich

Scottsdale, Ariz.- The Scottsdale International Auto Museum is filled with classic cars from Thunderbird convertibles to MGs with Pink Lady and T-Bird jackets hanging next to an Elvis statue near the back, but Saturday night the museum was turned into a place for people to celebrate the life of murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry by supporting his family. Nearly 100 people showed their support by bidding on donated items to raise funds for his mother, Josephine Terry. The funds will be used by Josephine to attend hearings about her son’s death on Capitol Hill as the House Oversight Committee continues to dig into Operation Fast and Furious. If you aren’t familiar by now, Terry was murdered in the Arizona desert by illegal Mexican cartel bandits. Two of the guns used to kill him, were provided through the lethal Obama Justice Department Operation Fast and Furious.

The event was kicked off with the singing of the National Anthem, followed by a beautiful rendition of the famous song “Hallelujah,â€